Echoes of an Ecos -010811

8/8/2019 Echoes of an Ecos -010811

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Echoes of an Ecos

An exploration and reconciliation with

ecology in an urban context,

as a scientific art or an artistic science

-------A poetic interrogation of Ecology

By

Anshu Choudhri


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1.Manifesto

Conflict is the easiest way to address a problem, offense is said to be the best defense.

Sadly so man has become offensive towards the very environment that he lives in. The

population pressure and insensitive construction boom is engulfing our ecosystems

bringing them to a point of not just a species but an ecosystem being endangered.

In these dark times when we have entered the Twilight zone the only answer to our

questions is strategizing design through the realm of Ecological Coding not just as a new

way of viewing and valuing nature but as a race to rescue, to rescue our ecosystems

This renewed dialogue of Architecture with the natural forces that of it being a ricochet

of its environment is that which will sculpt an efficient intervention in the ecosystem

one that is driven to reconcile with the Marshlands.

Man for his urbanistic dreams has engulfed his environment what we need today is not

a catastrophe to establish the importance of an ecosystem even in an urban context.

This layering of the city and its inherent morphology needs to be understood by us so as

to avoid any further destruction of the same.

This interactive integrated system that wills absorb ecologic and eco intelligence from

the bios to the built willEcho the harmonyoftheEcosystem

The future is not an extrapolation of the present.

The need is not of enlarging the existing but challenging the existing with innovative

ideas.New is not equivalent to change. Since we have been striving for the end more

architecture transforms to an object its necessary to emphasize the process, the means

and not the end.

Hence this architecture ecosystem relation is a medium to redefine the role of

architecture and the way it is perceived in todays context; it has potential beyond a


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functional and formal derivative it had the power for social empowerment and policy

change.

2. Introduction

Indonesian writer YB Mangunwijaya quotes You might not see things yet on the

surface, but underground its already on fire.

The current context when mans overbearing acts are resulting in climatic imbalance and

we are under the cloud of the phenomenon called Global Warming we can say we need

to look beyond surface contribution and make contextual interventions.

The population pressure today has brought world to the brink, the current scenario is

that critical that the earth seems to be bursting at the seams. Man has crossed all

boundaries of nature and is swallowed up the natural world to fulfill his needs,

reclaiming natural ecosystems is a common scenario today is it in the developing or

developed countries, thus now is the time we respect, reconcile and restore our

ecosystems.


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3 .Scenario Macro Scale

On a macro scale the thesis aims to address the role of ecology in the midst of this

urban explosion. It would not be too farfetched to state that the future lies in darkness;

if we do not sensitively address the appropriate alternative sources of renewable energy

and value the ecological heritage that we are blessed with.

We are fast depleting our sources such as fossil fuel, beyond depleting them they are

the reasons for the ecological imbalance on account of the large amount of CO2

emissions. So in wake of our so called creations we have paved the way for Global

ecological destruction. In these times its necessary to identify ecosystems that have a

great inherent potential of creating a self sustained society.

Isolated systems lead to disorder and open systems to higher level of complexity and

achievement. Hence the blurring of these various environmental constrains and

capitalizing on their strength in an integrated fashion would mean obtaining deeper

understanding of them and then embedding the same into the architectural and

landscape

3.a .Coded Cities

3.a.i. Color coding is a catastrophe

As I discuss my stance of ecologically driven development, I must state that the thesis is

not about going green. It does not deal with belting the city with lush landscapes but

deals with hybridized conditions that integrate the urban and the natural into a single

cohesive continuum.

A green belt, a designated open space a manicured open park is not the solution for the

harmonization of man and nature as these are piecemeal interventions trying to push a

green block to just complete the puzzle even if the piece is a misfit.The green

development as we pose most cities of today to become should be left to the emerald

city in the wizard of oz. The city should have an ecological character assigned not color.


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Green or lush landscape as projected by the views we observe is not the vision of

sustainable. This over inflated balloon of the green area needs to burst to stop incessant

greening of the urban landscape.

3.a.ii.An architects interpretation of a city

To Aristotle, the city was a way of life.

To Le Corbusier the city is a tool, a logistical device;

To Frank Lloyd Wright the city was the only possible ideal machine.

This mechanistic vision for a city at different times by innovative architects displays the

interest in the coded and principal guided working of a city.

This thesis is an exploration of the way a city does not need a blueprint but an intelligent

system that guides it growth and evolution. Sustainable systems are driven by ecologic,

eco-mimicry and eco integration.

This ecological coding that I have investigated through the thesis is necessary to

understand the working of ecology where each component has a unique form and a non

hierarchical relationship, a complex interrelationship between the varied species. This

can be inscribed into the relationship between the city and ecology.

3.b. Cities as Ecosystems

Today parallality is being observed in urban planned development and natural

ecosystems. There are a large number of theorist and architects that are asserting and

debating the same ingrained intelligence and principles.

Gill & Bonnet, in 1973 stated that A city is an ecosystem an intricate web of interacting

organisms involving energy transfer and materials cycling. It is important that this

cyclical process is stressed on as only when the loop is closed is a setup stable, the main

cause of the instability today is as we are draining our systems of its resources neither

do we neither optimize nor replenish them.


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These analogous paths between architecture and an ecosystem are well described in

Kenneth Framptons view: a deeper relationship with place, a cultural intertwining with

geography mediated through architecture. To further crystallize this thought it would be

appropriate to reason that the ecological connection of culture to its environmental

context is Vernacular architecture; a partial reflection of the ecosystemThe approach

towards a city thus created that ensconces ecological principles in its planning,

execution and existence can be termed as Ecocitology.

What is the common thread between a building and nature though? Buildings are

amongst the most powerful transmitters of any culture and this is analogous to the

species of an ecosystem.

German aesthetic philosopher Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe states that plants are a

conveyor of a vitalist form, expressive of lifes inherent energy and hence imbibing

these natural norms would be the most response to any ecosystem.

Hence Ecologic and E- Code are operative strategies of my approach to design .The

concept and insights promise to open the doors to the kind of understanding of design

and construction demanded by the idea of an ecological culture, a culture that we need

to embrace today to survive tomorrow.

Extrapolation is a mathematical term used to describe the process of constructing new

data points outside a discrete set of known data points. Here it is the external

environment; the ecosystem that is used as the field to generate the new parameters

that govern architecture. The field and its principles hence get embedded into the urban

design. Human settlements are engines of human creation and if we can breathe life

into architecture we have achieved the desirous of integrating the inanimate and

animate.

Since Ecohabitat is a direction not a destination and its principles are laid by ecological

guiding forces, the driving operative theme for the approach is termed as


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Ecoextrapolation; an extrapolation that needs to bridge the gap between the wetland

and the usually interpolated architecture.

This means should fuse the two in such a fashion that at a later stage the architecture

would seem more an output of an interpolation with the environment rather than

extrapolation. This Emergent homeostasis would lay the foundation of creation of an

Ecopolis, a self governing city that is self sustained by nature and not legislature.

Land Lab is an approach towards regeneration of the ecology, a need not whim.

By this process Architecture doesnt get inscribed into the ecosystem but the

ecosystems and its species essence gets ingrained in the architecture. Through the

further chapters architecture and its role and its varied interpretation with time and

context is explored.

3.b.The ecological ballet

Ecology and urbanization pirouette around each other in an intellectual ballet

In these times its important to measure the difference between environmentalism and

ecology. Ecology is a logic coded system and environmentalism a broad area of study.

To build on potential and not present is the call of the time.

We need to move from the realm of what should be and not what is.

A revolution is required to rupture the existing bureaucratic order and the psyche and

mentality it breeds. A revolutionary thought can precipitate into innovation. No idea is

futile and no numbers determine the strength of an idea.

