cu-megablog

MEGAblog in ARCHITECT Magazine

2007-01-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

The January 2007 issue of Architect Magazine features MEGAblog.

"There’s nothing radical about students with blogs, and websites showcasing the projects of architecture studios are easy to find. But MEGAblog is something different: A site designed and run by students as a course requirement, it is a portal to the inner work- ings of one studio’s semester, from initial meeting to final review. It’s also, says Ronald Rael, whose students created MEGAblog, a step toward a new way of teaching architecture."

[ download pdf | Architect Magazine ]

Seismic City

2007-01-05T23:44:00.000-08:00

EARTHQUAKE RISK

Earthquakes are known to occur mostly along fault lines, which are the edges of the earth's tectonic plates. These sections, large and small, of the earth's crust shift at approximately the same rate that your fingernails grow in one year. Along the fault lines, earthquakes are bound to occur and very frequently because of their uncontrolable and constant motion. Earthquakes form our mountains and create valleys, even at the bottom of the ocean (of course this process has occured over a long period of time). Small earthquakes can move the plates millimeters at a time, where a single large earthquakes can move the earth's crust one or two meters. The positions of continents in our world today are beleived to have drifted from the supercontinent, also known as Pangaea, and settled somewhat permanently into their current positions.

Earthquakes are much more common in specific areas than others, even along the fault lines, where they are most prevailent. High population and conscentration of buildings puts pressure on the earth and has been known to cause plate movements and earthquakes. For example, Taipei 101, the tallest building in Tokyo [at more than 500 meters] is beleived to have reopened an old fault line. Speculation says that the building has caused two earthquakes since it's construction due to the 700,000 tons of stress that the building puts on the earth. Recently, an earthquake was provoked by engineers attempting to extract geothermal heat from deep inside the earth. They stopped their experiment in Zurich due to the fact that their "drilling" caused an earthquake [magnitude 3.4] in nearby Basil, Switzerland. Although population may not directly cause earthquake activity, megacities and megastructures can certainly trigger a quake.

About 1/3 of the world's megacities [cities with a population of 2 million or more] are located near fault lines. Of the 13 most populated cities in the world, 10 are located in areas of high risk for earthquakes alone. However, it is purely coinsidence that populated placed along the coast, an aesthetically pleasing and popular location [frequently in high demand], lie parallel to fault lines. This idea follows along the same lines as the theory of the supercontinent, seeing that a land mass, once a single intity, broke apart creating new coastline along the fault lines [edges of the today's tectonic plates].

These areas are subject to repeat seismic activities and damages from earthquakes that have occured and will continue to occur. It is ironic that fault lines double as popular areas prone to urban growth and development. Since these areas of risk are now heavily populated they receive the most destructive impacts from earthquakes due to damage and casualty.

Earthquakes occur several hundred times a day. Earthquakes are so powerful that they have been compared to their energy equivalents [other natural disasters, bombs, etc.] according to the destruction that they both ensue. Because of these disasters and the physical and economical damage that they cause, there are seismic monitors that record the earth's reverberations and can even predict future occurances. There are seismic monitoring stations located around the world to monitor these earthquakes as they occur and record the effects of the shock and aftershocks to come. This data can be viewed publically on certain educational websites such as www.iris.com. The quakes are measured using the Richter Magnitude Scale [1 - 9.9]. Since this technology can prevent casualties, but cannot prevent damage, warnings are the only way to avoid an earthquake. One of the factors that most contributes to damage after an earthquake is fire. [As if the damage from the actual earthquake weren't enough!]

MAPPING

The mapping shows earthquake data which occurs over a period of 2 1/2 months, from April 15, 2006 - June 30, 2006. The fault lines, although not physically represented, start to appear by the earthquake patterns that occur over this short amount of time. Columns stand in the epicenter of each earthquake. [the height of the column representing the magnitude of the earthquake measured by the Richter Scale 1-9.9] These columns extend in a plane according to the directional movement of the tectonic plates at each specific location. The length of the axes is dependant on the amount of time that has passed since the earthquake occurred. The direction of the constant plate movement is apparent and time causes these conditions to intersect. Frequency and density of the earthquakes create masses that are the beginnings of a new world.

What if there was a way to construct or develop a city that embraces an earthquake instead of constructing to withstand the physical effects of a quake [like most cities]? The idea of "sutures" applied to the city is the beginning of a city system solution.

[these images show how buildings are like sutures which address the fault line as a wound]. The buildings must also have connections with the city [a suture connection as well, following a linear path such as the earthquake plane].

PROPOSAL

LOCATION : The San Andreas Fault. The fault, 1300 kilometers long, runs near the pacific coast from the west to the south of California. A right-lateral strike-slip fault, the San Andreas forms the boundary between two tectonic plates : the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. Located in the San Francisco area, the San Andreas fault is surrounded by urban development. The cities in the San Francisco peninsula [and surrounding area] include : Daly City, Pacifica, San Bruno, San Francisco, and South San Francisco.

San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in the United States.

Because the San Andreas fault is a strike-slip fault, the city takes on these characteristics. This is an early collage of how components can slide and lock into other key structural components.

A Seismic City is a megacity located on or near a fault line [one that "cuts" through the land, not the ocean]. The Seismic City is constructed as a continuation and an improvement to a populated city that already exists and experiences earthquakes frequently or is located in a high risk area. The Seismic City is dedicated to research facilities, public aid, and seismic stations. The city monitors the movement under the earth's crust.

