Minnari Lee

The Creature

‘The Creature’ explores a new form of offshore infrastructure: a ‘living entity’ that serves as a mediator, intertwining ‘hard’ mechanical networks with ‘soft’ biophysical dynamics.  

This entity can be seen as a regenerative farmer of the North Sea—growing seaweed and fish, desalinating seawater, harvesting energy from waves, and transporting these sea products to nearby cities such as IJmuiden. People live in close proximity to its activities and engage in its construction, operation, and maintenance in exchange for the ‘harvest’.  

By providing the ‘artificial interface’ where these material flows are conducted, The Creature aims to help redefine, on one hand, our somewhat forgotten relationships with resources, landscapes, and non-humans, and on the other hand, reconceive the way we use technology. Ultimately, it seeks to replace the way conventional infrastructure operates within our engineered environment. This is also a critique of the latter, which often involves the brutal removal of unwanted –mostly natural– elements for its efficient operation and primarily serving humans and their needs.  

This project establishes the theoretical concepts, which are confined to the realm of abstraction, and presents a concrete model through more tangible architectural practice. The ideas are communicated through diverse formats, including a short film, texts, paintings, and a sculpture. In this way, this vision slowly materializes on the horizon of the North Sea in the form of ‘The Creature'.  
 

Graduation date: 29 January 2024
Graduation committee: Jeroen van Mechelen (mentor), Jandirk Hoekstra  †, Marten Kuijpers
Additional members for the exam: Geurt Holdijk, Susana Constantino