The Albatross

Overview

I find religious sites to be some of the most interesting places to travel to. Especially when they contain humanoid monuments erected before the invention of modern machinery. These monuments' faces can appear both alienlike and detectably human. Yet, despite their eeriness, they create an atmosphere which feels quite safe and peaceful.

I like to imagine how it might feel to unexpectedly come across such a place. I consider the albatross, which can fly for days without flapping its wings.

I spent a few weeks humoring the idea. In the end, I created a procedural 3D world which reacts to a passing albatross with curiosity.

Role
Design, Code, Sound Design

Tools
Three.js, Claude Code, Procreate, Audacity, Linux Multimedia Studio

Year
2026

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An ink and grey marker sketch in a hand-drawn frame: an albatross with long dark-tipped wings glides low over the sea, past a hilly island dotted with standing statues.

Final Design

I spent a few weeks humoring the idea to see how far I could take it. In the end, I created a 3D world which reacts to a passing albatross with curiosity.

How I Made It

I built a configurator alongside the piece, one tab for each part of the world, to tune it by hand.

  • The heads tab: fifty planar heads in a grid, with sliders for skull width, height and depth, side flats, cheek width, forehead slope and face depth.

    Heads

    Each head is drawn from a range for skull width, height and depth, cheek width, forehead slope and more. Reroll for a new crowd.

  • Pillars

    Statues half-sunk into mounds, with long arms reaching up. Neck length, head size, bend and the mound underneath are all adjustable.

  • The obelisks tab: a row of slate-blue obelisks and lit lanterns, shortest to tallest, with sliders for width, height, taper and cap, and checkboxes for eleven kinds.

    Obelisks

    Width, height range, taper and cap, across eleven kinds, from needles and steles to lanterns and gas lamps.

  • The trees tab: a deciduous tree, a cedar, a cloud tree and a bottle tree on a green field, with sliders for trunk shape and lighting.

    Trees

    Four kinds of tree, each with its own trunk shape and lighting: deciduous, cedar, cloud and bottle.

  • Albatross

    The bird itself: how finely its mesh is built, and the proportions of its body, head, beak and tail.

  • Scene

    Everything together on the island: how many statues, trees and obelisks, plus the shading, lamps, sky and sea.

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