Cerebra (Frank and Oscar text their directions to the search engine)

This platform presents a locus of exploration, retrieval, departure, and congregation. Resembling the Marvel Comics X-Men’s Cerebro used to contact all mutant human beings on a discrete, alternate astral and psychological plane, the form also hints at the futuristic Star Trek transporter employed to transfer bodies and material to various planned coordinates. Both storylines embed their respective headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area (X-Men’s current base in the Marin Headlands decommissioned missile site and Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy.) Slipping between current day reality and fictional utopias, this design cites locales with a contested image of cultural difference. Furthermore, the functional platform’s title hints at the downtown Oakland, CA plaza centric to recent local and global political movement.

Catalog Essay PDF