The desire is not to provide a blueprint for the future as a blueprint just stagnates the

creative process and the exploration of the urban and ecological process. Blueprints are

vehicles for concreteness that we can regard as acceptable.


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Ecology works on principles of mutualism, cooperation and reciprocal relations. These

ecological terms can become the guidelines for new eco urban ventures, a new

landscape that ties our growing city to the original ecological landscape.


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4. Redefining architectures role in the Ecosystem:

Reconciliation ecology, a resilient intervention between the ecosystem and the city

4.a. The macro context of a ecosystem as a potential study

The wetlands, marshlands are in its most nascent from considered as a residual

ecosystem, it is a neglected ecosystem, with immense potential to unearth.

The birth of marshlands is as interesting as its current condition where it is home to

varied flora and fauna. Marshes, their very character is of part land and part water and

hence its varied character gives the opportunity to implement an integrated network.

The living Machine mimics the complex of a marshland effectively for water purification

but this scenario and its constituents have the bio capacity to offer much more.

The thesis hence focuses on understanding these individual biological components in a

Marshland and integrating it physically and its essence via eco logic into the

architectural setup to vitalize the marshland as a habitable ecological system. The

structure shall sustain as the approach transforms from that of a designer to one that

respects landscape ecology and inherits conservation biology

4.b. Urban ecotones

Few natural resources are as precious as our water bodies. They regulate our climate,

collect and distribute solar energy, and absorb carbon dioxide. They are home to an

astonishing 90% of the planets living organisms, and they contribute greatly to our

economic and social well-being, giving us fisheries, transportation and reserves of

energy. But the marine environment has been deteriorating for decades on account of

insensitive human intervention. The sea basins around us are all affected by biodiversity

loss, pollution and eutrophication, and commercial fish stocks have never been lower.

Human activities such as agriculture, industry, tourism, fishing and shipping have


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disrupted the ecological balance in many water ecologies. Experts fear that climate

change will exacerbate these effects and disrupt long established water levels and

acidity, ocean currents and ecosystems

4.c. Blurring the Boundaries

Convention is a mere validation of an existing though process of lines that are inscribed

so hard that we dont let the boundaries, disappear.

Topology and the built are considered as two entities and exist as independent layers.

The interdependence of these layers cannot be ignored but need to be addressed and

optimized. Architecture has to adopt the philosophy of Interaction versus Isolation. The

underlined criteria being integration of land, water, resources and infrastructure

Hence this demands for the Blurring of the Boundaries. Blurring the boundaries of the

site and the built would be beneficial for utilizing the natural edges, contextual

conditions, biological bounties as catalysts and not as constraints.

Collapse, a word that can define the consequence of the current over strained urban

scenario. The only saving grace would be that of providing adequate infrastructure to

support the system.

Ecologically supported Infrastructure is a potential corridor that bridges the gap

between habitable and habitat. For this it is essential that Infrastructure be viewed as an

investment not an intervention. The concept of the core and corridor is the principle

successful sustainable infrastructure.

Creation of an ecological framework for environmental, social and economic health

does not manifest as mere green spines and greening the urbanscape.

As stated earlier isolated systems evolve to disorder so the approach for the research is

the quilting together of varied power generating systems in the ecosystem. The

ecological, recreational and cultural networks need to work as layers that are integrated


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into a single mesh. The individual programmatic core is tied coherently by means of the

ecological spines and transit corridors.

4.d.Ecology, Energy and Ecotechnology

Energy is what drives the world be it the natural systems or architectural. The current

buzz word in the energy industry is Solar energy and Photovoltaics, this is not an energy

source that shall get depleted but is a source that with the surge of environmental

disturbance asks for the assistance of the varied other sources to be integrated within

the network to generate power.

It is in this time of dire need to preserve our ecosystems and our energy sources that we

should follow the following principles.

4.d.i. Ecologic

Ecologic is the bio-integration of natural systems into our built environment. Our

personal and environmental health depends on the availability of clean air, water and

soil.

4.d.ii. Eco-mimicry

Eco-mimicry is a term used for the study and analysis of site specific ecological functions

and utilizing the same for purification and waste water treatment or for power

generating processes based on their ecological strengths.

Eco-mimicry is a process of innovation. It is similar to biomimicry or biomimetics but is

designed to produce solutions that serve the local environment and community rather

than the global market-place or the military-industrial complex. It is design that serves

the ecology and the people, not power, prestige or profit.

There is a fourfold approach to an eco sensitive approach:

1. Ecologic Analog: Careful analysis of the resident ecologies


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2. Ecologic Functions: A qualification and quantification of the functions that occur

in this ecology

3. Ecomimetic Applications: Design that mimics and integrates these ecologic

functions into the structure of buildings and landscape

4. Ecologic Intelligence: Cultivate these living systems by monitoring and

maintaining these systems in perpetuity

The evolution of a successful system is on account of the systems inherent strength and

not mere mechanical interventions. The logical understanding of an ecosystem and

imbibing it appropriately into the architecture and planning of the site would be the

optimization of eco mimicry an approach that is now widely being recognized as the key

to sustainable future. Eco mimicry and eco integration are the goals of the thesis.

Climate and context, water, wind and watts are the driving forces in the research.

Evolution of Healthy ecologies is based on the NO WASTE principle. There is an

abundance of renewable resources that we have and should harness. Humans account

for only 1 percent of the earths biomass but are responsible for 99 percent of all the

earths pollution and cover 8 per cent of the biospheres land surface with their built

environment.

The graph above illustrates the increasing levels of pollution our civilized world has been

generating over the last 20 years and the related rise in population.

The graphs readings clearly demonstrate how population pressure and harmful

emissions are demanding for a new earth, we are hence encumbering the earth

ecologically.

Man cannot create a new earth but by doing most in our capacity we can respect the

one we have. The new nature of today is an engineered utopia with ecological

principles.


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5. Appropriate technology

It is more than just alternative sources of energy

Eco technology integration is critical as it is a versatile flexible adaptive system that

emphasizes durability and quality and not built in obsolescence. Decentralization is

necessary to avoid concentrated clogging of the biosphere.

Global Thinking

5.a. Wind energy

The key principle of utilization of wind energy can be a governing principle in the design

of the landscape of site.

Topology is critical in harnessing wind as higher winds usually occur on the tops of ridge

lines. Hence wind energy should ideally be tracked and exploited on the tops of ridges in

order to utilize the maximum wind speed and power in the area.

In nature it is observed that winds are created by local differences in air pressure and

temperature, as well as surface disruptions, such as mountains, cliffs and trees. This

demonstrates how one can use topographical obstacles to create changing wind

pressures and hence generate more wind power without the creation of large wind

farms.

5.b. Watts from water, understanding of water as a power generator

Till date we are underutilizing this plentiful resource of water avail-able to us as we

generate only 700 GW of energy where we can generate upto 3TW.

The following diagram shows the capacity of Hydro power generation across the globe.

Water power is not just reservoirs and rivers. Moving water has great potential, the

cumulative power of the wind and the water in form of waves is an untapped resource.


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Similar to the concept of thermal mass where a high diurnal difference in temperature

acts as a reservoir of energy, in wave power a high diurnal variation results in energy

generation. This variation is observed along the coastline of Britain, Portugal and

Norway.

Every gesture need not be on a micro scale but the minute intervention is what makes

the system sustainable. MICRO HYDRO projects may be the answer to the energy crisis.

From Barrages and dams to localized water catchment areas the options to explore are

plenty- HYDRO FUTURE.

5.c. Array of Available resources

Earth is a matrix of various other power sources beyond the omnipresent ones stated

above.

In the contemporary context these unconventional alternative sources are gaining wide

spread concern and acknowledgement as the power of the future.

These are Biological setups such as algae farms, oyster farms, bio batteries driven by

bacterial decomposition, plant and rock outcrops.

