Vesper No. 8 | Vesper | Spring-Summer 2023
Stamatina Kousidi
Caves, Cavities and
Clouds
Keywords
Dark cavity,
architectural atmosphere, interiority, soil, embodied space
On the other side of
the modernist fascination with transparent skins, ethereal volumes and a fluid
continuity between inside and outside, an implicit yet striking preoccupation
with the figure of the cavernous space was sustained. It drew upon non-mediated
experiences of vernacular, naturally-formed artifacts and gave rise to alternative
conceptualizations of the living space and the city in connection with the
subterranean world. The architectural fantasy of the cavernous, dimly-lit,
earthy space lives on to the present day. In a context that sees a growing
design interest in matters connected with the ground, in search of novel means
of expression and models of sustainable construction, this essay sets out to
explore key moments in which architectural practice and thought intersected
with the figure of the cave – of dark edges, vessels, recesses and
cavities – as both skin and atmosphere, darkness and light, nature and
artifice, earth and sky.
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