Gallery Entry
Atlantica: The City That Learned to Breathe
By Maria Kalinina · RU
Atlantica is an imagined underwater civilization where architecture and marine life have learned to exist as one environment. The city rises from the ocean floor in sweeping arches, towers and organic structures, while manta rays move freely through its spaces. I wanted the architecture to feel monumental yet alive — as though it had evolved beneath the water rather than simply been built there. The work reflects my fascination with the idea of adaptation. Instead of changing nature to suit ourselves, what if we learned to design our world around it? Atlantica imagines a future in which human creativity does not dominate the natural environment, but becomes part of it. At its heart, the work is about a deeply human ability: to imagine places that do not exist, and through art, make them feel possible.