Ants Pyramid 

2021

For me, growing up in the southern part of Iran, ants have always been an integral part of the dry soil. Staring at these little creatures who, while united and working hard to construct, preserve and grow sustainable termite structures for over thousands years, is a testament to the extent to which we have failed to preserve our heritages. Thousands of buildings are being demolished, forgotten, and years later could never be replaced.


This time, by replacing the human role in this project with a type of pyramid ants in a symbolic way, I create a template for the construction and restoration of three historical monuments of Iran, Taq Kasra, Gor Dokhtar and Gonbad Soltanieh. These 3D-printed structures include networks that are not just embedded under the model in the form of organic roots to house ants, they include paths to guide them to fill degraded areas on the surface. I hope that by planting each structure in nature near the targeted ant nests and introducing the ant colonies to this new nest over the course of six months, the ants can extend their intricate tunnels and paths within the models and form their termites.


Each structure is fully covered with a network of tunnels and passages based on a real harvester's ant nest system, allowing them to move through the damaged areas more quickly and efficiently. The aim is to always do the bare minimum to protect the main exterior, so more attention is paid to the infrastructure and the interiors of each building. To avoid confusion, all interventions should be documented weekly and carefully dated. Important as maintenance is, overzealous attention to maintaining ruins all too often leaves them soulless, manicured and 'neat', destroying the very features that make them special. In this project, the ruins maintain their landscape and the building adapts to new changes over time, so that a special natural quality is added to the building, and therefore the charm and enjoyment of them is maintained and enhanced.


The encroachment of nature and other species such as ants can contribute to their particular attraction and significance by making them specialised natural habitats for rare flora and fauna. Heritages that owe their lives to nature and species that would not survive if these Heritages did not occur.

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