Within the ruin: Rituals of return
Vessels of sensation
2086 Narrative
By 2086, automation and authoritarian welfare systems have reduced society to a sterile world of efficiency and control. People live in identical tower blocks, consuming government-issued Nutri-paste and wearing spray-fit clothing that remove all choice, ritual, and self-expression. Daily life is regulated through automated distribution towers known as the Sustaining Scaffold, where individuality and human connection have disappeared. To erase memories of independence, the regime buried former food storage sites beneath concrete. A rebel group, the Hollowers, excavates these ruins and uncovers preserved seeds and grains, inspiring them to restore sensation, communal ritual, craftsmanship, and emotional experience to a society that no longer truly feels.
Spatial Concept
The spatial concept explores the transformation of the excavated car park into a self-sustaining environment centred around ritual, making, and sensory reconnection. The sequence begins within concealed withdrawal and cleansing spaces, where members disconnect from the controlled systems of 2086 through steam, water, rest, and reflection. Moving upwards through the structure, the group cultivates crops, fibres, and herbs which are harvested, woven, and transformed into garments and symbolic parcels - “vessels of sensation” distributed back into the city to awaken memory and human connection. At the centre lies the communal feasting hall, where gathering and the sharing of food become the group’s ultimate act of rebellion.
