Temporary Landscape Intervention for Illyrian Sites in Herzegovina

Through emerging agricultural technologies and newly exploitable Herzegovinian territories, the spontaneous new life of scattered Illyrian heritage has caught the author’s attention. Methods that ensure a meaningful coexistence of the very first and the latest layer of the Herzegovinian anthropogenic palimpsest are devised.

The proposal consists of a robust framework for the long-term survival of plantations - and burial mounds; then healing device for disturbed fort systems; then meditative devices for humans’ higher purpose. Water tank / The ever higher altitudes plantations occupy create a need for an independent water storage system. The water tank prototype, like fort ruins, is its own gentle imprint on the landscape; it's an expandable field of large polyethylene pipes arranged under a thin layer of mechanically crushed soil. It receives water from deep wells that use the abundance of underground waters - currently a privilege only for large producers. To stabilize the new soil, rows of resistant native bushes are planted between the pipes. With a system of water tanks flanking fort ruins, protective infrastructural zones that encompass forts are established, and burial mounds will hopefully continue to be integrated in new and more resilient landscapes. Mist field / Since a simple pasture layer is sufficient to protect forts from erosion, a delicate healing device for endangered forts is designed. A field of poles connected to the water tank sprinkle fine mist from a leveled height - an abstract plateau that vibrates due to a two-part main element: a stand and a slender flexible pole with a hanging concrete weight at the bottom. The field pendulates, even harmoniously at times. Torus / Over a chosen fort, a colossal inflated torus floats. It could be perceived as equally sublime and extremely profane since it features an LED display: mere 75 thousand diodes on the inner chambers, facing outward, project soft, diffused visuals. Suspended above a ruin, a higher-tech device serves both as a visible sign and a device for ritual-like experience. Gangway / Finally, a device for contemplation and observation - a long platform that offers a gradual separation from the ground and movement among moving poles’ peaks. It is the only human scaled device, though its narrowness individualizes its use.