Terra Dispositions Architecture Thesis 2020-21
Alec Rovensky
Terra Dispositions Architecture Thesis 2020-21
Alec Rovensky Bachelors of Architecture Syracuse University School of Architecture Advisors: Jean-François BÊdard Britt Eversole Roger Hubeli Julie Larsen
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Table of Contents
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Introduction Research Questions Altering Matter Chimney Bluff Tests Photogrammetry Tests Physical/Digital Pipeline Intervention Precedent Studies Diagram Dwellings Registering Residue Dam Typology Slip-Casting Process Final Production References
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Intro
Human intervention of the landscape and climate to source materials by damming, irrigating and mining is resulting in the rapid fluctuation of water bodies: either the desertification or flooding of terrain. In turn, these changes are disrupting ecosystems, reshaping geological borders, and causing irreversible climactic damage that pose a threat to some of the largest cities in the world, many of which are adjacent to water. These same settlements have historically harvested and built with locally sourced wet-earth materials. However, as the water content level in these materials is altered, properties such as strength, elasticity and resistance fluctuate, altering its useful functions. This research proposal seeks to investigate the behaviors of residual wet matter, a byproduct of these novel deserts and wetlands, in relation to the human modification of the lithosphere to explore possible future built conditions of these water bound cities. Clay, historically significant for its high elasticity and strength, is one of the most common residual forms of matter in these altered landscapes. The versatility of clay allows for extensive material testing and model-making, which can be used to better understand larger-scale geological processes. Innovative technologies such as ceramic 3D printing and scanning push the boundaries of clay manipulation previously limited by traditional hand-building techniques, and expand access via the digitization of artifacts. This proposal is a direct reaction to the urgency for adaptation to the evolving climatic situation. By better understanding residual material properties, the proposal intends to speculate on the future typologies of civilizations most affected by the climactic crisis.
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Research Questions
This research proposal will begin to investigate the following: What are the limitations of the selected earth-derived wet materials in terms of its strength? Elasticity? Repairability? Saturations? How does bringing modern digital techniques into traditional craft alter the craft’s purpose? Forms? Significance? Functions? Who is at the forefront of these advances? What are they producing and experimenting with? Who can best be enabled by the conclusions of this research? Where was earth-derived infrastructure prominent and for what reasons were these materials chosen? What were the processes of obtaining and processing these materials? How did it affect the site and environment? What role does digitization (scanning, digital alteration) have in a traditionally physical discipline?
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Altering Matter material testing
This portion of the research deals with a series of tests that inherently alters the material under investigation. These tests seek to answer the question; what can wet matter offer? These alterations can take the form of dissection, extraction, dehydration, re-hydration and re-creation. As each material exhibits its unique material behavior, these tests try to capture and exploit the results. Physically, these tests are looking for signs of chemical changes: including changes in color, temperature, odor and formations of bubbles or solids. Both plaster and clay exhibit many of these throughout the making process. Plaster radiates heat when drying, clay changes color when dried and again when fired. By harnessing these properties, intervention in the making process can be increased or decreased accordingly to achieve desired outcomes. Digitally, the scanning and manipulation of matter is also affected by several processes. When scanned, objects are subject to the conditions of their environment. Lighting will affect the material’s color, level of detail and availability of information. Objects are also subject to the effects of de-resolution. During the conversion of a physical object to a digital one, there is an inherent loss of data. Areas that were not scanned properly present gaps in information, and the software must make assumptions to complete the digital object.
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Investigations began with extraction of material at natural sites. A clay deposit was located at Chimney Bluffs State Park, located halfway between Syracuse and Buffalo, NY on Lake Ontario. This site features unique “bluffs” that are formed from eroded drumlins, or teardrop-shaped hills of glacial deposits formed during the most recent ice age. Wind, rain, snow and waves from the lake further eroded these bluffs into sharp pinnacles. These bluffs continue to erode at an average rate of one to five feet per year. At the base of the bluffs, the clay deposit presents itself as a series of “cracked” nuggets along most of the coast line. A small portion of clay was extracted by an ice cream scoop and sealed in an air-tight container to be used for further testing in the studio.
