ENTOPOEIA

Entopoeia is curated by KAAF as a structural narrative inspired by Onomatopoeia Architecture, the international exhibition held during the first quarter of 2025 at the Former Tobacco Factory in Athens. Onomatopoeia Architecture was organized by Medexpo and the Technical Chamber of Greece, as a parallel event to The Architect Show, in collaboration with Kengo Kuma & Associates. Dedicated to the renowned Japanese architect and his body of work, the exhibition explored the poetic interplay between material, space, and human experience.

Can a sound lexicon acquire spatial structure and become the core of a multi-story building?

“Entopoeia” is a tower of concepts based on the 13 Onomatopoeias of Kengo Kuma. After an open voting process, the 13 Onomatopoeias are ranked in ascending order of preference, and have become the corresponding levels of the vertical building structure. Each floor is algorithmically parameterized according to the design principle of each concept and consists of 1 to 3 material combinations. The construction of the Tower of Entopoeia is realized using modern 3D printing technologies, creating the physical Onomatopoeia, while its digital version uses AI technology and is presented as a spatial narrative, at one of the most prominent locations in Athens, based on the public voting results of the exhibition.

The Tower of Entopoeia is generated through three gestures. The first gesture relates to the condition of rotation. The 13 Onomatopoeias presented in the exhibition in a horizontal layout, in ascending order, are rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, creating the database of the tower’s levels and are integrally related to Kengo Kuma’s evaluation system. In this way, each sound lexicon represents one level of information across a total of 13 levels. The second gesture concerns the re-evaluation of the 13 sound lexicons through the value system, as equal spatial structures are generated via algorithmic processes. Each spatial structure corresponds to 13 concepts that correspond to the 13 levels, forming the tower of concepts. After the announcement of the public voting results, the 13 spatial structures are placed in ascending order from bottom to top, creating the primary structure of the Tower of Entopoeia. The third gesture involves the interaction and sliding of the sound lexicons from the primary evaluative system of Onomatopoeia with the evaluative system of spatial structures, arranged at their positions based on public voting.

The variability of the diffusion between the spatial structures is achieved through the secondary processing of synthetic forces, making the evaluative system eternal, as any change in the vertical arrangement creates a different spatial condition.  For instance, the Onomatopoeia "PARA PARA," which belongs to the first value system and represents the first classification, is linked to the spatial structure "GURU GURU," the top Onomatopoeia in the public vote. If public preferences shift, the extent of secondary processing of the concepts also changes, resulting in multiple interpretations for reading the Tower of Entopoeia.

The construction of the prototype was deemed essential for understanding the spatial scale of the concepts and served as a tool for reinterpretation of space and time. The construction is made from powder via 3D printers, and the level arrangement is held together by small-scale magnets. The prototype of the Tower of Entopoeia serves as a field for the interpretation of multiple spatial searches, capturing in a snapshot the variability of the digital design process. In this way, the timelessness of the values of each concept is enhanced, combined with the changing perception of the prototype by each individual through their memory and experiences.

The multiple spatial narratives, combined with the use of AI technology and the public voting, can produce different morphological experiments. The favorite materials of Onomatopoeia, according to the public vote, are represented in the Tower of Entopoeia, enhancing the vital tension of its structure. Meanwhile, the choice of positioning the observer on one of the seven hills of Athens forms the building as an object of observation, from the hill to the Attican landscape. The Tower of Entopoeia becomes both a subject and an exhibit, a journey and integration with the city’s history, a condenser of meanings and memory. The Tower of Entopoeia becomes a conceptual tool balancing between form, meaning, space and time.