Critical project Drifting Architecture is study work and a series of massing models by CENTRALA (Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Simone De Iacobis), 2020–ongoing. The project is part of the Warsaw Wetscape series. The speculative and performative aspects of Drifting Architecture stem from water buoyancy that replaces gravity as architectural principle. Forms studies: Małgorzata Kuciewicz 3D modeling: Aleksandra Zawistowska Model making: ONIMO "A study of sometimes aquatic, sometime terrestrial forms is an introduction to a radical redefinition of urban infrastructure. In periods of sufficient water it would drift, but in times of drought it would settle on land. A recently deciphered cuneiform tablet described, the ark from the Babylonian flood myth as a huge, round coracle. By suspending our belief that architecture is static, CENTRALA plays with archetypes of the ark (a round boat) and of architecture, transforming familiar forms in the search for new meanings, sometimes through the very act of placing a copied architectural form in water. In the restoration of wetlands and rewilding of urban rivers, CENTRALA sees an answer to the climate challenges of the future. In its projects it proposes a vision of a hydrated Warsaw, in which the recreated hydrological network regulates urban microclimates and opens them up to dynamic flows. Cities as wetscapes need the drifting architecture. An inspiration: A coracle is a light, one-person boat that can be carried on the back. It is the oldest type of boat constructed by humans. The oval bottom without a keel provides even distribution of the load and good displacement." From CENTRALA website.
2022
