MODULE 11

THE CONCEPT DISAPPERANCE

When someone close to a person passes away, they have to go through a series of processes to cremate their loved one. During these processes, their mind fills with thoughts and memories of the deceased. The focus is entirely on the loved one, with memories rushing through. At this time, a person becomes so focused on the deceased that the surrounding world fades away, and the only things they think about are the final and cherished memories of their loved one. This phenomenon of the world disappearing is something I found intriguing to explore. The concept I aimed to develop is that of creating a space through architecture where the architecture itself seems to disappear—it exists but fades away.

To achieve this concept of disappearance in architecture, I started by fragmenting elements into smaller components, such as reducing the size of walls or columns. This fragmentation resulted in many repeated architectural elements, allowing the space to flow seamlessly. I combined this with the concept of repetition and slenderness. When an architectural element is repeated continuously throughout a space, it becomes predictable, leading the mind to ignore it, thus "disappearing" in a sense. The concept of disappearance through slenderness involved making all walls and elements have the same slender or minimal thickness. I also incorporated surrounding flora into the design, allowing nature to grow densely throughout the space. The site itself complemented the concept of disappearance. I placed these repeated architectural elements on a 2 m x 2 m grid. 

Using these concepts, I went through many iterations of the spaces to achieve the intended effect. The result was a space with repeated elements that disappear through repetition and standard thickness, illustrating the idea of disappearance through slenderness.