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KEY: CBC: CHIMNEY BLUFF CLAY (WETTEST) TCC: TERRACOTTA CLAY (MOIST) GWC: STONE WARE CLAY (DRIEST) LOW-FIRE: LF 1: 1/4 CBC + 3/4 TCC LF 2: 1/4 CBC + 3/4 SWC LF 3: 1/3 CBC + 2/3 TCC LF 4: 1/3 CBC + 2/3 SWC LF 5: 1/2 CBC + 1/2 TCC LF 6: 1/2 CBC + 1/2 SWC LF 7: 2/3 CBC + 1/3 SWC LF 8: 2/3 CBC + 1/3 TCC LF 9: 3/4 CBC + 1/4 SWC LF 10: 3/4 CBC + 1/4 TCC LF 11: 100% SWC LF 12: 100% TCC MEDIUM FIRE: MF 1: 100% CBC MF 2: 1/2 CBC + 1/2 TCC MF 3: 1/2 CBC + 1/2 SWC HIGH FIRE: HF 1: 100% CBC HF 2: 1/2 CBC + 1/2 TCC HF 3: 1/2 CBC + 1/2 SWC
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The sourced clay was then mixed in various controlled amounts with purchased “clay-body.” Clay-body is a mixture of specific clay types and most often used in the studio due to its increased tolerance to heat and ideal elasticity. These clays were proportioned, mixed and formed into pinch pots. A pinch pot is one of the most basic techniques of hand-building. Each clay-body began as a rounded ball and is hand formed into a pot measuring about 3” - 4” in diameter. By forming it into this shape, there is less of a chance of air entrapment, which could cause an explosion. Additionally, it allows for a study of how the clay will self-support itself structurally. The pots were then labeled by etching a code onto its back. All pots will first be fired at low-fire temperatures (1850°F) in the electric kiln, and 3 of those will be re-fired in medium fire temperatures (2200°F).
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After firing, there were several noticeable changes to the material’s properties. The most profound was the change in color. It also became clear which pots contained more of the clay-body as they turned out lighter. In comparison, the pots that were heavier in sourced clay were redder, likely due to increased presence of natural metals. All of the pots were significantly lighter due to the absence of water. Once the three medium-fire pots were re-fired, they turned into a much darker brown color and started to show significant cracking and bubbling. The pot with the most clay-body out of the three (MF3) was the only one that did not stick to the ceramic shelf. Pot MF2 retained its shape but became bonded to the shelf, whereas the pure sourced clay (MF1) did not survive the re-firing process and melted completely onto the shelf.
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To begin to understand why the clay disintegrated under the high temperatures of the second firing, it helps to consider the composition of clay deposits in nature. Within all clay, there is a mixture of clay sediment, silt and sand. Depending on local conditions, such as moisture and exposure, these mixtures vary accordingly. During the firing process, the sand in the clay melts and is chemically re-configured into a glass-like substance that is critical to structural stability in fired clay. The sourced clay used in this test was likely low in sand.
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The next set of tests were a series of photogrammetry techniques involving a conventional camera or phone camera, in unison with 3D model stitching software such as Metashape. The premise of the tests was to understand the effects of texture, color, lighting and positioning on the quality of the resulting 3D object. A selection of ceramic objects was used according to different techniques. Two hand-built objects were picked, one with a smooth finish, the other with considerable texture and ridges. A wheel-thrown vessel and a ceramic 3D printed sculpture were also included. In addition, each object was selected from a different stage of the clay process. One was a wet ceramic object, another two were dried (greenware) and one was fully fired. These tests found that smooth and reflective (wet) surfaces were the least compatible with the scanning process and caused glitching and odd shapes to occur.
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When an object is scanned, the number of photos used will affect the quality and level of detail too. Smaller objects generally require less captures to receive adequate detail. Interestingly, during the digitization process, there is a loss of scale that occurs. Objects can easily be scaled up or down, and the detail respectively. This phenomenon is apparent in the images at right. The blue rock is significantly larger than the brown one. On the page, they appear nearly identical. In the image with the blue rock however, the brown rock (to scale) is seen to its bottom right. The next test sought to take a physical found object and convert it into a digital mold. A rock sourced from the abandoned quarry at Skytop was used.
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found object
digital mold created
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imprinte
digital
ed in clay
l mold
digitally spliced
3d print (rendition)
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A cyclical “pipeline” was developed to convert this found object to a digital one, which could then be re-created using mold-making to produce a new physical artifact that is a distant relative of the original one. Once the object is sourced, it is imprinted in a block of clay. This “imprint” is then scanned into the photogrammetry software to produce a digital object. The object is then spliced and inserted into a digital mold which en-captures its form. The mold can then be produced through digital fabrication processes such as 3D printing or CNC milling. The completed mold can then be poured to produce a new physical object.