The cities begin to form from linear axes that parallel the direction of the tectonic plate movement at that specific location. One of the axes follows the path of the San Andreas fault on the left side, in the direction of the movement of the Pacific Plate. This axis consists of a series of three Research Centers. The other axis is -35 degrees, the direction of the North American Plate. All of the Earthquake Towers, which are the destinations for the Earthquake Complexes, are turned at this angle.

Seismic City is a proposal that a high-risk city embrace an earthquake as it occurs while also serving as a haven for research. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, 5,600 Earthquake Shacks were constructed to house approximately 16,000 of the people that had just become homeless. The proposal is derived from this concept of constructed housing units for relief, but units that are portable and ready-made.

COMPONENTS

1] Earthquake Complexes. These complexes leave the Research Centers upon detection of an earthquake occurance. When an earthquake strikes, the earthquake complexes are shipped to one or more stations in the city or cities nearest to the epicenter. They are stocked with damage supplies, first aid, vehicles to aid in moving debris, firetrucks, and ambulances. They also provide shelter for people that have been temporarily put out of a home. There are three different sizes of units that are sent out for earthquake relief depending on the magnitude of an earthquake. Whether it be a magnitude of 1-3, 3-6.5, or 6.5-9.9, three units of certain size are released from the Research Center.

Transportation : The shacks are somewhat large buildings [comparable to an average low-rise commercial building] and are transported by cable. San Francisco is well-known for its use of cable cars throughout the city. They were first introduced in 1873 and are still used today. Although the earthquake shacks do not travel on the ground, the system is integrated into the city as they function similarly to ski-lifts. T-bar lifts, the most durable lifts, support the cables and allow easy transportation of the supply units. Earthquake Shacks slide in and out of the Research Centers on cables and are transported to their destination tower where they are locked in place.

The city is a combination of static and dynamic components. The Earthquake Shacks are dynamic in movement from the Research Center to the Earthquake Tower. They are in transit while the earthquake is occuring. The Research Centers and the Earthquake Towers are both static.

2] Research Centers. There are three Research Centers aligned on the left side of the fault. These centers monitor seismic motion and project exaggerated vibrations and sounds during an earthquake. The centers project these sounds at an audible level. People that live in the city will be able to hear an earthquake as it occurs. Earthquake Shacks are manufactured and shipped from these locations. The Research Centers cover the span of eight city blocks [allowing for required space to manufacture the supply units].

3] Earthquake Towers. At least one tower is located in every city surrounding the San Andreas fault. The tower is not only the destination of the Earthquake Shack, it becomes the permanent location. When a shack arrives, a "cradle" slides out of the tower from an available space. The shack is lowered onto the cradle from the cables above. The cradle then retracts into the tower, locking the unit in place. After the supplies have been used and people have been sheltered or treated, the shack remains in the tower becoming a permanent construction. The program of the unit can then change according to the needs of the city after the earthquake.

Solar Molecules

2006-12-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

In 40 minutes of daylight the sun releases upon the earth the amount of energy that is consumed by the entire population of the planet in one year. Each day more solar energy falls to the Earth than the total amount of energy the planet's 6 billion inhabitants would consume in 27 years. Currently, we harness about 1% of this energy. Photovoltaic cells are currently being used in large groups known as arrays to gather this energy and convert it into usable electricity.
A two-dimensional mapping was constructed to delineate areas of high Btu consumption, since the Btu is how we measure energy. Research shows that a considerable amount of energy is consumed in North America and areas throughout Asia. A datascape was then constructed based from solar absorption and irradiation along the earth’s surface. This information is an average of data gathered from satellites over a period of one year. The datascapes were combined to reveal further information at their intersections. After taking this new solar surface map and overlaying onto the Btu consumption map, it is apparent that areas the energy falling onto the earth’s surface lies in areas where energy consumption is not so prevalent.

THE SITE

After constructing solar maps, new areas were revealed at the intersections of the absorbed and the irradiated energy datascapes. These newly discovered boundaries become interesting areas for investigation since they exist in a solar environment and offer us suggestions of development that were not visible before. The new formations inhabit the sky, varying in height depending on the total area they cover- the largest being the highest in elevation. The only restrictions given by the site are its boundaries. The site remains in a static position above its location relative to the earth by either tethering itself to specific locations on the earth’s surface.

PROPOSAL

The sun is a body in constant motion. The spherical mega-body moves across our sky each day, east to west, in a repetitive cycle everyday. Utilizing photovoltaic technology, the surface of the panels needs to remain perpendicular to the sun’s rays in order to optimize its performance.

With all this information in mind, the boundaries designated by the site now become materialized into what can now be called transmission archipelagos. The transmission archipelagos function to constantly gather, convert, and redistribute energy to designated locations on the earth’s surface. This distribution is done by means of microwaves. Based on research of the Matrioshka Brain, energy gathered by the photovoltaic panels would be fed though wires to microwave generators, converting solar electricity into microwaves. The microwaves are sent to screens that reflect them to stations in various cities where they are converted back into usable electricity. To optimize the amount of surface area that is in contact with solar energy, a sphere is used as a form. The sphere is clad entirely with photovoltaic panels, becoming a massive photovoltaic farm. It is multiplied to occupy the inside volume of the transmission archipelagos, defining the exterior from within.
Since the transmission archipelagos are located within irradiated regions of solar energy, it is able to still collect this energy, as opposed to a surface. The newly defined solar molecules are constant moving bodies remaining bounded by the area defined by the transmission archipelago. Similar to hot air balloons, the solar molecules function in a similar manner. Buckminister Fuller’s project, Cloud Nine, became the precedence for this move. He proposed that uplift would be created within a geodesic sphere with the temperature of air within the sphere being increased by one degree Fahrenheit. The infrastructure sustaining the form would actually be one-thousandth the weight of air inside. Since the transmission archipelagos cover such a massive amount of land area, the constant moving solar molecules would benefit allowing sunlight to penetrate through creating animated shadows on the earth’s surface. People below may still enjoy the comfort of bright days and sun bathing.

