Awaken to the Earth by finding yourself underground
At the intersection of geology and architecture, engineering And magic, Earthbox is A first-of-its-kind immersive experience. By Keith Bain
There was a weird moment as I stood silently contemplating the dark, dank chamber when tears suddenly and inexplicably came to my eyes. I was somewhere below the Earth’s surface, and as I inhaled the petrichor scent of the clean, moist soil that was all around me, I saw that the dark-ochre walls of the cavernous space seemed to be crying, too. Near-imperceptible trickles of water, filtered by sand and sediment hundreds of millions of years old, were slowly seeping through the exposed surface.
It was science, though, not an hallucination. What I saw was what happens inside the Earth below our feet all the time. The soil below us is a humongous filtration system for water that begins its journey at the surface, often from the very tops of high mountains, and steadily finds its way to an underground river or perhaps to the sea, and then cycles back again and again and again.
My tears were to do with that intricate cycle, some part of me struck by just how exquisitely this natural system is balanced.
Much of my heartache, though, was caused by the simultaneous realisation that we humans have managed to disrupt these cycles, that we’re steadily causing the entire system of life to implode.
It was in that moment of connection with the raw Earth around me that I felt as though I was witnessing the soil itself mourning the disruption of our planet’s natural rhythms.
The more I stood and stared, observed and tapped into my feelings, the more connected to this ancient system I felt. It was a kind of healing, a return to basics, and it felt heavy on my heart. Like that water being filtered by the Earth, I seemed to be undergoing some sort of purification.
It might be why some folks who experience Earthbox emerge at the other end claiming they feel “reborn”.
Whatever feelings it stirs in you, it’s an experience.
On paper, Earthbox seems so simple. A rectangular empty space 24m long by about 7.5m wide, its walls angled slightly outwards as they rise to a convex, strutted ceiling. It
feels far removed from the daylight, yet you’re not too far below the surface. You don’t take an elevator to reach it; there aren’t even stairs. In fact, those soaring rafters are just 6m up, which means you’re only about 5m below the surface. Most of us have been deeper than that in underground parking garages or subterranean train tunnels. You get in via a curved, sloping pathway.
The silence inside
Once inside, there’s a pristine silence, an otherworldly dimness and a permanent coolness that heightens the effect of having undergone some sort of escape from the familiar world above. It becomes sacred, a kind of hallowed space that’s ideal for reflection, personal contemplation, or simply having your usual reality turned inside out.
It’s good, too, for re-establishing some sort of connection: with Earth, with nature, with something primordial, with yourself.
“We’re really just allowing a space for the unseen to be seen,” says Marina Busse, who conceived Earthbox. “It’s like going back in time. The Earth that you’re standing on in there is 500 million years old. That’s as old as when Africa and South America were still connected and called Gondwana. That pebble layer on the walls is an ancient riverbed from two-and-a-half million years ago.”
Earthbox is the first project of the Dream Commission, which Busse started with dreamer and imaginer Brad Baard because she “wanted to create these completely unique, one-off, immersive experiences”.
Theirs is a creative enterprise with novelty and innovation central to its pursuit of art-adjacent projects that, she hopes, “will help reawaken our sense of childlike wonder that we tend to lose when we become adults”.
With Earthbox, Busse says they wanted to create an immersive experience underground. “We explore space. We explore the oceans. But rarely do we explore the beauty that’s underneath our feet.”
Earthbox is about the “human experience”. It is a very physical, very real environment created to foster a human connection with the Earth. And, unlike most experiential attractions, it wants to slow you down.
“The entire experience is designed to invite you to connect with what is viscerally, physiologically happening in your body,” explains Busse. “That requires you to be very slow and very present so that you can feel the little discomfort when you step into the unknown, go into the darkness.”
The absence of sunlight and sound (and cellphones) enhances this sensation, compelling you to be fully present. To simply be and to experience the space completely, without interference and without an agenda. “It is about creating an antidote to our very busy, very distracted lives,” says Busse. “Creating a space that is a complete antithesis to that.
“I mean, it’s the Earth, right? And the Earth holds all, accepts all. And so that’s all it is, just a space that people can come and ... experience whatever they experience.”
Situated at Lourensford Wine Estate, Somerset West, Earthbox is open daily with visits priced from R170 per person (depending on time of day) and audio tours available at an additional R50. Visits can be booked in advance on Webtickets.