LA Rising by Elliot Manuel

LA [Rising] Elliot Manuel

To my father, mother, grandmother, and Madeline for whom I am eternally grateful.

Table of Contents

I. Revealing The Stratum [6-33]

a. Introduction b. Field Excursion c. Exquisite Corpse Collage d. Statement of Intent

II. Project Narrative [34-151]

a. Geography and Climate b. Precedent Analysis and Interpretation c. Program Analysis and Interpretation d. Site Analysis e. Schematic Design

III. Schematic Tectonic Integration [152-217]

a. Circulation b. Program Spaces c. Building Systems d. Materiality e. Sustainability

IV. Design Specificity [218-239]

a. Materials b. Structure c. Construction Details

V. Conclusion [240-263]

a. Final Project Images b. Final Criticism

Revealing

The [defin

Stratum [n

evealing The Stratum

g [adj] - giving information about something that was not known before

nite article] - used to refer to things that occur in nature

noun] - one of usually many layers of a substance (such as rock)

Introduction

Introduction [n] - an action of putting in or inserting

Art requires a delicate adjustment of the outer and inner worlds in such a way that, without regarding their nature, they can be seen through each other. To know oneself is to know one’s region. It is also to know the world, and it is also, paradoxically, a form of exile from that world.1 Flannery O’ Connor. Mystery and Manners

PROLOGUE

A. Lewis Mumford. 1957

One of the most prominent reflections and observations regarding the transformation of Southern architecture was by the American architectural historian Lewis Mumford. At a lecture given at Alabama College in 1941, Mumford stated, “We are interested in the South’s contribution to architecture, I take it, precisely because we believe in human continuity; and we must therefore consider in this final lecture what has been happening to our civilization as a whole, in order to safeguard that future, that destiny, that free play of the human spirit, in which we empathetically believe”.1 Mumford was one of few men who theorized about the architecture of the South through architectural creation and his analysis offers a constructed narrative to the phenomenon of hegemonic culture existing alongside the regional identity of a particular place. However, the narrative described by Mumford and similar scholars failed to account for the economic and social systems that affected the production of architecture within the Southern landscape. Mumford’s theory framed the South as overtly romantic and individualistically driven by omitting the role of societal power structures, economic situations, slavery, and the necessity for land. These omitted descriptors, by Mumford, of the South contributed to a false reality in which romantic ideals cause the progress of the region’s architecture to be regressive. In order to move beyond romantic ideals and historical motifs, one must reconsider the historical foundations of the South and how those foundations define the Southern region today.

First, literal and figurative interpretations of the region greatly affected human perception and architectural production; second, the role of societal oppression as a systemic formation within Southern living; and third, the effects of capitalism, which maintains that the goods of the Southern region be transported to other places for economic gain. Through the synergy of the preceding conditions, the making of Southern architecture is not a form of romantic interpretation but how literal and figural interpretations define the South and its architecture. Describing the American South as a romantic landscape sequesters the relationships between literal and figurative interpretations of the region, societal oppression, and capitalism. When the public conceptualizes the narrative of Southern life, personal identification comes through a conjoined relationship between the individual, the group, and the landscape. The distinction between land and human occupation is a historically universal condition but in the Southern region the land and human relationship is particular. These particularities arose when aristocratic power in the South forced Southern people to spread across all geographic boundaries in the region; and the use of figural interpretations to relate an individual’s occupation in the land became a repeated historical precedent. For example, when plantations of the Old South were

constructed, many Southerners of lower economic status spread into the backwoods of the region as plantations consumed the majority of available land. This early displacement of Southern inhabitants postulated an idea where an individual’s occupation in the Southern landscape was perceived as a “natural” occurrence in societal hierarchy. Consequently, the use of a metaphor or a figural interpretation to describe the continual separation of certain Southern people formed as the accepted reality of Southern life. However, the notion that a place, in particular the South, possesses one universal identity that describes the diversity of Southern life is no longer an accepted truth. In Of Grammatology, Jacques Derrida stated, “It is not, therefore, a matter of inverting the literal meaning and the figurative meaning but of determining the “literal” meaning of writing as metaphoricity itself.”2 This distinction by Derrida frames how the identity of objects, people, and contingent truths should be formed in the Southern region. In order to understand the contemporary reality of Southern architecture that informs Southern life one must examine the historical formations that informed how Southerners interpreted and understood the landscape. Throughout the majority of Southern history, the formation of individual identity in the South was associated with romantic images that inform how the literal conditions of the region

B. Thomas Moran. Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia. 1862.

transform into figural interpretations. One example of the South as a figural interpretation was the art of the Hudson River School in the middle of the nineteenth century. The art of the Hudson River School exemplified the romanticizing of the American landscape by illustrating an idealized version of physical space. The painting “Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia” by Thomas Moran framed the perception of how humans existed inside the overgrown swamps of the Deep South. The depiction of slaves running from bounty hunters hides inside the illustration of a landscape that appears to be the Earthly form of Eden; this portrayal of the Southern landscape by Moran used historical precedents to articulate how the figurative image of the South interacted with the literal conditions of the landscape. “Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia” is a textual interpretation of the South, in which the physical depiction of the land was inverted into something figurative for depicting reality as a metaphor. The depiction of reality as a metaphor removed the physical repulsions of the Deep South and replaced them with an intellectual idea of a picturesque landscape in which people live. Put simply, the painting by Moran removed societal oppression and hardship in Southern life and depicted a scene in which the hunting of slaves is insignificant to the illustriousness of the Southern landscape. The case of Moran and the Hudson River

School is not the only incident in which the literal conditions of the South transformed into a metaphorical depiction; but this repeated iconography shaped how people understood the identity of the South. The continual replacement of the literal conditions in the Southern landscape with metaphorical ideas promotes a regional identity situated inside a historically romantic framework. The use of a visually constructed language that romanticizes metaphorical interpretation continually reinforces the idea that the South is a romantic place. In order to move beyond romantic historical architecture, one must rewrite Southern architecture as something that is neither outside nor inside the region but continually deferential. The deferential nature of the Southern region begins approximately with examinations of Southern romanticism and High Modernity. To begin this investigation, one must review the work of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s work in the United States is quintessential in the development of classical architecture while being simultaneously American and Southern. Considering that Monticello is a classical image and a plantation, its architecture identifies social paradigms that exemplify Southern character. One paradigm predicated by Monticello and similar Southern archetypes was the existence of slavery. Slavery was required to sustain an efficient economic derivative in order to

develop the land required to make plantations profitable. The existence of pseudo-controllable labor forces allowed wealthy Southerners to manipulate the land of the region based upon economic necessity and societal development. Consequently, without the development of slavery in the region, many works of architecture were not conceivable or buildable. Slavery allowed Southern society and architecture to exist at large scales that slowly concretized how humans positioned themselves into the Southern landscape. Secondly, the previously stated societal and architectural conditions intensified with the rise of Modernity. The availability of resources and capital elevated Southern architecture to a form of mass production and efficiency. The necessity of Southern architecture to be constructed in an efficient manner perpetuates the romantic notion of Southern life. Architecture in the Southern region remains historically situated by utilizing large labor forces that replicate the same architectural forms. Thirdly, the over-arching theme that drives the preceding variables is the necessity of economic derivatives. The need to compete and produce a viable economic product is a historical condition that continually reoccurs in the South since the rise of plantations. For example, if the Gulf South states of the present day were to become their own country, their gross domestic product would be the seventh highest in the world.3 The

continual development of economic efficiency and profitability created a regional condition, historically and contemporarily, in which the use of the land and human workers supplemented broader societal needs. Therefore, the contemporary South focuses on historical conditions that existed since the time of Jefferson. These traditions continually shape the perception that people possess of the Southern region and the architecture that is present in the landscape. The South must rewrite its perceived romantic architectural identity with the preceding variables as a resultant of historical factors and contemporary interpretations. The image of a figural romantic South is the dilemma of the region. Throughout Southern history, there has been the interplay of economic means and metaphorical interpretations that continually misguide architecture in the region. This romantic essence, foundation, epoch, archon or any other synonym is a false reality of how the South operates through its land and inhabitants. The identity of the South is not one of romantic ideals but a juxtaposed reality of literal and figural conditions that define the region. In order to move past a falsified reality, one must reevaluate the characteristics that define Southern architecture and its culture. Developments in industrial machines that adapt and change with the Southern landscape offer a glimpse into an architecture that is dynamic and evolving. Innovation in fluvial dynamics

for the Lower Mississippi region points towards an approach to balance human life and environmental sustainability; however, the role of capital gain as the driver of advancement in the region is an uneasily removed condition from the identity of the South. This paper will argue that the identity and architecture of the South is not a romantic ideal but a reality composed of complex interconnected systems that defer to each other to generate their purpose. In order to contribute to the future and cultural wealth of the region, a better understanding of Southern architecture exists through the stratified relationships between literal conditions in the environment, human inhabitation of land, and the figural systems that Southerners use to interpret the metaphorical idea of the South. A ROMANTIC SOUTHERN NARRATIVE Articulating the complexity of the romantic Southern narrative is difficult because of the historical connection between Southerners and the landscape. The perceived image that many Southerners possess of the South is one that does not account for how harsh historical conditions inform contemporary realities in the region. Flannery O’Connor was exceedingly attune to this version of Southern life and wrote extensively on the subject. In Mystery and Manners, she wrote, “There is nothing worse than the writer who does not use the gifts of

the region, but wallows in them. Everything becomes so Southern that it is sickening, so local that it is unintelligible, so literally reproduced that it conveys nothing. The general gets lost in the particular instead of being shown through it.” Although this quote by O’Connor is concerned with the physical conditions of the South, her notion that the mind of a Southerner wallows in the past is incredibly pensive into the reality of contemporary Southern life. The accepted narrative of the South is framed as a community of people who live and work a land that supplies them with culture and personal identification.4 By using the land as a form of profit and leisure, a Southerner presumes that the land and their life is one integral condition. An individual who works the land for survival and uses the land as a departure from habitual work exemplifies the qualities of romantic Southern life. The Southern man is able to escape the actuality of work that confines the primordial nature within him by using the resources of the land for visceral stimulation. Visceral stimulation in the landscape usually occurs in the same location, which substantiates a relationship between a Southern man and his connection to a certain point of Southern geography. The continual return of a Southern man to the same space within the landscape furthers an illusion that the land and its built environment have existed symbiotically since a historical beginning. Consequently,

