Axis Mundi

"The horizon is the line that emphasizes the infinite."
- Victor Hugo

Sitting majestically high in the Alps, the cruciform like assemblage contains three bold architectural volumes clad in corten steel. Conceptually the project is organized by three mutually perpendicular planes (the three Cartesian coordinates of x, y, and z): An entry tunnel/bridge, a tower which contains the vertical circulation (staircase and elevator) and the main habitable space, which is suspended weightlessly above the valley below. In essence, this is a dwelling meaningfully stripped of all nostalgia from the material world. One is immediately reminded of the great German romantic poets and painters like Caspar David Friedrich and the poet Heinrich Heine, who’s work emphasized the tension between the daily world and the irrational and supernatural projections of creative genius. The project is a ruin from the future and its poetic power lies in its supreme muteness, as a place to contemplate the horizon and eternity in silence.

Architect: John Beckmann
Renderings: Catalin Sandru
Wood Model: XiaoLun Chen
Total Area: 4000 sf. Major Materials: Steel and concrete structure, corten steel, and glass.