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Heapstown Cairn in County Sligo, Ireland, r ecorded by Gabriel Beranger in 177 9.
Owned by no one, the cairn is a vital piece ofwayfinding infrastructure that has evolved over centuries
through collective endeavour and is still maintained by walkers and travellersBuildings for those outside the predominant economic system
also offer examples of non-liquid architecture: structures for the
dead, for insects, for children, or for the land itself. If that which
is currently constrained by limited charity donations or contorted
three-way business models had freer rein, we might have a richer
built environment more cognisant of planetary limits. Sydney-based
Other Architects have proposed repurposing land used for meat
production around Sydney's metropolitan area for a bushland
cemetery. This 'Burial Belt' mobilises our respect for spaces of
internment and memorialisation and bestows this protection on
the land facilitating reforestation and habitat protection.
Architecture as a temporary assembly of materials could
be developed as a construction strategy. Moreover, it could be
exclusively the design of the spatial configuration in architecture
that had value as opposed to the resultant structure. Montreal-based
practice yyyy-mm-dd have proposed a fabric template of a building
that can be folded up and stored or transported until needed,
and t hen filled with local aggregate to bring walls and columns
into solidity. The sewn net is an extension of a construct ion drawing
enabling a 'just add mass' project that questions where the value
lies: in the design or in its realisation~
These examples explore ways that architecture can create and
retain value that is hard to convert into money. The Yapese Rai,
like works of great architecture, hold worth beyond their intrinsic
properties. Yet unlike architecture, t hey are a currency, a means
of exchange \vithout wider value. The Rai, like coins and banknotes,
might be perceived as beautiful objects, but they cannot soothe
our fears or anxieties or shelter us from storms, or invoke half-
forgotten national myths or inspire virtues. By asserting the value
of value as something non-liquid - impossible to express in dollars,
pounds or kroner - architecture can avoid the trap of becoming
general-purpose money, thereby enriching itself, its inhabitants
and the planet.
Perhaps the most eloquent example of a non-liquid structure
is also the simplest: a cairn. :Made since prehistory across the vvorld,
cairns are collectively built pieces of wayfinding infrastructure.
A simple, yet clear column of rocks made and maintained organically
by travellers to help each other find paths in remote p laces. I n fine
weather, travellers pick up a nearby rock and place it on the cairn,
constantly maintajning the humble structure as they pass. As fog
descends, cairns can be seen through the gloom, allowing lost
walkers to find the track back to safety. There is no exchange
of money and no commissioning client. Nobody ovvns cairns and
they are impossible to sell. Yet, from nothing, useful, even life-saving
architectural elements emerge. In monetary terms cairns are
worthless, but what could be more valuable~