This project questions whether the existence of an aesthetic desire can trigger a desire to create something beyond the object or image itself. This idea is investigated through the metaphor of the orchid, an aesthetically beautiful object that is known to provoke responses of obsession and desire. It is supposed that through this, we may find a place where the desire may live and learn what an architecture of desire could be.
The inspiration to construct a subterranean collector's chamber is the architecture of desire for the scientist and senior researcher from Kew Gardens. He has a passion for studying orchids and this desire for knowledge about the orchids is expressed through his work, collection and new discoveries about this living organism. The Scientist lost his own plants and has a desire for a place where he can store and collect orchids.
"The botanical complexity of orchids and their mutability makes them perhaps the most compelling and maddening of all collectible living things... To desire orchids is to have a desire that can never be fully requited. A collector who wants one of every orchid species will die before even coming close." (Orlean, 1995).
SITE:
Site master plan in Royston Town
Cave plan
Orchid's Collector Chamber
A_Entry to Cavernous Chamber
Atmospheric Revelation
Excessive Entrance
B_Light Testing Room
Light Podium
Podium Approach
C_Orchids Exhibition Space
Underground Exposition_1
Underground Exposition_2
D_Collector's Laboratory
Cloning chamber
Scientist Table
E_Cultivation zone
Orchids cultivation passage
Orchids intermission
