Whether through the already classic virtual space or the fluid post-postmodernism, the sensation regarding the immediate future is that architecture hasn't quite managed to establish and adapt itself to the expanding realities. We consider that the architecture of the metaverse should embody generative and responsive spaces, infinite, and without material compromises. It is an old place waiting to be rediscovered and conquered by the ‘Presence of the Future’.
Not so differently, at the heart of Paris, Parc de la Villette stands as a symbol of deconstructivism, marking an era defined by Bernard Tschumi and his proposal to generate boundless space, where people can appropriate architecture without usage restrictions. This approach not only broke with conventions but also established a dialogue between space, movement, and experience. Today, we seek participants to adopt this same philosophy and venture into the metaverse with an open mind.
At the edge of the metaverse lies an empty realm of digital mesh, where variations populate the XYZ coordinates and promise new possibilities. With these concepts in mind, we present to the biennale "Villette-verse, the pavilion of many pavilions." Inspired by situationism, this pavilion will be a space where multiple realities, experiences, and structures coexist, evoking the feeling of being in different places at the same time. Instead of viewing space as a static and defined entity, we see it as a series of events and situations that can be constantly generated and transformed. Here, constructivism and parametricism help us populate the digital space without air or gravity.
The proposal initiates with a continually expanding 3D orthogonal grid, constructed from voxels - the fundamental spatial structures. These elements manifest and vanish through various formalizations: structure, viewpoint, opening, and intimacy. In parallel, these cells group together and interconnect through stairs, ramps, and walkways, establishing a grander hierarchy. This space is also populated by unusual objects that inspire us to envision new purposes for ownerless architecture, and discover the delightful coincidences born of generative processes.
Limits and size of the pavilion are flexible and anecdotal, seeking only to expand within the possible space and under the maximum number of polygons, battling against the computational constraints. That is why shape prioritises the complexity of space over the quality of geometry. In the early stages of the metaverse, even when liberated from the material, computational load remains the primary obstacle. Thus, the pavilion is mostly composed of surfaces without thickness, an effect dramatised in the representation of the material, distinguishing the two sides of the polygons in question; presenting a paper-like architecture that disappears under the right circumstances.
The pavilion aims to be both a tribute to Tschumi's follies and a fantastic exploration of what it means to build in a domain of generative possibilities without physical barriers. Metaverses within metaverses: we invite participants to approach the idea of growth, variation, and appropriation within the Villette-verse; and to “find places for presence in the future”.