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A contemplation on earth as a living material’
Borrowed land’ explores the relationship between the built environment, climate crisis, and environmental degradation. At the heart of the project is the recognition of the natural landscape as a finite resource as well as the issues created by extractivism. Using local materials, such as clay and stones deposited by ancient glaciers, the crafted architectural components are deeply rooted in the land, to which it can decay and merge back into after it has served its purpose.
In the context of soil depletion, the project explores concepts of circularity and degradation, contemplating the notion of borrowing rather than taking, and returning it back to the earth.
Earth is a living material, and has the ability to connect people to their natural surroundings. It can be warm or cold, it breathes and is a storage of many lives of living organisms. Earth is also a great circular building material, with rich historic traditions as one of mankind’s oldest building materials. Considered as a waste from the building industry, the project aims to show the potential and beauty of this raw material.
Rammed earth construction techniques shape the core of the project. Through experimentation with different earth compositions and densities, borrowed land aims to reveal the beauty of the material in response to natural forces such as rain, wind and sun.It embraces the notion of decay and circularity and creates spatial and sensous scenarios to interact with such topics in a deep and meaningful way.
‘Borrowed land’ is an installation that co-exists with its existing environment; a subtle dialogue between constructed elements, the landscape and natural forces. The installation is dynamic and evolves over time in response to the natural elements and human interaction.
Client Færderbiennalen
Place Tønsberg, Norway
Status Open call winner, delivered July 2024
Typology Art installation
Collaboration: ACT!, CLAYA, Ask Holmen, Studio Winther
Project team: Armelle Breuil, Rikke Winther, Ask Holmen, Babsi Beetz, Elisa Berker
Volunteer team: Maxwell Rodencal, Jona Weissgerber, Sophie Dorn, Alvar Elias Ekhougen Larsen, Malka Gadefait, Aleksandra Volfova, Viktoria Wiese-Hogrefe, Ilse Hviding, Stina Molander Skavlan.
photos by:
Bruno Giliberto
Sophie Dorn
Sophie König
on site
