POLYONTOLOGY

A Parafictional Study of Plastic Fossils

Competition

Team _ Gary Polk, Jungjae Suh

Polyontology rejects the notion of monument as savior, instead emphasizing the power of stories as a means of communicating through time. It proposes a series of objects that contain fossils of plastic forms from generations past. These objects adopt the form of a classic architectural element - the column, or its non-load bearing counterpart, the pillar - that populate a variety of fields suited to their site.

Each pillar is wrapped with molds that are made from the synthetic plastic waste found on its specific site, making the monument both a memorial and a shrine. The formal qualities of the site’s plastic waste transpose themselves onto the pillar, creating a varied typology of surface articulations and patterned geometries, each with their own spatial ramifications when surrounded by their respective siblings.

The monument, therefore, becomes a reflection of the site and its history with plastic. Sites will differ by topography, scale, function and culture, making each monument unique in configuration and the plastic waste used.

Pillars are constructed through a cast-in-situ process and adopt a fast-forwarded archaeological approach of fossil (re)discovery. The process utilizes local plastic waste that may or may not be categorized by plastic type, scale, or object typology. The nature of the categorization determines the variety of pillar aesthetics and spatial qualities; pillars can range from pure hybrids, invoking the diversity of plastic used during the site’s history, or they can be designed to reflect specifics, such as industrial pillars molded from plastic packaging and containers, or consumer pillars molded from mass-produced one-time-use objects. Pillars may be constructed in proximity to share fossils, creating immersive spatial relationships and preserving fossils in their entirety.