Cochayuyo is an alga present almost exclusively along the Chilean coasts and has been a food source for local peoples throughout history. An examination of cochayuyo’s characteristics when dry, including its flexibility, color, and texture, revealed an unexpected phenomenon: its ability to become illuminated when the sun’s rays pass through its outer membrane. This project creates a place bathed by the cochayuyo’s light, intensifying this unknown quality of the marine organism.

Composed of a suspended volume made from cochayuyo strands tensed vertically by water weights, the structure produces a dreamlike experience of luminescent forms and houses various leisure activities and more traditional uses of cochayuyo.