sustain able consump tion + a framework for the future of industrial nw portland thesis report II by cody tucker
university of oregon thesis prof. hajo neis, phd re-generative design sp_2016
arlington, oregon
table of
01 02 03 04
the problem introduction
the solution part I site
the solution part II building
appendix photos, maps, other work
01 the problem introduction
white rot fungi phanerochaete chrysoporium
intr oduc
“The major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries” ‘Changing Consumption Patterns’ Chapter 4 Agenda 21 Rio Earth Summit 1992
This research is the product of my thesis studio Repairing the Earth where we were asked to understand and analyze major large scale world wide problems and connect them to particular problems and locations in the urban structure. The purpose is to contribute and help preserve life and beauty on earth in a way that our children and children’s children will be able to continue enjoying life and beauty for a long time into the future. My vision is to create a center for sustainable consumption that reduces the impact of industrial processes by regenerating the land, promoting material reuse and raising awareness of overconsumption. The goal is to provide an alternative reality that people can strive to take part in.
My project began with a focus on the problems and challenges posed by climate change in combination with population growth and resource management. I soon realized that these topics cannot be looked at individually, but instead need to be studied as a complex set of interrelated phenomena. By looking at this issue from a systemic perspective I learned that while climate change and population growth play an important role in natural resource consumption, the heart of the problem lies in our hyper-consumptive behaviors, specifically our relationship with the natural world and the way we see trash.
Sustainable consumption is a holistic response to the problems posed by our current hyperconsumptive behaviors. It can be defined as the promotion of patterns of consumption and production that reduce environmental stress while meeting the basic needs of humanity. This includes minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the lifecycle. Shifting to sustainable consumption involves cradle to cradle design, ecologically friendly production techniques, regenerative resource management and resource recovery. In the words of Buckminster Fuller it means “to increase the performance per pound of the world’s resources until they provide all of humanity a high standard of living”. In order for sustainable consumption to be successful it requires a paradigm shift in the modern world view. No longer can the Earth be regarded as a machine, separated into parts and existing only for our use. This has led to a world plagued by the endless consumption of finite nonrenewable resources and abuse of regenerative systems for short term gain(progress). Instead we must work in harmony with the Earth’s natural regenerative capabilities taking care to maintain it as if it was our spaceship. Once we acknowledge the negative effects that stem from our hyperconsumptive behavior we can begin to realign our economic and social systems with the systems already present in the world. Philosopher and dark ecologist Timothy Morton describes this contemporary dilemma as a struggle with the hyperobject. Hyperobjects are entities of such vast temporal and spatial dimensions that they defeat traditional ideas of what a thing is. This places them outside our realm of here and now and makes them more difficult to comprehend. In this case trash is a hyperobject. It is nonlocal
and atemporal, meaning that trash has the ability to transcend time and space. Plastic is just one example. The effects of plastic can be traced across a multitude of systems over hundreds of years from the polluted watershed where it was created, to the human who consumed and discarded it, to the ecosystem that is inevitably left to deal with it. This is a result of production and consumption methods that are disconnected from the world. They are disconnected because they do not take into account the irreversible damage they are causing to people and the environment. We have reached the point in time where the effects of past actions are no longer possible to ignore. ARCHITECTURE that embodies the principles of sustainable consumption can begin to regenerate our relationship with the world by acting as a mediator between ourselves and the environment. Natural systems serve as an excellent model for sustainable consumption. One of the biggest differences between human resource management and natural resource management revolves around waste. In the natural world there is no such thing as waste. Organisms like the Honey Fungus re appropriate waste into valuable new purposes. In the human world waste is discarded and left as a problem for future generations. Shifting to a society based on the principles of sustainable consumption requires understanding that our cities also function much like an organism, taking nutrients or materials in, processing them and outputting waste materials.