Looking into detail at one solar molecule, it is constructed in three parts: the core, stabilizing/transfer rods, and solar panel cladding. The core functions to store the energy gathered where possible microwave generators can be located. Rods are a medium between the core and the exterior that offer structural support. Energy collected on the surface is fed into each rod then transferred to the core. A cavity is also formed as a result between the exterior and core. Since energy is transferred though the rods, excess heat is emitted slightly raising the temperature in the cavity creating uplift. Finally the exterior serves to collect solar energy. With this proposition, the percentage of energy harnessed can greatly increase to a point where it will solely sustain our needs.

Scale of one solar molecule compared to Empire State Building

Detail of solar molecule with solar panels exploded out

New site plan

Some final conceptual images..

hovering over cities in Brazil

Olympic stadium on Montjuic

Image at night revealing the Moon

proposal: Tsunami (resistant) Architecture

2006-12-20T03:59:00.000-08:00

It was late on the morning of April 1, 1946, and on the island of Hawaii, children from the school at Laupahoehoe Point were the first to see the Pacific Ocean disappear. They watched, awestruck, as 500 feet of sand and coral emerged glistening into the sunshine. A few of the braver ones ventured out onto the exposed reef. Suddenly the water came roaring back, sweeping away the children along with the buildings near the shore and the entire waterfront of nearby Hilo. For nine hours, a teacher, 21-year-old Marsue McGinnis, clung to a piece of driftwood before she was spotted by her fiance, who had mounted his own rescue in a borrowed motorboat. "I saw a number of children floating near me, clinging to wreckage," she said. "We just kept floating out to sea, and some of the children disappeared." Five hours earlier, an earthquake had erupted under the ocean floor off the coast of Alaska. Officials of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, a branch of the Commerce Department, knew what might be coming toward Hawaii, even if they didn't know enough to call it a tsunami. (msnbc.com)

A Tsunami is a significant global threat that can exist wherever there is a large body of water. A mega-tsunami, is a much larger scale disaster ranging anywhere from 30 ft to thousands of feet in height. These events occur when a very large amount of water is displaced all at one time. Examples of this displacement include a meteor impact or a LARGE scale landslide (in contrast to a tsunami which can be caused by earthquakes and plate subduction). The explosion of volcanos can also lead to a mega-tsunami as the land from the volcano rapidly displaces water. Mapped below are 3 active volcanos that are potential threats for megatsunami's. One in the Atlantic (La Palma, Canary Islands), one in the Pacific (Kilaueau, Hawaii), and one in the Indian ocean (Piton de la Fournaise, La Réunion Island).

The ripples do not represent the waves themselves but rather their travel times spreading from an origin, with each peak being approximately 400 miles apart. The wave travels at speeds in excess of 550 mph.

section relating distance traveled to height:

each hash mark on the arrow represents 1hr of travel time

The above image is an overlay of all 3 potential mega-tsunami locations

Interesting sites of wave interference were noted.

The following is a death map created using noteworthy historical tsunami's as data points. The largest points being locations where deaths exceeded 300,000 and the smallest being under 5,000. The areas of interference from the previous map were then overlayed to produce the image below.

Two areas overlapped, one of these being the Indian Ocean disaster of 2004. This tsunami was triggered by an underwater earthquake that registered with a magnitude of 9.3 on the Richter scale. It was the deadliest tsunami recorded in history and killed people in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania.

Tsunami(resistant)Architecture is being proposed to provide housing and counteract the thousands upon thousands of deaths that occured in these regions due to structures being unable to withstand the destructive force of the tsunami. Below a typical Sri Lankan house is pictured.

These dwellings typically consist of 4 solid cement brick walls and are fairly susceptible to a tsunami.

Analysis of tsunami debris was conducted. It was noted that load-bearing walls perpendicular to the coastline, vertical elements of buildings, and bridge supports most often survived the tsunami waves. With this information as a starting point, and using these images to learn from the tsunami it was decided that a modular, structurally sound unit was needed as a starting point. The shipping container fulfills these requirements.

The container is manufactured with heavy-gauge Corten steel, is very sturdy and resistant to the elements. They are built to withstand the violent forces on the deck of a ship at sea. So it makes perfect sense to use them in constructing Tsunami(resistant)Architecture. Below are single and double units, comprised of a shipping container(s), steel bracing, and a column that alows for 360 degrees of rotation.

The rotation of the units is to allow them to by dynamic, and in the case of a tsunami, to be oriented perpendicular to it. This is done in order to put up the least resistance to the wave and to remain intact as a living space. During calm periods, or increments of time where there is no threat of a tsunami, the units will be organized based upon user preference, being optimized for livability, creating both internal and external spaces, and not necessarily perpendicular to an impending tsunami. An example of this is located in the cluster of units below.

This image represents a single cluster that is part of a much larger whole, consisting of hundreds or even thousands of these clusters stretching along a coastline.