C. Casper David Fredrich. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. 1818.

Top Near Jackson Square looking towards Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans Bottom Typical street view in downtown New Orleans

a Southerner cannot live within the fantasy forever; he must return to the reality of an economically derived world. In order to sustain visceral stimulation within the land, work is done in exchange. A perplexing condition slowly builds as the Southern man plays and works in the same place. The geography of the Southern fantasy is the same geography that creates the removal of the Southern illusion; however, the illusion is only a moment away once the work cycle is over. Yet, the question persists as to why the romantic narrative remains as the primary identification of Southern life and does not defer to an experience that occurs more commonly in the region. The South operates in the same spatial and temporal world as the rest of the United States and it is still a place that one can find Confederate flags. There seems to exist a pervasive mythology that situates the identity of Southern life as romantic and does not cultivate a shift in how people conceive of a landscape that is extremely diverse in its social composition. Therefore, is it possible that the established and perceived narrative of the South restrains the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity to maintain the romantic narrative? First, the idea that an individual can â&#x20AC;&#x153;work the landâ&#x20AC;? is not a unique Southern idea but a profound statement of American idealism. The notion that one can find individual freedom through the exploration of landscape is an

ideal explored throughout American history. Explorations by Lewis and Clark, paintings by Casper David Fredrich, writings by Emerson, Thoreau, Bryant, all use the landscape as a signifier of individual identity. By establishing a connection between individual freedom and the land, the identity of Southern life is not unique but simply part of broader American ideals. However, in the contemporary era the ability to explore the Southern landscape in search of individual freedom is constricted by the presence of multi-national corporations, government regulations, and wealthy landowners. Each one of these entities places restrictions upon the land and confines where individuals in the South explore. This condition of land ownership and suppressed individual freedom is not a random development in the South but a historical precedent that continually repeats itself. In the time of the Civil War, the extent of plantations and the percentage of land they controlled was extensive; insofar, that an individual could never escape the literal and figural boundaries of plantation authority. The geographic power of plantations in the South created a region defined through the spatial boundaries of plantation placement. The history of individual freedom in the land is not a factual truth but a metaphorical image conceived by those living in constricted geographic conditions.5 In the Modern era, the same geographic conditions exist with the emergence of oil refineries,

chemical refineries, industrial agriculture, and other similar industries that use the land of the South for proposed economic derivatives. These aforementioned factors present a more appropriate identity of the South based upon the role that historical conditions define the figural perceptions of the region and its people. The reciprocal negotiation of land and people postulates a South no longer perceived as a romantic landscape but a region where many narratives inform the construction of identity and architecture. Universal Romanticism and the South What remains disguised in the South is the unspoken narrative that describes the daily operations of Southern culture. Before the twentieth century, the discussion of transcendental narratives was an idea that informed many conceptions of human life. The physical world was comprehensible by establishing a universal foundation to evaluate aspects of human experience. A universally established reality promotes an understanding of human life that subordinates the variability of humans for a universal or transcendental “essence.” Consequently, the idea of a transcendental narrative that describes all Southern culture and its architecture still has presence in the region. Under the allure of historical iconography, many architectural

creations in the region used history as the image or locator of “authentic” Southern architecture. The success of this architectural production by connecting itself to history distills into two foci: production and replication. In the case of the Southern region, the image of Southern architecture comes from a historical image that was experienced and replicated many times. This image of architecture through familiar experiences makes the historical image an efficient form to replicate. Then, the public connects the built environment of the South to something from history and the continual replication of the historical image legitimates the “essence” of Southern architecture. Paradoxically, the distinction between historically replicated architecture and the origins governing Southern architectural replication cannot reconcile the problem of historical creation in contemporary times. One can observe this in colloquial speech when a person says, “There is no place like New Orleans.” The realization that New Orleans is unique and impossible of replication is clear through experience but many buildings in the Gulf South try to reference New Orleans to infer authentic Southern architecture. Consequently, the problem of replicating historical architecture is creating an experience in a past time that does not belong to the architecture of that time. Replicating historical Southern architecture, especially in the contemporary era, deduces

Top Remaining brick slave quarters at plantation in Natchitoches, Lvouisiana Bottom Land overseers house at a plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana

into historical motifs applied to buildings to denote the appearance of â&#x20AC;&#x153;authenticâ&#x20AC;? Southern architecture. This condition of applying a historical image is the dilemma of architecture in the Southern region as the historical image is only a figural interpretation of history. Therefore, why does the notion of a romantic ideal prevail as the transcendental narrative for humans and architecture in the South? The deduction is that these ideas are embedded in the history of the region and to move beyond superficial ideas, regarding architecture and regional identity, one must deconstruct the interplay between literal conditions and figural interpretations. THE OLD SOUTH If the architectural narrative of the South is constructed through history, then where does the approximate origin reside? Considering the formation of the United States and its subsequent regions, the birth of plantations in the South marks the beginning of a complicated relationship between architecture, people and the landscape. The Southern writer, W. G. Cash, wrote about this relationship in The Mind of the South. Cash stated: The Southerner, however, was primarily a direct product of the soil, as the peasant of Europe is the direct product of the soil. His way of life was his,

not because he himself or his ancestors or his class had deliberately chosen it as against something else, not even because it had been tested through centuries and found to be good, but because, given his origins, it was the most natural outcome of the conditions in which he found himself.8 The first Southern plantations were not large and rested upon small divisions of land; however, when a plantation overseer purchased the first parcel of land for his plantation, the purchase usually put the overseer into financial debt. If the overseer wanted to renounce this debt, he had to purchase more land upon credit. This condition of trying to expunge debt and increase profit with land forced many plantations in the Old South to remain static. In other words, the first plantations of the South remained anchored in a geographic location because of an accumulation of debt and an inability to create high profit margins.9 By introducing human slavery into plantation economics, plantations were able to lessen their debt collection and increase their profits. Slavery offered a viable workforce that did not require extra capital revenue and allowed plantations to increase self-sufficiency. However, at this moment in plantation history, Southern plantations had a dilemma between their work force and the pace at which work occurred. The incentive for slaves to work a their upmost potential was unmotivated by plantation overseers because

D. Thomas Jefferson. Monticello. 1772. Charlottesville, Virginia.

Andrea Palladio. Villa Rotunda. 1566. Vicenzia, Italy.

of racial and political boundaries at the current time. The only option for plantation overseers to increase the pace of work was to instate exiguous options. Overseers could intensify punishments and rewards, increase the acreage that one slave was responsible for maintaining, or move the work of the plantations to more suitable soil conditions.10 In any of these three cases, the role between overseers and slaves was one that indebted itself to a certain geographic space and nutrients of the land in the South. These early pathologies of plantation development with large labor forces forged the conceptions of how the land, the people, and the architecture of the South coexisted. It is through the history of plantation development, one might establish how replicated historical foundations inform the architecture of the contemporary Southern region. Firstly, the purchasing of land by plantations forced the population of the South to disperse across the region.11 This dispersal pushed sects of the population into the wilderness of the landscape. Without another place to reside, the Southern person learned to survive in harsh environmental conditions. The landscape, in the early Southern mind, became the transference of physical problems to mental comprehension in which the land provided both leisure and hardship. Secondly, the division between those who own the land and those who work the land became an early social identifier of Southern

life. As more people became subservient to Southern aristocracy, the image portrayed image of the region was a place where the wealthy had a naturalized power over the masses. This naturalized power of the aristocratic South came through using the economic derivates of the land to continually secure societal hierarchy in a certain position, in which case, slaves and poor whites remain oppressed and plantation owners remained powerful. Contemporarily, the relationship of the oil industry and its workers, in the present day Gulf South, stems from these early formations in Southern history. Utilizing the large work force available in the Gulf South states allows multi-national oil corporations to remain profitable. Unlike the threat of punishment in the Old South, the reality of starvation and economic depravity is the only mechanism needed to keep oil workers productive. In either case of plantation power or oil power, the majority of Southern people remain at the disposal of a derivative controlled by a select few. However, the most innovative ideas of the South distill from the wealthy. Whether the work was in the form of industry, agriculture, or architecture, the most pioneering work in the region came from one source. This source of invention does not infer that innovation did not occur in other places of the South but usually remained reactionary to the ideas put forth by those who control economic derivatives. Therefore, by analyzing

the negotiation between those who control the land, work the land, and the literal land, the architecture of the South moves beyond a mass-produced historical imitation and into a construction of interconnected variables that defer to one another for literal and figural purposes. Thomas Jefferson and Monticello Figural interpretations of the South are present in the architectural work of Thomas Jefferson and his house Monticello. Jeffersonian architecture proves that the romantic narrative is not unique to the South but an identity that was replicated repeatedly to preserve hegemonic culture. Along with his political discourse, Jeffersonian architecture marks a distinct period in American history. Jefferson’s creation of Monticello articulates the first images of classical architecture in the early United States. The importation of classical architecture to prescribe “authentic” architecture showcases how the romantic ideal began in the United States. The idea of separation from the land, in order to create a fantasy of other places and times, is one of the defining characteristics of Monticello. Jefferson’s experimentation at Monticello expressed how American architecture situated itself in comparison to the landscape. Jefferson’s architectural action at Monticello, by constructing an artificial mound, exhibits

land as merely a vessel for intensive landscape manipulation by humans. Monticello is not simply an indicator of American architecture but a moment where the relationship between human construction and land occupation defined itself. Even the definition of Monticello in Italian means “little mount,” which furthers the historical separation of American architecture from the land it resides. Monticello removed itself from the Virginia hills to preserve a romantic ideal of architecture unconnected to the landscape. This historical occupation of architecture undefined by literal conditions of a region posits the future development of architecture in the South; an architecture that references historical times in search of falsified authenticity. Nevertheless, the work of Jefferson does not completely reject the region of Virginia where it resides. Much like the contemporary American home, in which its exterior is a historical reference filled with the most recent technology, Monticello is the apotheosis of how literal and figural ideals justify architectural creation in the South. In a description of Monticello by a contemporary of Jefferson, George Ticknor: “You enter by a glass folding door into a hall which reminds you of Fielding’s ‘Man of the Mountain’ by the strange wealth of furniture on the walls. On one side hangs the head and horns of elk, a deer, a buffalo; another is covered with curiosities which Lewis and Clark found in

their wild and perilous expedition.”13 Ticknor’s examination of Monticello is pensive into how the historical motif of Southern architecture changes once an individual enters the interior of Southern architecture. First, the expressiveness of the objects placed within the interior of the architecture exudes how Southerners define interior space with regional objects. Placing animals’ heads, skins, and assortments of regional objects provides Southerners with interior space that appears as deeply connected to the land; however, placing regional objects in the Southern home does not justify the creation of regional identity. The Southern home and its inhabitants are still in a dichotomy between the literal conditions of a place and the figural interpretations of that place. Collecting objects that infer regional identity remains a superficial articulation of Southern architecture where the objects in architectural space signify the perception of an “authentic” space. However, the superficial placement of local objects in the Southern home is a type of architectural space that does not defer from history but repeatedly replicates the idea of Southerners living in a romantic landscape. The continual separation of Southern architecture from the physical conditions of the region defines Southern architecture as something that disconnects itself from the place it existed. The architectural identity of the South is regarded as a historical image that exists through local objects and

