Liz Article.v.2

8/3/2019 Liz Article.v.2

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Review 1: Thesis Article V.2Resilience – Extreme EnvironmentLiz Lessig

Abstract:

Architecture puts its faith in progress, in the future. The ideology behind progress is that thingswill be better, faster, more advanced. As stated by Nic Clear, “this faith of progress and bettermentfails to ring true in the light of economic downturn, environmental catastrophe, increased levels ofcrime, the threats of terrorism and global pandemics”1 We are living in terrifying time. How does

architecture deal with these problems? How does it address progress in regard to the currentconditions we are faced with as a society?

This thesis project investigates the inexorable invisible elements of threat that occupy oururban fabric. Constant phenomenas from climate change, water scarcity, populations growth,

earthquakes, terrorism, and toxic threat dominates our environments. These elements of threatproduces landscapes of fear. These territories, cities of nowhere, form no-go zones in our

urban fabric. “Fear” is dened as “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation orawareness of danger.”2 Response to the actual danger or anticipated risk of danger is a majorindividual and social psychological and emotional force in human history. Fear causes one to lockones front door, our bicycles, our computers, even if that fear is not immediate. This fear also drives

people from the places they inhabit, the places they call home.

The research positions itself to examining these topics and territories of excess that create post-

urban spatial conditions. Research is trying to unpack and dene these territories of extremeenvironments, by looking at past and present industrial operations and urban processes in

relationship to ecological systems, cultural constructs and emerging technologies. These invisibleelements of threat and fear are a material artifact of societies excess consumption of innite natural

resources, resulting in the conditions of toxicity and radiation.

Through an investigation of the behavioral logics of the system, the inputs; of fear and toxic threatand outputs; such as displacement and adaptation involved, a design process can emerge that is

concerned with architecture not as an object, but as a system. A study of the adaptations provides alens of investigation of these sites in regard to temporal, shifting, and mutating conditions of toxicityThis lab examines how architecture has multiple inuences that are in constant exchange with the

environment in which they are situated. Moving forward there is an opportunity to challenge currentpolicies that are in place and conventional practices in regard to how we address these sites ofdecit or extremes.

Architecture is not sufciently addressing the current economic and social situation in regard tothese invisible elements of threat. I hypothesize that there will be an increase in the net total ofthese dead zones because of an increase in toxicity and fear resulting from our economic patternsof consumption. By developing a methodology that is driven by an exploration of these unseen

risks of these cities of nowhere, I hope re-interpret these relationships, that allows us to adaquentlyaddress these terriotories.

1 Clear, Nic. “A Near Future.” Architectural Design.

2 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meyer>.

Dead Zones_Cities of Nowhere



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Article:

Architecture puts its faith in progress, in the future. The ideology behind progress is that things

will be better, faster, more advanced. As stated by Nic Clear, “this faith of progress and bettermentfails to ring true in the light of economic downturn, environmental catastrophe, increased levels of

crime, the threats of terrorism and global pandemics”3 We are living in terrifying time. How doesarchitecture deal with these problems? How does it address progress in regard to the currentconditions we are faced with as a society?

This thesis project investigates the inexorable invisible elements of threat that occupy oururban fabric. Constant phenomena’s from climate change, water scarcity, populations growth,earthquakes, terrorism, and toxic threat dominates our environments. These elements of threatproduces landscapes of fear. These territories, cities of nowhere, form no-go zones in our

urban fabric. “Fear” is dened as “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation orawareness of danger.”4 Response to the actual danger or anticipated risk of danger is a majorindividual and social psychological and emotional force in human history. Fear causes one to lock

ones front door, our bicycles, our computers, even if that fear is not immediate. This risk of threatalso drives people from the places they inhabit, the places they call home.

‘nowhere’ + ‘somewhere’

Within my investigation, there are two condition that I am exploring. ‘Nowhere’ and ‘Somewhere’.I am dening ‘Nowhere’ as a invisible material artifact of threat. This threat can take on an innitenumber of forms from societies excess consumption, economic situation, to the conditions of

toxicity and radiation. These threats take on the characteristics talked about by Easterling as,“these belts of special conditions constitute volatile, non-national spaces that move around the

world like weather fronts on airborne, landed, or maritime currents”.5

These unseen threats areconstantly shifting and mutating.

