Bounding Portals
Graduate Thesis 2022
Jorge de Ovando
Graduate Thesis 2022 Provocations Positions Project
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Thesis Statement The digital boom communications have lately experienced due to the pandemic accelerated the development of early versions of the Metaverse. Some platforms aiming to be easily accessible to broader types of users have been launched.
The Metaverse lives through digital worlds that activate parallel realities where users, embodied in avatars, can interact, create, trade, and experience within virtual forms of space.
In my curiosity to learn further and get familiar with a couple of metaverse platforms, such as decentraland.com, I could instantly perceive a capitalist-driven character implanted. Everyone can create random spaces, most of them with no other purpose than attract people to a buy and sell experience. A typical market-based environment is founding the Metaverse's first steps. In order to reverse this conception, a new set of values is needed to create more engaging, better-intentioned virtual worlds.
Given this, and in my interest to address these issues through an architectural project, I will develop an educational building that aims to resist the traditional systems currently leading the creation of most virtual prototypes.
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In a low-res, fast-moving- all accessible- virtual reality where everything is a spectacle and money grants all-access passes; How can we create a space fitting only those in resistance? How can we build a community allowing only those thinkers that imagine the Metaverse as an alternative hub of knowledge, equality, culture, and freedom of speech?
My project will analyze spatial boundaries through curated moments of transition that require a commitment to find and access fuzzy portals leading to the community spaces. Using the gaming behavioral logic of accumulation and reward experiences, the project will challenge the metaverse apparatus by designing inaccessibility through architectural language. Walls, doors, windows, exhibits, and detailed portals attempt to slow down the Metaverse accelerated ways of navigation. In this sense, the space will refuse those who are not allies and any forms of contemporary world violence.
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Week 01
First conversations (Mira Henry) Curiosity about Metaverse or digital spaces and how they relate to nature and how they affect physical space (aesthetic, tectonic, prgramatic). Microcity or mix used space ( living, commercial, office, etc..) Pull images produced by me with momentts of intensity, sense of realism and dream Aesthetic and visual sumptuousness, is interesting. Visual deliciuossness Idea of natureness, chaos, anthropic is more difficult to bring into architecture discourse begin to analyze porjects that explore the the ideas of boundary and challenge programatic conditions. ex. fun palace, 60s projects bubbles. Build assests from chaotic evironments, children beauty as starrtpoint Look into people that is theorizing and thinking about these topics Reach out Kevin & Stephani for library references Bringing the metaverse to life Express tension between possibilities
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Boundaries
Physical/ Aesthetics Digital Other worlds Metaverse
Architects Role in the virtual
Tension
Realism/Dream
Cae Lique Dolest Abo
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Inspirational References from personal work. Looking back to previous design studio work at SCI-Arc, I selected these images as ideas of projects that suggest a dreamy but iconic character. I question if architectural forms and spaces created using new design technologies should be implemented in the virtual realm.
