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Where nature dictates form

TAAL is a digital masterplan that treats a desert cliff as both origin and constraint. Architecture grows from the rock in stepped clusters, carving out terraces, pools and gardens that read as an extension of the geology rather than an object on top of it. Created for Kraken as a conceptual world, the work explores how light, landscape and settlement can merge into a single vertical ecosystem.

Visual Study

Project

Taal Masterplan

Client

Jesse Powell | Kraken (Payward, Inc.)

Location

Ethereum Blockchain

Year

2021

Scope

Concept Consulting, Visual Strategy, Impact Images, Digital Presence

Highlights

Framing the Challenge

The brief was to imagine a world for a crypto-native collector that felt both monumental and grounded in believable landscape logic. The settlement needed to read as if it had slowly grown out of the cliff over time, not as a futuristic object dropped into the desert. We focused on equilibrium: between mass and void, heat and shade, arid rock and irrigated gardens, so the masterplan feels like a living organism rather than a static backdrop.

Project Brief

Behind the Scenes

Our starting point was a library of references spanning desert geology, ancient hill towns and irrigated oases. In 3D we first sculpted the cliff as the primary character, then iterated the village as a series of stacked bands that respond to strata lines, erosion and potential water flows.

Process. Approach. Insights.

Vegetation and water were introduced last as precise accents – groves, palms, terraces and pools that mark human intervention without overwhelming the rock.

The “change frame” interaction emerged from this process as a way to honor the sheer density of the environment, letting viewers zoom from masterplan logic to local moments without breaking the continuity of the scene.

Click to interact

Impact. Reach.

Where it Landed

TAAL became a touchstone piece within SINOPPIA’s work, moving from private commission to international exposure. It has been exhibited physically and digitally, collected on the Ethereum blockchain and expanded through sister works such as 99 BALLOONS, each new context testing how this vertical world performs as both masterplan and artwork.

01.

NFT.NYC Exhibition

New York, USA

Project Showcasing

2023

02.

Inbetweenness Exhibition

Coimbra, PORTUGAL

Project Showcasing

2021

03.

TAAL Acquisition

Ethereum Blockchain

KRAKEN (Payward, Inc.) - NFT Auction Settlement

2021

04.

99 BALLOONS Acquisition

Ethereum Blockchain

Norcal - NFT Auction Settlement

2021

Project Takeaways

Where nature dictates form shows what happens when landscape is treated as the brief, not the backdrop. By letting the cliff lead every decision – from settlement pattern to light, water and planting – the project maps out a direction for future digital worlds that are rooted in environmental logics, even when they exist entirely on screen.

Reflections

Next Study

Choreography of light

Choreography of light

Visual Study

TAAL is a digital masterplan that treats a desert cliff as both origin and constraint. Architecture grows from the rock in stepped clusters, carving out terraces, pools and gardens that read as an extension of the geology rather than an object on top of it. Created for Kraken as a conceptual world, the work explores how light, landscape and settlement can merge into a single vertical ecosystem.

Where nature dictates form

Project

Taal Masterplan

Client

Jesse Powell | Kraken (Payward, Inc.)

Location

Ethereum Blockchain

Year

2021

Scope

Concept Consulting, Visual Strategy, Impact Images, Digital Presence

Highlights

Project Brief

The brief was to imagine a world for a crypto-native collector that felt both monumental and grounded in believable landscape logic. The settlement needed to read as if it had slowly grown out of the cliff over time, not as a futuristic object dropped into the desert. We focused on equilibrium: between mass and void, heat and shade, arid rock and irrigated gardens, so the masterplan feels like a living organism rather than a static backdrop.

Framing the Challenge

Process. Approach. Insights.

Our starting point was a library of references spanning desert geology, ancient hill towns and irrigated oases. In 3D we first sculpted the cliff as the primary character, then iterated the village as a series of stacked bands that respond to strata lines, erosion and potential water flows.

Behind the Scenes

Click to interact

Impact. Reach.

TAAL became a touchstone piece within SINOPPIA’s work, moving from private commission to international exposure. It has been exhibited physically and digitally, collected on the Ethereum blockchain and expanded through sister works such as 99 BALLOONS, each new context testing how this vertical world performs as both masterplan and artwork.

Where it Landed

01.

NFT.NYC Exhibition

New York, USA

Project Showcasing

2023

02.

Inbetweenness Exhibition

Coimbra, PORTUGAL

Project Showcasing

2021

03.

TAAL Acquisition

Ethereum Blockchain

KRAKEN (Payward, Inc.) - NFT Auction Settlement

2021

04.

99 BALLOONS Acquisition

Ethereum Blockchain

Norcal - NFT Auction Settlement

2021

Project Takeaways.

Reflections

Where nature dictates form shows what happens when landscape is treated as the brief, not the backdrop. By letting the cliff lead every decision – from settlement pattern to light, water and planting – the project maps out a direction for future digital worlds that are rooted in environmental logics, even when they exist entirely on screen.

Next Study

Choreography of light

Choreography of light