‘Somewhere’ is the context. The location and site in which these threats or fear are exhibited. Itis a place where the risk of threat is still evident, but we are not aware. Can these adaptations,

temporal, shifting, mutating conditions of toxicity within these extreme environments inform thearchitecture?

3 Clear, Nic. “A Near Future.” Architectural Design.

4 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meyer>.

5 Easterling, Keller. Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and Its Political Masquerades.

+ 22 years =

source: http://www.time.com/



Energy + Economics

In the last century, the largest amount of energy that society has controlled has been devotedto the construction and maintenance of human habitats. Roger Hooke, a geologist, states, “we

have now become arguably the premier geomorphic agents sculpting the landscape”6. That

control or power is equivalent to the earth’s primitive power of sea oor spreading and mountain

erosion. What is architecture role in regard to power? I argue that architecture must address the

relationship between patterns of energies of production and excess that manifest themselves in

societies consumptions and infrastructure products. “Without measure, human beings produce

endless amounts of energy in social (crowds), political (wars) and environmental (pollution) terms.

Previous models of that would see pollution, war and destruction as collateral eects or damage

of desired systems of production.”7 Architecture has the ability to address these sites where these

excess energy are situated. Architecture’s responsibility is to address these problems of energy,

social and economic stress, and these territories of extreme toxic threat.

Bataille argues for a new law of general economy, he argues that “the living organism, in a

situation determined by the play of energy on the surface of the globe, ordinarily receives more

energy than is necessary for maintaining life; the excess energy (wealth) can be used for the

growth of a system (e.g., an organism); if the system can no longer grow, or if the excess cannot

be completely absorbed in its growth, it must necessarily be lost without prot; it must be spent,

willingly or not, gloriously or catastrophically.”8 These catastrophically release of excess energy are

what creates these inexorable invisible elements of threat.

Element of Threat: Toxicity

In regard to these invisible elements of threat, one area of focus is toxicity, specically interestedin nuclear radiation. Nuclear energy has always been at the forefront of society’s fears due to the

testing of nuclear arms. As seen through the history of the cold war, with is deep impact on people

6 Davis, Mike. Dead Cities: a Natural History.

7 AD: Eco-Redux. Architectural Design.

8 Bataille, Georges. The Accursed Share: an Essay on General Economy.

Fukushima

Chernobyl

LEVEL 7

LEVEL 6

LEVEL 5

LEVEL 4

3 mile island

First Chalk Accident Windscale Fire, UK

Lucens, Switerland

Goiania, Brazil

Kyshtym Diaster, Mayak

Sellaeld, UK

SL-1 Experiment

Saint Laurent

Buenos Aires

TokaimuraJaslovshe, Czech

souce of data: INES Levels (International Nuclear Event Scale)



psychological and emotional state. The image below illustrates the threat of the current incidentsand accidents in regard to nuclear events. Level 7 being the highest with only Chernobyl and nowFukushima falling into that category. This is stated as a ‘major release of radioactive material with

widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extendedcountermeasures’9 according to the International Nuclear Event Scale. This agency created bythe International Atomic energy in enable response in regard to being able to communicate safety

information regarding the event.

Cities rich in history and culture, that have been eliminated and destroyed. The destruction of thebuilt environment is also a loss of culture, religion, and place. These communities have been

completely destroyed due to the excess of our consumption creating inhabitable environments.

This destruction has been seen throughout the history of architecture, “there has always been a

war against architecture”10. As building have always been a source of targeted, damaged, by war,this unseen threat of toxicity can be seen as another type of war. In War architecture the Center,

Gailson, argues ....

