TabulaRasa

Tabula Rasa is the epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. Proponents of tabula rasa disagree with the doctrine of Innatism which holds that the mind is born already in possession of certain knowledge. In Western philosophy, the concept of tabula rasa can be traced back to the writings of Aristotle who writes in his treatise “Περί Ψυχῆς” (De Anima or On the Soul) of the “unscribed tablet.” In one of the more well- known passages of this treatise he writes that: Haven’t we already disposed of the difficulty about interaction involving a common element, when we said that mind is in a sense potentially whatever is thinkable, though actually it is nothing until it has thought? What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing-tablet on which as yet nothing stands written: this is exactly what happens with mind.

Suggestion #1

Proportion

Suggestion #2

Memory

Suggestion #3

Light

Suggestion #3

Material

The genesis of the shape drew inspiration from the ancient mine entrance. Since you enter you have the filing to cross a gate that leads you into a quite dark space, like an extrusion of this ancestral shape. The walls of the hut bend toward the surrounding landscape, so that the window can frame a specific point of view, like a picture inside a room.

By collecting soil in bags we define a semi-indoor space, putted at the top of the Landfill of Noyelles. After climbing the mountain and training the body, you can reach this peaceful place and recover. You can lay on the bench, breath, meditate, and climb the little stairs to look through the window. Far away another “terril” is staring at you and reminds you to another potential TabulaRasa hut on the top of it. An infinite chain of meditation spots looking one to each other could connect the whole territory of the north of France mining area. Since the TabulaRasa is a space of meditation, several activities connected with the mind and body health can be held inside and around the hut. Yoga class, meditation sessions, psychological training and even philosophical enquiries can be hosted in TabulaRasa