The ideological omelet is what the concept of these scattered eco- communities can be

described as.

Eco-technology is a means which becomes the end.

Incessantly harnessing the sun and the wind seems contradictory to the idea of the

alternate energy which should be a local system harnessing that resource which is the

core driver of that zone.

The global approach leaves many resources untapped many options unexplored.


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Qualitative differences lead to a complimentary behavior this very contrast can open

the doors for a healthy collaboration between the constructed city and the ecological

landscape.

Nature is a natural resource Cities are an urban resource People are a human resource

A new energy pattern artistically tailored to the ecosystem it is engraved in is built of

the collaborative interaction of the above mentioned resources.

The thesis scales down the intervention in the marsh to a human dimension. Architect

dons the hat of an eco-technologist to heal the wounds that the city and citizens have

given to the environment.

Local Action: Adaptive technology and system

Science is a poetic interrogation of nature. And the integration of the essence of this

science into a planning scheme makes it sustainable.

The solution to current and projected energy crisis on account of depletion of current

sources such as fossil fuel is a self supporting regenerative system. By tapping the

inherent potential of naturally available renewable local resources and making each of

them work in coalition as a system and not concentrate on an isolated resource we

could establish an ecological and urban equilibrium.

By this localized action not only are we employing alternative sources but also the most

appropriate resource for a certain context, scale and function.

5.c.i.Algaculture

Algae, second generation bio-fuel have become the most recent source of green fuel. It

produces a large amount of veggie oil, a fuel for the future.


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5.c.i.a.Algae, the new bio-battery

Algae are miniature bio-factories that by means of photosynthesis to transform CO2 and

sunlight into energy. The principal significance of microalgae is their effectiveness in

photosynthesizing their weight multiples diurnally. Algaculture is the process of

farming algae. Algae harvesting and algae farms are the recent farm typology that would

soon be peppered about the urbanscape. The flexibility that is offered by an algae farm

is that its land requirements can be low. It is a flexible system that is being explored in

various manifestations ranging from algae race ways to algae facades and algae

incubator cells.

5. c.i.b.Benefits of using algae as a fuel

Algae has a very high photosynthetic efficiency 50 % of its body weight is oil as compared to 20% for oil palm They can be grown on soil that is not suitable for agriculture, as they dont need

fertile ground

Gallons of Oil perAcre per Year

Corn 18

Soybeans 48

Safflower 83

Sunflower 102

Rapeseed 127

Oil Palm 635

Micro Algae 5000-15000

5.c.ii.. Algae Farms and Raceways


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As algae requires ample of sunlight algae farms are often situated in deserts, but water

is scarce and secondly the need to transport the algae and the brackish sea water in the

desert causes great expenses.

Since algae growth is fostered in an environment that is damp, moist, warm and wet

such as marshes. This makes the marshland an ideal location for algae harvesting.

Algae farms are a fast growing feature both in the field of Urban Landscape and energy

generation. A wetlands large component is composed of mud-flats. Microscopic algae

such as diatoms are able to occupy surface layers of the mud and photosynthesize to

accumulate more energy. Water acts as an electron donor. This asset of the site needs

to be exploited to the fullest. A natural electric farm can be an integral component of

the marshlands. This adds to the fact of not just creating an ecoextrapolated system but

interpolating a species of the marsh as an extension of the suburban sprawl.

The open or closed pond method can be used to grow algae. In an ecosystem like a

marsh part of the marsh already exists as an algae field (open system); the remaining

half is populated with algae harnessing incubators (closed system).In the open culture

system the desired algae can be inoculated into the system. Enclosing algae in a

transparent barrier effectively turns it into a greenhouse that can breed more varied

species and hence provide better yield.

Algaculture doesnt require an infrastructural system, but its siting is critical as it has the

ability maximize yields while treating waste and consuming CO2.

5.c.iii. The Process for Algae Fuel Production

Extracting oil from algae involves first harvesting the algae out of the pond, pool or body

of water in which it is growing. Once this is done the algae can be dried, and pressed for

oil. This will only remove about 40% of the oil content, the rest remains in the dried

pressed paste left over. This dried paste can then be burned to produce heat, or

electricity (through steam), and the oil can be filtered for use as fuel.


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Algae farms are often deployed in the confluence of vegetated ridges and flood plain

toporegions; resulting in a visually compelling, vineyard like organization. This is where

renewable energy is produced and the location of a research center on bio energies and

training facilities could be an ideal programmatic option. Included in urban objects and

structures, the algae farms are creating patterns, colors and forms making an attractive

meeting between nature and the urban landscape.

5.c.ii. Oyster Farms

Proposals of Oyster farms are fast gaining prominence in metropolitans like New York

also.

One such proposal is also made by SCAPE for Governors Island this proposal by Kate Orff

of SCAPE is termed as: Oystertecture She quoted I want to harness the biological

power of the creatures in the harbor to create a new relationship between New Yorkers

and the harbor,

This New Dialogue of Man and nature is essential. Oyster farming platforms prevent

storm surges from ruining populated areas and hence demonstrate how coalition leads

to ideal existence.

5.c.iii.Bio fuel cells

Bio-fuel cells are alternative energy devises based on bio-electro catalysis of natural

substrates by enzymes or microorganisms.

Bio Batteries

Marshlands are home to a large variety of flora and fauna and hence their waste.

Recently findings by researchers demonstrating for the first time the mechanism by

which some bacteria survive by 'breathing rocks as published by the scientific journal,

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) could be of great use. The

findings could be applied to help in the development of new microbe-based


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technologies such as fuel cells, or 'bio-batteries', powered by animal and plant waste,

and agents to clean up areas polluted by oil or uranium.

"This is an exciting advance in our understanding of bacterial processes in the Earth's

sub-surfaces," said Prof David Richard-son, of UEA's School of Biological Sciences, who is

leading the project."It will also have important biotechnological impacts. There is

potential for these rock-breathing bacteria to be used to clean-up environments

contaminated with toxic organic pollutants such as oil or radioactive metals such as

uranium. Use of these bacteria in microbial fuel-cells powered by sewerage or cow

manure is also being explored."

The vast proportion of the world's habitable environments is populated by micro-

organisms which, unlike humans, can survive without oxygen. Some of these micro-

organisms are bacteria living deep in the Earth's subsurface and surviving by 'breathing

rocks' especially minerals of iron. Iron respiration is one of the most common

respiratory processes in oxygen-free habitats and therefore has wide environmental

significance.

Prof Richardson said: "We discovered that the bacteria can construct tiny biological

wires that extend through the cell walls and allow the organism to directly contact, and

conduct electrons to, a mineral. This means that the bacteria can release electrical

charge from inside the cell into the mineral, much like the earth wire on a household

plug."

Unfortunately marshlands the neglected environment are either left unattended or

used as the backdoor to the city and are often the dumping ground of the city.

This means they house are chocked with toxins. In this scenario such Biological batteries

are a hope of light. Not only does this help in detoxifying the site but also creates a

renewable rejuvenation cycle.


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Decentralization and appropriate technologies, a more pragmatic and efficient approach

to management of resources in todays times where man has depleted a large portion of

his naturally available resources.

Decentralization also offers social empowerment and makes the community responsible

for the resource so the disconnect that modern times has created between man and

nature is revived by the means of responsibility


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6. Scenario: MICRO LEVEL

At a Micro level the scenario is that of treating architecture and natural landscape as an

Evolutionary paradigm. Evolution is the medium that exemplifies the term of

sustainability.

Sustainable developments in natural environments are being explored globally.

6.a.Addressing the waterfront, a worldwide movement

6.a.i.An overview of Rising Currents, New York, USA

In 2009 the Museum of Modern Art and PS1 launched a unique interdisciplinary

experiment with the intent to re-think New York Harbor in light of the currently

occurring phenomenas like climate change, sea level rise and storm surge. Rising

Currents, gave design a new meaning that of being a tool for addressing local and global

issues that are extremely pivotal in todays context.

