Esmeralda
Welcome to eternity, adventure and secret
Esmeralda is based on Italo Calvino’s ‘Invisible Cities’ book describing fantastical cities involving various themes: desire, time, death, trade, and memory. The trading city, catches attention by its spatial complexity, zigzag routes and similarity to mathematical dilemmas. It is visualized through transforming eternity, adventure and secret into spaces.
Collage
Spatial complexity of the city is emphasized by its top level: eternity. As in Rome, eternity is demonstrated as a destruction after the powerful empire. Modern buildings etched on mirrors create contrast of past and present of the cities forming a matrix.
Secret Sign Board
Sign board features Esmeralda’s description. Words, portraying the invisible city, are engraved and visible under the light. This description adds more secret to the concept reflected in Esmeralda’s bottom level.
Sketch models are influenced by the importance of language in architecture and design. Esmeralda’s spirit is demonstrated through intricate pathways and bridges from words. Adventure as a space in the invisible city was formed by the ways people need to travel from one place to another. These ways are never the same: every time inhabitants take different iterations.
United Kingdom, London
University of the Arts London, Camberwell College of Arts
2020