Gravity is Optional, History Isn’t Set beneath the carved cliffs of Iraq Al-Amir, this project proposes a fragmented dwelling system that treats the site’s archaeological and geological layers not as backdrop, but as co-authors in design. A forest of scattered columns rises across the slope, catching four heavy cabins mid-fall—suspended, tilted, and hovering between rest and release. The cabins are modeled as the positive volumes of surrounding caves—for example, Cave No. 10, a former stable—translating carved voids into inhabitable solids. Constructed from excess stone excavated during the making of the caves, each cabin is custom-assembled to meet spatial and programmatic needs. Some columns grow into spiral staircases, others carve into cabinetry or platforms—merging structure and function into a continuous material language. Rather than mimic the surrounding topography, the project responds to its rhythm—its pauses, pressures, and geological shifts. The result is a system that appears precarious, yet is rooted in a long memory of place. Architecture here is not permanent form, but a temporary inhabitant of a much older landscape. By embracing instability, partiality, and vertical tension, Gravity is Optional, History Isn’t offers a speculative architecture that exists between falling and remembering—a relic in motion that chooses not to settle.