your trash goes here columbia ridge landfill
This graphic shows the relative volume of trash sent to landfills by the Portland metro area since 1970 where the size of the circle corresponds to the amount of trash in the landfill and the distance of the circles from the center corresponds to how far the landfills are from portland. Pink landfills are closed and no longer accepting waste while blue landfills are open and accepting waste. As you follow the images from left to right it becomes apparent that the situation is fast growing out of control. Not only are the current landfills exponentially larger, but they are farther and farther away. Portland currently ships most of its waste 140 miles east to Arlington in the Columbia Gorge. This increased distancing not only creates more environmental degradation due to transportation, it also encourages people to continue consuming more because they are not faced with the effects of their trash. (please see the interactive version online at www.cody-tucker-portfolio.squarespace.com)
02 the solution site
“...to develop regenerative capabilities architecture needs to extend beyond the form and function of things in contained projects and engage in the management of complex systems” “CAADRIA 2016 Call for Papers - Living Systems and Micro-Utopias: Towards Continuous Designing.” Bustler. 2015.
My proposal looks specifically at resource management in Portland, Oregon and the surrounding metro area. Portland has a reputation for being a “green” city yet it still functions as part of a mass consumer society. Portland may have the highest recycling rate in the country (64%) yet it still produces over 1,000,000 tons of garbage a year. That is enough to fill 2,500 olympic swimming pools! The population of Portland is expected to double by 2035 providing a window of only 20 years to plan and prepare waste management infrastructure to handle double the amount of trash. This could be addressed by simply increasing the capacity of existing landfills but that does not help reduce the amount of trash we generate.
I took this as an incentive to develop a materials recovery facility that not only reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills but educates people on the effects of our hyper-consumptive behavior by supporting research in earth friendly materials and production methods. Because of this multipurpose program designed to re-initiate a dialogue between people and trash the project is more than a materials recovery facility. It is a center for Sustainable Consumption. The center is sited in the northwest industrial district of downtown Portland just south of the St. John Bridge.
OLYMPIC PIPELINE (PETROLEUM)
MAJOR SEWER LINE
MAJOR NATURAL GAS PIPELINE HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION LINE MAJOR WATER PIPELINE
PORTLAND HILLS FAULT LINE
1850
1905
1920
1931
1946
1971
2020
Here the land has a rich history and shares a telling story of our relationship with nature in terms on consumption and production. Before WWII the NW Industrial District was made up of small lakes surrounded by low lying marshy wetlands. The original inhabitants often avoided the area because of its soft ground and frequent flooding but as soon as eastern settlers arrived and saw the need for more buildable land the streams, swamps and wetlands were filled and the river was dredged and hardlined.
much easier to understand without the need for complicated descriptions and signage. This allows for a more informative experience and evokes feeling on a human to human level by putting visitors in direct contact with the people working in the facility. As people arrive they follow this simplified recycling process which showcases the benefits of material recovery by superimposing trash upon the landscape.
Since WWII the NW Industrial District has been the primary site for chemical processing, petroleum storage and other heavy industries. The site currently stores over 90% of the fossil fuel for the state of Oregon. These industries have left a legacy of toxic contamination and the area is now classified as a top priority cleanup site under the EPA Superfund Act. Locating the center in a contaminated site gives people the opportunity to experience trash as a hyperobject by witnessing the negative effects of past and current production methods. It also provides the opportunity for people to experience the healing effects of an architecture coupled with biological processes.
In my proposal the architecture itself celebrates and makes attractive the process of waste management. It creates an atmosphere that people are proud to work in and excited to visit. Historically infrastructure projects were celebrated because people valued the importance of their purpose. It is time once again that critical infrastructure is treated with the importance it deserves. The Center brings industry, people and nature together under one roof allowing for the emergence of a totally new experience driven by the need to incorporate waste into everyday life.