Risk

9 The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Rep.

10 Galison, Peter. “War Against the Center.” The Architecture of Science.

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How do you determine the levels of risk of these territories? What is acceptable risk, what are the

effects of radiation on the human body? The risk of something that we cannot physically see, thatwe can not sense. Radiation can’t be smelled, felt, sometimes even we can’t imagine it damaging

us. It is easy for society to dismiss something we cannot physically see or feel with our senses.

The risk of radiation, and the effect on the human body is determined by the amount of radiationone’s body is exposed to as well as the time of exposure. There are many misconceptionsregarding radiation. Spending a day in the 30 km zone of alienation next to the reactor is equivalent

to the radiation of a typical dental exam. How to map risk is a methodology being explored in thisthesis. How to create ‘maps of survival’ for these irradiated landscapes. To determine the levels ofrisk within these environments of threat. Risk mapping is technique used often outside the practiceof architecture from the response to natural disaster, to economic investments, and even to access

the quality of road infrastructure. In Alan Wiseman’s article, in Harper magazine, he describesa potential project that was initiated by a group of scientist in Chernobyl to supply data to thepeople living in the contaminated area. Unfortunately, after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the

allocated money was lost.11

Territories of Risk

Territories of Risk can be examined through a lens of four nuclear toxic sites. This thesis isinvestigation four nuclear accidents, the Kyshtym disaster, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and

Fukushima, to understand what those spaces are how response to these site is created. Lookingspecically at the radioactive plumes that are associated with each of these nuclear disaster sites.The resulting plumes represent the invisible toxic threats which create new geographies in each ofthese areas.

Plumes + AtmosphereAtmosphere is a eld that is constantly surrounding architecture. It is an invisible layer that isconstantly in interaction. Contested in David Gissen, Subnatures, Gissen provides a welcomeresponse to the typical theorist responses to nature and architecture. Gissen terms subnature

as element of smoke, exhaust, dust, the heat of crowds, and mud as “undertheorized,underdiscussed, and undervisualized in architecture.”12 These are aspects that are often

11 Weisman, Alan. “Journey through a Doomed Land.” Harper Magazine.

12 Gissen, David. Subnature: Architecture’s Other Environments.

Kyshtym Disaster Mayak, Soveit Union

Three Mile Island AccidentHarrisburg, Pennsyvania

Chernobyl Disaster

Prypiat, Ukraine

1986

Fukushima DaiichiFukshima, Japan



“overlooked in the more general discussion of what might be termed natural architecture.”

Atmosphere and plumes provides a lens to examine the territories that are subject to economicdownturn, environmental catastrophe, and threats of terror. The text is extremely prevalent in

regard to the topic or framework of extreme environments. How does one dene these territoriesof extreme environments? Gissen argues that “forms of nature become sub-natural when theyare envisioned as threatening to inhabitants or to the material formations and ideas that constitutearchitecture.”13

Gissen describes subnatural as “the realm in which we can barley exist in the state that wecurrently conceive ourselves, both socially or biologically. It is that zone that is most fearsome,because it describes the limits in which contemporary life might be staged”.14 Why do we fear? Is itcompletely inherent in our society? Can we control it? If so, do we want that control?

Plumes are worth investigation because they are natural phenomena within themselves. Inaddition, invisible movement that inuence and change in regard to our environments. In terms of

hydrodynamics, plumes are a column of one uid or gas moving through another.15 In its movementthere are several factors which inuence it movements, including momentum, diffusion, andbuoyancy. Radioactive plumes have additional layers of complexity applied.

Formations of plumes are inuence by a number of factors that contribute to the spatialcongurations. First the wind speed, wind direction and duration are the primary factor indetermining the path of radioactive plumes. Other inuences include: amount of radiation beingproduced by the plant, the age of the plant, the amount of spent fuel rods stored on the site, as wel

as the history of shut downs, res, and leaks. New geographies created by plumes can be catalystfor the future.


