Enigma Matrix

In our pursuit of a new reality, the fabric of the present and past are held in stasis. Objects are held as a mirror to our individual and collective experience, awaiting a new normal to emerge. It is through this mirror that we are able to reflect, assessing the status quo, rejecting its flaws and celebrating the traits that will carry us to a new paradigm. Our proposal seeks to express this metaphor through tensegrity structures in which compression members and lines of tension are interwoven into a static structural system where neither operates in its conventional or expected manner. The result is an enigmatic threshold that challenges our preconceived notions of the status quo of structures and lived experience.

A collaborative design process within the Dalhousie School of Architecture student body will culminate in an experiential pavilion that brings architecture into the conversation of new realities of justice and care. Within this conversation, architecture exists as a commentary on the cultural landscape, playing the role of mirror and catalyst. In this role, architecture is uniquely placed to affect meaningful social change. Entering the liminal space of our current reality, architecture has the opportunity to guide our collective journey, shaping our perspectives and behaviours moving forward.

The project seeks to engage visitors along a path, invoking a moment of pause to rest and consider. Passing through a threshold, the visitor is confronted with an arrangement of esoteric tensegrity structures that invite the viewer to reconsider their preconceived notions of their immediate reality. Each structure holds a message, whether explicit or implicit, that points toward a new reality of justice and care. It is through the suspension of these messages within the structure that architecture strives to enter this liminal space.

The project will be designed, planned, and constructed by students in the School of Architecture.