My vision is to change the way we see waste through an architecture that acts as the city’s digestive system, processing materials for reuse and redistribution. In a typical recycling facility the recovery process is difficult to follow but by unraveling and extending it the process becomes
1 mi radius scale comparison downtown portland
1 mi radius scale comparison northwest industrial fuel tank farm
LEIF ERICSON TRAIL
EPHEMERAL STREAMS
1851 WATER BODY
1851 WETLAND PRAIRIE
EPA SUPERFUND
DIOXINS/ FURANS
PAH's PCB
DDT
2010 FEMA FLOODLINE SITE SECTION
ephemeral stream
2016
class 6 soil_ soils have severe limitations that make them generally unsuited to cultivation and that limit their use mainly to pasture, range, forestland, or wildlife food and cover
1850
closed forest upland_ mesic mixed conifer forest with mostly deciduous understory May include Douglas fir, western hemlock, red cedar, grand fir, bigleaf maple, yew, dogwood, white oak, red alder
site section part I
ephemeral stream
ephemeral stream
natural gas pipeline portland hills fault
class 7 soil_ soils have severe limitations that make them generally unsuited to cultivation and that limit their use mainly to pasture, range, forestland, or wildlife food and cover
class 8 soil_soils and miscellaneous areas have limitations that preclude their use for commercial plant production and limit their use to recreation, wildlife, or water supply or for esthetic purposes.
riparian forest_ ash-mixed deciduous riparian forest with combinations of red alder, bigleaf maple, black cottonwood, white oak, dogwood, Conifers may be present in small quantities
habitat over
petroleum tank farm
rpass
olympia petroleum pipeline
old growth regeneration
mycoremediation
natural gas pipeline
water main
water_ water bodies 1 or more chains across, including rivers, sloughs, ponds, beaver ponds, lakes, marshy lakes and bayous
site section part II
water
east bank fault
riparian forest
water
class 1 soil_ soils have slight limitations that restrict their use.
closed forest upland
round 100 2020
2035
2025
2030
2040
2045
In order to regenerate the superfund site a time based plan is set in motion that utilizes agent based behavior to find the most effective path to restoration while reconnecting the riparian system with its upland counterpart through the daylighting of 2 creeks. In this case the soil will be cleaned in situ via a combination of techniques based in mycoremediation and phytoremediation. The fuel tanks act as “seeds� or the starting points for regeneration. Based on conditions in the environment (zones of high contamination) the agents begin to formulate the most effective paths towards regeneration. Due to its recursive nature this method is capable of adapting in real time to changing site conditions.
initial vector field
landscape logic generative growth
establish point field find fuel tank centroid
create vectors for point field set initial strength set initial angle
point field vector amplitude is based on the distance to tanks + initial strength
random seeding of points
vectorfield
vectorfield amp based
sea
find circle center
set intitial strength
on distance to tanks
clo
set initial angle
mass addition
and
field
the first move
find closest point in vector field from fuel tank centroid retrieve the vector of that point
move point based on the vector retrieved from closest point in vectorfield in previous step
search from tank find
move point based
closest vectorfield point
on the vector
and retrieve that vector
from closest point in vectorfield
loop
begin loop >> from the new moved point find the closest point in vectorfield and retrieve that vector
move lead point according to updated vector
03 the solution building
“It would make more sense to design in a dark ecological way, admitting our coexistence with the toxic substances we have created and exploited” Morton, T. ‘Hyperobjects. Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World.’ 2013
Sited within the tank farm superfund site the Center for Sustainable Consumption does not lay idle while the zone undergoes regeneration. Instead it acts as a nurse log, slowly decomposing as it continues to recover materials and generate new earth friendly consumption techniques. The superstructure itself interacts with the contaminated land reaching down to penetrate fuel tanks transforming them into mycelial gardens experienced anew each time they are visited. It is at these points where the building touches the ground that its own decomposition begins in tune with the transformation of petroleum hydrocarbons via networks of mycelium. In this way the building is no longer
a static entity to be preserved and admired. Instead it begins to capture and portray the ephemerality of our condition in an attempt to reconnect us with the very world we inhabit.
