MAKING MOUNTAINS

Type: workshop 
Location: Vienna Architecture Summer School
Year: 2022
Initiators: Simona Ferrari, Jakob Sellaoui
Participants: Jana Kopp, Thijs Vleeschouwer, Cara Domscheit


MAKING MOUNTAINS is a workshop within the framework of the Vienna Architecture Summer School 2022, that explores architectural agency facing nearly impossible tasks. Waste-management facilities can be seen as built metaphors for how we as humans have designed our relationship with the debris of our existence and world that nurtures it.

Within the workshop we have used recycled construction residue to physically re-enact the stacked structure of the Deponie Rautenweg landfill in Vienna. As an iterative process the task was to add one layer added per day, allowing participants to discuss the material's properties and ecological implications. The intention is to reflect on the relationship between waste-disposal, landscape properties, and our role as architects. The resulting object is a material consequence of our collective effort and engagement.