As part of the 2024 AA Summer School unit Carpets, this project investigated the entangled histories of the twin obelisks known as Cleopatra’s Needles, now standing in London and New York. Titled Long Lost Twins, the work traced the obelisks’ journey from ancient Heliopolisto their colonial relocations, revealing the layers of dispossession and geopolitical exchange that define their current placement. Through archival research, timelines, and speculative narratives, the project proposed a futurere unification of the obelisks — floating together once again, freed from their imperial anchors. It challenges the static monumentality imposed by museums and cities, using architectural storytelling to ask: what does it mean to return?

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