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Harmony In The Wild — 2GBX Design Studio — Jorge de Ovando Harmony In The Wild — 2GBX Design Studio — Jorge de Ovando Elementary School — 2GAX Design Studio — Jorge de Ovando Office Competition— 3GAX Vertical Studio — Jorge de Ovando
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From the reading: What is the metaverse and why should we care? https://theface.com/society/what-is-the-metaverse-internet-facebook-siliconvalley-guide-augmented-reality “A series of alternate digital realities” is how Cathy Hackl, so-called Godmother of the Metaverse, puts it. It’s the internet in its next form, transformed by AR and VR into an immersive universe where humans will go to socialise, shop, work and live their lives. Much like how we jump between IOS and Windows, app to app or website to website, we’ll move between different metaverse platforms and worlds. Our online presence will be defined, not by our social media profiles, but by our avatars. Eventually, we’ll use VR to access these worlds, and the real world will be extended with AR, too. We’re creating a “1 – 1 map” of the planet, said tech writer Kevin Kelly in 2019, “and when it’s complete, our physical reality will merge with the digital universe”. Rather than having to go onto the internet, Hackl predicts, “we’ll be able to experience it all around us every single day”. Then there are the tech giants. Netflix’s 2020 doc The Social Dilemma showed us all-too-clearly how much control Silicon Valley has over our online lives. As the lines between the digital and the physical become increasingly blurred, tech companies will begin to have control over reality itself. It’s spooky stuff. But no need to freak out just yet – it’ll be a while before the internet swallows us whole. In the meantime, let’s just say it’s probably best that we watch this space…
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1. Adidas digital sneakers for sale in the metaverse 2. Avatar wearing branded collectibles 3. Polo virtual store
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1. Cae Lique Dolest Abo 2. Lorem Ipsum Dolor — Eicidentist
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Decentraland is playing host to six-figure deals as architects begin to embrace the metaverse https://archinect.com/news/article/150291058/decentraland-is-playing-hostto-six-figure-deals-as-architects-begin-to-embrace-the-metaverse https://theface.com/society/what-is-the-metaverse-internet-facebook-siliconvalley-guide-augmented-reality
Building in the space is, at least in theory, open to anyone, but a few studios that deal exclusively in metaverse architecture have come to be seen as standardbearers for an industry that has only recently begun imagining what applications the discipline might have in the digital realm. Entities such as Voxel (who designed now-famous NFT artist Beeple’s digital museum in another metaverse space called Cryptovoxels) and the affiliated Decentraland Architects offer specialized design services that can easily fetch up to $300,000 a project, according to a recent article in Fortune. One of those spaces is the relatively new Decentraland, a 22-month-old 3D platform that currently plays host to over 90,000 parcels of land subdivided into individual 9-square-mile plots which can command prices as high as $2.43 million as the cost of digital land has boomed in unison with the rise of NFTs. “I went all-in on the metaverse when I discovered the connection between NFTs & video games in February of 2021,“ Decentraland Architects founder Luca Arrigo said in a previous statement. “At the time, the most usable and fun metaverse activity was by far Decentraland. I dreamed up the idea of an architectural firm for Decentraland and used my digital marketing skills to build a web presence. For most of 2021, we did small projects — waifus, small buildings, a farm...then in November, we built our first project for a big client and got featured in the New York Times. Now we are regularly meeting with fortune 500 companies and established DAOs to help them build their first metaverse experiences. I hope to continue learning about new metaverses and figuring out what new opportunities our team can try our hand at.”
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How Will Architecture be Affected by the Rise of Blockchain Technologies like NFTs? 3D artist Alexis Christodoulou recently sold his rendering of nine varied “dreamscapes” in an online auction for over $340,000. Christodoulou had previously used the medium for escapist qualities and is now jumping on the NFT bandwagon to amass a fortune. His Instagram famous designs were inspired by a slate of prominent architects, have a real architectural quality, and showcase the benefits of paying attention to conceptual designers like Kim and Reisinger who have a strong foothold in the digital realm and can collaborate with architects that might otherwise overlook their practice as being somehow not relevant to the trade. Although the possibilities for NFTs and the design community seem tantalizing, some see its contributions and reach as being very limited: the product of a media phenomenon scared up more by the attention paid to high rolling cryptocurrency investors and not to the artistic endeavors into which their money is being poured. “I don’t think it’s particularly transformative,” Liam Young, an architect and lecturer at SCI-Arc told me when I reached him via email, “I’m not sure why finding new ways to participate in an art market we already know to be broken makes any sense for architects and equally the arbitrary construction of scarcity in order to establish value also seems to deny the potential of architectures wider cultural/social agency.” I’m not sure why finding new ways to participate in an art market we already know to be broken makes any sense for architects” - Liam Young Article from Archinect
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1. Impossible objects by Andres Reisinger
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1. Roar's Architetcture showroom in the metaverse ( Decentraland) 2. Rendering for a virtual space — Roar.