While the containers in the "calm state" are oriented based upon user preference, the containers in the "tsunami state" are oriented perpendicular to the impending tsunami. This is illustrated below. The first image represents the calm state, while the second represents the tsunami state.

calm state

tsunami state

plan view of a calm state cluster (left) and a tsunami state cluster (right)

In order to orient the clusters perpendicular to a tsunami, you have to know where the tsunami is coming from. In order to do this, thousands of nodes will be placed in the ocean hundreds of miles offshore. These nodes will relay information such as direction and speed of a tsunami via satellite to the clusters on shore.

node detail

Tsunami(resistant)Architecture consists of 2 components, the clusters and the nodes. The nodes relay information, but also act as part of a public warning system. Upon alerting the clusters of the direction the tsunami is coming from the clusters orient themselves perpendicular to it, essentially pointing at the tsunami. This gives the comunity time to react to the situation and either evacuate the area or seek refuge. While acting as a beacon pointing to impending danger, to an extent, the clusters also protect the inland by breaking up the tsunami waves.

diagram portraying the relay of information

the clusters orienting themselves (the distance between the nodes and the clusters is shortened for representation)

Future Proposal: Archipelago of Surveillance

The nodes floating offshore could be applied and used to warn communities not only of impending tsunamis but of a variety of elements. These elements could be anything from other forms of natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes to issues such as refugee migration, military surveillance, drug trafficking, or even algae blooms. The nodes could be placed surrounding entire continents to act as a type of global warning system. Obviously there are many factors that must be addressed when creating this "archipelago of surveillance." Negative factors include potentially impeding migration routes and changing ocean ecologies, while the positive outcome would be a constant stream of information that allows the entire globe to react/adapt/change in response.

speculative image of surveillance archipelago

Mega Energy Archipelago

2006-12-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

The Mega Energy Archipelago is the fusion of two very different energy sources-- oil and wind. This concept springs from the unique conditions affecting offshore oil rigs in areas prone to frequent tropical cyclones. The archipelago strives to both resist and respond to hurricane forces. It resists the wind forces of the storm by using an aerodynamic shape to deflect direct winds, protecting the structure itself and the oil rig inside. It responds to storm conditions by utilizing the high force winds to generate electrical energy. This combination of oil rigs and wind farms creates a unique tension between dirty, fossil fuel pollution and clean, renewable wind energy. The Mega Energy cities will be sites that simultaneously harvest two very different forms of energy in the same location.

The wind turbines are mounted on the front of the aerodynamic structures to catch the wind energy. The structures are oriented with the oil rig at their center and are able to pivot around that point. This allows the structures to point towards the wind direction to simultaneously catch the wind and deflect it from interior spaces. When tropical storms are not present, the stations will be oriented towards the prevailing wind, and they will rotate to point into the wind currents of storms as they come.

The Mega Energy Archipelago is located off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, as seen in the following images from Google Earth.

Exact locations of existing rigs show the close proximity of oil platforms, making the proposed energy stations easily connected to form a network of individual communities connected by a common transportation network.

Great attention was brought to this site in 2005 when damage done to oil rigs during Hurricane Katrina caused an oil shortage for the southern United States. The importance of this site is further validated with mappings of tropical storm strikes across the world. When individual storm strikes are mapped according to location, intensity, and frequency, a storm archipelago begins to form across the world as the strikes build up over time.
[2001]
[2003]
[2005]
As the storm impacts overlap each other, certain areas of highest impact begin to emerge. These areas reveal the locations of the most storm activity, as seen in the darkest red areas on the following images.

[MORE MAPPINGS]
Overlaying rig locations with impact regions reveals the areas that both share. These areas are prime locations for Mega Energy Archipelagoes.

Inside each structure are multiple levels of occupied space, with open space in the center to give sufficient room to the oil rig. Each level consists of housing and businesses, allowing each energy station to become a functioning community on the water.

In the center of the structure there is an opening at the top to allow any dangerous fumes or smoke from the oil rigs to escape from the enclosure. Fumes can also leave through the back of the structure which is open to let in sunlight and fresh air. These energy cities are accessible by car or train via a series of bridges that connect them together as a network and connect them back to land, forming the whole Mega Energy Archipelago.

Segue City One

2006-12-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

Segue City One is a proposal for the first mega construction of a new global network of trade and transportation. The city discussed here is a result of research done earlier this semster in Mega Blog posts and the Mapimation project; links to these studies will follow.

The Mapimation project was the precursor to Segue City One; Mapimation began as an exploration of global flight paths and then turned into a study of the largest transportation networks covering the globe. The final map overlaps the world’s largest cities, ports, airports, and rail and road networks to find areas of intense overlap of the world’s largest transportation networks. These areas are crucial as distribution hubs in the global economy. However, the cities that act as major players in global trade are often characterized by unsightly ports, noisy airports, and disruptive road and rail networks which lower the living quality of these cities. Segue cities are meant to be new developments at the crossing of major transportation systems. The Segue City acts as a mega hub for all passenger and cargo traffic entering the region it serves. For example, here Segue City One serves most of Western Europe as a gate to the region. In this way, undesirable characteristics of transportation networks are retreated to a single location at the Segue City leaving valuable real estate open on the mainland. A similar study named “What if Denmark was the new Port to Europe” explores the idea of locating the entire Danish shipping industry on a Super Port island in the Baltic Sea. The project discusses the advantages of freeing valuable real estate and how the entire Danish economy could change if all ports were moved to the Super Port. The Segue City will provide similar benefits but on a larger scale. It will address seaports, airports, the rail network and the interstate infrastructure of the region it supports.

Image 1.1

Image 1.1 provides a common view of a map of the world from the Mapimation model. The brightest areas on the map, those found along the east Asian coast, the north European coast, the northeast US coast and the west US coast are all areas that could be benefited by a Segue City.

