Ensamble Studio

Ca'n Terra: Architecture of the Earth – Virtual Exhibition

Ca’n Terra transforms an abandoned quarry in Menorca to make imaginative architectures about reading space, recycling landscape, and quarrying light.  The architects propose “a trip to the interior being of matter, and recognize the freedom with which it gives us spaces to live.”

This interactive virtual exhibition immerses viewers in three areas of the architects’ creative process from observation to materialization: Discovering (The Scan), Carving (The Action), and Living (The Atmosphere).  Initially, 3D laser scans “drew” the quarry’s interior in the darkness to precisely record its existing structure. Next, varied interventions, especially carving light, and then adding bare necessities, made the space habitable while preserving the “essential layers of time.”  Living in Ca’n Terra invites us to think about the essence of habitation and the direct relations between human actions and nature.

In the online virtual tour, we interact with these processes through on-site scans, maps, and spherical images. As we glide from room to room, virtual reality allows us to seamlessly explore by using hyperlinks to original-state images, construction images and videos, 3D scan “drawings”, texts, ambient/living videos with audio, time-lapses and high-res images of the present. It is through experiencing Ca’n Terra’s spaces that we immerse ourselves in an Architecture of the Earth, understand its properties and values, and reassess what comfort means.

We are pleased to present this experimental exhibition for audiences to contemplate nature and our futures beyond using the land as source for endless exploitation.