New Desert Shores - Shortform - Bellstedt

New Desert Shores: Composing Neo-Settlement for the Post-Flood World

The final vision for New Desert Shores proposes three distinct district typologies:

District Terrace-Forma (Mountainous Zone)

District Terraform (Flat Desert Zone)

District Gerridae (Sea Zone)

Each district is to work cohesively with the others to perform as a resilient system in the face of climbing temperatures and rising sea levels.

The city is presented through architectural fragments which paint an image of its lived condition.

A Neo-Settlement

Cities exist as traces of prevailing societal cultures and human desire, negotiating untold multitudes of factors which shape their being. Wolfgang Braunfel notes that cities are not designed, rather they “designed themselves as reflections of forms of government and ideals of order.” The architect currently has a finite role to play in the city’s self-regulating machine: architecture is suggested to the city, but is inevitably claimed and altered by versions of the culture that birthed it.

This design thesis argues that the role of the architect must expand into seeking radically alternative urbanity in the form of large scale infrastructural interventions to adapt and prepare humanity for unprecedented future scenarios regarding rising urban populations, temperatures, and sea levels on Earth. To what extent can the role of the architect shift toward becoming an agent of change for the accountability of cities to planetary ecology?

The Coachella and Imperial Valleys in Southern California exemplify naturally radical locations because of their extreme temperature, earthquake risk, fire risk, and future flood risk from the rising Pacific Ocean. They are also socially radical, as they host heterotopian settlement which is unique to the desert and its proximity to the Salton Sea. With numerous variables in these areas being noticeably affected by human induced climate change, the sites exist as hinges of extremity between humanity’s current and future living conditions. This makes the location an ideal testing ground for architectures which are resilient to growing desert conditions across the planet, rising global temperatures, and changing ocean levels.

New Desert Shores is a speculative settlement project located on the shores of the Salton Sea CA which aims to challenge the infrastructural and morphological status quo of the modern western city. The city composition is considered in three zones: Mountainous Desert, Flat Desert, and Sea. Each zone is intended to host distinct districts of substantial architectural and systemic variety which support each other to form a resilient, self-regulating network of settlement. For example, in order to withstand flooding on the flat desertscape, it is proposed that massive landform constructions - known as terramorphic profiles - are designed to act as a primary infrastructure on which to construct parasitic architecture. These landform structures are architectural themselves, and are designed using a combination of contemporary, and ancient building techniques/technologies.

The architectural forms and spaces themselves, while constructible, perhaps seem unattainable. Yet, embedded within the drawings is a projection of a society in which such construction would be possible. Similar to how current cities exist as traces of political and cultural trends, New Desert Shores in its construction hints at both subtle and radical changes in societal makeup.

1- Spiro Kostof, The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History. London:Thames and Hudson, 1991. 15.

2- Chris Clarke, “Global Warming, Storm Surges & the Mother Of All Desert Floods,” Socal Focus, September 14, 2011. https://www.kcet.org/socal-focus/global-warming-storm-surges-the-motherof-all-desert-floods.

The Drowning of the Desert

A Proposed Flood:

Joel E. Cohen noted in 1995 that the “finiteness of the earth guarantees that ceilings on human numbers do exist.”1 However, he also noted that economic, and political forces will play equally integral roles in shaping the sustainability of the earth’s population, and its footprint on the ecology of the planet. Presently, as the world’s population charges toward 10 billion people, and with greenhouse gas emissions continually on the rise, human impact on the natural systems which sustain our livelihood has never been greater.2 Reckless resource consumption and production on a global scale reflect political barriers, as nationalist prosperity among the world’s countries is sought with little regard for the sustenance of collective humanity. Currently, the manner in which western society dwells is unsustainable, and the American dream has become a pervasive idea which encourages consumption without accountability to the greater ecology of the planet. Yet, the dream persists, and without drastic societal or political reform on the horizon, negative trends in climate change will be accelerated. The IPCC’s 2013 report on the ocean and climate change states that “Sea level rise will continue beyond 2100 even if global warming is limited to 1.5°C in the 21st century (high confidence). Marine ice sheet instability in Antarctica and/or irreversible loss of the Greenland ice sheet could result in multi-metre rise in sea level. These instabilities could be triggered at around 1.5°C to 2°C of global warming (medium confidence).”2

