Ode to the Moon | Studio Paradisiartificiali

Ode to the Moon

This project was born under the sign of a “feminine duality.” One day, a young woman contacted us to design a home for her mother, who was far away at the time, so that she could come closer. We liked the idea of becoming a part of this intimate family plan, made up of solidarity between two generations and a strong feminine connection. We believe that the best things are always the result of sincere involvement, and if we want “Form to follow Emotion,” we must be unconditionally open to empathy.

For us, the project had to tell the story of this plan’s very existence. We wanted to capture the intensity of their relationship, to be witnesses of the gravitational pull between these two “stars.” Seeing relationships as akin to constellations, it made no sense to imagine ourselves observing these phenomena from within four walls. We had to invent something more open: secluded, yes, but certainly not enclosed.

We thus found ourselves projected into a “garden,” the quintessential space of interiority, inasmuch as it is a uniquely human interpretation of the idea of nature. One arrives at the garden just as a child might go to their mother. Thus, there was the desire to shape a psychological space, a meta-real place where our clients could find themselves, with respect not only to their concrete needs, but also to their need to feel represented in this moment in their journey.

This is why the project has a dreamlike inspiration, it wants to provide a home to our unconscious, too. Above us, on a floor made of red earth, rises a geometric pergola that draws nourishment from a circular fountain at its center. The carpet is simply a spring, and looking beyond the surface of the water, one can see an astronomical map etched on the bottom. In the distance, one can make out a narrow passageway guarded by two female figures who, like two vestals, invite us to cross the threshold of our consciousness.

So we enter and discover that the perimeters of the rooms, like those of our thoughts, are outlined by topiary hedges. We see some open bird cages. Now our mind is free of all boundaries. Our thoughts are free to roam. The keys hanging everywhere from the leafy branches remind us that we alone can choose how to use them: whether to lock ourselves in or to open up to new horizons.

Where the intense green of the leaves or the red clay of the earth does not dominate, it is the white of the clouds that envelops us and fills every void.
Dusk is now approaching, and a magnetic presence leads us to the most hidden, secret point of the garden, the nymphaeum. Here, among the waters, time seems to stand still, and immersed in silence, we witness a rebirth... as a voice rises up to the Moon:

Oh, Moon,

I have crossed valleys and rivers to reach you.
I have slept on the bare ground and under the watchful gaze of an owl.
The more I sought the Way to find you, the more lost I became.

It was you who asked me to lose myself so that I would discover that there is no one way; there are many.
The creatures of the night guard your secret.
Queen of intuition, Queen of dreams. You defy reason.

I abandon myself to the oblivion of your hypnotic gaze.
The more I flee from the unknown, the more I desire you.
Not a warm embrace but an evanescent caress you have for me.
Not a clear image, but an arcane vision.

A silver mirror reveals your face, but it was only an enchantment.
I drive into your opaline veil, the illusion of drinking from your fountain.
Then you silently vanish, and everything around me falls silent.

In an endless cycle I keep searching for you
In an endless cycle I find my shadow.
Like a handmaiden faithful to her Queen
I come back to you, wrapped in the mystery of your icy Light.