Involvement of an institution is necessary in todays time for both promotion and

funding such ventures. Beyond the commercial aspect these ventures are about social

engagement, and hence MoMAs involvement seems apt as Social engagement was

one of the main themes running through Modernism and in this way MoMA goes back to

what it originally was.

Architecture, Design and Policy

Disregarding water and waterscapes as residual spaces or landscapes has been

hindering in the growth of the cities. Amanda Burden, has very clearly stated what

should be the path in the future that of embracing the notion that water deserves as

much planning attention as the land receives. She poetically called water New Yorks

sixth borough.
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Can a design instigate policy change? What role does aesthetics play in policy in climate

change adaptation, in developing political consensus and breakthroughs? Are critical

questions posed to us today as architects questions I wished to explore if not answer

An ecosystem and its species

One can gain a lot by exploring the strength of the individual components of an

ecosystem as Kate Orff and SCAPE Studio developed Oyster-Tecture, revivingNew Yorks

natural history with the wondrous, dynamic oyster which both filters water and forms

natural wave-attenuating reefs. The US Army Corps of Engineers, along with the New

York Harbor School, has actually installed an experimental oyster reef in the city, just off

Governors Island.

6.a.ii. Beyond the global sphere zooming into the city of Mumbai

SOAK, a Mumbai-focused exhibit lead by Anuradha Mathur, a designer and landscape

architect and her partner Dilip da Cunha very beautifully explore the forts the

marshlands and unravel the history of the city and optimize the strengths of the city.

The authors of SOAK on the Rising Current:

Every once in a while there is an exhibition that goes beyond the language by which it

is described, challenging the popular imagination and calling for a new one. Rising

Currents, to us, is one such exhibition. It calls us to go beyond the language of the

waterfront. The era of confronting water is past. The idea of water meeting land

across an edge drawn more easily on paper than on the ground, is no longer tenable.

Identifying this duality and the edge condition, the transition zone as a critical context

and one that offers great potential is the aspect of both these exhibits Rising Currents

and SOAK that had a large impact on my grafting into the marshland.

6.b. Zooming into an ecosystem
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The subnatural marshscape is an exploration of its species working and its presence in a

city with growing needs.

Some of the Marshlands that were potential study zones on different parameters are

Iraqi Marshlands

Meadowlands, New Jersey

6.b.i The Iraqi Marshlands

The Iraqi Marshlands constitute the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and

are of environmental and socio-cultural significance. Located in the areas surrounding

the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in the Governorates of Basrah, Missan

and Thi-Qar in southern Iraq, the Iraqi Marshlands consist of interconnected wetland

systems of the Central Marsh, Al-Hammar Marsh and Al-Hwaizeh Marsh (2955 to

3245 N and 4525 to 4830E).

The Iraqi marshlands are of interest on grounds of their being the largest wetland

ecosystem, an ecological heritage that is in danger as it is fast depleting from core

ecology to a corner condition. From a wetland to a dryland

6.b.ii. Meadowlands, New Jersey Commercial entrapment of the wetlands

6.c.iii.Salt Pans; The Marine Meadow


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7.Site Selection

Mumbai Marshes, Mithi River, Mumbai, India

7.a. Mumbai Geographical and Climatic Data

7.b. Mumbai its journey in time

The history of its new geographical and ecological formation

The present city was originally made from seven small islands, composing mostly of

mangrove forests and marshland dissected by rivers, streams and the sea. Fishing

villages and settlements of the Koli and Aagri tribes developed on these islands. The first

attempt of reclamation was made near the Worli island in 1770. However, large scale

reclamation only started after 1840.

The British undertook land-filling and draining of the marshlands, developing a modern

port and city, which attracted migrant workers from across India. In the 19thcentury,

Mumbai emerged as an important centre of international commerce, industry and

culture. Most of the reclamation was complete by 1930s.

The Mumbai needed to develop rapidly in the post independence times. The

reclamation of Salsette islands started in 1950s and reclamation in minor areas still

continues. The twin city of Navi Mumbai was created in 1970s by reclaiming large patch

of mangroves on the eastern banks of Thane creek, a very large creek in the region.

7.c . Destruction of Mumbais marshlands and mangroves; disruption of ecological

balance , inviting the wrath of natural calamities

7.d. An overview of the current state of the mangroves and wetlands dotting the city

7.e The new commercial hub of Mumbai: Bandra Kurla complex


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7.e.i. A Boon or Bane

In the book invisible cities its well stated that a city does not tell its past, but contains it

like the lines of the hand.

Mumbai contains its marshlands and seems to be getting too tightfisted its time the city

lets go its urban dreams that see mere modernization but yields to the genesis of a co

evolutionary approach between man and nature.

Mumbai; a bazaar city is a unique entity of 2 worlds formal and informal that cohabit a

common urban space. This character of the city lies in the context of the scenario that

the thesis deals with a two worlds of land of water of ecology and urban construction

and offered most potential as a site that dealt with intense urban pressure but needs to

treasure its ecology.

7.e.ii. Floods in Mumbai

Mumbai Under Water

Mumbai under Water is an effort focusing on the reasons that caused the July 26,

disaster and whether human efforts would have mitigated the situation. Was it a natural

disaster or Man caused disaster? Mumbai recorded a rainfall of 94cms on July 26,

2005 and a total of 647.5mm in June. This caused flooding throughout the city and loss

to human life and property.

What caused the floods?

Flood: an upsurge; a reprisal of the sea

Surface is not an appropriate measure for an ecosystem with a dual nature like a marsh

but depth is an appropriate understanding of that system through an exploration of

sectional variations as components of the migrating formation.

Today Mumbai has been flooded with concrete that has been poured to create a new

city layer over the ecological layer of the city. Landfills and causeways are diagnosed as


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the reason that prevents the sea from surfacing in a game of pressure saturation .The

floods of July 2005 were further a result of the inundated and infused ground beneath

than the rain and surface flow. Reclamation was not done just to gain new land but was

done with the belief in progress and developments are creative measures lead to our

destruction.

7.e.iii. A struggle with the sea

Cut and fill operation of swamps and outcrops is reclamation, this is a process of

building barriers to keep out the sea. Swamps and outcrops uncultivable wastes that

were not only considered valueless but were inscribed a negative value. This negation of

the good of an ecosystem is what has made man undermine their presence in the city.

Reclamation does not only make land it positions land against the sea

The expansion of Mumbai city in the past couple of decades has been beyond limits. The

infrastructure infill has been massive and the fact that most of it being unplanned has

contributed largely to the cause of the disaster. Unplanned infrastructure that engulfed

the marsh spine of the city was the main reason for the chest high water clogging in

those places.

The article explains in detail the various causes for the floods in Mumbai.

7.e.iv.The importance of Mangroves

Mumbai as an outstretched grasping hand reaching westward into the Arabian Sea

944mm of rain on july 26, 2005 highest recording since 1800.

From saturated to flooded its a profound shift not a gradual transition.

So this incessant reclamation of the marshlands is the reason that Mumbai soaked. So

addressing the marshland is necessary but before addressing it, it was essential to

understand what role a marshland plays in a city scape.


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Citizens itself never noticed this ecosystem that hugged the city till the monsoons in

2005. Mithi was made the culprit for the deluge and instead of giving its due the

government is training it as a drain.

An issue can be tacked only if the nature of its context is understood. A wetland is an

undifferentiated surface of the sea accounting for an unstable edge line. This soft edge

of a wetland is its most critical contribution and with the reclamation man has

converted this to a hard inscribed concrete line on the landscape. A wetland, a

Mangrove is a useful barrier a cushion against intense surges from the sea

In the words of its creators Soak is about making peace with the sea; about designing

with the monsoon in an estuary.