A simulation is proposed in which the site will change based on the aforementioned projected climate metrics. An anticipated flood resulting from the collapse of one of the world’s three major ice sheets (East Antarctic, West Antarctic, or Greenland) will impose a radically changed site - the Salton Sea will swell to six times its current size.3 This alteration in site will test how architecture can be a crucial component in responding to climate change.

How will a speculative city design begin to adapt to this change? Post-flood city architectures in this neo-future will utilize a subject (individual) and object (architecture) to create relationships and animate the speculative city as a live matrix. Specific architectures within the city will be designed in detail to channel the mandate of this new method of settlement.

1- Joel E. Cohen, “How Many People Can the Earth Support?,” The Sciences 35, no. 6 (1995): 19. 2- IPCC, Long-TermClimateChange:Projections,CommitmentsandIrreversibility, London: Cambridge University Press, 2013, 1112.

3- 10- Chris Clarke, “Global Warming, Storm Surges & the Mother Of All Desert Floods,” Socal Focus, September 14, 2011. https://www.kcet. org/socal-focus/global-warming-storm-surges-the-motherof-all-desert-floods.

A layered map of the proposed flood of the Imperial Valley shows the path of a storm surge originating from the Sea of Cortez. The path of this surge assumes 2o planetary warming, resulting in the collapse of one major ice sheet, and a 6m rise in global sea level.

New Desert Shores - A Decentralized Regional Network

Three Distinct District Typologies are Comprised of the Following Zone-Specific Primary Infrastructure:

District Terrace-Forma(Mountainous Zone)

District Terramorph (Flat Desert Zone)

District Gerridae (Sea Zone)

The design of each district is based upon fundamental interactions with water, land, light, and wind specific to the Imperial Valley, CA.

Each district is composed in relation to a 1.6km diameter circular boundry - representing a 15 min. walking diameter.

Between each district boundry, a minimum distance of 1km is maintained.

In a flood scenario, Terramorphic and Gerridae Districts will mingle and connect.

Development of Critical Urban Program:

The following primary district functions are supplemented with livable program. Each district is multifarious.

WATER:

Water Management

POWER:

- Extraction from shallow aquifers, extraction from salton sea, desalination

Energy Management/Storage and Substations

- All city energy is generated by wind turbines, solar arrays, and hydroelectric turbines.

Quantifying Settlement

City quantifications are based upon an extrapolation of the statistics and calculations found in MVRDV’s Metacity/Datatown.To enable these preliminary calculations, an assumed population of 50 000 people is spread across three city districts. Knowing the potential numbers affiliated with crucial city components strongly influenced the final composition.

RESIDENTIAL:

Residential (dwellings of all kinds)

AGRICULTURE:

Terraced Farmland (Branches out from central hubs within mountainous districts)

- aggregate removed from mountains to form level terraces is used to supplement pozzalan mixture which fills terramorph structures.

Greenhouses - Fresh vegitables, herbs, and fruit

Aquaculture - Fish, crustaceans, water plants, algae

TRANSPORTATION:

Regional TrackNet Transportation - Each district is connected to a high capacity track-based transport line, allowing for high speed travel between destinations for people, goods, and services.

eg. Cargo/freight cars, private vehicles, mass transit, food trucks, ambulance, law enforcement

District TrackNet Transportation - Within each district are diverging track-based transport lines for quickly moving people, goods and services through each district.

Tracknets utilize linear synchronous motors to maintain consistant speed and smooth acceleration - draws power from city grid (solar/wind based power).

Net Transportation - Walking or Cycling on constructed platforms through various city grades is the chosen method of transport for those who are not in a hurry. The city is walkable.

