Magenta Shadow Caster

«Some say, to prevent our extinction, we have to go to outer space, to find resources. But some believe it is to fulfil our nomadic desires. Our human trajectory has spent 99.9 percent of our existence wandering. We crossed the Ocean, we conquered the sky, and when there is no more frontier on earth, we launch ourselves among the stars.» But why?

Learning from humankind’s trajectory into the cosmos, the project takes a U-turn from outer space and looks back, focusing its lens onto Earth instead.

The shadow operates as both a pragmatic device and a symbolic framework for the project. The thesis aims to investigate the possibility of terraforming 2.2% of the Earth’s surface that has undergone deforestation through the deployment of large pneumatic kite components that provides surface albedo and filter natural light. Rebirthing a new territory, re-establishing the future relationship between us and the landscape as part of the same ecosystem, nurtured by the cast magenta shadow. Speculating on coexistence as the future of our reality.

If we have spent billions to explore new territories, why don’t we spend millions on earth to see the future of our reality? A non-profit agency, Sana Terrae, formed on the basis to rectify the fail attempts of mitigating our negative footprint, proposes terraforming on Earth. While its association with making another planet into a habitable world may seem Science fictional, it fits hyper specifically to our world’s context.

Should we just rebirth 2.2% of the planet’s surface, we could potentially save the future of our planet.

The initiative rethinks the role of material technology, design and public participation as an ecosystem to protect our future. The ground is sacred, and our footprint has consequences. The project ambition may be Global, but the local intervention is all it takes to start.

Design research conducted by Ignatio Tenggara at the Architectural Association School of Architecture 2019-2020 as part of the diploma unit 21 led by Didier Fiúza Faustino, Anna Muzychak