ST(H)OME
Dry stone walling can be found in several cultures around the world, and yet have their own specific identity and characteristics, but at the same time was a craft that many times served as boarders. This duality served as an important base concept for our project, and we wanted to challenge that idea and the possibility of creating a contemporary borderless stone wall concept as well as how could we translate and interpretate this craft to the digital era without losing the individuality of each stone and the communal aspect of an entire wall.
Authors
LEE Kai Zheng
ALVES Ana Beatriz
VIVEIROS Joana
Description
ST(H)OME is a proposal to rethinking and celebrate an ancient craft: Dry stone walling. This technique, part of almost all human existence and civilizations, allowed us to mark field boundaries, protected arable lands from erosion and their niches provided storage places, and provisional dwellings. They are a particular important habitat for many plants and animals. It’s possible to find dry stone wall pretty much around any place in the world and that was the starting point for this project: a connection link between Hong Kong, London and Lisbon created by this worldwide ancient craft. Even though stone walls can be found in several cultures around the world and yet have their own specific identity and characteristics, at the same time they, many times, served as boarders. This duality was an important base concept for the project, and we wanted to challenge that idea and the possibility of creating a contemporary borderless stone wall.
As a home, that many times dry stone walls are, it’s found a common thread between how each member of the group defines Home: family. By submitting photos of family members into a 3D program, that will displace the sphere into a unique form regarding the characteristics of each specific photo, the project starts to create a bridge between the craft and the digital era. Creates a home for family and memories, without losing the individuality of each stone and the communal aspect of an entire wall, relying on shape and weight of each individual to create a communal structure. ST(H)OME is a metaphor for the importance of community, now more than ever, and for the importance of a social support structure in the human development and wellbeing.