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The resulting artifact is both an imprint and a defamiliarization of the matter it originally represented. Further, this object can once again be plugged into the pipeline to further be altered by both the physical and digital making processes. Physically, the deterioration of the mold, lighting during scanning and other errors will affect the product. Digitally, software assumptions, de-resolution and triangulation will also affect the object. Additionally, in this case, holes required for hollowing the object to be 3D printed on the powder printer also altered the final form of the created artifact.
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Intervention context
Much of the research and experimentation involving wet-matter is inherently tied to place. Not a specific site, but rather a series of conditions that are typical and occur in hundreds or thousands of places simultaneously. Clay deposits are found world-wide and in a variety of natural conditions. This project therefore operates as an intervention in these naturally occurring places. In practice, the project establishes itself within a growing field of experimentation through spatial interventions mostly through the medium of exhibition. Learning from a series of exhibitions that precedes it, the resulting work wishes to be participatory and malleable. This portion of the research will establish a set of relevant precedents, as well as the framework in which it exists in the built and natural environment in relation to human intervention.
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Ang Li’s Horror Vacui uses a historically significant technique of ceramic tiling to clad a wall in Lisbon, Portugal. The tiles are printed with publicly submitted photographs that were collaged to form a pixelated depiction of the wall behind it. The final size and shape of the product was ultimately a product of the crowd sourced input. Li uses a cyclical making process as well.
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Riverbed by Olafur Eliasson is an interior intervention that re-thinks the traditional institution of exhibiting artwork in a generic white space, and instead reconfigures it with a conglomerate of terrestrial objects from Iceland including lava, basalt, gravel, sand wood, steel and a functioning river.
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Artist Kyle John’s slip-cast assemblies combine several molds to cast collaged forms. Unlike traditional methods which tightly contain a “closed” mold, John uses many individual plaster mold pieces like building blocks and invites seepage of the slip to occur freely during the process to exaggerate the seams of these objects.
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Dar Abu Said by Sam Jacob Studio was exhibited as part of the 2016 Venice Biennale and depicts a 3D scan of a shelter in a Migrant camp in France, which was re-made as a scale model at the Victoria & Albert pavilion. By recording and documenting the temporary architectural conditions of migration the act of ‘conservation’ is able to ‘preserve’ a moment in the rapid flux of vast movements of people across continents. The title of the exhibit is a reference to the name of the former occupant of the shelter.
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Beta-Real, realized by former Boghosian fellow Linda Zhang, attempts to expose fixed memory, fixed identity and fixed history as nothing more than traces of memories, identities and histories. Slip-casting is used as an iterative process to create a “thinking by making� protocol. The slip-cast objects were assembled into a tower at the center of the room, in reference to the Erie Canal memorial.
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A re-deployment of the work in Montreal begs the question of what it means to disassemble and reassemble a work in a new setting, especially one that is contextually tied to Syracuse
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Planisfero Politico by Giuditta Vendrame is a collage of pieces from found atlases. Landmasses were covered by water (seas, oceans). The aim is to suggest a new order to the world, less stable, more fluid, ever changing, circular and universal. By masking existing realities, water becomes an instrument of de-territorialization.
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Island for the Weeds by Simon Starling is composed of soil, rhododendrone, water, plastic piping, metal, and a self-regulating pressure system. The object operates as a sort of “cyborg� to self-regulate and support the living plants upon it.
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This project takes the elements of dissection, collaging and memory into consideration as it examines large-scale human intervention within the lithosphere. It is through these processes that water fluctuations occur at significant rates when compared to natural erosion processes. These operations of mining, damming, draining, extracting, re-routing and flooding are where these residual by-products are in abundance and can best be revealed.
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This series of “dwellings” is an abstracted representation of human interventions within the lithosphere to create domestic space. These objects were created as a formal study to continue to experiment with photogrammetry and the effect of a “loss of thickness” during the digitization process. After scanning, these objects were digitally spliced to reveal the assumptions of the software of the interior spaces that could not be scanned externally. The result is a series of fine-line interior sections that are somewhere between physical reality and the false reality of digitization.