Estuary is the primary ecology of Mumbai, an estuary one that draws the sea into the

land. An estuary demands gradients not walls, fluid occupancies not defined land uses,

negotiated moments not hard edges. It demands an accommodation of the ecosystem

not a war against it. An appreciation of an aqueous terrain

The wet theory as proposed by the exhibition looks at taking into account the flux flow

and blurring of boundaries rather than reluctant boundaries of the city. Addressal of the

phenomena of migration, motion, disturbance of soaking in the ecological constraints is

the first step to the recognition of the concern of the submerging city.

Mumbai through the Screen of Soak

Out of this thesis transcends a new relationship between architecture and society where

society id developed on the ecological code and principles like unity in diversity,

spontaneity and non hierarchical relationships.

Seas invasion into the land and our answer to it reclamation is it justifiable.

The issues ask for not end scenarios but initiations, seeds that evolve by a visual,

political and technological fluidity that befits the temporality, uncertainty and

complexity of a terrain between land and sea.The need of the time is to look as Mithi


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not as the cause but as an opportunity for an alternative visualization of Mumbais

terrain.

Rather than a river that exits land through a coastline, it is Mumbais estuary, a third

coast, which carries the possibility of a different reading of Mumbai, its past and future.

This shift from marine to terrain is not a consistent one. It is conferred an unease, an

analogical strain that keeps land and sea active through practices that value their

divergence. Mumbai is a meeting of movements; the terrain is porous and divided but

unfortunately there is an uncritical acceptance of the line between the land and the sea

and man desires to overtake both land and sea.

7.e. v. Mithi as a Methaphor for change

The development of Bombay from an archipelago to this linear ever-growing city has

obliterated the past and the truth of its terrain. That is the prime reason for the

destructive revenge nature is taking over the city today like the floods of 26th

July 2005.

Recognizing Mithi as more than a drain a sits viewed today and integrating it into the life

of an average Mumbaikar, is the first step for change. To change Mumbai into an

ecologically sensitive urban city, that creates along and not against natural paths.

Mumbai is synonymous with change with its moving aqueous terrains and composition

hence negotiations and fluidity should be built into the development suggested.

Aqueous terrain of Mithi has no beginning or end it is one of the many agile landscapes

of Mumbai and this agility and tenacity needs to reflect in the innovative landscape

proposed as an emergent architecture of the Marsh. A mangrove cultivated gradient

architecture a biotic treatment field an energy harvester a community space is what the

city needs rather than indulgence in blanket reclamations of land to satiate both its

social and ecological needs.

What Mumbai needs to tackle the flood is not flood control measures but making the

city and its development absorbent and resilient itself.


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8.Interpreting Architecture

8.a.Architecture as an expression of the time

As an architect it is an important decision to make that what is the role of the

architecture you design in the current time, is it a mere habitable space designed to

perform a function or does it go beyond these standard norms to become the architects

voice, the architects position not as a mere designer but as an individual as a citizen.

This strength that an architect has that of creating a visual and spatial expression is what

can be our contribution to society.

As a citizen of Mumbai, the sad state of the city post the 26th

July 2005 floods where the

city was drowned stirred something within me.

The search began for me as how as an architect can I make a difference, and to me the

answer was not that of creating a flood control measure but was that of understanding

the true cause of the devastating floods, the destruction of the Mumbai marshlands in

wake of our creative endeavours.

Our creation of a new urban environment from the colonial era to this day has

transformed the archipelago of Bombay to a concrete land strip .We have put a

concrete mesh over the original marshy fabric of the city and the flood is not an account

of the rainfall but of the underground water surfacing.

Man for his urbanistic dreams has engulfed the marsh this flood is an eye-opener to

man but what we need is not a catastrophe to establish the importance of an ecosystem

even in an urban context.

This layering of the city and its inherent marsh morphology needs to be understood by us

so as to avoid any further destruction of the same.

The marsh and its dual nature make it a very interesting context to explore. Its land +

water condition is one that cannot be understood from a distance, it can only be


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experienced by being part of the experiment itself to evolve the understanding of the

emergent system that ties the urban tissue and the ecological mesh of the marsh.

8.b. Architecture as E-coding not Bio-Mimicing

The Bios is real, hence for me Bio-Logic became the medium by which I can breathe

reality into my vision.In a context as challenging as a marshland to make the

architecture viable without creating a concrete scape in the eco scape one needs to

understand the functioning of the ecosystem and its species and inherit these traits in

the tectonics and technology of the built form.

The architecture would be governed by various ecological constraints of the marshlands

and would aim at being a halophytic (salt tolerant), humidity responsive, hydrophilic

architecture not merely a formal expression of the understanding of its species.

As an operative theme for me to mimic is not to merely copy but to emulate the power

and strength of the species existence in a particular ecological framework, a framework

that should drive the architecture rather than the built building a new framework

8.c.Architecture as an emergent system

A sensitive context as that of an ecosystem requires an architectural language that

conforms to the understanding and behavior of the ecosystem.

In the thesis the architectural bridge is component driven and not a large mass it grows

with the marsh and from the marsh. The spatial expression, emerging from the water, is

devoted to the activities linked to the marsh such as the algae lab, an experimental

setup as an extension of the educational institution and the algae energy arms that

create bio-fuel to make this not a mere art installation but a scientific art expression

that would most definitely elevate the understanding of the marsh for even an

onlooker.

This emergent expression celebrates the essence of a marshland of its co-evolutive,

cooperative and adaptive systems.


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An Ecological expression: Beyond the visual

To me then the architecture that would emerge from this marsh had to be an

expression of the ecosystem, its ever-changing fabric and its inherent strength. In

todays post destruction era I agree architecture needs to satisfy the need of the time

but it also needs to explore ahead of people's immediate needs, it should pervade their

lives.

The architectural intervention should be one that desires to harness and exhibit the

biological power of existing species of the marsh. These species and their functional

strength make them the integral connection between the city and the ecosystem

Architecture is experienced not only as what we see or inhabit but also through the

senses, which therefore gives rise to aural, visual, olfactory, and tactile architecture. As

one moves through a space, architecture is experienced as a time sequence. Although

architecture is primarily considered to be a visual experience, the other senses play a

role in how one experiences both natural and built environments.

8.d. Architecture is an adaptive and not an additive system

Architecture in most of its manifestations draws energy from the infrastructural system

my aim through the thesis is to create an eco run hub not on the basis of it being a

hybrid of technology and nature but that of a system governed by the principles that

govern life in an ecosystem. I wish to notch the existence of architecture from that of

being an object to a module of life, a system that not merely creates a shelter or

protects life but architecture that integrates the structural and behavioral intelligence of

a life form.

Along with the ecosystem the architecture would harmoniously cooperate with various

other untapped resources that are site specific like algae farms, oyster farms, rocky

outcrops, bacterial decomposition of plant species and the more abundant resources

like water in its various manifestations as reservoirs or water in motion like tidal waves,

wind.


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8.e. Architecture as a policy driver

The position of policy versus part of the existing process is where the whole approach

to intervening in the ecological zone changed and since I through my thesis am

advocating the role of architects in shaping a city I opted to not isolate the marshland

but let my intervention enter this restricted zone and weave it back into the city fabric.

Isolation causes neglect, integration leads to respect.

The approach to any such problem especially where one is dealing with zones normally

marked off as a reserved zone or one that has to be left in its current state, even if its

current state is a result of mans intervention is the stand we decide to take.

Adapting architecture to the existing regulations is an appropriate measure but the time

demands that we invent, that our innovative interventions widen the scope of policy

formation help define policies.

