MaunsellForts

A brief about you

Recent architect and Master in Architecture from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Currently, I am focused on the development of small-scale projects, architectural research and participation in international competitions.

Concept story

I am interested in the idea of narrative, but not as understood through the history of the victors. Through architecture one can reveal objects — read the context beyond a blank canvas — since behind it there are preexistences that speak their own stories, even when unseen, and others whose presence imposes a paradigm: visible, yet frozen in time.

In this sense, the fort belongs to the latter. Its origin lies in the need for heavy artillery: objects that structure space and give purpose to form. When they disappear, space loses that meaning, and as time passes, the rusted structure reveals it was designed to resist, not to persist.

In literature, hyperbaton alters the usual order of prose. Applied here, the fortress can be dismantled to give way to a self-sufficient human habitat. Objects no longer give meaning to form but to environment: one where the façade no longer protects the vulnerable; instead, the vulnerable is exposed on the façade to endure the adversity of an oceanic environment within a context of environmental crisis.

Future goals

I hope to continue participating in competitions, learning among cultures, finding my place within the discipline — exploring the blurred edges of what we understand as architecture — and trying to leave an optimistic mark along the way.

About

Pablo Castro Arquitectos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Architect, graduate of the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA).

Architecture

Architecture, as I understand it, is not only object or form: it is space. It is the act of making the void habitable. It is the ordering and qualification of space for human life.

Architects must solve spatial problems. Architecture does not build things; it creates conditions for inhabitation. It is not measured by its image, but by the experience it generates.

Architecture transforms human needs into habitable space, and within that space, we find place, scale and meaning. As Lao Tse observed, a vessel is shaped by its form, but its true usefulness lies in the empty space within.

Competitions

Competitions are essential for expanding knowledge, engaging with other professionals, and fostering a continuous exchange that enriches both understanding and solutions to real-world problems.

The competition

This competition invited participants to learn from history and explore how the Maunsell Fort structures could be repurposed for a new use in the context of climate change. The main challenge lay in building within an extreme environment, where waves can reach heights of up to 20 metres during rare events.

From this starting point, we investigated whether it was possible to address these conditions using current technology, while also envisioning a system capable of enabling construction over water — forming a city or an artificial archipelago. This process led us to consider not only the climatic challenges, but also the logistical issues related to energy supply and food distribution.

About the team

We’re final-year architecture students who are interested in exploring architecture beyond the semester curriculum by expanding our design boundaries and exposure through similar challenges. We want to create spaces that just make sense and have a natural feel with the right human touch.

Concept story

The project started not with adding architecture, but with observing what nature had already begun to reclaim. We started off by understanding the context thoroughly: what it has, what it wants and what it has lost.

We treated the fort not as a monument to preserve, but as a scaffold for ecological return. The fort already felt like an island, and we simply asked what kind of island it wanted to be. Serving nature and humans without exploitation: an island which provides and sustains.

Future goals

Vignesh: Explore and expand my horizon in architecture. Work in different areas and experience a ton of architecture.

Akshaya: Become someone who is capable enough to understand people, space and time, and create something which serves just right. To become someone who possesses enough knowledge to make the process of living easy, at least spatially. In a more realistic sense, go remote and work and learn with peace and at my own pace.