Space Encounters Office for Architecture

On July 12, 2019, Oumuamua landed on the Asterweg in Amsterdam Noord as a temporary place where something new can happen every day. At first, nobody knew what it was exactly. A club? A restaurant? A workplace, art expo or stage? We explored it by celebrating in various ways. Out of a deep love for nightlife and adventure Space Encounters initiated, designed and funded Oumuamua.

Oumuamua was named after the interstellar object that was discovered travelling through our solar system in 2017. The cigar-shaped body roamed the Milky Way for millions of years, alone and unknown. To this day nobody knows exactly what Oumuamua is and against better judgement it was identified as a comet. The body continues to wander, the name kept lingering: Oumuamua, the messenger from afar.

That is precisely what Oumuamua was in the north of Amsterdam: an intriguing place with surprising design objects and elements, where visitors were both strangers and scouts. Where you could be surprised by art and music during dinner or where dinner could easily turn into a club night and vice versa. A place like a cosy spaceship, a safe haven where everyone and all tastes could meet under the organized chaos of the existing wooden roof structure that covered the entire space. A seemingly liquid floor made from a wildly coloured mix of cast epoxy left-overs tied the space together and stimulated wanderlust.

Three astronomical blue objects: a pyramid, an obelisk and an abstract monolith were positioned at strategic points in the space. They connected, divided and marked different areas without imposing a clear preconception of what had to happen there. Furniture and mobile walls filled with plants orbited around the solids allowing a limitless amount of layouts. LED lights that were oriented upwards created a play of light on the wooden beams and could be remotely programmed to achieve the desired atmosphere. Over half a year after its first sighting Oumuamua disappeared again into oblivion.