Meta-Verge is a journey from solitude and uncertainty to a collective experience, a feeling of belonging, where users feel a sense of community, in a beautiful garden setting with views out to the horizon. Almost experiencing heaven on earth.
The idea was to generate spaces that illustrate the dichotomy of (inclusion, belonging, and welcoming) to (isolation, separation & loneliness).
We have used water as an element acting as a threshold which performs as the transition from darkness to light, the emphasis being on one’s journey as they travel from the underwater depths of darkness and frost, breaking out towards a journey to the light. Transiting from solid, heavy forms with minimum visual or tactile experience, towards openness, light, & bliss.
The elevator pods act as apparatus, which transitions people across this threshold, where one can experience the two opposite emotions. The emphasis of our design scheme was on one’s journey transiting from darkness to light.
We have used solid and heavy forms with slits of textured glass with minimal visibility, in the depths of the ocean to almost create a sense of fear and uncertainty. As one ascending through space you see a play of light and shadow, architectural voids, treatment of exposed concrete contrasting with glass. The way light diffuses through the materials accentuates the journey, giving a person a sense of what is to come. A person gradually moves towards a glimpse of light which gets brighter and brighter.
The experience terminates in the top open plaza, where a person feels a sense of awe in a space which is filled with light, people and is rich and vibrant, and filled with gratitude towards the life we have.