SPOLIA
INTRODUCTION
“SPOLIA” is a study on the identity and evolution of architecture in the virtual age. Each work within this series is a unique exploration of modularity - or “interoperability” - as a framework for new design languages and metaverse vernacular. The future web is one of countless worlds and multi-layered realities. As the XR movement takes shape and 2D evolves into 3D, the discipline of architecture will be forced to go far beyond physical form. SPOLIA is a body of work created to explore this moment of metamorphosis for buildings and cities as they navigate both real and unreal futures.
Left - Casa di Rienzi, Rome (photograph ca. 1855). Right - SPOLIA prototype assembled with ARQs + ROOMs (2024).
MONUMENT, MYTH & MEMORY
This project draws deep inspiration from the archeological term of the same name - spolia - which refers to the construction practice of reusing design elements between old and new structures. This practice has taken place throughout history, but perhaps most notably across the Roman Empire between the Classical Era and the Middle Ages. During this period, stone elements that were used for ancient structures were repurposed and collaged directly into medieval buildings. Ancient ionic columns, pediments, tombstones, and corinthian capitals became a blend of building features across cathedrals, towers, castles and countless other examples. The reason for the re-use of these ancient relics was a mix of construction practicality and nostalgia of a past era. Today, in Rome, medieval brick buildings still carry scattered markings of an ancient empire made of marble. There, buildings are like palimpsests of earth and stone, where voices speak out from history to guide new architectures as they emerge from the ground.
On a practical level, ancient marble was an incredibly high-quality material and made for easy recycling. In many cases, it didn’t matter what it was originally used for. In other instances, stone ruins were reused or incorporated more intentionally, even symbolically. In Ankara (Turkey) the ruins of a Roman temple were used to reinforce the city’s defensive walls. Many of these stones were actually inscribed with crosses in an attempt to cleanse the artifact of its pagan origins, but also to reinforce the new structure with the auspicious powers of ancient deities.
As cities have come and gone, spolia has long served the role of a great storyteller. Like the rings of a tree, these remixed layers of material and artifact would fill the voids between each epoch and help those of us in the future remember and perhaps even revere the structures of the past.
Above - a virtual walkthrough of SPOLIA volume I in Unreal Engine.
REAL TO UNREAL
Journeying into new, unreal dimensions - SPOLIA serves as a bridge. Presently, we’re circling an event horizon where extended reality (XR; VR, AR, MR) and AI will rapidly rebuild our flat 2D web experience into immersive, all-consuming virtual worlds. Web pages are becoming dynamic environments and cursors have evolved into avatars. As physical and digitized realities collide, so do their respective spatial and experiential languages. With SPOLIA, a new virtual vernacular is being play-tested and with it come the mixed-in memories and relics of the physical world. These are the critical cues that aid our understanding of a new place. Each, an artifact of nostalgia that help to ground us as we navigate the impossible.
