1588 étages

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.