classical historical motifs. Replicated historical motifs substantiates that Southern architecture must remain historical to be “authentic” but this presumption is only existent because of Jefferson and the architecture of Monticello. Consequently, a possible explanation for Jefferson’s architectural deception was the allure that classical architecture offered the New World a connection to the greatest empires of the Western world. For a country trying to rise from British domination, the power and architecture of Western empires offered unfound security in the indigenous American landscape. Monticello became the constructed image of classical civilizations and one of the first iconic buildings in America, which in turn became the “image” of the Southern home; however, the primary importance of Monticello as the archetypal Southern home comes from its ideal placement in a landscape without a physical connection to the land in which it resides. Furthermore, one of the most unspoken aspects about Monticello was the importance of slavery that allowed the plantation to prosper. Without the workforce to support the “little mount,” Monticello would have not been a feasible endeavor on Jefferson’s part. It seems that this condition, the Jeffersonian ideal, is both a historical precedent and the contemporary reality of Southern architecture. The ideality of Southern architecture allowed the historical image of the Southern region to

have presence; however, Southern architecture cannot move forward if it remains embedded in outside regions and temporal scales. The contention between classical images and regional identity entraps the progression of Southern architecture; the precedent set forth by Jefferson and classical geometry created a version of Southern architecture that is constantly defying the place in which it resides. Jefferson placed Monticello on a mound of artificial construction to portray an image of American life that was opposed to literal realities of the landscape. The Jeffersonian image of architecture framed Southern architecture as a romantic ideal by disconnecting the architecture of the region from the physical conditions in which it exists. HIGH MODERNITY AND AMERICA Considering the work of Thomas Jefferson as an archetype for Southern architecture is a form of entrapment and liberation. Jefferson was wealthy, like his contemporaries, and able to control the manipulation of people and land; and through his manipulation of land and people, a version of simultaneously American and Southern architecture formed. Jefferson’s version of architecture dominated early American history as his approach to constructing architecture, in both style and ideology, was continually replicated. The Jeffersonian ideal viewed throughout the Southern region, as

plantations became universal markers of power and affluence, describes the connection between power and ideology. Yet, the conception of Southern architecture through plantations is not holistically true because the Southern plantation is not specifically a regional form but the simple marker of power and affluence. If Jefferson’s Monticello helped establish the approximate origin of Southern architecture, then it is relevant to investigate a relation to his contributions, both architectural and political, and how it contributes to Modernity. At the Museum of Modern Art in 1932, Philip Johnson and Henry Russell Hitchcock curated an exhibition entitled “The International Style.” At this exhibition, the work of European Modernists architects like Mies Van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Marcel Breuer were the foci. Each of these architects constructed architecture that executed three important modern aesthetic dimensions: the removal of excess ornament, focus on volume over mass, and an attention to balance instead of bilateral symmetry. By creating architecture through these components, the making of Modern architecture attempted to remove historical references and create architecture for a modern world. The modern world was supposed to be a place where architecture was accessible for not only the wealthy but also the bourgeoisie. However, the notion that

universal ideals could solve societal problems was a fabricated assumption by Modernist architects. Modern architecture behaved in the same manner of landscape placement as classical architecture had many years prior. The use of autonomous architectural forms inserted into the landscape is not that far from the same landscape manipulation developed in plantation architecture of the Old South. Both architectural typologies, plantations and modernist creations, disregard the genus loci for the zeitgeist in order to appeal to broader social themes of power and authority. Plantations in the Old South used the image of classical civilizations to establish a romantic world while Modernists used the idea of utopia to create a similar behavioral aesthetic language. After the end of the Second World War, the United States sought to communicate an unbiased aesthetic through the embassies that it placed in other countries. Through the aesthetic language of modern architecture, the United States communicated that their diplomacy was fair and unbiased of historical conditions.14 Modern architecture stood as the promise of peace in an otherwise decimated world and America built international embassies as an image of America’s diplomatic sovereignty. America used, once again, the romantic architectural image as the expression of individual freedom through democratic diplomacy. This metaphor of individual rights

to hide the suppressed realities that developed with the conclusion of the Second World War is another testament to the continual use of romantic ideals as a universal variable in multiple moments of Western history. There seems to be a trend in American architectural production in which a deferral to a historical place and time defines “authentic” architecture for that time. Once the “authentic” image is replicated enough to substantiate its legitimacy as an architectural form, the spectrum of romantic images will then be implemented in many areas of a particular place. The replication of architecture through the romantic image, once it has occurred enough times, becomes the architecture of the region as the seductiveness of the romantic ideal hides the abrasiveness of literal conditions. The observations made through the work of Jeffersonian and Modernist architecture marks a transformation in the understanding of literal and figural conditions in a region. The work of Jefferson displays the ability of architecture in early American history to utilize outside sources to substantiate legitimacy in a newly developing country. The work of Modernists architecture is more complex and contains more variables but expresses the United States’ adaptation of outside architectural form to appeal to broader societal structures. The temporal difference between Jeffersonian and Modern architecture articulates how the construction of romantic

Condition of Louisiana architecture adapting to placement in coastal regions.

ideals is not a unique occurrence but an element of society that has been replicated throughout history. Although the continual reoccurrence of a certain architectural typology eventually constitutes some form of legitimacy, one must question if this form of architectural production is the appropriate architecture for that place. In the case of the South, the reoccurring use of romantic appeals signifies how the allure of humans living in the natural environment connects to broader utopian notions of individual freedom within the landscape. Therefore, if the architecture of the South is a romantic narrative of figural interpretation, then how can that identity be the identity of the region if its replication occurred in multiple moments of time and space? The Gulf South and Regional Identity The previously articulated conditions of architecture in the South express specific moments in history that show the progression and expansion of a romantic ideal. Through the development of plantations and their relationship to the land, followed by Modernity in the United States, the production of architecture in the Southern region became a juxtaposed condition of romantic ideals and mass-production. One area of the South that further articulates the romantic architectural condition in a contemporary form is the Gulf

South states of the region. This region of the United States has followed the same pattern of land destruction and manipulation as plantations had many years prior, and with the discovery of oil, the Gulf South continued the same trajectory of using the land for an economic derivative. Following World War II, universal power and modern attributes informed the oil industry to utilize efficient techniques to sustain an economic derivative with high profit margins. Similar in formation to the plantations of the Old South, the first drilling rigs of the South extracted an economic derivative from the land. By extracting a valuable economic product, the architecture that developed around this economic derivative became enormously complex with a network that affected all areas of Southern life. Again, the network that developed around oil and its infrastructure grew exponentially during the Modern era; and oil developed a more complex relation between the land, the people, and the built environment. The romantic ideal of the Gulf South continues through the evolution of the oil industry, which continually uses the land of the region for economic derivatives; however, the evolution of architecture remains historically situated as the notion of the romantic narrative remains the primary identification for Southerners in relationship to the landscape. Consequently, the relationship between the

humans that work for the oil industry and those that employs those individuals remains in the same developmental structure established by the plantations of the Old South. The first oil companies of the South purchased the mineral rights of land from landowners. This initial purchase of land was an investment for oil entrepreneurs that created an economic situation in which their availability to generate a substantial profit was diminished. Following oil businessmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial investment, the growth and profitability of oil actualized by market gains allowed greater freedom in their development. This development spurred greater profits, which in turn allowed innovation for the industry to become more productive in global and regional markets. In conjunction with economic gains, the oil industry, similar to plantations, became fixated to a certain point of geographic space. The spatial boundary that oil derricks occupied created a network of power that dominated the Gulf South landscape and the people that occupied those areas. Similar to land occupation of plantations, the land bought and autotomized by oil companies had an inescapable perimeter. When a Southern individual wanted to flee into the wilderness of the South, the image that appeared was not the sublime paintings by the Hudson River School but stacks of derricks that towered above the trees. The architectonic language of the oil industry remains as one of the permanent markers of the Southern

landscape. Oil companies invested into their structures a degree of permanence that transformed the visual realm of the Southern region. As more oil derricks appeared in the Gulf South, the romantic narrative transformed machine like structures into a unique element of Southern life. Therefore, the oil industry marked the land of the South in a permanent manner, like plantations, with architectural form that was identifiable across broad sectors of space and time. With the rise of Modernity and accelerated industrial production, the oil industry became a highly aggressive enterprise that utilized romantic propaganda to persuade Southerners and global markets of its success.15 The escalation of romantic narratives to hide the act of land manipulation by oil production was the same technique utilized by American embassies at the end of the Second World War. For example, oil propaganda from Louisiana during the early twentieth century depicted images of Southern paradise where one lived and worked in close proximity to oil derricks. This proximity between oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home and oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work expresses how the dominant industry of the state began to merge into the established social fabric. The congruency between plantation history and their integration with Southern life derives a similar paradigm to the assimilation of oil into the same historical cultural fabric. The continual repetition of land manipulation for an economic

derivative by a powerful industry is not a coincidence in the region but a slow progression of power that shifts from one derivative to the next. In the case of the Gulf South, the advent of oil and its ties to the land slowly developed into a culture that was connected to the romantic ideal of one working the land in order to sustain economic life. However, the land that the oil industry utilized could no longer sustain the same means of production that produced a profit. In this moment, oil had to transport to another area of land that could provide the industry with a viable derivative; yet the movement from parcel to parcel could no longer be utilized since oil had consumed almost all profitable parcels of land in the Gulf South. The oil industry began to occupy another area of geographic space in which the space of the Gulf of Mexico became the new land of economic derivatives. Because the Gulf of Mexico, in some sense, was the new frontier for oil exploration, major innovations occurred to harvest the oil beneath the sea floor. The architecture of offshore drilling began to have permanence in the water as these innovations became more inventive to exist in sea conditions. The adaptability of offshore drilling allowed the oil industry to display how a physical machine could negotiate the dynamic conditions of coastal life. In this area of the Gulf South, the oil industry began to produce an identifiable

