Land sculpture has arguably existed for thousands of years, in which case studies such as Nazca lines (see photo) and Indian burial mounds were identified as one. These ancient augmentations of the land surface could be ceremonial, or symbolic in nature. Nevertheless, these sculptures exhibited spatial qualities inherent in architecture and landscape design, and inform us about the increasingly ambiguous distinction between them.

During the Christmas Holidays, I was trying my best to avoidwatching dull family movies on the couch. The ones I dislike most are adventure movies with heroic protagonists,like in Indiana Jones and The Mummy. What triggers me most in these movies isthe representation of the archaeologist as a handsome, tomb-discovering acrobat.In these movies, the archaeologist is combatting and unveiling the traces ofthe past, reading landscape, object and architecture like a true detective. Asdesigners of the built environment, our interest similarly lies in the readingof traces, albeit, gratefully not receiving the status of a pop-culture hero indoing so.

'Artefact' is a recurring two-page spread, which features a beloved object presented by one of the BK City staff members. Every month, the author passes on the 'Artefact'contributorship to the next. Last month's contributor Nathalie de Vries chose Paul Vermeulen, who is a professor in the department of Architecture and leads Belgium based architecture office de Smet Vermeulen.