Image 1.2

Segue City One is the first city of the Segue City network and the only one described in detail by this project. It is important however, to consider Segue City One as part of a network, not as an individual condition relevant only to its site. Segue City One is located in the North Sea; it serves Northern and most of Western Europe. Image 1.2 provides another view from the Mapimation project describing the site selected and Image 2.0 shows the exact coordinates of the city. This location was selected because it is roughly in the center of all of the seaports the city will serve.

Image 2.0

Segue City One is a composition of the cities it serves. The major ports served by Segue City One are the ports in Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Le Havre; the major international airports served are London Heathrow, Amsterdam International, Frankfurt International, and Charles de Gaul airports. The goal of the city is to ease crowding and assist the economies of all of the major cities in Northern and Western Europe. To do this five main elements create Segue City One, those are: 1) the city itself which offers a place for all those employed at the ports, airports and other transportation networks of the city, 2) the green spaces which buffer living spaces from the major transportation operations, 3) the seaports replacing the need for large onshore port operations, 4) the airports which connect people and goods from North and Western Europe with the rest of the world, and 5) the rail/road circulation network allowing goods to quickly be plugged into European road and rail networks.

The city is a composition constructed of large samples of the largest cities of the region served—London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Frankfurt. These are some of the most influential cities of the region. The sections of the city are oriented in a way that corresponds with the actual cities they have been modeled after. While Segue City One’s purpose is to house rather industrial processes, the city is created in a way that still offers a comfortable living environment. This process of collages does not suggest that parts of London, Paris, or any of the other cities are directly replicated, but that the textures and spatial qualities of these cities are used to create an interesting intersection of urban fabrics. Cities created overnight often lack layers of development which usually results in cold and strictly planed urban spaces. The collage process throughout this project seeks to create a large city quickly without creating an obviously planned, rigorous environment. Image 3.0 is part of the early stages of the experimentation of the collision of urban fabrics. The illustration shows the collision of Paris and London and an attempt to resolve the stitching of two very different textures. Image 4.1 is a figure ground of the entire urban living space in Segue City One. This is a combination of the five cities mentioned earlier, starting at the top right and moving in a clockwise direction, sections of Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, London and Frankfurt create the city. The city is approximately 8 miles wide and will house between 3 and 4 million citizens.

Image 3.0

Image 4.1

The next critical element is the green ring. Image 4.2 describes a ring of green grounds foreseen to have a park like atmosphere surrounding the perimeter of the city. All of the industrial operations, the ports and airports are located outside of this “green ring” and are thus screened from the city itself. A bay has been left in the center of the city to give occupants a comfortable waterfront to enjoy. Green parks trough out the city are either green spaces found in the textures of the original cities which inspired Segue City One or they are results of gaps in the collision between different textures.

Image 4.2

The five ports branching from the center of the city shown in Image 4.3 (below) beginning from the top right again and moving in a clockwise direction are the ports of Copenhagen, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Le Havre. Each port reaches in the direction of its original onshore location. The form of each port reaching into the ocean is the inverse of the port as it exists today, this means that what before made up the channels, rivers and canals of the ports has now become the docks. Branches from the central transportation loop (described later) extend along the port docks allowing goods to be moved directly form trains and trucks to ships and vice versa.

Image 4.3

Three large airports serve the city. These airports have been directly modeled after London Heathrow, Amsterdam International and Frankfurt International airports. The reason these three airports have been chosen is that their combined current flights per year equals what has been calculated as the number of flights per year needed to support the operations of Segue City One. These three airports will not only support goods and passengers to the city but will act as a hub, as the entrance and exit of most goods and passengers traveling between Europe and the rest of the world. Image 4.4 highlights the locations and orientations of the airports, from the top right moving clockwise, Amsterdam International, London Heathrow and Frankfurt International airports are depicted.

Image 4.4

Image 4.5

Image 4.5 shows all parts of the Segue City One collage. However, one more critical element of Segue City One is depicted in the video of the FormZ model. This video can be seen below or a clearer QuickTime video can be viewed here. The last major element of Segue City One is the rail/road loop. Below the surface of the city, a large loop connects all of the ports, airports and the urban areas of the city. This loop contains rail lines and roads that extend through arteries onto each port and airport. As described earlier, this allows goods to be quickly exchanged between ships, airplanes and the European rail/road network. A Chunnel system leaves the city on the west and east side leading to the mainland. The video describes how the transportation ring and its arteries operate beneath the city.

MegaDams: Fighting Against Global Warming

2006-12-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

GLOBAL WARMING
Over the last 100 years, sea level has risen 10 to 25 cm and will continue to rise 1 meter each century. A serious problem facing global regions around the world, global warming is slowly deteriorating our planet, warming the seas, and causing dangerous increases in the overall sea level. Several regions are already experiencing the dangerous effects. Carbon dioxide pollution is one of the most significant causes leading to an increase in air temperature. A datascape was constructed by mapping the level of carbon dioxide emissions per country and the level of increase in air temperature. Through analyzing the causes contributing to global warming, targeted areas were found to be killing themselves: regions that are facing immediate dangers of lost land to the sea as well as one of the leading producers of carbon dioxide emissions. The regions must combat the process or face extinction. A newly released movie, An Inconvenient Truth, looks at the approaching outcome.

SITE ANALYSIS
Several of the regions face greater risks to the effects of global warming due to their increasingly large population and industrial centers. After the East coast of the United States was identified as one of these regions, the Chesapeake Bay area was found to be one of the largest ports, housing the Virginia Port Authority, and centers of international trade and economics, as well as known to be experiencing twice the normal rise in sea level. With the location of important ports and other coastal regions at a relatively low elevation, Norfolk, Virginia was chosen as the site of further analysis. A number of problems were identified as a direct result of global warming and potential flooding.

