#micro-architecture

#micro-architecture

In the valley of Pantalica, Italy, where more than 4,000 rock-cut tombs line the cliffs above the Anapo River, architect Leopold Banchini introduces Asympta, a temporary micro-architecture that shifts attention away from the necropolis and toward the unknown architecture of the living. Installed in Ortigia in 2025 and traveling to Pantalica in 2026 for the COSMO festival, the structure reflects on the prehistoric civilization embedded within the Syracusa-Pantalica UNESCO World Heritage landscape, proposing a speculative shelter rooted in place rather than in archaeological reconstruction.

Most contemporary lamps are adjusted with a dimmer on the cord, a touch sensor on the base, or a slider in an app. That makes light feel like another setting in a menu, slightly detached from the object itself. There is something satisfying about changing light by physically moving parts, as if you are sculpting both the fixture and the atmosphere around it, which is what smart bulbs and app-controlled RGB strips quietly leave out.