Though I desire to instigate policy change I am not aiming to be a theorist but be a

dreamer who leads the vision to an innovative solution


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9.Architecture Redefined As Scientific Art or Artistic Science

9.a.Where Arts and Science meet

Ecology is a scientific art or artistic science and its best as a form of poetry that

combines art and science in a unique synthesis.

The translation of ecology as art is as both are in state of continuous improvisation. The

fields of art, architecture and science cannot work effectively in isolation. The key to a

successful project would be the collaboration of the three spheres with optimizing the

capability of each to bring to forefront the merits of the other.

Many collaborative efforts in the art and architecture, architecture and science field are

in the pipeline as architecture is always questioned to be either an extension of the

artistic or scientific realm.

My aim was to use the visual quality and impact of an art installation with the precision

and functional approach of science and create a new architectural paradigm, one that

doesnt conform to any style; from the country or period but creates a new vocabulary

one that subscribes to the ecological codes and understanding.

9.b.CaLL: paving the path for the manifesto

The principles of Mary Misss Living Lab became the drivers for programming the thesis

that integrated a modern engineered system with the natural environment.

This hybrid situation hence is developed on the three ideas that of:

Experiment city: where new ideas can be investigated and tested ( the system,and integrated labs, testing fields)

Experiential city ( the new topography) Evolving city: where issues of our time can be expressed( incremental growth

and migrating formations)

City as Living Laboratory: Sustainability Made Tangible Through the Arts


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A project that largely influenced the design ideology for the project isCity as Living

Laboratory: Sustainability Made Tangible Through the Arts , a new initiative

spearheaded by artist Mary Miss in collaboration with EcoArts Connections director

Marda Kirn.

The goal is to make sustainability personal, visceral, tangible, and actionable. Based on

input from municipal agencies and multiple partners, CaLL projects will seed project sites

with installations, interactive activities and events, setting an example that can extend

to other sites over time and lead the way for other cities in the future. These activities

will foster collaborations among communities, disciplines, institutions, and

neighborhoods as they work together toward common sustainability goals. The CITY AS

LIVING LABORATORY (CaLL) is a vision for how the arts and sustainability can be linked in

innovative ways to create cities that help us redefine how we live our lives, use our

resources, how we communicate, educate, work and collaborate. WHO

Artists, who specialize in innovative thinking, are a resource being overlooked as a

means to educate, inspire and encourage citizens to think in a new way about the world

around them.

Artists, working in collaboration with scientists, economists, social scientists, urban

planners and others can lead to new ways to live in, build, and imagine our cities.

HOW ?

By changing the way we live, work, build and play in order to deal with the

environmental, social and economic challenges we face

Through projects that create accessible, tangible, visceral and personal experiences

WHY

To make large-scale programs, policies and planning initiatives (that are often

invisible) apparent to the citizens through small-scale interventions in the city


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To redefine the city by giving it a global I.D. as an innovative green city and to maintain

a contemporary presence in the global marketplace

To make issues of sustainability tangible and visible to gain the participation of all

citizens, communities and institutions to maintain the political will to create newly

sustainable cities

WHEN

Now. Fast track sustainable practices by giving them an immediate presence that is

visible throughout the city in a timely way. Long range goals that take years if not

decades to implement can be made visible almost immediately with fewer resources.

The data stated above are extracts from Mary Misss websitehttp://www.marymiss.com

and explain the project City as Living Laboratory: Sustainability Made Tangible Through

the Arts.

Distilling the thesis on the parameters from CaLL

Through the following paragraphs I have tried to distill my thesis project through Mary

Misss approach and the parameters that drove CaLL.

The vision for CaLL is a beautiful merger of the world of arts and sciences, City as Living

Laboratory (CaLL) is a vision for linking the arts with sustainability to help us envisage

and create cities that redefine how we live our lives, use our resources, communicate,

educate, and work.

CITY AS LIVING LABORATORY can help make ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC

sustainability integral to all communities of a city.

It is important for us to in the current context realize that sustainability is a cumulative

result of success in all these spheres and not one in isolation. A goal can be achieved

only once its understood and brought to the forefront and thats what this project and

architecture on the whole can help us achieve.
http://www.marymiss.com/http://www.marymiss.com/http://www.marymiss.com/


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To make SUSTAINABILITY TANGIBLE and visible for citizens, communities and

institutions

To EDUCATE the public about environmental, social and economic sustainability

To stimulate ECONOMIC VITALITY in our neighborhoods and city-wide

To ADDRESS CRISES in our cities such as environmental degradation, neighborhood

blight, crumbling infrastructure, and natural disasters

The role of art and artists in todays world

Artists are experts in innovative thinking and are currently being disregarded as a

resource .This idea that Mary Miss is bringing to the forefront that artists, in

collaboration with people in other fields, can produce projects that educate and

motivate citizens to think about the world around them in new ways is a large

contribution to the vision of a city.

Collaborating communities

SOCIAL PROGRAMS can connect neighborhoods with their environment, culture, history,

and each other

The natural and the technological

NATURAL SYSTEMS can be made evident in local and regional contexts

INFRASTRUCTURE can be revealed and given visual expression

Parameters that make such initiatives successful

SCALE - a citys large-scale sustainability initiatives can be expressed through phase vise

development that allows the project to be successful from a normative inception to a

large scale urban intervention as proposed in the thesis.


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RESOURCES - collaborative arts projects can partner with existing programs and

institutions; the thesis project is funded by an international school on site as it is an

educational experience.

PLACES - such as community gardens, parks, abandoned lots, infrastructure sites

The abandoned marsh considered as a negative space in the city is hence the ideal

platform to showcase how our ignorance makes us demean the value of the basic fabric

of the city.

USER APPROPRIATION

Providing a stage for various activities that are temporal and user defined makes the

project more successful and brings in a larger mix of people to the marsh which would

make it a more successful venture than programming it with a function that targets only

a certain group of people

EVENTS - performances, festivals, exhibits, talks, tours, fairs, feasts, films

TOPICS - land, water, transportation, energy, air, climate change, etc.

The marsh and the intervention as an experimental apparatus that can both be a lab for

experiments and is an experiment in itself with its dual nature offers to explore the

effects of various NATURAL elements and their interaction with the MAN MADE

environment.

Architecture is an artistic action driven by scientific support, an educational tool

With this approach I am not denying the necessity of design of spaces serving existing

interests and points of view but this is the time we must invent new points of view and

have faith that they would help educate the masses.

Architecture can educate not by just being a school or a college, that is a literal

expression of a place of learning but through an interesting conceptualization


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architecture can draw interest of the citizens to pertinent issues that may seem

mundane to many.

Some leaps are required, if architecture desires to move with todays accelerated

changes, or more so to jump ahead to help lead them.

Incremental transformations may be the first block to building this new identity, where

adaptability and appropriation of architecture are critical.

The primary undertaking of experimental works of architecture and art is toidentify new points of view on what already exists.

The second task is to test them. The third is to move beyond the existing and invent.

9.c. Architecture as an organization of energy

A city is a network of economic, technological, social, cultural systems which overlay and

interact with one another to make it a living system. Organization of energy is the

common thread between all these systems.

A public space is an ideal platform to understand the energy generation, the cycles of

production, cleaning and the strengths of an existing ecosystem.

Existing energy relations in a city can be boosted by drawing inputs not only from the

technological domain but also the ecological domain. Input of new energy in the form of

highly temporary spatial interventions; is the key to reducing dependency on the

extremely burdened sources of energy, generating a system where the architectural

intervention can sustain itself and also support its vicinity would be ideal.

Considering that the site is a marsh, one that would not have its own water supply,

sewage treatment or energy source, the architectural intervention would be a

successful and acceptable plug in if it did not draw from the existing energy circuit but

instead could be a plug in that replenishes the energy circuit.


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Direction and its role in harvesting energy

Energy and the way it directs architectural formations makes me comprehend

architecture as a vector, with a magnitude and direction.

