The work takes as a point of departure the so-called Okö-Haus (Ecological house) by the pioneering German architect Frei Otto. Conceived as a basic structure that could be individualized by each owner, the building sought to partake in a communal spirit of shared creativity. Frei Otto was awarded the Pritzker Prize, perhaps the highest honor in architecture, posthumously in 2015.

Melsheimer takes the central framework conceived by Otto and inhabits it with a collection of vintage ceramic vases from the 1970s and 1980s. Sold under the name FAT Lava, the vases were ubiquitous at the time of the building’s design and come to stand for a generalized idea of aesthetics and its popular trends.