14 Ibid.

15 Schaefer, Vincent J., and John A. Day. A Field Guide to the Atmosphere.



Kyshtym Disaster

The disaster at the nuclear fuel re-proesssing plant in Mayak, Russia occurred in 1957. At thetime the Soviet Union was trying to catch up to the United States in regard to the development of

nuclear weapons. The plume resulted from the explosion, moved to the northeast, to area’s 350

km from the plant. The are where the fall out occurred is know as the East-Ural Radioactive Trace

(EURT)

Three Mile IslandThree Mile Island Nuclear Generating station, is situated in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In

1979 a core meltdown occurred at Unit 2, a pressurized water reactor. It resulted in the release of

approximately 2.5 million curies of radioactive gases, and approximately 15 curies of iodine-131.Three Mile is considered a level 5, an accident with wider consequences.

ChernobylAt the time of the nuclear meltdown, Chernobyl was at a point of production that was capable ofsupplying 7 million costumers with electricity. The nuclear accident that occurred at reactor #4 25years ago, had ramications that were equivalent to 100 of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima. The

site, provides an opportunity to examine the ‘afterheat’ of a nuclear disaster, particularly how thesite has progressed and evolved since the incident. Nature has taken over and started to ourish.The site acts as a catalyst for the adaptations and evolving of rare species and new urban ora .

FukushimaAfter Chernobyl, we thought we have gured out how to create safe nuclear energy, but thenthis March 11, 2011, the incident at Fukushima occurred. After the earthquakes and tsunami that

occurred, there was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactivematerials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The radioactive contaminants that were releaseare moved through the air by wind. They easily cross continents and oceans, as has beenwitnessed since the 1950s following nuclear tests.



Control

Control and power are often the topic of contention within architecture. Power and control oftenuse camouage and deception to hide there intentions. “Assumption of a proper political activityserves as the perfect cover for unorthodox political moves”16 Attempt of control and response tothese invisible elements of threat, through control have not been successful. Examples of 60’s

utopianism, 90’s gentrication have both just re-displaced people, and do not addressed the issuesat stake.

An analysis of these control as response to threat or fear allow you to read information regardingthese sites. Goverment controls are often as James corner describes it “as with stitching upwounds to the skin that are only recurring symptoms of some larger failing, the continual patchingover of problems...fails to adequately address their source”17 The control zones designated are

not corresponding the larger hidden threats or issues. In a United Nations report it was founds that“Fear of radiation is a far more important health threat than radiation itself”.This process of analysisand documentation of these control as a response to threat or fear is a layer of information that thethesis through its experiments is try to unpack. The ‘cities of nowhere’ that are created verse the

formations of plumes allow different way to parse the realities of the site.

Testing

“For this is the age of experimentation, and we have not yet learned to read its protocols”18

-Avital Ronell “the test drive’.

16 Easterling, Keller. Some Short Stories.

17 Corner, James. “Eidetic Operations and New Landscapes.” Recovering Landscape.

18 Ponte, Alessandra. “Desert Testing.” The Architecture of Science.

INES (International Nuclear Event

Scale) - introduced by the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency

Chernobyl Disaster

1986 1990

Fukushima Daiichi

Nuclear Disaster

2011

Kyshtym DisasterMayak, Soveit Union

1957

Three Mile Island Accident

Harrisburg, Pennsyvania

1979

“Trinity”

rst-ever test of a

nuclear weapon

1945 1954

“Castle Bravo”

Largest weapon evertested by the US.

“Operation Crossroads”

rst underwater nuclear

explosion

“Sedan”- part of

operation plowshare

Nevada Test Site

Last Soviet nuclear test

Hiroshima. Nagasaki.



Ponte, in his article Desert Testing, he makes the connection and links between nuclear radiationand testing. Within architecture, testing has been a method of experiment, of exploration, of

representation. In Ponte essay, Desert Testing he states the both the disciplines of science andart go through a series of experiments or tests. Through the use of the desert, Ponte provides anexample of what experimental means in terms of science and art.

