Eerie Cisterns

luminous underground crypt of the basilica cistern, an enourmous canyon of geometric columns. i want my project to do similar things - maybe a water component, or just shiney floors. well-lit, but communicating black underground intensity anyway, our raised platform over the low level of the cisterns water allowed us to float through the space a bit more easily then boats would have done. lovely empty and dark. echos upon echos, repitition of form. beautiful brick domes spanning every for-square of columns. at the end a dammed off area with enourmous medusa head bases ivited you to another angle on the columns. the roar of incoming chilren, already numbering in teh large crowds, echoing through the space, made it feel like more of a trap then a wonder - or else isolated like being in the bathroom at a huge party. wading threough the sea swarm of children to the exit and the retrun to creepy peace int heir aftermath welcomed us back to the sunlit lands. ironic, as it was cloudy or raining all day.