The main character of this short story is the Aldo Rossi Moka, designed by the famous Italian architect for the brand Alessi in 1988. But the story is about more than just a moka.

Working on places of conflict can be extremely challenging. As soon as a polarised discussion is addressed with a proposal, it is bound to cause some sort of backlash by at least one of the affected parties. There is no clear way out of it. Or is there? Architecture practice Hybrid Space Lab takes a rather unique approach for the re-signification of the controversial site of Valle de los Caídos in Madrid, the burial ground of Spain’s dictator Francisco Franco and 33,000 victims of the country’s brutal civil war.

I thought I knew where I stood with swimming pools - ideally outside of them, on firm land - but over the course of my graduation project I’ve found myself thrown in the deep end of a cultural waterworld, bathing in symbolism and drifting around lazy rivers of ambiguity.