1588 storeys — Zwimpfer and Partners call the module PileUp; it is about compressed, stacked living. However, there are limits to how much the earth can be burdened. I had a geological study conducted on the construction site in Rheinfelden. It would take 1588 PileUp modules stacked on top of each other for the earth to give way underneath.
The displacement force would push the earth aside creating a mound that is relatively
low but eight metres wide. I recreated
the consequences of such base failure in the courtyard of the horseshoe-shaped estate. The upward heave is planted with a ground cover of 700 m². According to the calculations, 100 m² on the surface of the earth would remain intact down the middle of the courtyard. I turned this into a path and covered it with hand-glazed ceramic tiles. The resulting landscape can be interpreted on different levels – in painterly, (carto)graphic and physical (fired clay) terms.