architectural language that became synonymous to the landscape of the region. The adaptability of offshore drilling, to the environmental conditions of the Gulf of Mexico, became an identifiable architecture for the region that defined permanence in a newly inventive manner, still predicated by the necessity of an economic derivative. This type of economic and infrastructural development is not a random occurrence in the region but the continual repetition of utilizing the derivatives of a place for economic means. The architectural example created by the oil industry of the Gulf South expresses how the identity of the South is a product of history that projects into the future. Firstly, oil in the Gulf South has created some of the most inventive structures to adapt to the dynamic constancy of the region. The technology and specificity that offshore oil platforms are capable of marks a paradigm in the limitations of the Southern tectonic language. Because oil platforms and similar oil structures can move and adapt, their ability to be as dynamic as the land predicates their permanence in the region. Secondly, the infrastructural network that the oil industry developed follows a similar path established within Southern history. The use of the land for a viable economic derivative forces the land to become a supplement to the necessity of economic interactions. Once the derivative is no longer present, the industry must shift to another

geographic location that utilizes the status quo to maintain industrial operations. The constant shifting of geographic location makes the architecture and physical infrastructure of oil a threat and benefit to the region; oil is a vagabond derivative that searches for a means to justify the ends. Thirdly, oil operations need human labor, like plantations of the Old South, to sustain profitable economic operations. Oil industries hold power over their workers by indebting their workers to oil operations since many oil workers receive formal education from oil companies regarding the operations of the oil industry. The paradigm of the Gulf South and oil offers a complex reality of how landscape deterioration, architectural innovation, and human life exist in a reciprocal relationship to produce the architecture and culture of the contemporary Southern region. CONCLUSION The notion of the romantic ideal is the dilemma of the Southern region. The South has a fluctuating ideology that informs how the literal conditions of the region transform into metaphorical interpretations. Generally, the landscape of the South has remained rich in economic derivatives that are products of the land. The land of the South, through human intervention, is a datum that dictates the development of many elements in Southern

culture. The rise of plantations connected to slavery articulates a moment of Southern history where the land postulated the ideology of Southern life. The literal conditions of the land informed how Southerners interpreted their individual occupation in the landscape. Individual interpretation, either aristocratic or impoverished, was a product of romantic ideals that transformed the literal reality of the land into a figural interpretation. For the work of Jefferson, the land allowed the romantic image of Southern life physical expression through architecture. Jefferson utilized classical architecture to organize the stratum between human lives and land occupation in which the image of classical architecture was the generator of “authenticity.” The replication of “authentic” architecture developed an ideology in the South where an individual lived and worked the land to sustain life through the continual repetition of “authentic” architecture. The New South altered its identification through modern means but followed the same trajectory of romantic ideals established through Southern history. The appeal of utopian equality through a Modern aesthetic escalated how people understood the seductiveness of the romantic narrative. Romantic ideals were no longer a singular occurrence in America and the South but a variable at an international scale. Modern means of production infused with the South’s abundance of economic derivatives

shifted the South from an agrarian landscape to a place of intense industrial production. As industrial production became fixated in the Southern geography, the application of a romantic ideal transformed to account for these new variables in Southern life. The addition of these variables changed the visual aesthetic from a romantic landscape to a place of industrial means. However, the connection between the region and its Modern transformation remained inside the historical conditions of romantic ideals. If the mind and architecture of the South is to exist in the contemporary world, then a shift must occur in which the mind of a Southerner is no longer mislead by the seductiveness of a romantic life; but embraces the realities of living in a landscape that is drastically changing because of economic conditions. These economic conditions, that continually dictate Southern life and culture, must be addressed to secure the sustainment of the region. Harvesting tobacco, cotton, corn, sugarcane, oil, natural gas, and many others forms of economic derivatives have driven the mind of the South to be bifurcated between two worlds. In one world, there are the seductive paintings of Thomas Moran where the land unfolds to reveal an environment that is completely sublime; in another, there exists massive infrastructural developments that destroy the land but are simultaneously a

necessity for human life. Through the synergy of these two worlds, the architecture of the South can begin to express the convoluted realties of living in the Southern landscape, in which one world does not take precedent over the other but remains constantly deferential. Lewis Mumford expressed an idea that the South was a place that valued the free play of human spirit; insofar, that the South is a paradox of individual life juxtaposed with the notion of larger societal conditions. In order to secure the architectural future of the South, one must reconsider how an erroneous romantic simulation developed a culture and architecture that defines the uniqueness of Southern life.

Field Excursions

Field [n] - an area of land that has a special use Excursion [n] - deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course

We are interested in the Southâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution to architecture, I take it, precisely because we believe in human continuity; and we must therefore consider in this final lecture what has been happening to our civilization as a whole, in order to safeguard that future, that destiny, that free play of the human spirit, in which we empathetically believe.14 Lewis Mumford. The South in Architecture

PROLOGUE

LA-319 traversing the Intracoastal Canal near Cypremort Point, Louisiana

The coastal region of Louisiana is one of the most unique spatial conditions in the world. The Southern part of the state offers a glimpse into the hyper-realities of the contemporary future. This future has to confront issues like climate change, seal level rise, landscape deterioration, and the latent effects of industrial production. Yet, this area of the state also exudes the prominence of Southern culture, art, architecture, and the residual capacity of mankind. These descriptive conditions of Southern Louisiana permeate and mark the field of human operation. The operational field of Louisiana is one that negotiates between the natural environments, in particular land and water, and the manner in which man attempts to live within that setting. For example, the road that leads to Grand Isle, LA I, is washing away due to tidal pressure and erosion but a super highway has been constructed to sustain access to the island. This condition of responding to the natural world in order to sustain a way of life postulates a notion in Louisiana that the field of the coast contains a unique specificity. Another example of this unique condition is along the road to Rockefeller Refuge. The landscape along this road is primarily dying due to salt-water erosion but people continue to live in a land that allows the image and life of living with the water. These conditions of existence in a place that is slowly decaying is the current condition of operation in coastal Louisiana; to live in a landscape that no longer allows for human occupation. The following pages explore the notion that every community, in the coastal Louisiana, operates between decomposition and proliferation.

Top Boat dock at Butte La Rose on the Atchafalaya Basin Left View of marshland near Rockefeller Refuge Middle Architectural construction approaching Rockfeller Refuge Right Road that leads to Cypremort Point in South Louisiana

DAY I [Butte La Rose, Cypremort Point, Rockefeller Refuge, Sabine Pass, and Holly Beach] On day I of traversing coastal Louisiana, the studio stopped in four places: Butte La Rose, Cypremort Point, Rockefeller Refuge, Sabine Pass and Holly Beach. Each of these places had particular qualities that exposed the relationship of how people live in a constantly changing environment. Along the Atchafalaya Basin, Butte La Rose has a public boat launch that allows a person to go beneath the superstructure of Interstate 10 in the Atchafalaya. Underneath Interstate 10, one can understand how mankind has shaped the natural world in order to maintain economic efficiency. The beaches of Cypremort Point and Holly Beach yield similarities, as both are points in which the alluvial plain connects to open water; however, Cypremort Pointâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s salinity levels are much lower than that of Holly Beach. The salinity levels of these two places generates a distinct difference in the flora as Cypremort Point has rich tones of brown while Holly Beach has the aroma of salt. The final stop of the day was in Rockefeller Refuge where one could see how industry had shaped the land in order to sustain contemporary living conditions. The main road that travels through the refuge was constructed in the marsh to allow humans to study and occupy parts of the landscape. This intrusive road exemplifies how humans have occupied the coastal condition of southern Louisiana; being invasive in the coastal landscape has removed the uniqueness of the land and made it into an artificial construction to benefit the needs and wants of people living in this part of the state.

Top Port of Lake Charles rail line Left Grain silos at the Port of Lake Charles Middle Interior view of dry dock at LEEVAC vessel repair Right Exterior view of dry dock and container yard at LEEVAC

DAY II [LEEVAC Vessel Repair and Lake Charles Port Authority] On day II of navigating the Louisiana landscape, the studio stopped at two places: LEEVAC Vessel Repair and the Lake Charles Port Authority. These two places offered a different view of the human perspective in the vastly dynamic condition of the coast. The excursion of day II showed the necessity of industry and production to maintain contemporary societal standards. The Port of Lake Charles is one of the largest ports in the country and has processed over 52.2 million tons of cargo since 2009 (cite). Also, the Port of Lake Charles is one of few ports in the United States that will be able to support the growing demand of Liquid Natural Gas. The network that is connected to the Port of Lake Charles is one of the most important regions of exportation and importation in the United States. At LEEVAC Vessel Repair, also in Lake Charles, the scale of operation that was present at the port is also present within the vessel repair site. One of the key features of LEEVAC Vessel Repair is the dry dock that was used to maintenance barges. When barges need repairs, they are brought to LEEVAC where the dry dock is sunk beneath the water and has the barge float on top of it. Without vessel repair in the oil industry, many to all operations that occur by water would not be possible. Because of the similarities between these two operational companies, larger themes of economic and social development can be deduced from their existence in coastal Louisiana. If one part of the oil network fails to operate, then so do the rest of the systems tied to their daily operations.

Top Exterior construction of double hull on ship Left Interior of LEEVAC ship yards with ship hull in foreground Middle Interior of LEEVAC ship yard with section of hull about to be lifted Right Welders at LEEVAC ship yard constructing section of new ship

DAY III [LEEVAC Ship Yards] On day III of traversing across coastal Louisiana, the studio visited LEEVAC Ship Yards. LEEVAC ship yards is one of the premier ship builders in the Gulf of Mexico and provides design services for multinational corporations that use large vessels in offshore operations. The head of design services for LEEVAC design services is Mike Jannise. Janniseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work at LEEVAC expresses two important characteristics of ship design in southern Louisiana: innovation and beauty. Firstly, the work of Jannise has an incredible rigor towards understanding every component that is built into the hull of a ship. Through the process of hull construction, Jannise has developed an ability to identity flaws in ship hulls by observation. The ability to recognize flaws in construction through visceral experience is an important notion to understand how knowledge is generated in coastal Louisiana; therefore, every ship that is constructed by Jannise is a moment where the field of coastal Louisiana is actualized. The ships of LEEVAC are objects that respond and adjust to the coastal condition. Accompanying the innovation and negotiation of Jannise and LEEVAC, the ships constructed by Jannise are markers of an industrial Louisiana aesthetic. The ships designed by Jannise express the refined aesthetic language that is possible within the methodologies of industrial production. These forms of beauty through industry and visceral understanding in the construction of objects are a necessity to imagine the future condition of coastal Louisiana.

