When people see some things as beautiful,
Other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
Other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

From Tao Te Ching, Chapter two by Lao-Tse

Relationship, the essence of the dialectic question, is traced back to the interaction between 'natural' and 'artificial'. There are some unpredictable possibilities.

'Natural' and 'artificial' create each other.
'Natural' and 'artificial' support each other.
'Natural' and 'artificial' define each other.
'Natural' and 'artificial' depend on each other.
'Natural' and 'artificial' follow each other.

“Architecture has in the course of their long histories repeatedly had recourse to nature as a paradigm for their activity.” It is not an unfamiliar scene that architects attempt to frame their story by simulating, transforming or interpreting a specific feature of nature. Even if an architect did not consider nature as a design parameter, architecture, for its own existence, should have recourse to nature through the domination of land.  “Architecture, in its origins, is a destructive force. Trees are cut down, mountains are transformed into flat lands, the earth is penetrated through the digging of holes for foundations,… The destruction-construction dialectical pair thereby acquires a new value parameter, an aspiration today: the desire to create a novel and protective nature, at once comprehensible and beautiful.”

From this dialectical viewpoint, we made mountains in twelve distinct metropolises as homage to nature; these mountains also act as an interactive metaphor between nature and artifice. The mountain is a synthetic process, which relates to nature, people and the city.

“Our cities are changing. Globalization has shifted cultural specificities. It has radically changed the population, density, diversity, speed, and economy of our cities. At the same time, modern advances in science, technology and industry have significantly influenced the way we live. According to the United Nations, 100 years ago, only 10% of the world’s population lived in cities. Today, this figure has risen to 50% and by 2050 it will rise to 75%. Understanding how this impending urban growth will impact upon people and the environment is critical.” If these prognostications are so, what defines life in the modern city? We asked ourselves what is there and what is lacking in the city today. Re-envisioning the city as a place for people and a place for nature is an urgent issue.