OMICRON MONOLITH

OMICRON MONOLITH

*Collaboration

• Project: Studio Anna Heringer, Lehm Ton Erde / Martin Rauch
• Construction, architectural planning: Mori Stefano

The project

The project is composed of three sculptures – the zeppelin, the monolith, and the pool – which serve as meeting rooms for the workers. The aim is to create an atmospheric space of high quality for the employees of Omicron, and at the same time to make a social-economic impact by involving a high amount of local craftsmanship and development organization from the global South.

The Zeppelin is a meeting room up in the air that glooms in the night and illuminates the space. The structure is made of timber, covered by an outside layer of handwoven non-violent silk from a leprosy project in India called Little Flower.

The Monolith is the most experimental structure of these three. It is an attempt to bring the most basic building earth technique – the Zabur – as it is used in Ghana as an example for Austrian laws and regulation systems. It is a two-storied structure with only 15 centimeters thick non-stabilized clay walls including a load-bearing clay dome. Earth functions closest to the human body in the exchange of heat and moisture; it also dampens noise and absorbs smells, significantly enhancing the quality and comfort of interior spaces.

The pool formed out of a landscape of earth is an open, playful, and communicative area, which is located below the zeppelin, on the side of the monolith.