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Roar to open Meta Space studio to design property in the metaverse Emirati studio Roar has announced it is expanding its architecture and interior design business to the metaverse, where it has purchased land for its new showroom. Roar has bought two plots of digital land in the 3D virtual world Decentraland and intends to turn them into Roar Meta Space – a studio to design and develop property for the virtual environment. It sees the Roar Meta Space housing a commercial art gallery, a furniture showroom and store, a creative and business event space and an "experimental hotel of the future". Metaverse "not a passing fad", says Roar founder The studio's founder and creative director Pallavi Dean said it was "vital that Roar puts a flag in the ground in the metaverse". "The metaverse is clearly a lasting commercial phenomenon, not a passing fad, so we want – and need – to be there," said Dean. "We're already in advanced discussions with several
clients about really exciting projects." Expounding on her vision for the metaverse, Dean said that the metaverse had the advantage of removing two main barriers to creativity in architecture: safety regulations and budget. However, she plans to employ restraint, as she believes that successful design in the metaverse will be "relatable instead of ultrafuturistic or sci-fi". Meta Space an extension of designing with AR and VR Dean also encouraged architects and designers to view the metaverse as an extension of their current practice rather than a disruption. "This is not unchartered territory for us," said Dean. "Designing with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is second nature; it's how we work. They're the tools of our trade."
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1. A Data Chart 2. An image
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Provocations
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Week 03
Provocations Workshop with Liam Young Fragments from the workshop's conversation
Every thesis starts with a prompt that suggests a story What are the stories that only you can tell? What are the types of projects that only i can make or that i can make differently ( thesis is my chance to do that) create your own brief and my own narrative the way I think about it.
How do I want to position myself in thesis
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The Metaverse will come wether we like it or not General Notes - All cities are fictions - The urban architecture imaginary has been a canvas to deveolp new scenarios associating cultural and political issues - Provocative - Human centered design, normal is the problem - how can we be part of it to a - How do I want to position myself in thesis - FIlm , videogames, developent, et and make a project as the first step towards that - Use the time, support and space to develop this. Narrative of who you are as a designer - designing the model of practice and project References Xin & Yuting’s 2020 Thesis “Phygital Supermarket” https://liuxin.com/phygitalsupermarket-worlds From Devyn Weiser to Everyone 12:17 PM David Cronenberg Between 1975 and 1981, when it was commonplace for films to hide associations with Canadian identity, David Cronenberg made three horror films that were decidedly set in Montreal. Shivers, Rabid and Scanners made no attempt to disguise their location, taking full advantage of Montreal’s distinct modernist architecture as the backdrop for body horror apocalypses. Shivers (Starliner Towers) https://www.rogerebert.com/features/david-cronenberg-shivers-45-years Rabid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabid_(1977_film)
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Dual Realities An existent physical world recreated in the virtual. refernece shown in Liam Young's workshop from a videogame company that is mapping real places to create a digital version.
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1. City of Chernobyl 2. Virtual Recreation of Chernobyl by a videogame company
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rallel worlds?
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Week 04
A step into the Metaverse
Choosing a platform Decentraland was predominantly cited as a fast-growing and safe platform to invest and build through the articles and readings from my research. In this sense, I chose it as the experimental stage for my case study.
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Decentraland's home website Avatar Customizer Decentraland's map Parcels & worlds
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Creating my Avatar Your customizable avatar can wear collectible items available on Decentraland's marketplace
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Interphase Overview Navigate in different worlds through a map. All parcels are private and owned by a specific user.
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Creating Worlds Limited Resolution. The polygons and geometry are limited when building a world in any parcel (16x16m)
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Exploring Random Worlds Exploring several worlds helped me understand the platform's possibilities—the areas of opportunity for design and its limits.
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1. Exploring Decentraland's worlds 2. Exploring Decentraland's worlds 3. Exploring Decentraland's worlds
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Week 05
Building experiment
Imported custom geometry Program assets
As I was exploring decentral and as part of my research, I met a parcel owner with an empty lot that granted me access to build on his land. This week, I began familiarizing myself with the building components provided and exploring ways to bring new custom geometry. The number of polygons and textures permitted are limited, so the architecture or any design proposed should be conceived as low resolution. Nevertheless, I believe this will change in a few years.
