Earth Cooking
JMBAD – Joseph Melka + Balthazar Auguste – Dormeuil
Viña Lanciano – Bodegas LAN
2025
This is both a gathering space and a process: a long communal table where participants engage in the transformation of raw clay into functional vessels, which are then used to share a meal prepared on site. After the meal, the clay is returned to the soil, closing a fully circular system that resists extractive logics and linear models of use and waste.
Drawing on the historical entanglement between clay and culinary practices, the project positions communal dining as a form of situated knowledge and shared labor — ultimately blurring the line between maker, cook, and guest. By inviting visitors to get their hands dirty, the proposal offers a reimagining of places of production and consumption — ones that are temporary, collective, and grounded in the cyclical rhythms of the land.
Borneo
Joseph Melka (French – American, 1996) is an internationally trained architect, having collaborated with Shigeru Ban Architects in Tokyo and with L’Observatoire International in New York. Since 2021, he has been collaborating with Cigüe. He studied architecture at the Hong Kong University (HKU), graduated from ENSA Paris-Malaquais, and obtained his practice license from ENSA Versailles.
Balthazar Auguste-Dormeuil (French, 1997) is an architect based in Paris. His practice is articulated around architectural design, research and publication, in collaboration with different practitioners, institutions and municipalities. In parallel, Balthazar has held teaching positions in several architecture programs. He studied architecture in Kyoto Seika University and ENSA Paris- Malaquais.
With the support of