Top Exterior view of IPM showing entrance stair Left Foundation piers that support IPM Middle Example of typical Gulf Land Structures portable living quarter Right Fiberglass spray gun used to coat portable buildings from weather and fire

DAY IV [Gulf Land Structures and International Petroleum Museum] On day IV of traversing Louisiana, the studio stopped at Gulf Land Structures in Lafayette and the International Petroleum Museum in Morgan City. While visiting Gulf Land Structures, two aspects of buildings in Louisiana were brought forth. The first was the immediacy of construction that is needed to survive and sustain life in the harsh conditions of the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf Land Structures builds portable living quarters for the oil industry. These living quarters can be placed onshore or offshore but their requirement is that they be well constructed and able to withstand harsh environmental conditions. The ability of portable living quarters to sustain live in the harshest conditions is a small reflection of how architecture should be composed in coastal Louisiana. The second aspect brought forth when visiting Gulf Land Structures, was the necessity for buildings to be reused. By making buildings reusable, Gulf Land Structures was able to continually invest and fix the structures that they build. This notion that architecture could be sent somewhere to be fixed and then returned for use is a way to adapt to the contingency of coastal life. When visiting the International Petroleum Museum, the reality of human comfort in the mechanisms of industry was very apparent. The scale and importance of humans was supplementary in order to maintain efficient production. The striking similarity between IPM and GLS was that both places provide a place for humans to exist but only as a supplement to the machine of production.

Far Left Statue that remains on barrier islands after years of erosion Far Right Abandoned production warehouse in Terrebonne Bay Bottom Left Typical production platform in Terrebonne Bottom Right Typical natural gas production platform in Terrebonne Bay

DAY V & VI [Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium] On day V and VI of traversing across Louisiana, the studio stopped in Cocodrie, Louisiana at Louisiana University Marine Consortium. LUMCON was founded to aid research in coastal science. While staying at LUMCON the studio was able to embark on two journeys. On day V of the trip, the studio took a boat out into Terrebonne Bay and visited oil and gas platforms that were either production or drilling based. Being able to see the structures for oil drilling in operation furthered the reality of how synonymous oil is with southern Louisiana. The water of Terrebonne Bay is filled with hundreds of platforms that demarcate specific moments of Louisiana history. The platforms that are first seen when entering the bay show when oil drilling was connected to the shore and as one moves further out into the bay, the rigs become larger in order to adapt to the changing environment. In order to live within the coast, architecture must be able to change with it. The reason many of the older rigs are still visible is because they all have permanence in the water. The rigs are constructed of materials that can withstand certain amounts of salt water erosion and were made with the intention to stay in a certain place. On day VI, the studio took a canoe ride out into the marsh. This experience was useful in understanding how animals experience the landscape. Being inside the marsh allowed a human to experience the necessity of marsh grass as a buffer for wind and cold. Again, a strange similarity exist between the making of the marsh and the oil platforms. Both were made in way that adapts with the condition of coastal Louisiana.

Top Bottom of Hercules rig showing opening to top deck Left Connection of derrick with platform structure Middle Underneath derrick with wrench in middle of the structure Right Different components of oil drilling around Hercules Offshore shipping yard

DAY VII [Hercules Offshore] On day VII of our travels in Louisiana, the studio visited Hercules Offshore. Hercules Offshore is a company that trains men and women to work on oil rigs in the Gulf Coast, owns and maintains one of the largest collections of lift boats and jack-up barges in the United States, and is one of the primary drillers of oil wells in shallow waters. Through these three aspects of Hercules Offshore, the company has come to dominate shallow water drilling and training in the Gulf of Mexico. Subsequently, Hercules Offshore is one of the rare moments in the oil industry that humans are viewed as more than necessity but integral to oil operations. These oil operations require that humans be well trained and efficient at their jobs, which allows oil production and its infrastructural connections to remain efficient and profitable. However, this moment of time in training efficient and well-trained humans does not translate into the care needed to have an efficient and healthy natural environment. There appears to be an instance when the productions of oil and its infrastructural network no longer utilize the environment for beneficiary purposes but view nature as an obstacle that needs conquering. This method of thought is reflective of both human life in the coastal condition and the current state of oil operations as both landscape operations result in the degradation of land and coast. Therefore, the future of Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shore base resides in resolving the interaction of natural processes, oil operations, and human life that is systemically intertwined with all preceding variables.

Top Construction of CPORT-3 at Port Fourchon Left Remote operated vehicle on the ship Alyssa Chouest Middle Interior of CPORT-3 looking towards the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge Right View of sister ship Kobe Chouest docked at CPORT-1

DAY X [Port Fourchon, CPORT 1, and CPORT 3] On day X of traveling Louisiana, the studio visited Port Fourchon and saw new construction for CPORT 3. Up to this point in time, the excursions of the trip yielded an understanding of the state that was fixated on smaller oil operations that facilitated the needs of the oil industry. The intimate proximity of oil suppliers to Port Fourchon and other Louisiana ports allows many companies to remain small in their modes of transportation. In order to have something brought to Port Fourchon or other ports, a truck is sent down to the port and delivers in a two to six hour window of time; therefore, many oil supply companies and their products terminate at Port Fourchon. Port Fourchon is one of the largest and most dynamic ports in the Gulf South and the United States. Fourchon’s day-to-day operations supply many parts of the United States with oil and energy to maintain the quality of life expected in the United States. The quality of American life and economic dependency requires that Port Fourchon exist in a landscape that is inherently problematic for permanent landscape occupation. Because the land of coastal Louisiana is slowly eroding and subsiding, Port Fourchon continually builds artificial land and participates in restoration projects to ensure the longevity of port operations; however, the periodical exportation of a regions physical goods develops an impetus in which the land that facilitates these operations is only a place holder. The land of coastal Louisiana is a marker of what can occupy on top the land to supply humans and other places with economic goods. Put simply, the repeated exportation of land and things perpetuates the land of coastal Louisiana into relative permanence, in which case the land will exist as long as people see value in its existence. Once the need for coastal land is no longer viable to maintain then the necessity of having “permanent” land will fade into complete impermanence.

Top View of Fort Pike looking Northeast Left Interior of Fort Pike with housing for soldiers Middle Interior of Fort Pike with afternoon light coming through a wall opening Right Image of Chevron Site

DAY XI [Chevron Project Site and Fort Pike] On day XI of traveling Louisiana, the studio met with Chevron in Venice, Louisiana to discuss the redesign of their shore base and stopped at Fort Pike. When visiting these two places, the present coastal condition of Louisiana was concretized in two distinct ways. The shore base for Chevron in Venice is problematic because of its exposure to environmental destruction but it is a gateway to the Port of New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi River. The close proximity to two major gateways of economic infrastructure makes a shore base in Venice a priority for Chevron; however, the existence of such a place is problematic as are many other oil operations that occur in similar coastal regions. The land needed to expand the shore base and have some form of permanent land occupation is not a sustainable option because of erosion, subsidence, and sea level rise. This juxtaposition of permanent land necessity with continual land recession stratifies Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal condition into a vacuum where time is frozen in order to maintain the status quo. However, in response to Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s problems at the Venice shore base, there is Fort Pike. Fort Pike is a place that continues to be an example of the potentiality between living and making in a unique landscape. The makers of Fort Pike did not have access to sophisticated technology used to construct architecture today; yet, Fort Pike was made over two centuries ago and remains an example of how architecture can negotiate the in-between realties of coastal life. Making architecture that is continually stratified postulates a never settling center but an understood negotiation between human necessity and environmental reality. The makers of Fort Pike understood this paradoxical inquiry and utilized built techniques to construct architecture that continually operated in a stratified condition.

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite [adj] - marked by flawless craftsmanship or by beautiful, ingenious, delicate, or elaborate execution Corpse [n] - the remains of something discarded or defunct

It is not, therefore, a matter of inverting the literal meaning and the figurative meaning but of determining the literal meaning of writing as metaphoricity itself.15 Jacques Derrida. Of Grammatology

PROLOGUE

E. Andre Breton. Exquisite Corpse. 1940.

The exquisite corpse is an artistic technique, developed by the Surrealists, to produce inventive new ideas of viewing the world. In the traditional exquisite corpse technique, words or images are created by an individual and then passed along to the next individual in order to finish the story. By passing along strings of ideas, the new composition becomes a striking source of everyday elements that are reimagined into new purposes. In the following section, the southern coast of Louisiana has been put through the same process of creation. At every excursion site, the studio was able to take pictures of elements found in the Louisiana landscape; by using the elements found in the land, new worlds could be constructed to better reflect the future of the industrial and natural worlds of the Louisiana coast. The first two collages are attempts to reimagine how the industrial and natural worlds of Louisiana will appear in the future. The second two collages are constructed by using elements from classmateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collages that were then placed into the first two collages. By having to respond to outside elements in the second set of collages, the condition of a symbiotic Louisiana had to be imagined and constructed. Through the construction of the collages, the future of Louisiana is transformed into an architecture that responds to the coastal condition. All four collages are views that articulate the contradictory relationship between human construction and landscape manipulation in the coast; therefore, the symbiotic condition of Louisiana exists through the negotiation of paradoxical conditions that become apparent through magnifying the strata of the coast.

This collage is a reimagined world using industrial elements found throughout southern Louisiana.

REIMAGINGED WORLD [Industrial] In the southern coast of Louisiana, the landscape contains amazing feats that have the aesthetic marking of an industrial world. The shear size and scale of industry across the Louisiana coastal plains is one of the few places that an individual may experience the opportunities and failures of the capitalistic enterprise. These enterprises of the capitalist system are a necessity to sustain contemporary life in a world that is growing increasingly dependent upon oil and natural gas and the infrastructure needed to support oil and natural gas operations. However, that system of operation forces the future of Louisiana into a difficult ultimatum of whether industry will consume coastal Louisiana or if the future of the state can exist in harmony with human life. The following collage attempts to reconsider what the future of the state will appear to be. The size and scale of industrial Louisiana will continue to grow as the need for industrial commodities continues to increase. The built permanence that forged the industrial world points towards a direction where the elements that exist in the state will not be â&#x20AC;&#x153;naturalâ&#x20AC;? but in some shape artificial. Therefore, the future of Louisiana can exist but the question as to what will remain is still in flux. In order to have a symbiotic condition of life, the way in which humans mark the landscape has to change. The current land in the coastal region is highly sensitive to environmental change and must be cared for; therefore, to have a future in this environment means to create architecture that is not static but negotiates the contradictions of coastal conditions.

This collage is a reimagined world using natural and constructed elements found throughout southern Louisiana.

REIMAGINED WORLD [Natural] In comparison to the first collage, the following collage attempts to reimagine a different condition in coastal Louisiana: the natural world. The idea of a natural world in Louisiana is a difficult condition to define. Due to the scale of landscape manipulation and human intervention, the remains of a “natural” landscape in coastal Louisiana is unfit for the future of the state; therefore, the following collage attempts to reconcile the difference between “natural” land and its interactions with humans. Through the field excursions of the studio, there is a general condition in which residential architecture is extremely disjoined from the physical reality of Louisiana’s coast. The homes that populate the lower portion of the state are fixated on preserving an older notion of architecture in the South. This fixation can be seen in the way Thomas Jefferson built Monticello as an ideal home situated on a mount; many homes in coastal Louisiana build mounds in order to preserve the ideal image of living despite the realities of coastal life. However, with the current state of land erosion and subsidence, the probability of continuing residential architecture in this fashion will cease to exist. In this instance, the following collage will be the image when passing through coastal Louisiana. Architecture will be taken to an unprecedented level of land creation in order to preserve what has been previously established American way of life of living on a mound that separates oneself from the physical condition of the place in which one lives.