In the case of the thesis the various formations and the energy arms or the links of

algae cells was determined by the direction that provided maximum surface area

exposed to the sun in a day so as to accelerate energy production by the algae. The

project aims to be a living laboratory an experimental setup and not an energy field

hence the arms are restricted to the least turbulent zones with the solar driven

orientation rather than populating the site with algae cells. This formation makes energy

organization as an interpretation of architecture.


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10.Drawing Inspiration

Ecological parameters guiding architectural decisions

The power that man feels he is bestowed with has lead to its zenith and in the wake of

his creative destruction not only is the air polluted, the water bodies choked but even

the depths of the ocean and the ecological transitions of the city are destroyed their

flora and fauna is depleting at a fast rate even at this very moment as I bring up this

issue.

Mans proliferation in the ecological cycles has tipped the ecological balance beyond self

repair that today man needs to intervene to restore what he disrupt. The list of

ecological assaults is endless and the damage cannot be repaired by some control

measure so attending to our current situation is necessary but educating the people to

prevent such a situation in the future is critical.

Before the environmental degradation due to human intervention reaches the stage of

an irreversible action we should identify accept and face the cause of this with ruthless

honesty.

An ecological society is not just a desire but a need

If we pull off this ecological rug we will be exposed to the cold floor of the earth.

The city fabric is woven by an interesting mix of active ecology and ecology that needs

to be activated. This can be done using eco technology to create eco communities.

Nature is a harmonized system in which unlike our perception there is a coequal role of

the various components of the ecosystem and this equilibrium of coequality must be

established between the urban and the natural.

Ecology and its varied species are built in with an understanding that makes their

existence most appropriate in a context. This kind of co-optive adaptive relation is what

architecture also needs to have with the site it emerges from. The very notion of built

architecture versus emergent architecture is alluring.


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10.b.Operative themes

10.b.i. Echoes of the Ecos

The operative theme resonate the essence of its environment; it is hence aptly termed

as the Echoes of the Ecos (ecosystem)

In its basic addressal the operative strategy is that of

Eco Extrapolation and Eco interpolation

It is that driver that propels form, function, materiality, adaptability and most

importantly survival.

This seems most appropriate as I desire to create an architectural scenario that

coherently interacts with the environment.

Ecoextrapolation

The next Golden Age of Architecture as termed by Turner in 2000 is to create a biology

that unifies the living and the inanimate worlds

The aim of the design hence is to create an ecopolitan design; ecological urban

settlements in themselves are oxymorons. This paradox makes it essential to decode the

two and understand their structure that has an underlying similarity.

10.b.ii. Is biomimicry the means to our goal of rescuing the ecosystem?

As one of the preliminary exercise the biomimicry guild undertook in the interaction of

biologists and engineers one of the biologists very aptly said that the answers to the

questions are out there all we need to do is change the lens.

This statement stirred within me the question with regards to our designing strategies

and brought to light the fact that many a times we let our architectural visions blur the

real.


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A survey of the National Biological Service found that one-half of all native ecosystems

in the United States are degraded to the point of endangerment, this is the state of a

developed country have we ever thought what would be the condition in the developing

countries where nature is left with no option but to succumb to the population

pressure.

The time has come for us to address the critical question

How can we live on this home planet without destroying it?

The Biomimicry Guild is very actively working in this sphere and its goal is to create

products, processes, and policies---new ways of living---that are well-adapted to life on

earth over the long haul.

What is it that makes Biomimicry a successful approach in these times of crisis ?

Its sustainable:Biomimicry follows Lifes Principles that instruct us to: build from the bottom up,

self-assemble system.

Optimization not maximization is the key.One in such a system would adopt the use of free energy, cross-pollinate,

embrace diversity, adapt and evolve, use life-friendly materials and processes,

engage in symbiotic relationships, and enhance the bio-sphere. High

performance levels and survival of the Fittest

Save Energy:From plants trapping the sunlight for their survival to predators having to hunt to

gain energy through food, there is a constant efficient approach to obtaining and

saving energy in nature.

With the energy crisis that we face today Energy in the natural world is even

more expensive than in the human world. Hence by emulating these efficiency

strategies of nature we can curb our energy consumption that translates to

greater profitability in both the ecological and economic sphere.


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Formal MimicryEvery shape in nature is built strategically, thus biomimicry can help minimize

the expenditure on materials while maximizing the effectiveness of pat-terns and

forms to achieve their desired functions.

Redefine and Eliminate Waste:By mimicking how nature transitions materials and nutrients within a habitat,

various units and systems can be designed to optimally use resources and

eliminate unnecessary redundancies

Biomimicry is that mentor to a design that has created a model that has a measurable

impact in the current context

Model:Biomimicry is a new science that studies Natures models and then emulates

these forms, processes, systems, and strategies to solve human problems

sustainably.

Mentor:Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature. It introduces an era

based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but what we can learn

from it.

Measure:Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the sustainability of our

innovations. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, Nature has learned what works

and what lasts.

10.b.iii. Ecomimicry :its contribution to the new bios beyond formal logic

Understand the formal logic; the textural quality of the varied flora species was one of

the initial steps in understanding how ecology has inscribed intelligence into its

individual components.


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Mangrove associates defy the root shoot and sea land divide and this isdescribed in the mechanisms stated below:

The flora is comprised largely of Pneumatophores plants that have knees to drawoxygen from roots accommodating high level of salinity

Since the Mithi Marsh is a Landscape of salination there is a plant gradient witheach designed to tackle the depth and salinity gradient.

Eco Mimetic design is that sphere of design fast gaining prominence as it is the real not

virtual presence of survival of the fittest.

The textural quality of the lotus, the structural strength of the blue mussels thread like

tentacles, the territorialisation of ant nests as a flood damage control system, the drip

trips in leaves, the humidity sensors in the exoskeleton insect as an aesthetic element

and the aerial roots of plants as a means of optimization of climatic constraints to ones

benefit are simple observations in nature that can pave ways for architecture that

Echoes the voice of the Ecos.

Flora and Fauna species survive in an ecosystem on the basis of adaptation and the

Darwinian Principle of Natural Selection or as the British polymath philosopher Herbert

Spencer coined the term Survival of the Fittest. Form geometry and the structural core

of the flora and fauna define the existence of the built on the site.

Beyond its formal emulation, the textural quality of flora and fauna can drive the

treatment of the building skin so as to adapt most effectively to this dual scenario.

Factors such as humidity that would be of great concern in such a microclimate can be

effectively integrated in the system if one was to learn from the lessons of nature.

Eco Mimetic principles are the first step towards E-Coding the architecture to create a

ecopolitan landscape.


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Environmental equilibrium

Ecoding the architecture is just the first step to establishing a relation with the

environment. For this symbiotic system to sustain it is important for us to adopt the 3R

theory as a way of life and as they say we live the way we build, thin architecture

namely Reduce, reuse and recycle. These three are the main principles for achieving

environmental equilibrium.

A certain way of life can only be programmed by the inputs provided by the settlement

pattern and hence it is integral to the system to accommodate for the Pedestrian

pockets as a new strategy for suburban growth. The industrial era and its impacts have

engulfed ecosystems leading either to their endagengerment or their chocking its time

we open up and let the ecosystem and the buildings breathe, as each our a node of life.

Patrick Geddes promoted this theory of human ecology and ecocity

The understanding of Cowan and Van Der Ryans principles as stated below are key to a

logical and pragmatic approach to the scenario

1. Solutions grow from place

2. Ecological accounting informs design

3. Design with nature

4. Make nature visible

5. Everyone is a participant designer

Once as architects we accept the above and accept flexibility and permeability of these

varied factors as our inputs we enrich the process.