PROBLEMS [In addition to flooding]
Infrastructure & Need to maintain Port Access
Displacement of People & Industry
Need to expand Green Space for absorption of CO2

Site Elevation: determines the land lost

Site Analysis: Orange shows the Housing concentrations and the Green shows the current Green Space

PROPOSAL
Based on the research and analysis, a system of dams were developed as a means of creating manmade wetlands to allowing for CO2 absorption and a means of controlling the rising water. The master plan over time through a series of phases, incorporating new construction as well as accommodating for the continued increase in water. The number one problem was water control which led to the development of linear dams. One of the first effects of global warming will be the initial flooding of the ports and infrastructure and presents the challenge to maintain them. The dam system is designed to permanently connect the current ports and channels to mainland at a safe elevation as show in the image below. By incorporating existing highways as shown, the plan maintains of existing infrastructure and minimizes disturbance. An affordable solution for areas at risk of land loss, typically coastal regions, could utilize surplus shipping containers as a prefabricated building material. The phases are described in more detail below.

The video belows shows the rate of water increase over time in relation to the MegaDam system.

Phase I
Water rise to 5m
Construction of Linear Dams: elevate highway, dam construction beneath

Phase I: Plan

Phase I: Sectional Perspective of Dam

Phase II
Water rise to 10m
Construction of Secondary Dams: organic construction to replenish natural areas
Relocation of Ports

Phase II: Plan

Phase II: Location of Secondary Dams

Phase II:Location of New Ports in connection to MegaDam

Phase III
Water rise to 15m
Construction of Program Adjacent to Dams due to population displacement

Phase III: Plan

Phase III: Sectional Perspective of Dam

Phase IV
Water rise to 20m
Additional Adjacent Program grows from Dam
Water begins to permeate secondary dams to continue forming wetlands
System of Dams becomes the ribs and backbone for the community

Phase IV: PlanPhase IV: Sectional Drawing showing water increase in relation to MegaDam

Proposal: the McCattle Island.

2006-12-18T10:20:00.000-08:00

The McDonald's franchise has infiltrated the world at a phenomenal rate, creating complex relationships as a multinational corporation. These complex relationships bring global consequences, understood best through cultural, social, economic, and political lenses. Mappings revealing the influence of McDonald's as a global force within ideas such as purchasing power and refugee origin can be found here.

One of the major global consequences formed through the McDonald's franchise, and other multinational fast food operations, becomes a high demand for beef. The beef supply for these franchise operations becomes hard to meet due to the large amount of beef required, but also because the beef must be homogenized so that the Big Mac may taste the same with disregard to geographic location.

map of global beef production

The supply of this extremely high beef demand becomes fulfilled through a form of industrialized farming: the feedlot system.

the feedlot system

The feedlot, developed post World War II in the United States due to the rise of fast food operations, enables the cattle to gain weight faster through grain feeding and protein supplements, in order that the cattle may reach mature slaughter weight at a much faster rate than traditional grazing methods, while taking up less area than required in traditional grazing methods. The feedlot system, however, displaces cattle from a species-appropriate environment into a confined area where feeding takes place through mechanized trough-like systems. The feedlot also relies on a grain-fed method to fatten the cattle, disregarding the cattle's ruminary nature. While feedlot systems provide inexpensive and readily available meats to supply the world's high beef demand, pasture-fed beef becomes a more sustainable system for the environment.

The feedlot system allows all of the beef supplied from a feedlot to become homogenized due to the similar nature of the grains that the cattle are fed, instead of allowing the cattle to retain the flavors of the vernacular grass species found in the cattle's original location, as is the case with traditional farming methods given by pasture-fed cattle. The current feedlot market is controlled by four main corporations, including Cactus Feeders and ConAgra. The ConAgra feedlot has a one-time occupancy of 440,000 cattle head, with each cow remaining on the feedlot approximately 110-150 days.

map of feedlot facilities within United States

map of meat-packing facilities within United States

The McCattle island proposal seeks to "naturalize" beef production within the multinational fast food industry. Since the beef that McDonald's uses comes from industrialized farming systems where cattle are raised through feedlot systems, the McCattle island focuses on eliminating the need for this particular system in favor of pasture-fed cattle production. Research regarding beef production methods can be found here.

The parameters of this man-made McCattle Island become a direct reaction to the implications formed through the existing feedlot system. The proposed McCattle Island becomes located off of the coast of Houston, primarily due to the existing infrastructure found within Houston and the proximity of Houston to the areas with high volumes of beef production in the United States.

beef production map with world's largest ports overlaid. the high-volume of the port of Houston combined with its location in the "beef belt" makes Houston a prime location for the McCattle Island.

existing railroads and interstates within houston

scale comparison of McCattle Island to Houston and an average ConAgra feedlot

The McCattle Island allows cattle species-appropriate diets and environment, while maintaining the level of beef production necessary to satisfy the demand of fast food operations. Weaned cattle arrive at the periphery of the McCattle Island through railway transport and stay on the McCattle Island for approximately two years, the length of time it takes for the cattle to reach mature slaughter weight. One island will contain enough pasture (4,733 square miles) to support the production of the current largest feedlot business. Each herd would contain 1000 head of cattle, with the appropriate amount of pasture needed per month per herd provided over the two-year life cycle of the cattle on the McCattle island. Since the United States is the top producer of feedlot beef, the McCattle island has major potential in changing the practice of global beef production.

