Symbiont
Echolith
2086 Narrative
By 2086, decades of manufacturing shifts, political upheaval, genetic control, and automation have produced a tightly regulated society defined by scarcity, surveillance, and dependence on state infrastructures. As power centralised and labour declined, inequality deepened, giving rise to the Symbiont generation - engineered through synthetic consumption and aesthetic optimisation in pursuit of Ascendura, the state’s ideal of perfection. At the top sit the refined Cladariens; below them, the mechanically augmented Technografts. Resistance groups emerged in response, advocating for organic living. The most radical, the Homo Purus, seek to reclaim an unmodified human identity, using the Echolith as both symbol and tool to restore natural presence in an engineered world.
Spatial Concept
The Symbionts project develops an architectural language shaped by the tension between synthetic optimisation and the search for natural grounding. Central to this is the Echolith, an artefact speaker emitting non‑synthetic sound patterns from environmental vibration. These frequencies guide material choices, spatial sequencing, and sensory atmospheres that counter the rigidity of Symbiont society. The building becomes a sanctuary free from synthetics, where a new form of Ascendura is experienced. The rebel group purifies synthetic‑polluted products into a consumable liquid. As users ascend, they follow the synthetics’ transformation, breathing cleaner air and sensing amplified plant sounds. At the top, condensed synthetic air forms the golden liquid, inviting reflection on the Ascendura.