Imported custom site
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My first attempt to build a world failed for exceeding the amount of geometry supported. In the Metaverse's early stages, the resolution and graphic requirements bound design possibilities.
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Week 06 Midterm Reviews
Think of buldings as communities or the idea of communities in the Metaverse. Utopic communities. Metaverse as a mirror of human societies and reflections of contemporary issues Find value in the interesting, narratives, critiques on how we use and conusme. Find different ways of conce[tualizing value.
What will happen when the metaverse breaks?
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References: Sondra Perry Ian Cheng
Digital spaces of criticallity, emancipation. The meta is now conceived as a big capitalist environment. What if we see it as a platform of engagement but criticizing the market like character.
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Research on Metaverse Communities Based on our crits last comments and advise. I began researching for the idea of communities on the metaverse. I found an interesting one called Bored Ape Yacht Club. BAYC is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs—unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card, and grants access to members-only benefits, the first of which is access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board. Future areas and perks can be unlocked by the community through roadmap activation.
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1. BAYC home website 2. BYAC Website capture
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Building experimentation.... I published my first attempt of a 3d model into dcentraland. Still need to work on decimate or propose lighter geometries and add colliders to provide boundary to walls, levels and circulations. Mira Review Digital spaces of criticallity, emancipation. The meta is now conceived as a big capitalist environment. What if we see it as a platform of engagement but criticizing the market like character. I have to ask in what way does this ideas can become a thesis? not just ideas of making something digital or new but to question. Alternative communitites? What are the values and goals of creating a space in the metaverse? Is there opportunity to have a new set of values in the space? How do you be critical of creating a new space of exchange and what are the values? ask Damian and Cassey about the metaverse and what the think about it? what is at stake? what are we arguing for? Create or imagine new frame works? maybe it is not creating a world within but creating or visualizinfg new systems or forms of organization. A new decentraland on my own points of view. Analytical Diagrams? Framework digrams and what would it mean to create a different one and how it shuffles things. How do you think about audience and community, for whom and how
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Process Diagram
Research Process
1 First Statement Curiosity about parallel worlds emerging in the Metaverse. What value or interest can architects bring into this virtual realm?.
2 Key Words Boundaries Physical/Digital Aesthetics Other worlds Tension Realism/Dream Relativity
3 Provocations Liam Young The Metaverse will come wether we like it or not What is our position towards emerging virtual platforms? Establish a prompt that suggests a story
4 Into the M
Chosing dec a starpoint t whith the m Understand possibilities limitations o platforms (d Exploring diff worlds.
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Critique System based on a capitalist / market environment. Values based primarily on e commerce The system has an embedded political non democratic character.
Metaverse
5 Building in the Metaverse
centraland as to get familiar metaverse. d the and of current decentraland). fferent
Taking 3d geometry into the platform to create custom buildings. Understanding the platform's limits for geometries support.
Ideas
Redefine communities in the metaverse. Ex. how could online education be possible in a virtual environment other than zoom. What would the spaces look like? Imagining mixed programs in the metaverse. Exploring the mixture of programs in an unbounded space (housing, school, entertainment) Edge conditions. How can we redifine boundaries in a world that allows forms detached from physical limits? public, private or levels of privacy. New Icons in the metaverse. How could buildings or spaces present themselves, facades - interiors, aesthetics, form.
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Provacations conversation with Marcelyn, Ana Neimark and Mira. Notes from conversation.. • • • •
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Manmade - natural edge Campus in the metaverse as a tool to bring other values in a self governed space that allows for educational trading. Try to relate this to low vs high or how the building can comunicate those values with actual architectural methods of scale and height. Texture in the metaverse related to scale ( does it relate to the real? or does it intend to be unfamiliar? how can texture define or comunicate values, solidity, nature , scale , warmth, etc. Do a new SCI-Arc in the metaverse? How do you think about audience and community, for whom and how.