railway connection of the McCattle island back to the port of Houston

designation of the amount of pasture needed per herd per month

The McCattle Island facilitates traditional grazing methods while directing the cattle into the center of the island, where the meat-packing facility is located. The connection back to the port of Houston's existing infrastructure allows the weaned cattle to be delivered and the packaged meat to be exported through the same line of transportation, lowering the level of disease born through transport from the feedlot to the slaughter house and allowing immediate distribution of the packaged meat.

collage showing the McCattle Island

McCattle Island relative to the continent

The rotating center-pivot volumes serve a variety of purposes:

[1] method of maintaining proper grazing patterns, allowing the pasture to be consumed and rest on the given schedule necessary for the particular species of grass. These rotating volumes allow the cattle to move from the periphery of the island to the center of the island;

the series of rotating fences, divided based on the amount of pasture needed per herd per two year cycle. therefore, each "pie wedge" becomes representative of the area needed for the two-year duration on the McCattle Island.

animated gif illustrating the twelve simulatneous grazing patterns found on the island, given by the month of the cattle's arrival (click on the image to see the rotations).

all of the grazing patterns over a two-year time period. the green areas represent the consumed grass, and the gray areas illustrate the grass not consumed.

[2] method of irrigation, as inspired by the center-pivot irrigation systems found in the great plains and western parts of the United States;

center-pivot irrigation system

[3] method of raking the pasture for proper fertilization;

the rotating volume would contain prongs, like that of a rake, to distribute manure found in the pastures and properly fertilize the pastures

[4] method of transport into the center of the island via semi-truck or car;

section showing the movement of a semi-truck through the McCattle island

[5] method of isolation for injured or sick cow. The cattle that need to be quarantined can be quickly ushered into the rotating volume so that the rest of the herd does not risk infection.

section showing the isolation of cattle from the rest of the herd

Through the McCattle island, the standard of living currently found in the McDonald's countries could still be maintained, and the five basic freedoms of animal rights could be achieved by allotting the cattle species-appropriate living conditions and diets, instead of training the cattle to feed on grains they are not naturally designed to eat through mechanized trough-like feeding systems. The McCattle Island serves as a testament to the social and cultural conditions of society today by illustrating the amount of land needed to produce the same amount of beef produced through industrial farming methods. The need for a method of poly-culture farming becomes necessary for the future in order to avoid a social, cultural, and economic hegemony.

section showing the connection/transportation from port of Houston to the McCattle island

TIME/TUBE WORLD

2006-12-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

TIME/TUBE WORLD is a hybrid of a physical proposal and a theoretical study. The project consists of a physical proposal and a mapping of this proposal in a virtual world.

IMG. 1.1

As seen on MEGABLOG, studies of a trans-global highway and pipelines began to lead the project towards a speculative global transportation network.

IMG. 1.2

In the mapping phase of this studio, the idea of world travel was developed through a series of travel time mappings. A new world was drawn with location based on time distance rather than geographic distance from one of three "hubs"--NYC, Tokyo, and London. (The mappings may be seen here.)

Continuing with these three global cities as sites for a physical proposal, the project then moved towards a physical proposal that streamlined travel between NYC, Tokyo, and London: Tubes passing through the earth as opposed to following the curvature of the earth that would provide trans-national direct train travel.

IMG. 1.3.1 The Channel Tunnel

This idea brought up many questions as to (obviously) the feasibility of such an idea, but also as to the politics of joining nations by underground tunnels. Research of the Chunnel which joins the UK and France may be seen here. This brought further questions as to the politics of tunneling through the earth--who owns the underworld?

IMG. 1.3.2 "The Gravity Train"

As to the feasibility of tubes passing through the earth, a knowledge of the physics of traveling in these tubes was necessary. Robert Hooke studied the motion of a body passing through the earth in his theoretical Gravity Train, (diagram above) in which a body accelerated as it fell into a frictionless hole through the earth and then decelerated upon passing the center of the earth until in came to a stop on the other side of the earth.

IMG. 1.3.3 Trans-Atlantic Mag-Lev Tube

To reduce friction, magnetic levitation trains in a vacuum tube would be ideal. A trans-atlantic mag-lev train tube is currently being researched that would be submerged in the atlantic to allow supersonic train travel.

IMG. 2.1 Comparison of travel distance through tubes versus over land by plane.

IMG. 2.2 A cross section of Earth with the tubes in place.

Using the same methods in the 2D travel time maps above, a 3D map of the new world was produced that is a visualization of the effects of the tubes on travel efficiency. With NYC selected as a hub, the globe was modeled with the areas around London and Tokyo sunken in to create massive holes. The diagrams below are sections of this theoretical globe where you can see the shrunken space between the cities as a result of the reduced travel time.

IMG. 2.3

IMG 2.4 3D mapping/model.

Animation of new world.

IMG 2.5 Occupying the "new world" from inside the NYC-London "hole."

IMG 2.6 Inside the NYC-Tokyo "hole."

In previous research, the use of the excavated material from the tube drilling came into question. The image below shows the amount of material that would be extracted in the process of drilling these tubes.

IMG 3.1

IMG. 3.2

This is a speculative image of the Hudson River filled in with the displaced material. Manhattan Island is no longer an island. Similar studies could be done for the displaced earth in Tokyo and London (also located on islands.)

PANDEMIC/antiPANDEMIC

2006-12-17T21:59:00.000-08:00

What if healthcare was flexible? What if it were made up of tiny parts - cells - that could go virtually anywhere and contained what is needed to combat a global threat such as AIDS? Can architecture exist as a counter-infection to a pandemic?

