Thekla
2022
Thekla is a spatial project that reimagines Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (1974), a text that guides readers through a series of unique, conceptual cities. What makes Thekla particularly intriguing is its demand for vast materiality. Calvino employs more than ten visual elements to depict this ever-evolving city—‘ropes, ladders, the leaded string’ are just a few of the tools used in its perpetual state of construction. Thekla’s development spans years, as its blueprint is mapped to the stars—an ever-shifting guide that ensures the city is never truly complete.
Cities and The Skies
THOSE WHO ARRIVE at Thekla can see little of the city, beyond the plank fences, the sackcloth screens, the scaffoldings, the metal armatures, the wooden catwalks hanging from ropes or supported by sawhorses, the ladders, the trestles. If you ask, “Why is Thekla’s construction taking such a long time?” the inhabitants continue hoisting sacks, lowering leaded strings, moving long brushes up and down, as they answer, “So that its destruction cannot begin.” And if asked whether they fear that, once the scaffoldings are removed, the city may begin to crumble and fall to pieces, they add hastily, in a whisper, “Not only the city.”
If, dissatisfied with the answers, someone puts his eye to a crack in a fence, he sees cranes pulling up other cranes, scaffoldings that embrace other scaffoldings, beams that prop up other beams. “What meaning does your construction have?” he asks. “What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city? Where is the plan you are following, the blueprint?”
“We will show it to you as soon as the working day is over; we cannot interrupt our work now,” they answer.
Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the building site. The sky is filled with stars. “There is the blueprint,” they say.
In response to Thekla being constructed in line with the stars, I found that archeoastronomy, particularly how historical star knowledge influenced design, led me to Heather Couper’s (2008) article on humanity’s evolving understanding of space over 5,000 years. Couper explores how structures like Stonehenge and the pyramids reflect ancient interpretations of the connection between Earth and the stars. She references the ‘Mirror of Earth’—a concept from Chinese astronomy that sees the heavens as a reflection of the land—echoing the essence of Thekla. Ancient Chinese records, such as those documenting Halley’s Comet, as shown above, in 240 BC, highlight the Han Dynasty’s advancements in astronomy, timekeeping, and seismography. I believe Calvino may have drawn on these ideas in shaping Thekla, given his scientific background.
My concept draws inspiration from Han Dynasty architecture calling back to its significance to astronomy. Since Thekla is modelled after the stars, many texts suggest that they reflect the heavens. In response, I sought to create a city that embodies balance yet teeters on the brink of collapse. Tensegrity models, built on applied physics, embody this idea—any slight miscalculation can lead to total structural failure.
Making Process…
In the three photos, I recorded the construction process of the more difficult-to-grasp aspects. The Bridge, the stacked houses and the tensegrity structure.
My final design illustrates Thekla’s perpetual state of construction, always on the brink of collapse. To enhance the experience, I enveloped the design in a celestial projection, immersing it in the atmosphere it was meant to embody.