References.. • •
John May, rticle signal something arch. Digital world is a fake orthography Texture... urban texture ( Mira exhibition rough coat?? )
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Concersations with John Cooper. Notes from conversation.. •
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Define and strenghten the idea. Think about resistance and new forms of education in the metaverse. How will the space present to users? how will the project be funded-supported? Think of alternative means of sponsorship. How can we challenge and attack the system and traditional? Maybe appraching this topic requires a radical position.
References.. •
Read more about Free University and how the idea of universal education has been developed in the past and present.
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New Refrences... •
Space Popular. Space Popular is a research driven art, design, and media studio that explores the future of spatial experience through virtual reality, film, exhibitions, speculative writing, as well as buildings and objects.
Project: Arquia/Próxima is an architecture festival that celebrates and awards the work of young emergent practices from Portugal and Spain. Every year the festival gathers architects, critics and architecture lovers for a series of lectures and discussions that start in a formal setting, often spilling out to the local bars and restaurants, providing an opportunity for other forms of involvement and conversation.
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Overview of the virtual festival space with the Arena in the center. by Space Popular The Arena - Anupama Kundoo giving a lecture during the festival. by Space Popular Galería Próxima - Block Two seen from above. by Space Popular Galería Becas. by Space Popular
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New Refrences... The Uncensored Library. Providing access to independent information to young people around the world through a medium they can playfully interact with. Journalists from five different countries now have a place to make their voices heard again, despite having been banned, jailed, exiled and even killed. Their forbidden articles were republished in books within Minecraft, giving readers the chance to inform themselves about the real political situation in their countries and learn the importance of press freedom. “The Uncensored Library is a bold use of Minecraft and really encapsulates everything that is great about this game and the community it has created” James Delaney, Managing Director BlockWorks
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1. Overview of the Uncensored Library. 2. Main Hall 4. Mexico Room
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Thoughts From... Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor.. An Exhibition by Pippiloti Rist. Rist’s installations explore relationships of video and the body; exterior environments and interior psychological landscapes; and reason and instinct. They exuberantly probe the video medium’s capaciousness—for vivid color; sweeping views and extreme close-ups; introspection and cultural critique; and, importantly, the creation of shared experiences within the public space of the museum. Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor is organized by Anna Katz, Curator, with Karlyn Olvido, Curatorial Associate, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
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1. Digital Landscapes framed. 2. Seating area within a digital projected composition.
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Small scale portals within familiar objects.
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Visiting Rist's exhibition made me think about the Metaverse in the physical and new ways of perceiving physical space when altered by digital media. The interrelation of portals and spatial transitions is created through a balanced formula of using tangible objects and visual effects that bring other meanings.
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Exploring... The Jurassic Mseum of Technology at Culver City The museum's collection includes a mixture of artistic, scientific, ethnographic, and historical items and some unclassifiable exhibits; the diversity evokes the cabinets of curiosities that were the 16th-century predecessors of modern natural history museums. The factual claims of many of the museum's exhibits strain credibility, provoking an array of interpretations.
1. 1. Muesum Map 2. The eye of the needle exhibit. 3. Xray Flowers exhibit.
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The curated randomness I found in this place became the magic that enhanced my curiosity to discover each exhibit. With different classifications and means of expression, each set is interrelated in the transitions that prepare you to go further. Light, smell, color, and scale conditions walk you through spaces that continue or lead you to a dead end.
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Defining the Concept
UnCensored. UnBiased
UnBounded (for those who resist)
School of Resistance Thresholds Transitions Familiar-Unfamiliar Natural-NonNatural Values / Commitment Community 1. Civic Infraestructure for public teletrasportation. Space Popular
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Challenge and design different edge conditions
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Schematic Ideas
Softened Edges. Textures. Familiar Objects. Curated Transitions. Slowness
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Schematic Ideas
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64 A space refusing those who are not allies and any forms of contemporary world violence.
Challenge the metaverse apparatus by designing inaccessibility through architectural language.
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66 Detailed portals attempt to slow down the Metaverse accelerated ways of navigation.
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68 Curated moments of transition that require a commitment to find and access fuzzy portals leading to the community spaces.
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Credits Mira Henry Jhon Cooper Liam Young