Paxton

A Dramatic Design - Unique and Unforgettable

Text by Matthias Hollwich

Status  COMPLETED 2022

Type  CULTURAL

Location  METAVERSE

Client  PAX.WORLD

Scope  CONCEPT

Team  MATTHIAS HOLLWICH, ROBERT MAY, ZHONGYUAN LIU 

Paxton is future-forward architecture: a new experience accessible to everyone. Beauty on your screen, in your life. A Metaserai designed to enhance and change our sense of what’s possible. For us, it is an experiment to explore the new potential of experience-driven architecture that we believe will come back in a new form in the real world. Let the future begin. 

 

HWKN’s Paxton is a wildly beautiful, multi-level and open hexagonal form. Designed for the Metaverse it is part dream, part museum. Part familiar, part futuristic. At its entry and base – its landing pad – is the grand, outdoor amphitheater. This is where theater, fashion shows, Comicons, all make and measure of ‘live performances’ are staged. Open to the sky above. Here you can purchase a ‘virtual ticket’ to stream what you chose to see. With uninterrupted views above and beyond the Metaserai, all the while listening to state of the art ‘live sound’.

Moving up its gorgeous checkered ramps you look out from its overarching frame – made from crisscrossing cantilevers – to the pristine desert. Though there is no gravity in the metaverse, the structural elements help to bridge the users experience between the old and new world. Further on you pass glass-walled galleries and social engagement rooms. On the roof, a sculptured garden awaits. If you prefer, you can simply stick to gliding up its spectacular, interior ramps. Moving quietly through its spacious, light-filled floors, you can drop into a glass-walled art gallery, attend a meeting in a conference room. Still further above, adjoining the garden, are rooftop relaxation and physique areas. Daily classes are always ‘outside’. In the Metaverse weather is of little concern.

Paxton lets you see who else is hanging out there with you. You interact with them as you see fit. Paxton’s design may invite you in and take your breath away  but there are business opportunities built into its ‘world’. To be accessed by everyone. For instance, by signing up, you take advantage of a virtual spin class, and purchase it; visiting an art show puts you in the position to purchase a new work.