WASTE:

Waste Management District (No Residential Program)

- Includes Material Recycling Facility

Secondary District Functions:

Commercial Services (Markets, Cafes and Restaurants)

Commercial Offices

Education (Primary, Secondary, Post-Secondary)

Emphasis given to learning by doing both inside and outside of classrooms. The city’s multifunctionality and diversity is used for instruction.

Food:

- Calculations assume a regulated meat society

=0.0025km2/ person

=124.5km2 Area required for food production

Living Space:

- Average 3 people per dwelling

- 16 666 Dwellings

- Average dwelling size = 90m2

= 1500 km2 - Total Living Area

Power:

0.75 MWh/ person/ year

= 37500 MWh of electricity required per year

One solar panel produces 550 KWh/ year (0.55 MWh/year)

= 68 181 - 2m x 1m solar panels required - Utilizing other methods of power such as wind will offset this number.

Water:

- Calculations include water used for any useful purpose in the city on a per-person basis.

= 941 908 L/ person/ year

= 0.047km3 / year of potable water

14 Reservoirs @ 400 m diam., 20m deep

= 3 200 000 m3 water storage in each reservoir

Waste: 0.47 Tons of waste/ person/ year

= 23 905 tons/ year Recycling is imperative. Composting must occur. Use of plastics should be limited.

City Services

Includes: Health, Safety, Waste, Water, Power, and Beautification services.

Maker space/experimental creative space

Industrial Manufacturing District Includes Excavated Aggregate Processing Facility

Political Space

Includes spaces of governance, debate, guilds and demonstrative public spaces. City regional network expansion decisions (executed by an elected city council) are based upon city data regarding key factors:

Food Production/Land Use - Material Use/Embodied Energy - Water Treatment/StoragePower Supply/Sources - and Population Expansion/Demand.

Recreational Space (greenspace, bluespace, sportsgrounds & playgrounds etc.) are found in abundance through all districts in the city. Each district must allow for a minimum of 30% recreational surface space. These spaces may occur on the natural grade, or on constructed platform grades.

NATIONAL PARK:

All

space not occupied

by an urban district or agriculture zone is designated as parkland wherin the natural desert biome may exist unimpeded by urbanity. Numerous hiking and cycling trails wind in betwen each district and through the mountains.

The settlement composition reacts to the imposed flood condition.

District Terrace-Forma

At the center of the district lies the water, the most important resoruce in the desert.

F01 - Desalination Device (Passive/active seatwater treatment)

F02 - Seawater Resevoir

F03 - Potable Water Resevoir

F04 - Wetland Terraces - Passive Blackwater Treatment

F05 - Agriculture Terraces

F06 - Subterranian Industrial Manufacturing Facilities

District Center

District Terrace-Forma is proposed as an agrarian community which shows reverence for water as the lifeblood of the desert. Spanning between mountain ridges, the center of the district is a dense assortment of terrace construction facing outward toward the Salton Sea. The surfaces of these terraces are public plazas, gardens, and walkable streets, and beneath them are dwellings, mercantile spaces and, where no access to daylight is available, storage areas for city goods. Extending from the center and across the ridges are agriculture terraces carved from the mountainside. These may be crops, orchards, vineyards or pastures for livestock.

Legend:

i - Desalination Device and Center for Water Appreciation

ii - Cliff Dwellings

iii - Central Piazza

iv - District Market

v - Funicular Transport

vi - Transit Hub

vii - Garden Terrace

viii - Tower

ix - Agricultural Terrace

x - Salt Water Pumped from Sea

xi - Potable Water Aqueduct

i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

vi.

vii.

viii.

ix.

x.

xi.

Desalination Device And Center for Water Appreciation

The Desalination Device is a large-scale architectural expression of a passive water desalination process. Large panes of South-facing glass allow direct sunlight to heat the inner chamber, drawing evaporating water from the reservoir of untreated water into its form. Condensation will build on these panes and flow into a collection leader. Solar power collected and stored during the day will be used to power an active desalination process at night. This involves pumping the water at high pressure through seven layers of filtration membranes.