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Registering Residue indexing
The final portion of this project concerns indexing, in that it attempts to identify processes and change by the juxtaposition of the typical conditions identified by these studies. By indexing these typologies, a comparison can be made of the residual, or existing traces of the non-existent. The project attempts to be critical of what is produced through its studies, while attempting to assign meaning to the artifacts at each step of their production process. There is a focus on embedding and documenting. As wet-matter becomes wetter or drier, the process attempts to capture “snap-shots� at significant points of the process. These captures can once again be both physical and digital. Physically, the mold-making process literally imprints traces of the objects and preserves it. Digitally, the scanning process can begin to track changes in great detail. The ultimate goal is to expose the realities of wet-matter: to understand what is there. As with sediment layers within the lithosphere, there is an investigation of the lines of the object or place that registers time through the study of residue.
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A dam typology was selected. The project is less interested in the dam itself, but rather the adjacent environment. Pictured are a series of significant dams, but instead of choosing a specific site, there was a focus on choosing specific qualities of an environment in this typology. A major hydrological displacement leaves the pre-damned area (or impoundment) flooded and the post-dam (or outlet) area deprived of water, resulting in an abundance of post-wet-matter at its banks. These are the areas where residue is most prevalent and best registered.
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Kolnbrein Dam: Austria
Oroville Dam: Feather River, USA
San Roque Dam: Agno River, Philippines
Tarbela Dam: Indus River, Pakistan
Aswan Dam: Nile River, Egypt
AtatĂźrk Dam: Euphrates River, Turkey
Guri Dam: Caroni River, Venezuela
Hoover Dam: Colorado River, USA
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To accomplish the registration process, a slip-casting protocol will be employed. Slip-casting is traditionally used as a ceramic mass-production process. Firstly, the identified conditions are selected, in this case the impoundment, outlet and areas immediately adjacent to the dam. These are then milled from a foam block, which is then filled in with a plaster-water mixture. Once the plaster components are dried, they are removed from the foam block and arranged into a slip-cast mold made from plaster components and base. Slip, a liquefied version of clay, is poured into the mold assembly. As the water from the slip is absorbed by the porous plaster, it leaves a residue of consistent thickness on the surfaces of the plaster mold. Adjusting the amount of water in the slip mixture will alter this thickness. The mold can then be disassembled and the hollowed artifact is complete.
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condition(s) selected
plaster objects removed
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CNC foa
slip-casting m
am mold
mold assembled
plaster poured in mold
slip-cast artifact revealed
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This process is similar to the primary cyclical process of the testing phase, in that it involves a series of molds, or “negatives� that are inverted several times. The potential for mass production through these mold-forming means allows for an iterative process that can deal with different variables including the type of clay used, its source, the slip saturation, color and firing temperature.
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Additionally, each time a mold is used, it deteriorates and results in a de-resolution of the artifact, further altering each iteration. Triangulation and pixelation occur at the digital stages of the process, the bit’s line from the CNC mill, for example, will be transcribed over into the final object, as will other smudges as a memory of the process
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The intention is to create a series of these artifacts, to imbed these mishaps and to exaggerate to achieve desired outcomes. The seams themselves become an actual quality, as their exaggeration by the slip seepage during casting helps delineate the individual objects while simultaneously morphing them
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These objects can then be arranged into a vertical assembly, creating a fictional landscape, affected by both terrestrial and digital erosion processes, which juxtaposes the conditions of lithospheric interventions and conditions. This collaging of residue can help expose the realities of what is in the terrain, out of which new manifestations of wet matter can arise.
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References
“Climate Change and Land.” Special Report on Climate Change and Land, www.ipcc.ch/srccl/. “European Ceramic Workcentre.” Transartists, www.transartists. org/air/european-ceramic-workcentre. Jacob, Sam. “Dar Abu Said.” Sam Jacob Portfolio, 2016, www. samjacob.com/portfolio/dar_abu_said/. Li, Ang. “A Wall and A Column: 2 Projects.” PechaKucha , www. pechakucha.com/presentations/a-wall-and-a-column-2 projects. Liasson, Olafure. “Riverbed.” Olafure Liasson, 2014, olafurelias son.net/archive/exhibition. McSweeny, Robert. “Explainer: Desertification and the Role of Climate Change.” Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief, 2 Sep. 2020,www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-desertifica tion-and-the-role-of-climate-change. Starling, Simon. “Island for the Weeds.” The Modern Institute, 2003, www.themoderninstitute.com/artists/simon-star ling/works/island-for-weeds-2003/391/. Vendrame, Giuditta. “Planisfero Politico.” Giudittavendrame, 2017, giudittavendrame.net. Zhang, Linda, and Meng Li. “Beta Real.” Studio Pararaum, par araum.com/beta-real-2.
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