These collages are re-imagined worlds using the exquisite corpse technique to respond to elements of natural and an industrial nature.

EXQUISITE CORPSE [Combined Conditions] The top collage is the first of the Exquisite Corpses that takes pieces of the first industrial collage and combines it with elements of nature from another individual. In this image, the reconciliation between the two worlds (natural and constructed) allows for the re-imagination of how coastal Louisiana could be imagined. In order to have a more symbiotic relationship between human life and land occupation, one of the worlds will have to submit in order to allow the growth of the other. For example, the top collage attempts to understand how the systems of natural plant growth can create spatial environments that exist within the heavily constructed industrial world. Although, it may not be possible, to conceive of a world where nature can return as a more powerful entity than human construction, this image could propagate a place in which mankind develops nature equally along with its own development. The bottom collage takes the Exquisite Corpse technique and utilized the natural collage with another individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrial world. The acceptance of an industrial world into the original natural collage creates an interesting simulation of Louisiana life. If industry is to continue at its current projection, in which growth is a necessity to sustain economic demand, the future of coastal Louisiana could appear in this manner; a place in which the mega-structures of the land will dominate and consume the landscape. The remains of residential architecture will only appear as a microscopic component to the needs of a globally driven world.

View from a lodge in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Notice the palm trees, levee, and shore protection in distance.

STATEMENT OF INTENT [Exile] After traveling through coastal Louisiana and creating collaged worlds that imagine the future of the coast, three questions describe Southern Louisiana. 1. What is the effect of large-scale industrial production and its connected systems of operation to the notion of cultural creation in a place? 2. What is the effect of living and making in a place where the physical notion of a place is eroded because of human intervention? 3. How does architecture respond to the preceding two conditions by accepting a future in which the physical place will no longer remain but attempt to create permanence for the future of a place, a people, and its history? The preceding questions are the foci of the project for a shore base in Venice, Louisiana. Each of these questions describes in some form the unique relationship of how humans occupy the coastal condition of Southern Louisiana. The residents of Venice occupy the visible realm of the Earth’s surface, which places human occupation in the coast at a unique level. Residents in Venice experience the realities of environmental degradation and the effects of industrial production on the natural environment; however, oil operations in the Venice area are not concerned with the epithelial layer of the environment but seek to maintain economic derivatives much deeper in the strata. This condition of connection and disconnection between the strata’s of the coastal condition is what defines the unique environment of Louisiana. For Louisiana, the sediment of the Mississippi River negotiates the entire operation of human life in this section of the state; insofar, that the architecture of a symbiotic shore base will frame the horizontal understanding of the coast’s infrastructure and place it into a vertical condition, thereby increasing the efficiency of the shore base by industrial standards and intensifying natural processes that support the dynamics of coastal Louisiana.

NOTES [Text] 1. Lewis Mumford. The South in Architecture. (New York: Harcourt, 1941), 121. 2. Jacques Derrida. “Of Grammatology.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. (Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 310. 3. David Kennedy, Buck Sutter, and William Walker. “The Gulf of Mexico At a Glance: A Second Glance. (Washington, D.C.: National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration, 2012), 14. 4. W. G. Cash. The Mind Of The South. (New York: Vintage Books, 1946), 29-58. 5. ——. The Mind Of The South. (New York: Vintage Books, 1946), 29-58. 6. Jean-Francois Lyotard. “The Post-Modern Condition.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. (Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 355-363. 7. Michael Pasquier. “Water Like Stone.” (lecture, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, November 20, 2013). 8. W. G. Cash. The Mind Of The South. (New York: Vintage Books, 1946), 30. 9. ——. The Mind Of The South. (New York: Vintage Books, 1946), 22. 10. Charles Post. “Plantation Slavery and Economic Development in the Antebellum Southern United States.” Journal of Agrarian Change, no. 3 (2003): 295, accessed November 2, 2013, http:// www.jstor.org. 11. Lewis Mumford. The South in Architecture. (New York: Harcourt, 1941), 58. 12. Alexander Tzonis and Laine Lefaivre. Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World. (New York: Prestel, 2003), 323. 13. Tonja Marking and Jennifer Snape. Louisiana’s Oil Heritage. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2012), 62. 14. Lewis Mumford. The South in Architecture. (New York: Harcourt, 1941), 58. 15. Jacques Derrida. “Of Grammatology.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. (Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 310.

Appendix: Revealing The Stratum

NOTES [Images] A. Philip Quarles, “The Decline of American Cities, Lewis Mumford’s ‘The City in History,’ WYNC, last modified November 23, 2012, http://www.wnyc.org/story/206665-lewis-mumford/. B. Thomas Moran, “Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia,” Museum Syndicate, http://www. museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=19109. C. Casper David Fredrich, “Wander Above the Sea Fog,” Wikipaintings, http://www.wikipaintings. org/en/caspar-david-friedrich/the-wanderer-above-the-sea-of-fog. D. Thomas Jefferson, “Monticello,” Monticello.org, http://www.monticello.org E. Andre Breton, “Exquisite Corpse,” Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Project Narrative Project [n] - a planned piece of work that has a specific purpose (such as to find information or to make something new) and that usually requires a lot of time Narrative [n] - the representation in art of an event or story

Geography and Climate

Geography [n] - a science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, biological, and cultural features of the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface Climate [n] - the usual weather conditions in a particular place or region

Geography is the description of how the signs of history have becomes forms, therefore the architectural project is charged with the task of revealing the essence of the geo-environmental context through the transformation of form. The environment is therefore not a system in which to dissolve architecture, on the contrary, it is the most important material from which to develop the project.1 Vittorio Gregotti. Lecture at New York Architectural League.

PROLOGUE

Houses on the outside portion of Grand Isle, Louisiana

The climate and geography of Louisiana is one of the most unique and dynamic places in the world. With the exception of the Yangtze in China and the Paranรก in Brazil, the Mississippi River has created one of the most complex ecosystems in human history. One can better understand how to design in the Lower Mississippi delta by understanding the development and current trajectory of climatological and geographical systems in Louisiana. Some highlighted features in the following section are concerned with not only natural systems in the environment but also how humans have developed around the conditions of the environment. In particular, the exposure to harsh summers with high levels of humidity have created architectural typologies that are unique to coastal Louisiana; the exposure to high humidity has also been one of the reasons why the Gulf Coast is affected so greatly by hurricanes. The exposure to hurricanes has informed the way in which people build in this region of the world and subsequently affected the way culture has developed around these cyclonic storms. Furthermore, the role of geography, both natural and man-made, created a world in which the presence of human infrastructure in the land has its own unique identity and complexity. The complexity of human life in coastal Louisiana is one that either negotiates with the natural environment or confronts nature in a manner that is detrimental to humans and other species. In order to develop a symbiotic coastal condition, the architecture of a shore base must understand and utilize the unique contradictions that are present in this portion of the state.

MAP I [Soil Typology] This map indicates the different soil typologies that are present in the Southeastern portion of Louisiana. The five major categories of soil/marshes in the region are saline marshes, brackish marshes, fresh water marshes, back swamps, and the barrier islands.2 The stratification and interconnectedness of coastal soil strata expresses how the dynamic condition of the state must work in order to survive. All of the soils must connect with each other in order to sustain the successful life and death of the coastal environment. By allowing the stratum of coastal Louisiana to influence the architecture of a shore base, the shore base site can contribute to this natural process of land growth and subsidence.

• • • •

Brackish Marsh - marshes located next to open sources of salt water Back Swamps - swamps located behind natural levees of river systems, highly fertile soil conditions Barrier Islands - swamps located behind natural levees of river systems, highly fertile soil conditions Fresh Water Marsh - located next to brackish marshes and are primarily flotant, highly fertile soil conditions

• Saline Marsh - located next to barrier islands and lowest organic soil composition of other marsh typologies

MAP II [Gulf of Mexico Pipelines] This map indicates the network of pipelines that run through the Gulf of Mexico to drilling and production rigs that are offshore or onshore. Many of these pipelines are beneath the surface of the Earth, which creates a unique sectional condition for coastal Louisiana. The interconnection between the densities of pipelines has a profound development on the cities and ports in the state. The most noticeable example on this map are the pipes located near Port Fourchon. The hidden network of pipes near the port marks an invisible landscape that greatly affects the industry, environment, and people of the region. In this parti section, underground pipes remain hidden to everyday human experience; therefore, how can a new shore base reveal this condition in architectural space?3

Parti section of pipelines in the land of Louisiana 69

MAP III [Waste Pits] This map indicates the oil and gas waste pits that are located in the coastal region of the state. These pits are former sites of exploration for the oil and gas industries that are no longer in operation.4 Currently, these pits are used as backflow regulators for the oil and gas industries in case of emergencies. These waste pits also possess an environmental hazard in which the leaking of the pits could be hazardous to the land. The existence of these pits, both their physical and intellectual notions, marks how wide spread the network of hidden infrastructure is in the state and the amount of coastal land that has been affected by industry.

Parti section of oil pits in Louisiana landscape

MAP IV [Hurricane Path from 1851-2005] This map indicates the paths of hurricanes that have hit the Gulf Coast from 1851-2005. Hurricanes in the northern hemisphere spin counter-clockwise due to the gravitational pull of the Earth and are not classified as hurricanes until they reach a wind speed of seventy-five miles per hour or higher. Because the Gulf of Mexico has such warm water levels, the coast of the Gulf has been greatly affected by hurricanes.4 Many parts of Gulf Coast culture has been in response to the threat or affects of hurricanes; in particular, the amount of infrastructure built to maintain life in coastal regions in is response to the threat of hurricanes. Therefore, the large connection and development of infrastructure in the Gulf Coast, especially Louisiana, has been developed to negotiate with the threat of hurricanes.5

Parti section of houses inside levee system 70

MAP V [Oil Platforms] This map indicates the oil platforms that are present in the Gulf of Mexico. There are approximately 4,078 oil platforms that reside in open water. Of the 3,480 leases in the Gulf, 3096 reside in water that has a depth of less than 1000 feet. The remaining 598 oil platforms reside in water depths of 7,500 feet or greater.6 The substantial amount of physical rigs in the Gulf and their proximity to the Louisiana coast expresses the ways in which mankind has shaped the natural environment. The shaping of the natural environment by industry expresses the hidden world that lies outside the normal scope of understanding for residents that live on the Louisiana coast.