Attached to the device is an interpretive center where visitors may learn of the importance of the water to the city. Interactive wash basins, plant watering, toxin/PH testing stations, misting, and pump-activated waterfalls replicate city systems on a smaller scale.

District Terramorph

Constructed landforms rise above anticipated flood levels.

T01 - Seawater Pumping Station

T02 - Industrial Waterfront Infrastructure

T03 - Recreational Waterfront Infrastructure

T04 - Cycling/ Walking Paths Connecting Nabes

T05 - Sub-Regional Tracknet

T06 - Nabe Area (7-10 Nabes/District)

Anatomy of a Terramorphic Nabe

Dwelling-

3x Towers -- 50 - 100 Units Each (Variable) -- 200 people (min.)/ Tower x3 = min. 600 People

100x Single Family Dwellings -- 300 People

300x Single Person Dwellings (room for Expansion)-- 300 People

Population/Nabe: 1100 - 2800

Population/District: 7200 - 9000

Platform/Grades - Level platforms span between and across each Terramorphic Profile. Every platform is considered as a city grade, and is to be used as public space.

Central Marketplace - Fresh food and artisan goods within walking distance.

Commercial Offices/ Services - Specialized workplaces managed by democratic Guild Councils.

Community Gardens - For beautification, and for individuals to grow their own fresh produce.

Piazzas - With restaurants and cafes.

Wetlands - For the natural treatment of greywater.

Helioplexes - Outdoor Sportsgrounds and Playgrounds.

Educational Facilities - Minimum 1 Dedicated Specialized facility per Nabe.

Maker Spaces - For innovation and experimentation.

City Services - Including sanitation department, power management department, fire brigade, medical centres, and police.

Political Space - Includes Courthouses, Guild Council, and City Council Chambers. Also places of protest and demonstration.

Construction

Terramorphic Profiles are intended to be long-lasting infrastructure which will allow the city to interact with floodwaters in varying ways over time. Each Terramorphic Profile is composed of bookending corten steel sheet piles driven deep into the desert soil. Steel tie rods are attached to each side, spanning their interior space. This interior space is filled with a pozzolan mixture created from extracted mountain aggregate from the process of creating agricultural terraces and subterranean water reservoirs in District Terrace-Forma. Once cured, platform-supporting truss structures may be anchored into this pozzolan interior. Finally, areas which are not in direct or future contact with water may have some sheet piling removed, exposing the pozzolan interior. This pozzolan may be carved and sculpted to adapt to city needs, or express artistic desire.

Finishing

The large-scale monumental brick work of the ancient Roman Empire is used as a manner of finishing - with reference to the longevity and beauty of these ancient constructed works. In particular, opus reticulatum and opus barbaricum are applied as a finish to the top, and interior spaces within each landform profile. Opus reticulatum uses pyramidal stones angled at 45 degrees, while opus barbaricum utilizes pebbles and small aggregate to form distinct patterns on a finished face.1 If used in conjunction, these brickwork techniques could be revived and altered, providing ornament and craftsmanship to each distinct location on a Terramorphic Profile.

Opus Reticulatum

1- Roberto Marta, Tecnica Construttiva Romana: Roman Building Techniques . Rome: Kappa, 1986, 22.

Image Citation: Scott, Ian. Opus Reticulatum from Herod’s Palace at Jericho. Photograph. 2016.https://www.flickr.com/ photos/ian-w-scott/27287629236/in/photostream/ 11- Geosynthetica. Sikkim Slope. Photograph. 2013. https:// www.geosynthetica.com/wp-content/uploads/SikkimSlope_Full.png

Mountain Aggregate Removal

Terramorphic Nabe Section

City grades are established above anticipated flood levels. Profiles enclose the central area of the Nabe, preserving the existing desert grade during a flood scenario. This central space is designated as a Helioplex - used for recreational and competitive sport activities.

