Project by Tingyu Cao
Tears of the Anthropocene stages the body as witness and participant in ecological crisis, turning tears and breath into a cycle of contamination and return. Toxic Rituals narrates Minamata disease in section, tracing mercury pollution from industrial discharge through marine life to human remains and inherited harm. Filtering Memory reframes remembrance as filtration rather than preservation, guiding visitors from fractured recollection toward clarity through light, sound, and atmosphere. Synthetic Hydro-Atmospheric Garden proposes a floating system for Pier 45 that uses water-driven processes for passive cooling by day and stored energy for illumination at night. Together, the projects position architecture as a medium for revealing slow environmental processes, where perception, material systems, and ecological consequence intertwine.