THE HOSPITABLE WALL
Protected pockets and a continuous migration
Migration, movement from scarcity to abundance or excess to balance, is a continuous process. The continuing navigation of individuals or collectives across a landscape of varied states has the potential to create a myriad of possible conditions.
The Hospitable Wall is a spatial translation of such a migration phenomenon. The installation creates a series of protective pockets, that individually provide shelter from the wind and precipitation at different moments.
The longitudinal structure is oriented perpendicularly to the shoreline, and a semi see-through membrane allows limited communication through it. When seeking shelter people engage with the fabric and their behavior physically affects the other side, pointing to the intricate and complex relationship of border conditions in general and the current migration debate. As people move around the wall they can always find a hospitable pocket to settle in, setting the scene for a continuous migration around the installation based on ever-changing environmental and spatial conditions.
Off-shelf timber elements and plywood sheets are used to build the lower rail on the previously leveled beach. This hollow wooden structure is then filled with sand from the beach to increase the weight. This part of the structure functions both as the seating area and fixture for the fencing mesh. The fabric surface is pre-fabricated off-site and tensioned on site. Prior to the installment of the mesh two steel columns are erected which are both rammed into the sand and stabilized with steel cables and sand pegs.
