Studio @ the Beach | Playtime, to a degree

(fig.a) Extant condition | Aberrant Rock Formations

(fig. b) New condition | Aberrant Rock Formations

Without a doubt, the idea of returning to the playtime of childhood is an interesting connection in the meta-narrative of the aging process in the education of an architect. Here, on the beach, even the most distant mnemonics of sandscapes and seascapes harken the impulses of the playtime character of which most professionals abandon as they mature. I think it's quite important for the professional designer to embrace those creative impulses they possessed as a child, and perhaps, allow those open-mind-sets to culminate into a more refined personal design narrative. As an educator, the impetus of encouraging design students to channel their innermost passions and goals is of paramount concern if we are to have a richer diversity of architectures in the future. That is, to empower professionals who can offer a unique polemic, in contrast the rampant memes we see today. Extending the idea further, we can challenge the students to merge the rigor of architectural-education skill sets, with the primal urge to both create and destroy (Read: design and edit the landscape) As the child-artist develops into the professional, as mentioned before, the role of playtime is fortified. I offer here a brief personal statement regarding the application of such a practice. 
In context, the application of the genius loci¹ becomes more precise, when at the ground level, we encounter the found object. In such a case as here on the beach.scape, the process of the designer yields to the grain of sand, as compared to the click of a button, or the etching of a pencil stroke. The operational routine is as follows: Feet; submerged partially amidst the water, wading and struggle for stance. Hands; metaphoric shovels shoveling to a drier-ground. These are not ubiquitous sand-castles mind you, although they were in an earlier age. Here, beach v1.0 has evolved into beach v2.0 with a degree. 

This cove in Kenting, Taiwan, where this brief interlude occurred, contains a high numerical degree of rocks on the shoreline. These rock formations occur naturally due to the up-thrusting tectonic shifting of the earth in micro ecological scales. At a glance, they appear as aberrant mysteries when contrasted upon the normally perceived beach.scapes. We can highlight this genius loci in a precise manner by allowing the stronger element of the landscape to prevail. Stronger elements in the landscape as the interesting rock-formations and not the particularly predictable use of sand. Following the routine of found-object implementation, we can discover sort-of new ways of dealing with the shoreline terrain by enlisting the alternative properties of the local material. The strength of the material. The approach of re-ordering the visual-structural hierarchy ² is an exercise yielding ontological variety. Form-finding and small-scale structural tests of Newtonian delight, light up a paradisical afternoon.
Image & Text source: Copyright of the Author, Brad Sliva   
Footnotes: 
1. Genius Loci, as used by Christian Norberg-Schulz 
2. visual hierarchy, informed by the gestalt philosophy as put forth by  by Dondis, Donis A. in her book, A Primer of Visual Literacy