The Missing Room / Carroccera Collective

closed

Water, like fire, plays a central role in activating the hidden features of the structure. The water flow is released at the entrance of the structure, filling the main collection channel that distributes the flow into various basins throughout the structure. Users are encouraged to interact with the water systems by adding or removing plugs as needed to direct the flow; to fill the bath, use the sink or supply water to the cattle trough. The bath next to the water channel has a built-in natural convection system and comfortably accommodates three to four people. For solo use, the bath's size can be reduced with a partitioning panel and a removable lock to conserve water. Once closed, the bath can be transformed into a heated surface and used as a resting place to sleep at night under the stars.Text description provided by the architects.The Missing Room is a living space designed to encourage new rituals and patterns of use, offering an opportunity to enter an alternative time zone and experience a passage between a human-controlled environment and an untamed natural one. It is a room that has escaped the rigid confines of a defined house, choosing to exist without walls or a ceiling – a place where nature becomes the main inhabitant and visitors are invited to act as respectful guests. As one enters the Carroccera landscape, the search begins. Meandering through the land, the Missing Room gradually reveals itself, with the wanderer catching shimmering glimpses of smaller secondary structures shining through the forest greenery. This collection of visual fragments prepares the visitor for the main encounter, enriching the landscape with its enigmatic shapes and forms.The Missing Room is not simply a shelter but a space that invites discovery. A collection of abstract forms with a core activated by water and fire, it reimagines the most primal human rituals: resting, eating, cleansing, and conversing. These activities mix in unexpected yet harmonious ways. While guests cook over a crackling open fire, another inhabitant bathes in a heated bath, and a cow drinks from an integrated trough—all beneath a ceiling of tree canopies and the open sky. This space encourages visitors to set their own pace and redefine their pre-existing notions of domesticity. At the core of the Missing Room stands a seven-meter-tall monolith: a multifunctional chimney. On one side, the fire powers the ovens, while on the other, it heats water for bathing and warms the area at the front of the space. This towering form responds to the scale of the surrounding trees, rising like a beacon above the canopies, marking its presence in the landscape and guiding visitors with its smoke signals.Constructed with a focus on material and structural sustainability, the stainless steel refuge is durable, recyclable, and resistant to weathering. To protect the land, the modular structure and use of a non-invasive screw-pile foundation ensures that no traces are left behind if the house is required to be removed from the site. The Missing Room is a space for all – humans and non-humans – to share. Above all, the Carroccera Collective conceived of the room as a place to enjoy the very act of being. To invite our guests to slow down, reorient the senses, and rediscover the sensory richness and simplicity of the natural environment. As nature has vanished from our daily rituals and gone missing from our human lives, the room is a space to reveal the forgotten.A bespoke sail canopy can be set up to offer shade or protection from rain. Using the chimney as a mast, the fabric is raised with a series of ropes and tensioned at the corners with ground pegs. By day, the canopy catches dappled shadows cast by the surrounding foliage; by night, it reflects light from built-in recessed lighting, transforming the structure into a glowing lantern. The Missing Room reconnects us with the rhythms of nature that have been lost in the contemporary world by reducing the act of dwelling to its very essence. Forest debris is gathered and converted into heat while the wastewater from bathing and cooking is filtered and safely dispersed into the field, providing irrigation and wet areas that contribute to the overall biodiversity of the forest.