Narrative Poem of the Second Element
Breathing new life into offshore oil rigs through adaptive reuse architecture, crafting sustainable museums and communities at sea.
Around the abandoned oil drilling platform, we initiated a profound and multi-layered exploration of adaptive reuse architecture. Offshore drilling platforms, with their powerful visual and emotional impact, stand as stark remnants of industrial achievement and ecological burden. Through an imaginative reimagining, the project "Narrative poem of the second element "transforms these obsolete structures into a dynamic and complex museum-residential hybrid, reinforcing land-sea connectivity and crafting a living narrative where water emerges as the central protagonist. Positioned between the deep sea, Mediterranean, and Adriatic waters, the design establishes a sophisticated threefold dialogue with natural environments, blending history, ecology, and architecture into a cohesive vision of renewal.
Runner-up Entry of Proximity Island by HAN JIN, YUNWEN YE, ZUYING LIU, and XIAOYA LIU
Design Methodology
1. Museum
The first architectural intervention revolves around water—the second element in ancient Greek cosmology—believed to be the fundamental origin and purifier of life. Here, adaptive reuse architecture serves as a narrative vessel, recounting stories of water, oil extraction, pollution, and ecological restoration. The project delves deeply into humanity’s evolving relationship with oceans, highlighting both exploitation and the urgent necessity of stewardship.
The museum's structural shell, sculpted through principles of stacking, separation, and dissolution, metaphorically captures human proximity to and estrangement from marine environments. Its deconstructed monumentality transforms interior spaces into evocative narrative landscapes. Visitors traverse spaces that reveal layered histories of industrialization, abandonment, and ecological awakening. Moreover, the design emphasizes the integration of renewable energy technologies, echoing the principles of recycling, regeneration, and the perpetuation of life both above the water’s surface and in its shadowy depths.
2. Residences
While the museum offers a retrospective lens on humanity’s past and present actions, the residential modules cast their gaze toward an aspirational future. Scattered residential blocks, reconnected through pedestrian bridges, foster a lively sense of community and collective identity. Green roofs, vibrant with indigenous vegetation, symbolize regeneration, while also contributing to biodiversity and local ecosystems.
The residences serve as short-term accommodations for a diverse range of occupants—artists, marine biologists, students, environmentalists, and displaced populations—each bringing new life and narratives to the platform. These living spaces are conceived not only as shelters but as incubators for interdisciplinary dialogue, creativity, and environmental stewardship. The elevated vantage points of the museum allow visitors panoramic views over the residential zones, offering a vision of a sustainable future where human settlements harmonize with marine environments.
3. The Pier and Maritime Corridor
Serving as both physical connector and symbolic passage, the outdoor pier and maritime corridor create a gradual transition between the terrestrial and aquatic worlds. Elevated 1.5–3.5 meters above sea level, the corridor operates as an experiential sensory device. Visitors are invited to interact with a variety of floating installations—ornamental cubes, navigational structures, and pollutant collection devices—each providing different tactile, visual, and cognitive experiences.
This corridor is not merely functional but experiential, simulating the emotional and environmental tension between humanity’s dominion and the ocean’s vast autonomy. Each design element emphasizes environmental fragility and resilience, offering a layered sensory journey that oscillates between playful exploration and deep introspection. The maritime corridor, through its adaptive reuse design, invites visitors to reflect on the fluctuating balance between exploitation and reverence, between the scars of the past and the hopes for a resilient future.
Through this visionary reinterpretation of adaptive reuse architecture, the transformation of offshore oil rigs transcends mere structural recycling. It becomes an emblematic act of ecological and cultural storytelling, breathing new purpose into relics of industrial excess. By reimagining abandoned giants as beacons of reflection, renewal, and sustainable coexistence, the project crafts a new legacy—one where humanity and the sea are not adversaries, but enduring partners in a shared future.
