The three entries

A sanctuary for reflection and which inspires travel, as an inner pathway. This is, in a nutshell, the key concept of "The journey" project. The micro-architecture consists of simple metal profiles and a metal sheet base, ballasted also using local stones.

The internal and external border of the "volume" is formed by reused elastic ropes. The coloured ropes allude to a interpenetration of two different volumes, grafted onto a base with a different shape (the external one is square and the inner one is circular).

Before arriving at the core, there is a sort of ring route and the journey begins. The interior is a "kind of vantage point towards the sky, so the installation symbolises a new-found relationship between primary elements, namely the sky and the earth that visitors come into contact with as they pause in the centre of the installation. The simplicity of this relationship between elements also represents a return to the origins," Martina Ruini further explains. The architect adds: "the young designers wanted to develop a reflection on the precarious nature of human permanence in the life of our planet, and on the changes we are involved in, which are much more important and powerful than us". Over time, nature will take over the structure, colonising it. Thus the installation will blend into the surrounding vegetation.

The project draws inspiration from the Buddhist principle (esho funi), according to which humans and the environment are more than just interdependent, they are one. As human beings, we are inseparable from nature and our environment reflects our inner selves: this is the inspiring principle of the project. Ruini explains: "By referring to the Buddhist principle, the designers explicitly return the relationship between humans and nature to centre stage". The structural similarities between the human body and trees (the vertebral column is comparable to the trunk, branches are the arms, sap is the blood, etc.) become a source of inspiration. In particular, the designers focus on the blood-sap analogy as in trees, the latter conveys nourishment to branches and leaves, all the way to the human heart.

Entering the heart of a trunk is the action that brings to life a symbolic space for meditation on the Buddhist principle. The installation mainly consists of wooden trunks which make room for a cavity in which a seat is placed. "The visitor is invited not only to reflect, but to interact with the natural element, which is also a work of art" the architect from the firm MC A explains once more. The internal space contains a series of mirrors set in some of the trunks. Different inclinations result in a variety of reflections of surrounding nature and the user.

Here the inspiring principle stems from the physics of reverberation: it can be said that each sound impulse interacts with its surroundings and so the permanence of a sound in an environment depends on the capacity of bodies to reflect or absorb sound waves.

Each passage is recorded and persists in the environment; mankind, as a minuscule fragment, participates in this perpetual concert. "Stop and listen to this incredible sound you are participating in" is the implicit invitation of this project proposal for a portal conceived as a musical instrument in the wood, inspired by the verses of Fernando Pessoa: "If I listen, I hear your footsteps. Existing as I exist."

Martin Ruini also highlights how "The most interesting aspect of this project is that the installation does not create a space." The visitor can interact with it by activating the pieces it is made of. A playful element, consisting of portals holding together wooden blocks arranged in parallel lines, all free to move and rotate around the steel strings supporting it.

The wind is the driving force and the installation itself is the musical instrument. Blocks made from different wood varieties will have different densities and specific weights, so they will emit different sounds. Wood is perishable and will return to the earth over time. The designers themselves have launched the idea of building it in forests at risk throughout the world, as a symbol for raising awareness on the issue of forest ecosystem preservation.