Through mapping and examining nuclear events in regard to testing sites along with the accidents,

both can be seen as testing and as stated by Ronell in Desert Testing by Ponte, “experimentation isa locus of tremendous ethical anxiety...that travels way beyond good + evil”19

Methodology

Architecture’s current representational techniques are not capable of depicting change anddegrees of transformation. Change, is an aspect within architecture that architects are constantly

fascinated and transxed with. These ‘cities of nowhere’ are active landscapes that are constantlyundergoing change. Experiments and techniques that I have chosen to pursue, try to representthat change, and ux of our territories. The rst step in my research is to categorize and indexthese typologies of nowhere, where these invisible elements of threat manifest themselves. These

sites are what Easterling states as “overlapping boundaries at the edge of nations are often slushy,violent, conicted, and dangerous”.20 This technique will allow me to look critically at these sites inrelationship to the ‘in-betweens’ and ‘overlaps’ that emerge

Mutation Within nature there is no state of equilibrium, it is at constant ux, constantly changing, constantlyadapting. In The Moment of Complexity, Mark Taylor stated, “for complex adaptive systems tomaintain themselves, they must remain open to their environment and change when conditions

19 Ponte, Alessandra. “Desert Testing.” The Architecture of Science.




require it. complex adaptive systems, there fore, inevitably evolve, or, more accurately, coevolve”.21

This then invokes the question, how do you represent something that is constantly changing,uctuating, mutating, evolving?

“These belts of special conditions constitute volatile, non-national spaces that move around theworld like weather fronts on airborne, landed, or maritime currents”22 states Easterling. Withinnature, these phenomena exist. One can use the lens of atmosphere or plume formation to

investigate mutating and changing territories. In addition time is a vital factor. How we rethink time,will change our behaviors.

forgotten cities

Where are these conditions located? What are they? The conditions that are being dened can be

seen though the writing of Richard Jeffereies in his book After London.

“For this marvellous city, of which such legends are related, was after all only brick, and when theivy grew over and trees and shrubs sprang up, and, last, the waters underneath burst in, this huge

metropolis was soon overthrown”23

Richard Jefferies, After London (1886)

The descriptive words illustrate a very similar description written by Weisman in his experiencein Chernobyl, “once-trimmed hedges had run wild, their foliage so dense that many houses were

21 Furjan: ‘Eco-logics’ p. 20


23 Davis, Mike. Dead Cities: a Natural History.



nearly covered; when we drove through Chernobyl’s silent streets, branches of un-pruned chestnuttrees grazed the sides of our bus.” The project presents a series of images of one of the manyabandoned villages in the 19 mile evacuation zone surrounding the failed Chernobyl Nuclear Power

Plant. The poignant discomfort experienced at the village was primarily from the seemingly absenceof activity. No human activity, no agriculture, no production, no sounds. All glimpses of civilizationwere almost completely gone. Lost to the underbrush. The vegetation had an explosive quality.

Physical signs of radiation are missing, lost, or stolen. The nearly invisible houses were barren.

No barrier’s exist, all signs indicating the 19 mile exclusion zone, have long been stolen. Only itsstarkness, a bizarre beauty, with unseen or un-felt radiation hovering over the landscape. How

long will it take for this environment to recover? Even at this extreme environment, despite therisk of disease, many elderly people continue to live in contaminated areas of Ukraine. This is theonly place they know as home. Sometimes they are the only ones living in these villages, often

in conditions close to the 18th century. Architecture is about people. ‘Cities of nowhere’ wherethey unseen elements of threat exist, allows architects the opportunity to “have to redene their

operations is potentially a wonderful opportunity to recalibrate and reconsider who and whatarchitecture is actually for.” 24

Conclusion

I contend that these conditions of threat are given conditions that will continue to increase. I arguenot that architecture’s role is to remove the threat because that is not possible, rather how canarchitecture help to mitigate the damage to the earth’s environment and to our society’s psyche.

Inexorable invisible elements of threat occupy our urban fabric. These threats are invisible, we

cannot sense that they exist. It is not that we can eliminate this threat completely, but how canarchitecture address how we survive and inhabit these environments. How can we mediate thesetoxic site which are very likely to become more abundant in the future. How does the future of

architecture question the current methods of operations in regard to these territories? How doesthe study of ‘cities of nowhere’ provide us with new techniques and tools to address the state ofthe urban environment? Instead of thinking of toxic sites as unwanted by-products of our excess

energy, they have the potential to provides us with a fresh perspective to rethink how we approachand engage with these extreme environments.