Parti section of oil rigs in Gulf of Mexico

MAP VI [A Louisiana Condition] This map indicates all of the combined variables of the previous maps. By layering all geographical elements that are present in the Gulf of Mexico and coastal Louisiana, the reality of the coast can be better understood. The interconnected variables of Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coast substantiate a world that is growing increasingly interconnected. In order to live in a coastal region that is growing in artificial construction and losing natural land, the mapping of multiple variables is a necessity to create architecture that can exist far into the future. The intended projection of the shore base in Venice is to take these coastal industrial operations that are generally understood in plan and have them stratified into a vertical position.

DIAGRAM I [Wind Conditions: Fall] The following diagram shows the primary wind directions for the fall in Venice. In the fall, the wind that affects the Venice shore base the most comes from the Northeast and Southeast.7 The wind of these two areas will primarily occur as gusts of wind that last for short spans of time. When considering design issues, it is important to remember that during the colder months of the state, this side of the site will need protection. In particular, the height above ground where these winds occur will determine openings in the shore base structure and what is placed at these openings.

DIAGRAM II [Wind Conditions: Spring] The following diagram shows the primary wind directions for the spring in Venice. In the spring, the wind that affects the Venice shore base most often comes from the Southwest and the Northeast.8 Like the fall winds, the winds of this time will occur in short bursts and will generally be stronger. When considering design issues, it is important to use these winds in the summer to cool any buildings upon the site. The hot and humid conditions of Venice could utilize these winds to make the shore base better for human comfort. In particular, the height above ground that the summer winds occur could be utilized to help ventilate certain floors of the shore base structure; furthermore, the concentration of this wind could be moved throughout the structure to help facilitate small amounts of energy that power parts of the shore base.

Primary Wind Direction

Secondary Wind Direction

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5 4

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3 2 inches

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DIAGRAM III [Average Precipitation] The above diagram shows the average precipitation levels for the town of Venice. For Venice, the months with the highest levels of rainfall occur in July and August and the lowest months occur in April and May.9 One important factor in designing for rain conditions in the coastal Louisiana is the constant negotiation of water at the shore base site. High water levels in the summer and spring pose potential threats to humans and other species in the area; however, it is possible that the shore base could respond to these environmental conditions and benefit from the natural tendencies of coastal life. Furthermore, the occurrence of water at the site in Venice is not only at ground level but occurs in all sectional conditions. In order to develop a symbiotic shore base, the architecture of the site must respond to water as a condition that occurs both in the ground and the air.

100 90 80 Louisiana Average

70 60 50 40 30 20 percent

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DIAGRAM IV [Relative Humidity] The above diagram shows the levels of relative humidity for Venice. For Venice, the majority of the year is saturated with water in the natural environment.10 As levels of rain fluctuate with seasonal changes, the water in the air is another variable that defines the unique condition of coastal Louisiana. Humidity in the South is a condition that is usually understood as a variable that can be controlled through contemporary air control. The majority of structures built in Louisiana at the current time no longer possess a constructed dialogue between architectural construction and environmental circumstances. The architecture of a shore base must incorporate the humidity of the coastal region as an advantageous element in order to produce a symbiotic architecture that benefits industrial and natural processes.

A. Batis Martima

B. Spartina Patens

C. Spartina alternifora

D. Distichlis spicaffa

INDIGENOUS [Flora] The images on this page are examples of the diversity of flora that live in the area of Venice. These plants are some of the most durable flora on the planet with characteristics unique to the region.11 Due to this regional adaptation, the flora of the coastal Louisiana possess valuable tactics that can be studied to better design architecture for the shore base. The use of root structures that hold land together could be a method to anchor architecture to land while not destroying any of the remaining sensitive land. Another design consideration for Venice is by planting species of plants that are as durable as current indigenous species. In particular, the manner in which the shore base can attach to the ground of the site could be found in one of these indigenous plants.

Program Analysis and Interpretation

Program [n] - a plan of things that are done in order to achieve a specific result Analysis [n] - a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other Interpretation [n] - a particular adaptation or version of a work, method, or style

There is no architecture without a concept – an overarching idea, diagram, or parti that gives coherence and identity to a building. Concept is what distinguishes architecture from mere building. However, there is also no architecture without context (except in utopia). A work of architecture is always in situ, or “in situation,” located on a site and within a setting. The context may be historical, geographical, cultural, political, or economic…12 Bernard Tschumi. Event-Cities 3

PROLOGUE

E. Satellite image of Venice site on Southwest pass.

The program and site of the shore base for Chevron in Venice is a complicated for several reasons. Firstly, the synonymous condition between the town of Venice and broader coastal conditions of industry, in the region, are presently noticeable at the site. The Chevron shore base offers a small glimpse into the future of the coast because of the presence of oil and levees in Venice. Second, the notion of ground in Venice is difficult to define. Depending on where one is in the landscape will depend if the land has been grown naturally, artificially, or has been constructed by man for other purposes. This condition of multiple land types makes the making of the site occur in multiple moments of time and space which forces the program of the shore base to confront these realities in its architecture. Thirdly, the interaction of the shore base’s program in the site has to be reconsidered. Currently, Chevron has poorly managed the use of land at the shore base, which has created environmental and functional issues. These issues of environment and function can be connected to the allocation and distribution of river sediment. Sediment at the shore base location is the mediator of industrial life, human survival, and environmental sustainment. In order to create architecture for this place, the Chevron shore base must develop a relationship to these three variables by revealing the pros and cons of sediment. Utilizing the sediment of the Mississippi in innovative ways will allow the architecture of the shore base to exist in a place that is either trying to harvest sediment or have it removed.

SHIP SLIPS

1 Heavy Lift Slip - 120’ by 625’ (51,000 s.f. of staging area) 2 Regular Slips - 120’ by 475’ (32,000 s.f. of staging area) Exterior Slip Storage 1500 excess l.f. of Bulkhead (ship waiting area)

100,000 SF Per Slip

CONTROL CENTER Office Pool 5 Private Offices Flex Space/Training room Communications Closet Shipping and Receiving Office Kitchen and Break Area Storage Janitor Closet Bathrooms (3 total, 1M, 1F, and 1 Unisex - All ADA Compliant)

1200 SF 120 SF each 1450 SF 50 SF 105 SF 192 SF 230 SF 15 SF >220 SF

BUNKHOUSE/PILOT BUNKS

Single Bunks (10) - double bed, desk, closet, bathroom with shower Double Bunks (14) - 2 double beds, desk, 2 closets, bathroom with shower Private Bunks (2- ADA Compliant) 1 double bed, desk, closet, bathroom Dining Hall Kitchen Laundry - 5 washer/dryers, utility sink, ironing board, folding table Fitness Center Recreation Hall Outdoor Space Gross Spaces (6 utility/janitor closets, 4 storage closets) Mechanical Space (> 10%) Circulation Space (>15%)

220 SF each 310 SF each 255 SF each 1460 SF 900 SF 650 SF 290 SF 1400 SF 1400 SF Min. 200 SF

Requirements [Program]

HELIPORT FACILITY (8 landing pads-size TBD to helicopter type)

3 Offices/control spaces Entry/Waiting Room Safety Training Room Storage Closet Bathrooms (2 total - ADAAG Compliant)

285 SF each 500 SF 250 SF

SHORE BASE SITE OPERATIONS

Guard Shack/Controlled entry Parking (no less than 800 spaces, btw 300 and 350s.f. per spot) Septic System Fuel/Water tanks Hazardous Storage/Radiation Testing

TBD 90 SF 20,000 gallons 2,300 SF

Transmit of Cu lture

Transmit of W ork

Transmit of Sedim ent

oad

ate

ew Tid

Control Center

Sedimen

Sediment Sediment Sedimen

Sedimen

PROCESS [Model I] Model I is one of a series of analogous models used to understand the site and program. This model takes into account three variables that will be used to develop the program for the site. The use of sediment as a way to better both the surrounding environment and industrial needs; the use of work by humans and natural processes to create a symbiotic condition in which physical labor by humans does not destroy the site. The third variable is culture, which is to be the overarching idea that unites the problems of the environment with the humans that live in the area. The problem with this model is the lack of development in the strata of the site and program. If the two variables do not relate to one another then the architecture of the shore base cannot connect the hidden conditions that are present in the strata.

PROCESS [Model II] Model II is another analysis of the site and program for the shore base in Venice. This model attempts to use three notions from the previous model but in a more concrete manner. By composing views that could link together different parts of the land, the network of operation between sediment, human work, and the environment could be better understood by humans. The problem with this model is the lack of development in the sectional strata. In order to have a connection between these conditions, the section must be evident in both a gestural and tectonic language.

PROCESS [Model III] Model III is a larger model than the previous two and utilizes key components created by the previous. The first is the connection between all parts of the landscape. The zones of operation that occur at the Venice site are broken apart by physical boundaries in the landscape. The land behind the shore base is dying marsh that could be gone in years to come. The site of the base operates in the present time and has been created as an artificial place to sustain economic operation between the water and the dying land. The third component of the site is the land across the river that is new land. Therefore, in the section of the Chevron site one can see the new, artificial, and dying land of the Louisiana coast. The goal of the project is to make this sectional condition readable and beneficial to the environment.

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PROCESS [Model IV] Model IV rearranges the boat slips into a usable gesture for the site. Many of the boat slips in the oil industry are mammoth in size but never utilize the roofs and excess space of their occupation in the landscape. By reconfiguring a boat slips formal structure, the occupation in the landscape could become beneficial for humans and the environment. If the top of the structure in the boat slip is utilized as green space, there could be a place where food for the shore base is grown, leisure activity space for shore base workers, and a possible habitat for local fauna at the site. Also, similar themes apply from Model III but the exposure of the sectional condition is still not present and will be developed further in subsequent models. The need to invert the horizontal condition of the coastal strata into a vertical condition is a necessity for a symbiotic condition at the Chevron shore base.

Heliport

Sequence of stacked program to engage stratum

Point of Visual Connection and Control

Boat Slip

Scale: 1â&#x20AC;?=100â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

PROCESS [Model V, VI, and VII] Models V, VI, and VIII show a point in project development in which the idea of revealing the stratum plateaued. The means of making a shore base that investigated the interconnected conditions off all components in the coastal condition did not develop in these models because of the complexity of the project. These models are details of construction and larger gestures of connection in the landscape that could occur at the shore base. The model to the far left is an example of a truss system that could span the length needed for the boat slips. The model adjacent to the far left one is another example of the same structural condition and the model at the top of the page investigates how to connect the two banks of Tiger Pass.

