Templo de Reflejo
Templo de Reflejo, spatially represents the land, the sacred, and the cultural ancestry of the Ilaló Mountain.
My work is a public art proposal for the Ilaló Mountain. It is a space to contemplate land, connect with the sacred, and ancestral culture. The space connects the viewer with nature and incites feelings of belonging and care.
Templo de Reflejo is a representation of the Ilaló. The curvature of the outer architecture replicates the mountains. When you enter the space you are entering Ilaló. The floor is made up of a rainwater water-mirror and a pathway that replicates the form of a Chakana. The lamps that fall from the ceiling represent the chakana, the condor, the colibrí and the preñadilla. The lights reflect on the water mirror creating an outer space atmosphere. They are intended to lead the viewer to the sublime and the uncanny.
Why?
Urban environments are in need of spaces where to connect with land and our culture. As a modern society we are disconnected from where we are and what came before us. We are in need of spaces that concentrate in the connection of subject-place to instigate environmental care and ancestral awareness. Templo de Reflejo is a suggestion of a new aesthetic able to make the viewer connect with place and thus provide cultural healing. For in the reflection of where we are and what came before us, we heal.
The Chakana
The Chakana is a millenary symbol form the native Andean cultures. The word Chakana is a quechua work that can be interpreted as "bridge towards the upper". The symbol shows the union between the lower world and upper world, the Earthly and the spiritual, the masculine and the feminine, the sun and the moon, time and space. The circular centre represents the inner duality of the universe, the unknown, the truth, the sacred.
Materials
The proposed materials are all sustainable. The material of the outer architecture is adobe, which takes local soil and has an earthly, orange tone that contributes to feelings of spirituality and calmness.
The water mirror would be composed of rainwater that is recollected in the outer structure and recycled.
Place
Cynthia Chamber’s conceptions of place written in her essay The Land is the Best Teacher I’ve Ever Had were used to respond to the initial question on why we need to connect with place. She discusses “the curriculum of place” and how land can teach the viewer about caring and reflection. Chambers discusses how by visiting these sites, as a form of pedagogy, people can learn from the land and its past (Chambers. 2006. 36). This learning incites a new connection with place that heals the historical broken relationship of subject-place. Templo de Reflejo concentrates in inciting a connection between subject and place in which the subject reflects about the past, cares, feeds the land, and feels belonging. Such connection is able to create environmental responsibility and ancestral acknowledgement which provokes cultural healing.
Phenomenology of space- The Process of Creation
For the production of the space, I researched different approaches to the phenomenology of space. Phenomenology of space studies space through the direct experience of the inhabitant (Borch. 2014. 91). This philosophical area helped me understand where to start in regard to sparking emotions of connection with land in the viewer. Spatial theorists like Gernot Böhme, Juhanni Palaasma, and Olafur Eliasson have specific approaches on how to create a space using phenomenology and I used their notions to guide my production.
According to Böhme, to produce an atmosphere one must first define it through other concepts, for it is created through “aesthetic constellations” (Böhme. 2014. 48). Templo de Reflejo is defined by manifestations of the co-presence of subject, place and object. In my thesis, the atmosphere of the space is defined by place (the Ilaló mountain), ancestral history (Tola Chica Culture), and sacred symbolism (the chakana, the the condor, the colibrí, and the preñadilla). These concepts were transposed formally into the space. Place was transferred into the form of the public artwork, the figure is an imitation of the Ilaló Mountain. The Tola Chica culture and the sacred symbolism were incorporated through the Chakana pathway that makes up the floor and the chakana and animal lamps that bring light to the space. The junction between sociology and space helps understand human nature and behavior spatially, within relation to place. My conversation with the comuna Tola Chica helped me understand these concepts and thus define the overall atmosphere of the space. (Adruango, et al. 2021).
Once I understood the “aesthetic constellations” that defined the atmosphere of Templo de Reflejo, I proceeded to define my intention. Olafur Eliasson talks about urban atmosphere and puts attention into intentionality: “intentions by city planners, governments, everyday users- inevitably embody an ethical stance, a suggestion about how to interact with others” (Borch. 2014. 21). There needs to be a focus on urban atmospheres to incite a better relationship with place. Atmosphere is able to simulate activities and guide the imagination of the inhabitants. Place, space and atmosphere make us mimic their intentionality creating an iteration of the same ambiance in our physical bodies. My intention when creating Templo de Reflejo is to connect the subject land, the sacred, and the cultural ancestry, and this intention is transferred in my choice of materials, my creative process, and production. The materials and technology that I proposed in Templo de Reflejo are directly linked to the land. Adobe and rainwater are the main components. Adobe is a mixture of soil from the same location mixed with water and other additives that make it stronger. The rainwater will be gathered through a recollection process and will use it to compose the water mirror of the temple. Since the space is aiding in the connection to land, I found it very important to make it sustainable. To make the project sustainable, I collaborated with a civil engineer to make the space powered by solar panels. He created a preliminary line diagram to represent the sustainable energy system. Neri Oxman’s views on material ecology can dialogue with Eliasson’s notions of intentionality and this conversation was transposed in the project through the use of materials (Oxman. 2010. 27-52). My creative process incorporated the collaboration with the Tola Chica community and an honest discussion of land acknowledgement. The coproduction of my thesis reflects my intentionality in every creative decision for Templo de Reflejo.
Once I stablished my intentionality, I could begin to create the space formally through the lens of the viewer. As Juhani Palasma suggests, I concentrated in the seven sensory qualities of the space created: vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, muscle and skeleton. The visitors of Templo de Reflejo, will visually enter the gigantic Ilaló mountain, and will hear silence, for the “most essential auditory experience created by architecture is tranquility” (Pallasma. 2007. 25). The subjects will taste and smell the rainwater that makes up the water mirror of the temple and the freshness of the adobe material. Their muscles and skeletons will be guided to transport through the temple by the Chakana pathways. Focusing on the seven sensory qualities helped me produce the space from the perspective of the direct experience of the subject in the space. Through each sense, I intent for the viewer to connect with place.
Single Line Diagram
The following line diagram represents the electrical footprint for Templo de Reflejo. The space is powered by solar panels making the electricity of the space sustainable.
* Line diagram made by Engr.Jose Ignacio Fernandez-Salvador