PANDEMIC

The vastness universe is built upon microscopic particles. Life on Earth is little more than a series of perfect combinations of these particles, and death on Earth is a result of the destruction or incapacitation of the most vital of these particles.

Often, disease and death grow from the inside outward and go from microscopic to MEGA. The focus of this proposal is the MEGA effect of something that is entirely microscopic. It is a storm that arises from inside of people, from a cellular level, and overtakes their bodies and eventually claims their lives, and on the cellular level it spreads throughout the population, claiming lives in masses. Can architecture take the place of dead white blood cells to help fight the AIDS pandemic?

What is the nature of the problem?
A problem can't be addressed before it is defined.

pan·dem·ic (păn-dĕm'ĭk) n. Epidemic over a wide geographic area.
Geographically, the spread of AIDS over the past 50 years
occurred this way:

Shown below is AIDS in the world as of 2006. The translucent mesh represents the population density in those particular areas of the world, and the white mesh under it represents a density of the population unaffected by AIDS.

The AIDS victims appear as negative space.

There is one company that produces the ingredients that go into every medicine used to treat AIDS: this is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), producing the two compounds zadovudine and lamiduvine. Shown in blue below, these drugs breathe new live back into significant portions of the AIDS population, replacing them into the population with their functional lives extended for what is often ten to twenty years.

The GSK corporate network and the populations it significantly helps.

The drug-producing plants are shown as towers, and the shipping paths radiate out from each tower. The problem is that the drugs are produced in some locations, and sold to other locations, and areas where the translucent mesh exceeds both the blue and white meshes, more than 50% of the infected population is not receiving treatment.

In the mappings below, the treated areas and the plants located within them are moved into a gigantic MEGAcontinent. The plants that are left outside of this MEGAcontinent are the plants located in areas that do not receive enough treatment.

ZOOM IN. What does it mean to be part of the infected population? This video from Google shows the AIDS virus attacking a white blood cell. The stills below explain what is happening in the video.

These host cells travel through the blood stream and repeat the process. The drugs containing lamiduvine and zadovudine slow and in some cases incapacitate the host cells, which in turn significantly slows the spread of the virus throughout the body. This can also slightly decrease the chances of a medicated patient spreading AIDS to another member of the population.

Architecture can parallel this strategy.

antiPANDEMIC
If architecture was the cure for AIDS, what would it be?

When AIDS can spread more slowly in the body, it prolongs the life of the patient. If the patient's life is prolonged, it is more likely that patient will be alive when a cure is found. The important function here is for the spread of medication to occur quickly and efficiently, and inhibit the spread of AIDS in the population.

Taking cues from some visionaries of the 60's, with their flexible, transportable, and extremely MEGA architectural ideas, Archigram's Plug-In City seems an appropriate concept to apply to a counter-infection. The Plug-In City is a mega civilization made up of tiny parts which travel and function to benefit this science-fictional society as a whole. This is much like how the AIDS infection functions, and much like the small, virus-fighting lymphocytes in the body function.

These collages show the drawings of the Plug-In City in combination with the GSK mappings.

The idea is this: a GSK manufacturing plant releases a series of smaller cells to be transported to the most remote corners of the planet, those areas in dire need of treatment but which do not receive the treatment currently. Like Archigram's proposal, these would be silos of manufacturing plants and they would infiltrate networks of healthcare and transportation.

MEGAhealth

The proposal is a hierarchical network of the GlaxoSmithKline company's AIDS division. From the headquarters (located in London) comes knowledge, technology, and the patent on the drugs. All of these are intangible and immaterial. These things reach the manufacturing sites, hubs, where the immaterial network is materialized. Cells are constructed here, as well as the drugs and equipment to go in them. Hospital rooms, information cells, AIDS pharmacies and AIDS testing supplies are all made and contained into the cells.

MEGAhealth can be applied in virtually any architectural, geographical, or sociopolitical situation. It is to be versatile and flexible and free.

The cells contain three separate weapons to fight the virus: medicine, medical care and equipment, and education on prevention.

1. Cape Town, South Africa is already a site for a GSK manufacturing plant, but it is a good hub because it has the best resources in the southern region of Africa. The transportation and healthcare infrastructures are well in tact. There is a large amount of class separation, as in most cities in Africa, but MEGAhealth is made to go anywhere, for anyone. Cape Town will serve as the hub for these purposes.

2. Mesaru, Lesotho is the capital of Lesotho. It is small and the poverty level is high, not to mention a very high demand for AIDS treatment. It is very accessible - with a main railroad, a river, and an international airport. The healthcare system is out of date and low on funding.

3. Omusati, Namibia is an area in the wildest part of Namibia. There is a freight road that passes through it, crossing the entire country's width and connecting Omusati to a port. AIDS is prevalent in this area, and there is one missionary-run hospital with very out-dated technology.

Here are the major transportation networks within these areas and between them.
Hospitals are marked as circles in the cities. There are also examples of how the physical portion of the network infects the population.

Capetown.

The basic concept behind the hubs is a structural that manufactures and contains these cells and releases them to the rest of the world to perform their various functions.

This virtual meganetwork - the bloodstream on which the treatment travels - is made up of the tiny components of modern transportation modes.

The cells can be placed elsewhere in the hub city.

Along these transportation networks, they can travel to the other areas that the hub city must serve.

Maseru.

Omusati.

These cells are the small parts of the whole: particles causing a MEGA effect. In the same way that AIDS conquers the body, infiltrates a population and spreads across the globe, the GSK network can conquer a city and spread as well - spreading preventional knowledge, treatment, and care and comfort to those who cannot currently benefit from these things.

Fight PANDEMIC with an antiPANDEMIC.