Terminus: Αn Alchemic procession in a post lunar landscape

Participation in the global architectural competition “Shandong
mining park” by Non Architecture Competitions :
The quarry site is being transformed into a concentration machine, aiming at redefining the human-nature relationship. Through intense spiritual changes, visitors are initiated into a ritual process of awareness. By Terminus we mean an end point in space-time, the end of a continuum. To get there one participates in two first stages. Entering the first stage you are confronted with four underground memory rooms, structured in a tower-like form with ramps. These spaces are a transcript of the four hells of Buddhism and aim to alert the
visitor to his brutal intervention in the landscape. The next stage after the vigilance is meditation. The contact with nature is redefined as a primary process through a sanctuary, dedicated to it. The labyrinthine form of the space is composed of a set of mirrors that in combination with the four elements of nature intensify the sanctity of the space and aim at the purification of the landscape from man-made intervention through the traditional jingxiang ritual. The terminus is a contemporary garden of Eden, a deconstructed ying-yang, a place of opposites where through a game of views and movements, the bodily need to enjoy the forgotten nature is celebrated. The above stages, apart from their symbolic character, are able to function as individual spaces (exhibitions, park, chapel, etc.) as well as a whole festival park with respect for nature.
Team: Lountzis Georgios Dionysios, Nikolaidi Galini, Fouskas Petros