Section through a Terramorphic Nabe:

1 -- Central Market

2 -- Residential Tower Infrastructure

3 -- Cascading Single Family Dwellings

4 -- Single Person Dwelling Capsules

5 -- Center for the Arts

6 -- Tracknet Transit Hub

See Appendix 2 for section detail references 01 - 04.

Wetland Platforms

Potable water flows down through aqueduct channels from District Terrace-Forma and weaves into each Terramorphic Nabe. When possible, gravity is used to transport the water to its desired location. Greywater flows into wetland platforms which blend with the constructed landforms. Water will sit here for some time, being treated by organic matter until it is released back to the sea. This process will work over time to lower the salinity of the Salton Sea and make it more habitable to local birds and marine life.

Single Family Dwellings

Dwellings are embedded in the upper slopes of the constructed landforms. Their orientations vary across each Nabe, however all South-facing dwellings are equipped with solar panels. Excess solar power collected will be sent to a substation located within a profile penetration. Dwelling sizes may be expanded, or reduced. Between these dwellings are varying arrays of gardens, balconies, and wading pools of fresh water.

Single Person Dwelling Capsules

A space designed for a single person produces its own power with a rotating solar fin. Each capsule is equipped with a bed, water closet, and a multi-functional wall which may be adjusted based on personal needs.

Capsule Interior

Each capsule is hung off the superstructure of a Terramporphic Profile. As a profile is passively heated through the day, air shafts attached to it begin to move air convectively. Air ventilation systems throughout the Nabe plug-in to these shafts to allow for passive air movement of exhaust air from each building. Individual capsules passively cool by bringing in fresh air through a damp membrane, then expelling it through the passive shafts attached to the profile.

The Towers

Stoically standing above other city lines, the towers form the city’s skyline. Conceived as hybrid public/private structures, towers are composed of basic infrastructure and systems which may be plugged into by groups of individuals seeking to build and co-live. Thus, the towers are constantly under construction, and re-construction. This condition is intended to be an alternative to both private land ownership, and to the restricted skyline of modern cities.

District Exterior

Hiking

Right: View of the Tracknet Boarding Platform, Art Institute and Single Family Dwellings

trails weave around the Terramorphs at ground level in the Salton Sea National Park.

Bottom: Preliminary Flood Study

District Gerridae

A malleable floating meshwork hosts a diverse array of sea-specific program.

K01 - Fresh Fish Market(s)

K02 - Floating Greenhouses

K03 - Wind Turbines

K04 - Low-Density Residences

K05 - Aquaculture Rings

Corrosion Resistent Steel Truss Frame

Corrosion Resistent Steel “X” Member

Straight Section Linking Member

Pin Connection Track

Rotation Pin Connection

Corrosion Resistent Steel Truss Frame

50m

Floating Pontoon

Primary Infrastructure: Gerridae

A Floating Kinetic Meshwork

Linear Interlocking Greenhouses

Fish Market and Aquaculture Hub

Built upon an “x” segment of the floating Gerridae infrastructure is a place where both recreational and professional fisherman may mingle. Different species of fish, and aquatic plant life will inhabit aquaculture rings, and wild fish may be caught here as well. The area is full of enthusiasts of the fishing hobby, day boaters, and those looking for a fresh caught meal. Chance encounters between city dwellers may also occur while walking on the public docks between destinations.

It is envisioned that boating culture will be prevalent in District Gerridae - both as a means of transportation, and of dwelling in the city.

Ramped Dock To Peripheral Aquaculture Rings

Fish Market and Aquaculture Hub

Aquaculture Ring

This floating architecture is intended to be light, skeletal, and open to its surroundings. Roof lines are angled toward the sun and finished with solar panels. A cantilevered viewing platform extends over the water, again emphasizing the importance of views in the city. Gently sloping ramps between each gerridae section are able to accomodate cyclists and people walking between the various nodes of the district.