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Bioregionalism

Architecture and urban planning is the expression of an era, this is the era of Ecological

awakening. Hence the concept of bioregionalism a strategic term in the field of biology

is slowly flowing into the architecture and urban approach. The core of Bioregionalism,

Life territory a place defined by its life forms and topography and biota rather than

human dictates, a region governed by nature not legislature (Sale 1985). This bio-

regionalist tendency is observed in regionalist architecture. Regionalist architecture

extends presence of building beyond the sculptural envelope to the territory.

Bioregionalism addressing the role of culture in shaping a place with due recognition

to the primacy of nature.

10.b.iv. Adaptation, the driving force for survival

On the basis of our understanding of the bios and the varied species that are part of this

rich dual natured context adaptation becomes that force that drives every characteristic

of the species and hence its survival.

Adaptation and survival can thus be considered synonymous; speciation as observed in

nature is driven by geographical isolation and creation of Ecological niches.

Marshlands are the second largest ecosystem prevalent on earth after the rainforests.

The rainforests, its species and its bio mimetic possibilities have been explored in great

depth by the Biomimicry guild but the marshlands are left unexplored.

Various adaptive strategies as observed such as the creation of a thin oxygen film

around the body of the fauna or the environmental engineering of by which beavers

build dams and store food in tunnels or chambers beneath the surface of mud or how

the air filled flotation structures in plants avoid the presence of scaffolding or how the

Breathing roots to tap atmospheric oxygen or the Moss cushion storing the water and

using hydraulic techniques to sustain its the system, or Halophytic membranes on plants


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Buoyancy is integral as some of the components float in the marsh and maintain their

relation in the whole landscape as they are interlocked. In marsh multiple plants are

interlocked at root level, this grouping is used as a means to promote flexibility with

stability in the system.

Beyond these adaptive strategies even behavioral strategies of the flora and fauna such

as Migration and dispersal are underlying layers of the urban proposal. As these make

the development fit in this brings me to the context of a fitting city.

Fitting City; locally and globally, is an emergent pattern one that Lewis Mumford aptly

described as an organic development with discernible boundaries.

10.b.v.MIGRATING FORMATIONS

Sketch by author

A marsh is dynamic meeting of ground of the horizontal extension of land and vertical

variation of water, thus making horizontal extension and vertical variation driving forces

of the design process

Transfiguration: Migrating formations

The wetland is an oxymoron in its very origin.

The principle of transfiguration here applies not to a form based transpositioning but

that of the embedded intelligence of natural systems.

In the case of a wetland as an intertidal transitional zone the boundary is in a constant

state of flux and hence the ecosystem itself can be termed as a migrating formation. The

mobile component of wetlands is the water that results in the migrating boundaries of

the wetlands.

Since the urban setup is closely tied to the site, the movement of the site is amplified

through its architecture. This migration in biological terms is an outcome of a process


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called Succession that is dependent on plant and animal presence that alters rate of

water flow and hence varied formations of solid and liquid pockets.

Succession; wetland changes with time is a process observed in both Rheotrophic

(flowing water) and rain fed (ombrotrophic) wetlands.

10.b.vi. Elasticity

Adaptability refers to a potential of a space to accommodate different uses without

significant modifications. Flexibility refers to a space that accommodates different use

by being easily changed.

This relation between adaptability and flexibility is interesting as it creates a scenario

similar to that of elastic. Thus elasticity of architecture another paradox as architecture

for eons has been considered to be synonymous with static and stable is another driving

theme for the design approach.

This is achieved by allowing user appropriation of space hence creating endless

possibilities of the functional aspect. The component and its multi layered skin, along

with varying configurations of grouping also offers flexibility of use from an arcade ( like

linear space) to an amphitheater like congregation space.

10.b.vii. Nested systems

The complexity that is observed in a wetland is based on the principle of nested systems

and layering. The various adaptation types namely structural behavioral and

physiological hence cannot work in isolation and for the success of the system have to

be nested into each other.

The structure the skin , the form the function cannot be addressed as independent

entities as in nature no form is created without a function, every vein in the leaf every

hue on its surface is either part of a process or an outcome of these processes.


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10.b.viii.Visibility to the Invisible

Nature is woven with a deep tapestry of rhythms, some heard some unheard, some

visible some are not. To achieve an ecologically stable urban settlement is first

important to understand the constitution of the system that the architecture is

becoming a part of. The aim is thus to capture the aspatial and atemporal aspects and

not just the aesthetics in nature.

This visibility will assist in emulating natural systems in the building systems the

mechanicals

The fauna of the marshlands may not always be as appealing as species of other

ecosystems on account of its constant contact in water and migrational nature. Thus a

swamp or a marshland can be considered as Subnature; addressing these denigrated

forms of nature is as critical as the scenic and pleasing. Wetlands are the anxious

landscapes of earth.

Hence, it is critical today to explore the hidden technological sophistication of

unrecognized beauty of underappreciated forms of nature and recode the synthetic

environment with this sub natural experiential intelligence. The algae incubators in the

thesis have been attributed an architectural scale in the thesis, so that one can bring to

forefront the often invisible richness of a marshland.

By amplifying the invisible we create an urban environment that is organic and is a non

uniform development, part of a pattern; appearing to grow out of landscape an

Emergent Pattern.

10.b.ix.Smooth and striated spaces

An Urban slippage is a heterogeneous composition of smooth and striated space

The Smooth is like a slide a seamless space and the Striated a structured space.

Evolution is the phase of Between being and becoming like the relation of these two


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spaces. Their interaction is that of folding in as folding is a luminal condition associated

with becoming (Deleuze and Guattari 1987)

10.b.x. Similar not same

Sketch by author

My approach to the individual units is modular but as my very context this is also a

paradox where though they are modular they reflect the genetic coding of being Similar

but not same. Each unit would have the same logic but individual realization.

This would generate evocative patterns where the aesthetics is beyond visual pleasure it

is information about the site and the logic that exists in ecology.

Architecture and design should provide right message and Biophylia is a condition

determined by evolution embedded in our genetic makeup an illustration of our

existence.

10.b.xi. A transformative system in a transitional zone

Being an intertidal transition zone the boundary of the marsh-land is undefined and the

relation between land and water is in a constant state of flux. Hence the intervention

both at the scale of the master plan and the individual unit morphs with respect to the

site condition.

Since the marshland itself is a transitional ecosystem and its inhabitants migratory, the

modules themselves would have the adaptability to transform to a certain degree with

respect to existing site conditions, water levels and climatic influences.

Thus at times certain sections of the module would gradually shift from a built to unbuilt

condition from a path to a space condition.

From being on to being in a module


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The marshscape would hence be a kinematic modular life system, one that grows and

changes with time.

10.b.xii. Dissolution and Crystallization as an underlying strategy

It is analogous to the salt in the salt pans that could be an integral part of the larger

system that the architecture would undergo a process of dissolving and crystallization.

Like salt at certain junctions or instances the module would dissolve and fuse to

integrate as a landscape condition and re-crystallize at a time or at another location to a

built form


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11.From the drawing board to the site

Architectural aspirations

In the current context with overgrowing cities the interdependence of architecture

planning and urban design can be achieved through the landscape pattern, not a mere

aesthetic intervention but a perceptive translation of the terrain and ecosystem.

Water flow is the lifeline of the city and containing these flows and compartmentalizing

architecture and the ecosystem has caused loss of several great opportunities for

development. Architectures existence in isolation with disregard to the environmental

science is the cause of the wrath of the ecosystem and through this thesis exploration I

wish to address the issue not solve ecological issues.

11. a.Interpretation of CaLL

Architecture is Dancing to the music of the Biospherewe are but whirlpools in a river

of ever flowing water. We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate

themselves Weiner 19

This hybrid Marshscape is developed on the three ideas from Mary Misss Call that of:

Experiment city: where new ideas can be investi

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Echoes of an Ecos -010811