“It is that zone that is most fearsome, because it describes the limits in which contemporary life

might be staged” 25

24 Clear, Nic. “A Near Future.” Architectural Design. p.9






Bibliography: Dead Zones_Cities of Nowhere

AD: Eco-Redux. Architectural Design.

Bataille, Georges. The Accursed Share: an Essay on General Economy.New York: Zone, 1988.

Brand, Stewart. Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto. New York: Viking, 2009.

Clear, Nic. "A Near Future." Architectural Design. 79.5. 2009. p. 6-11.

Describes how architecture can position itself in regard to the future. In addressing the current

state of economic downturn, environmental catastrophe, increased levels of crime, Clear argues

that archiwwtecture has an opportunity to reposition and re-calibrate who and what architecture is

actually for.

Corner, James. “Eidetic Operations and New Landscapes.” Recovering Landscape: Essays inContemporary Landscape Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural, 1999.

Easterling, Keller. Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and Its Political Masquerades.

Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2005.

Analysis of what Easterling calls ‘spatial products,’ that exist outside the realm of normal

jurisdictions are dened as commercial products that index the world such as retail, resorts, and

malls. These ‘spatial products’ inform the organizations of our built environments.

Easterling, Keller. Some Short Stories.

Davis, Mike. Dead Cities: a Natural History. New York, NY: New, 2002.

Davis takes on a apocalyptic view on america. He argues that the social and environmental chaosof our post-modern urbanscapes has been shaped by the creative energies of its catastrophes.

Galison, Peter. “War Against the Center.” The Architecture of Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999.

Describes the process of decentralizing American cities.

Gissen, David. Subnature: Architecture’s Other Environments : Atmospheres, Matter, Life. New

York: Princeton Architectural, 2009.

Elements of smoke, exhaust, dust, the heat of crowds, and mud Gissen argues are ‘subnature’

elements that have been overlooked in the discussion of what is termed as natural architecture.

Jameson, Frederic. The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. London [u.a.: Verso, 1993. p. 6

Discussions of postmodernism. Jameson brings to the subject an immense range of reference

both to artworks and to theoretical discussions; a strong hypothesis linking cultural changes to

changes in the place of culture within the whole structure of life produced by a new phase of

economic history

Ponte, Alessandra. "Desert Testing." The Architecture of Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999.

Within architecture, testing has been a method of experiment, of exploration, of representation.

Ponte unitizes the site of the desert, to provides an example of what experimental means in terms

of science and art.



Schaefer, Vincent J., and John A. Day. A Field Guide to the Atmosphere. Boston: Houghton Miin,

1981.

Weisman, Alan. “Journey through a Doomed Land.” Harper Magazine, vol. 289 , August 1994, 45-53.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Rep.

Vinton, Luisa. Effects of Chernobyl. Rep. United Nations.

Furjan: ‘Eco-logics’

Supplementary Reading:

Bargmann, Julie. Lecture. DIRT STUDIO.

Weisman, Alan. The World without Us. New York: Thomas Dunne /St. Martin's, 2007.

Meyer, Elizabeth. Sustaining Beauty: The Performance of Appearance. JOLA. Spring 2008

Kwinter, Sanford. Soft Systems. Culture Lab.

Infranet lab/lateral oce, Coupling: Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism

(Pamphlet Architecture 30)

To Be Read:

Ballard, J. G. Crash. New York: Picador, 2001.

Science ction writer, that tackles issues of the future. His stories are one of post-apocalyptic

dystopia genre.

Klanten, Utopia Forever

Map: 002 Quarantine

Wigley, Architecture of Atmosphere

Kwinter: ‘Landscapes of Change’

Morton: ‘The Ecological Thought’

Boyer: ‘Cybercities’

Weinstock, Michael. The Architecture of Emergence: the Evolution of Form in Nature and

Civilisation. Chichester: Wiley, 2010.

‘No Stop City’, Archizoom

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