Lausanne Jardin – La macchina meravigliosa

2008. International Open Competition, 2nd Prize, Project Realisation 2009

Through working on the new metro line M2, one immerses into the underground world, into the reality of tubes and tunnels which find their way through the history of earth, touching veins of stone, crossing different geological layers, leaving behind different time zones and reappearing on surface in precisely chosen place. The Metro is therefore perceived as a tunnel through time, like a journey to the centre of the earth à la Jules Verne. Through these geological layers, the water finds its way.

It is a new machine. The design of these corridors and fluid time-space areas are a simple basis for the construction of new underground space. An incredible machine, connecting different spaces, a ramificated infrastructure, fascinating transit zones. The environment is composed of many machines, small artifacts, cameras, sensors, artificial lighting and invisible infrastructure. In this context, a new artifact is integrated into the system, that will share the metro conditions which asserts its independence from its surrounding environment: there is no daylight and no water. It is a living machine, which belongs to another time. We invent a small „paradiso terrestre“, a symbolic oasis, or a cocoon, which challenges one to recognise the rapid zapping between networks with which we are continually confronted. Right on the thin line between a scientific outfit and fascination with the image of beauty, our intervention is in permanent transformation.

The main components of the macchina are: a big shining water container on rollers, wherein lies the cocoon: a small aquarium with floating moss, equipped with a water pump and light. The cocoon is atop an overhead projector, which functions by use of a lense-system projecting the moos, onto a tunnel wall. The projections create both sharp and blurry depictions of shadows; mosses form spatial, manifold branches in innumerable sizes acting in motion. Across the span of three months, the projection should show the different growth variations of the moos.

Carola Antón, Dominique Ghiggi, Corina Rüegg.

Client: City of Lausanne.