Paris Wheat
In my dream I can hear the bells, I can see sunlit fields of wheat swaying to them.
A golden balloon lifts a series of kinetic spires atop the Notre Dame de Paris’s roof on the morning of April 15th, 2024. Five years to the day of the destructive fire, as the French president proclaimed, new lightweight kinetic spires sway symbolically with the air currents as if they were a field of wheat above the city.
Paris Wheat is a project personifying centuries of the past and the future, being built entirely from gold leaf, in order to reflect the seemingly ever changing atmospheric conditions of the “City of Lights”. As day turns to night, and the cycle returns to day, Paris Wheat’s rhythms sync to the bells of Notre Dame, telling time in both new and ancient ways. In other words, the spires sway toward the Seine the same number of times the bells chime.
All the renderings of Paris Wheat are purposely at night. The project respects the existing historic cathedral, yet establishes the setting where darkness is defeated by a beacon glowing as a new landmark, by which to direct any citizen or guest not only within Paris, but within the cosmos.
In my dream I can hear the bells, I can see sunlit fields of wheat swaying to them.
A golden balloon lifts a series of kinetic spires atop the Notre Dame de Paris’s roof on the morning of April 15th, 2024. Five years to the day of the destructive fire, as the French president proclaimed, new lightweight kinetic spires sway symbolically with the air currents as if they were a field of wheat above the city.
Paris Wheat is a project personifying centuries of the past and the future, being built entirely from gold leaf, in order to reflect the seemingly ever changing atmospheric conditions of the “City of Lights”. As day turns to night, and the cycle returns to day, Paris Wheat’s rhythms sync to the bells of Notre Dame, telling time in both new and ancient ways. In other words, the spires sway toward the Seine the same number of times the bells chime.
All the renderings of Paris Wheat are purposely at night. The project respects the existing historic cathedral, yet establishes the setting where darkness is defeated by a beacon glowing as a new landmark, by which to direct any citizen or guest not only within Paris, but within the cosmos.
Location: Paris, France
T. Joseph Surjan - design scientist & writer
S. H. F. Surjan - project architect & digital modeling
Luca Surjan - creative director
T. Joseph Surjan - design scientist & writer
S. H. F. Surjan - project architect & digital modeling
Luca Surjan - creative director