stories for flying and landing,
from the central plateau
developed for 
Master of Arts in History and Critical Thinking at the Architectural Association


abstract

This dissertation presents a collection of stories that ex- plore the tensions between inhabitation and processes of extraction, as part of a complex web of relations be- tween architecture and the ground. If the ground - that has been mined, excavated, digged, burrowed, extracted and transformed into a surface in order to fit the modern project -, is understood not as a mathematical fact but, in- stead, as a living entity, it becomes imperative to examine the forms in which human interventions interact with its multiple dimensions. From the South American central plateau - where since the late XVth century, the drawing of a virtual line possibly instigated the mining process- es that would ultimately signal the advent of modernity, and where cities and urban systems that long for outer space have consistently erased pre-existing stories – as the ground is uncovered beneath a paved surface, it might reveal a collection of stories of life, as put by Ursula Le- Guin, that could reconnect the architectural project with the tangible world, pointing towards potential approaches
for landing on a troubled Earth


thesis presented
with distinction

final jury 
Master of Arts
History and Critical Thinking
 
Architectural Association,
London, UK

Tutor
Marina Lathouri

year
2023


selected thesis
for “climate matters” exhibtion
at
Architectural Association,
London, UK
2023