GLASS
PAPER
METAL
TYP. MRF PROCESS
PLASTIC
CLEAN
PRIMARY SCREEN light material up PROCESS FOR DISTRIBUTION crush bale melt shred compress
GLASS SEPARATION green brown white
PAPER SEPARATION white paper newsprint corrugated other
MAGNETIC SEPARATOR
METAL SEPARATION ferrous (steel) nonferrous (aluminum) other
SECONDARY SCREEN
MAGNETIC SEPARATOR
PLASTIC SEPARATION hdpe ldpe pp pet pvc ps
LINEAR MRF PROCESS
BATH
MEETING ROOM OFFICE
STAGING AREA
FABRICATION ROOM
RESEARCH LABS
GALLERY
MYCELIUM SEEDING GROUND
STAIRS TO LEARNING COMMONS
VISITOR CENTER
OFFICE
FLOOR 1
FABRICATION ROOM
RESEARCH LABS
WORKROOM
LEARNING COMMONS
CLASSROOM
FLOOR 2
MYCELIUM CONE
TRANSITION FROM POLYCARBONATE SKYLIGHT TO MYCELIUM CONE
IMPERMEABLE BARRIER TO BE REMOVED AT END OF USEFUL LIFE
PANEL STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
RECYCLED TIMBER TRIAXIAL WAFFLE STRUCTURE
Made from recycled timber, the roof superstructure envelops the entire building program which includes a visitor center, gallery spaces, material research labs and the material recovery facility. The triaxial system is more structurally sound than typical 2 dimensional waffle systems while also allowing for flexibility in form and function. This particular form is derived from the need to capture heat from the sorting machines while also driving water in specific directions to maximize collection. The superstructure is covered with a skin that varies from recycled polycarbonate panels to mycelium cones depending on the program below. Each panel is flat allowing for the polycarbonate panels to be reused in the next building. The variation in elevation and skin type creates a unique mesocosm on and within the building. Made from mycelium and inoculated with live cultures the mycelium cones begin to collect dirt and dust between themselves over the buildings lifecycle. As time passes the dirt builds up and the mycelium cones break down releasing spores to create a vast network across the roof structure. As the mycelium patches bloom they attract birds and insects carrying seeds and miniature ecosystems are born. As the building reaches its useful lifespan impermeable barriers are removed and the building itself feeds the growth of the mycelium network.
mycelium courtyard 2035 a conveyor belt moves trash through the regeneration of riparian habitat in what began as an empty fuel tank
light and shadow perspective from the tipping area showing the relation between material recovery machines, research labs and mycelium courtyards
architectural models the follow models depict the Center for Sustainable Consumption before decomposition during the peak of its useful life. One is a section model at 3/16” = 1’ which shows the relationship between the roof superstructure, mycelium garden and the programmed space while the other is a 1/16” =1’ model showing the entire building.
final presentation
04 appendix
maps
historic landfills
industrial land
RAILROAD
INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
transportation network
topography
hydrology
2010 vegetation
CLOSED FOREST; RIPARIAN + WETLAND
SHRUB LAND CLOSED FOREST; UPLAND
WOODLAND
EMERGENT WETLANDS
SAVANNA
1851 vegetation
PRAIRIE
soils
density
summer
winter
WINTER
SUMMER
solar + wind data
500 FT
scale graphic
roof ecologies alternative patterns
midterm experiential section
midterm program axo
white rot fungi phanerochaete chrysosporium
material packaging + storage bales cargo containers
pollution
material recovery
bioremediation
product production
consumption and use
natural resources
Oyster mushrooms
Stropharia
Turkey Tail mushooms
divert resources from landfill continue useful life
where does it go? 1 of 6 transfer stations
1 of 7 regional landfills
polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) clorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) polycyclic aromatics polychlorinated biphenyls polychlorinated dibenzo(p)dioxins DDT lindane azo dyes (synthetic) polycyclic chlorine biphenyls (PCBs) polycyclic chlorine polymers (PCPs) TNT neurotoxins (agent orange)