The Spiralled Chasm

In animate worlds, many layers of existence are accepted and allowed to persist and intertwine, as everything—from the earth, inanimate objects, plants, and celestial bodies—is allowed its own enigmatic existence as other beings. What can we learn from this perspective of treating everything as alive and intertwined in conscious conversation? What does it mean to be “alive” in an interconnected and interdependent world? And how can this perspective of a fully “alive” world translate itself into our architecture? By diving deeper into this question of what it means to be “alive,” can other ways of being be understood, uncovered, and seen as equally valid in their experience and expression? This is a voyage into the realms of what our current frameworks have neatly defined as our “other” and proposes novel ways of interrelating and entering into conversation with the non-human elements that exist among us. This work will propose new methods for architectural site engagement that seek to honour and foster a deep respect for the agency of our world’s “others” by journeying through the senses, honouring the embodied experience, and employing heightened perceptual attunement. This approach aims to create space—a gap—that can be offered to the non-human and left to be filled in and exist on its own terms.