Located on the side of a cliff in Porto, Portugal, "Lost Wax on the Cliffside" was designed to act as a sculpture, structure, museum and fabrication facility. Exploring questions regarding the lifecycle of artworks from idea to destruction, the facility was designed to reinforce the identity of the area whilst transforming the delapidated cliffside.
Exploiting the carved facets of the cliff previously used for railway lines, the structure both over hangs the cliff as a positive addition and burrows into the cliff face creating more intimate space.
The project was named after the sculptural process of lost wax casting. This ancient process uses a series of wax, plaster and ceramic positives and negatives to create a final metal sculpture. Using new technology, several of these processes could be replaced allowing sculptures to easily transfer from the digital realm to reality as a physical object.
Encouraging viewing for the entirety of the work's lifespan invited the public in to view the creation of the art, creating within itself a performance. The form of the building is informed by both the concept of an inverted amphitheatre and the functional loop of modern fabrication.
The staggered form of the build aimed to seperate methods of fabriction to increase understanding in the public whilst large windows created swathes of natural light.
The sloping nature of the overall form pointed gazes back twards the city of Porto, highlighting the UNESCO world heritage site at the centre and the surrounding landscape
Initial concept sketch
Initial site consideration sketch
Exploded axonometric of build with annotation
