In a world that is perceptually becoming more immaterial, societies paradoxically rely on more material resources to facilitate the mirage of endless consumer goods. The fleeting nature of our experiences, objects, and buildings has left us disillusioned and dependent on economically driven building practices that perpetuate negative material habits. As building waste reaches a critical threshold, new construction must evolve to be intelligently responsive to change rather than resistant to it.
In the year 2482, following bureaucratic collapse and the decentralization of economies, the New World Foundation of Material Impermanence was formed. Their mission statement goes as follows:
“We represent an Ever-New Architecture – a sacred unfolding between the seemingly permanent and ephemeral. Through layering material systems with varying degrees of permanence, we are shifting the conventional linear trajectory—design, construction, and eventual obsolescence—toward a cyclical process of regeneration. The ebbs and flows of the material world manifest as a tectonic logic that anticipates future changes and inevitable obsolescence. Our work transcends mere reflection of exploitative material practices, it represents a meditation on death as a core principle of life. It is our voices, thoughts, and symbolic stones – all waiting to be swallowed by the sands”.