Early sketches of shore base ideas that is made through one singular location

PROCESS [Model VIII] Model VIII investigates how to concisely place the entire program of a shore base into on vertical structure. This structure needs to account for the large boat slips, parking lots, living quarters, control centers, and heliports. Model IX is beginning to approach the idea of a shore base that can be combined in one vertical element; however, the operation of this type of structure occurs only at the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface and does not bring forth the hidden sectional conditions that are beneath the surface in the coastal condition.

Early sketch of shore base that examines sectional and experiential conditions

PROCESS [Model IX] Model IX further investigates the notion that the program of the shore base can be placed into one vertical condition at one moment of space. This spatial condition of stacking program on top one another does begin to reveal how human infrastructure is connected with each other but not how the environment is a part of the symbiotic condition. In particular, the use of sediment, which has been an essential variable in the making of the shore base, is not a part of these models, as it remains a variable of how humans will utilize the site. The next stage of models will begin to address the sectional condition of human occupation in the program with the advantages of utilizing the sediment of the Mississippi. By supplying the shore base with sediment, many parts of oil industry could utilize this resource to their benefit and help to protect the environment.

Early sketches of machine magnifying the stratum and sediment of a shore base in Venice

PROCESS [Model X] Model X marks a shifting point in the thinking of a project for the Chevron shore base. This model expresses the possibility of creating a shore base that roams the landscape in a manner that is not fixed to a particular location but can plug into a site that has exiting oil infrastructure. This type of project is beneficial for the oil industry since it can remain operational in changing economic and cultural boundaries. Also, the scale of this type of architectural creation is important as one defines how a singular object can situate itself in the coastal condition and be connected to previously developed oil infrastructure. However, this model does not articulate this type of architectural position. The success of this model comes from its ability to take the variables the coastal section and put them into one object.

Early sketch of shore base machine making contact with the land and utilizing sediment of Mississippi river.

PROCESS [Model XI] Model XI further investigates the notion that the program of the shore base can be placed into one vertical condition at one moment of space. This spatial condition of stacking program on top one another does begin to reveal how human infrastructure is connected with each other but not how the environment is a part of the symbiotic condition. In particular, the use of sediment, which has been an essential variable in the making of the shore base, is not a part of these models, as it remains a variable of how humans will utilize the site. The next stage of models will begin to address the sectional condition of human occupation in the program with the advantages of utilizing the sediment of the Mississippi. By supplying the shore base with sediment, many parts of oil industry could utilize this resource to their benefit and help to protect the environment.

Precedent Analysis and Interpretation

Precedent [n] - something done or said that can be used as an example or rule to be followed in the future Analysis [n] - a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other Interpretation [n] - a particular adaptation or version of a work, method, or style

Architecture can only be sustained today as a critical practice if it assumes an arriere-garde position, that is to say, one which distances itself equally from the Enlightenment myth of progress and from a reactionary, unrealistic impulse to return to the architectonic forms of the preindustrial past.13 Kenneth Frampton. Towards a Critical Regionalism

PROLOGUE

Precedent example of a rice silo located in south Louisiana

The role of precedent in the making of architecture is one of the founding principles of understanding architectural progression; insofar that precedents allow architecture of the past to influence architecture of the present. The knowledge of sculpting architectural space that was created by previously continually informs the shaping of architecture in the contemporary era. However, the role of precedents in architecture is not only limited to examples that remain classified as “architecture.” As Merriam-Webster has defined the word, precedent is “something done or said that can be used as an example or rule to be followed in the future.” Therefore, all things that are used to understand the future in some sense are precedents. In particular, the analyses of variables that are present in coastal Louisiana continually reinforce the understanding of how the past of the coast shapes the future. The effects of coastal erosion, human interaction, and environmental processes have all established positions and each condition has created a history that can be utilized as a precedent. Therefore, understanding the existing conditions of the Louisiana coast will allow the shore base in Venice to merge with the established precedents of the coastal condition. This merger can only occur when the sectional conditions of the coast are brought forth through the architecture of the shore base that reveals how these sectional precedents relate to one another. In the process of revealing the section, which could be described as revealing the past, the shore base in Venice will align itself into the future by attaching to the established precedents of the Louisiana coast.

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Sketches of sectional conditions in Buttle La Rose, Cypremort Point, Rockefeller Refuge, Sabine Pass and Holly Beach.

102

PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Sketch I] Sketch I is from the first day of field excursions when traversing across the coast of Louisiana. During that day, the studio stopped in Butte La Rose, Cypremort Point, Rockefeller Refuge, Sabine Pass, and Holly Beach. At each of these locations, the studio was able to draw sections that investigate how humans manipulated the stratum of the coastal condition. Each of the sections, in some case or form, articulates how humans have constructed the coastal environment around human wants and needs. The placement of any constructed object in this portion of the state has to adapt and change to the threat of water; insofar, that the raising of houses, roads, and other infrastructural works all disassociate and respond to the threat of water. This condition of displacement and connection to coastal land is only visible through sectional analysis.

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Sketch of transverse section at LEEVAC vessel repair

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Sketch II] Sketch II is from the second day of field excursions when traversing across the coast of Louisiana. During the day, the studio stopped at LEEVAC Vessel Repair to understand the multiplicity of processes needed to design ships for the offshore industry. One of the main features at LEEVAC Vessel Repair is their dry dock, which is for the maintenance and repair of ships or barges that operate in the Gulf of Mexico. The way in which a dry dock operates is by having the hull of the dock filled with water, which then causes the dock to sink beneath the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface. At this moment of submersion, the ship or barge is floated a top of the dock, which then pumps water out of its hull to float back to the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface. The sectional operation that occurs with a dry dock is a very sophisticated technology to understand architectural creation in the coast. By understanding the mechanisms of a dry dock, the architecture of a shore base could utilize these principles to have a symbiotic relationship to the natural environment.

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Sketch of section and elevations of houses in Cocodrie, LA

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Sketch III] Sketch III is from the sixth day of field excursions when traversing across the coast of Louisiana. During the day, the studio stopped at LUMCON to understand the physical realities of oil rigs located in the Gulf of Mexico; however, LUMCON is located in Cocodrie, Louisiana, a small town that exists on the edge condition of coastal life. The section of Cocodrieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residences articulates the raising of architecture to remove the threat of living in a coastal flood plain. Many architectural conditions are understandable as the majority of the town operates at this height above sea level. The ability to see the landscape in which one lives is a unique paradigm for coastal residences at it yields the ability to see the beauty of the landscape and its slow degradation.

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Sketch of section through general spatial condition in Venice, LA

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Sketch IV] Sketch IV is from the eleventh day of the field excursions when traversing across the coast of Louisiana. During the day, the studio stopped at Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shore base to understand the current operations of a shore base at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The sectional condition for this portion of the coast is the most complicated because it combines all of the infrastructural and residential components of the region into a small sliver of architectural space. In one area the residences of the coast live in elevated homes inside the protection of levees, which on either side of the levees is open water that supports the mass-infrastructural conditions of capitalistic society. Again, this condition of the coast is understood through the sectional condition and the resolution of these variables must occur for the shore base of Chevron to remain a viable option.

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F. Finished hangar of Hall B at the Turin exhibition from 1947-1954.

G. Structural frame of Hall B during the construction process.

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Pier Luigi Nervi] The work of Pier Luigi Nervi is important in the structural analysis of how the architecture of the Chevron shore base is constructed. The work of Nervi remains as one of the pioneers of modern architecture that is expressed through structural form. In particular, the design of aircraft hangars by Nervi pushed the limits of construction during his life and forged a new constructed language in steel and concrete. The example on this page entitled Hall B was designed as an exhibition space to display the newly developed capabilities of steel in concrete during the post war years.14 The shared relation between this structure and the shore base of Venice is simple. In order to span large distances, the necessity of an arch with triangulation is a necessity to push the limits of traditional spanning member. Also, the use of structure in this manner is integral to the formal aesthetic of the shore base.

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H. Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum designed by Santiago Calatrava in 1994.

I. Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin, Ireland designed by Santiago Calatrava in 2007.

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Santiago Calatrava] The work of Santiago Calatrava stems from a tradition in Spanish architecture that uses structural expression to produce unique architectural form. The architectural form of Calatrava accounts for the necessity of structure in architecture to make space and then incorporate an aesthetic language that unifies the newly defined space of the structure. In the case of the Chevron shore base, the architecture of the base must bring together large structural members to support oil operations and define an aesthetic language that expresses the newly imagined world of shore bases. Another quality of Calatravaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is through the sectional condition of his architecture. Calatravaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work utilizes the capacity of the sectional condition to organize architectural space, which informs the overall program of the architecture. The same deduction can be utilized at the Chevron shore base. By revealing the sectional condition of the shore base to organize the program, the architecture of the shore base anchors itself to the ground and negotiates the unique spatial qualities of coastal Louisiana.

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J. Underside view of Prometheus with legs being utilized for flotation

K. Exterior perspective of Prometheus with legs being used as landing mechanisms for ship

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Prometheus] The film Prometheus is a precedent for the shore base in Venice, Louisiana. Prometheus yields two important architectural qualities that are evident through the following images. Firstly, the exterior shell of the ship appears as some kind of metal that has reflective properties. This material could be used as the exterior shell of the main vessel for the shore base with the exception of light. The necessity of natural light to illuminate protected areas is a necessity for shore base operations. Shore base workers must be protected from the weather and have adequate lighting conditions to maintain efficient operations. Second, the legs of Prometheus are a typology for the legs of the main vessel at the shore base. The legs of Prometheus can rotate on multiple axes and conform to the aesthetic language of the ship. The goal for the legs of the shore base vessel is to incorporate this ability of adjustment and provide a cohesive aesthetic language for the main vessel.

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L. Exterior perspective of AT-AT Walker in the snow

M. Detail perspective of AT-AT Walker showcasing the details of leg construction

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [AT-AT Walker] The AT-AT Walker in Episode V of the Star Wars series is a unique precedent for the robotic motion of the main vessel at the Chevron site. In particular, the legs that the Walkers’ possess allow the walkers to move in multiple directions, which makes them adaptable to changing conditions. The shore base of Venice will face changing environmental conditions on a daily basis. If the legs of the main vessel move and adapt to changing water conditions, wind and sun conditions, or a completely different site, then the shore base can adapt and sustain shore base operations much further into the future. Also, the tectonic construction of the Walker’s legs is unique to the application of a shore base. The two main joints of rotation (one at the main body and the other half way down the leg) posses a specific type of architectural expressivity through the construction of the machine. This quality is important to the shore base in trying to create an object that connects to the sectional strata by revealing all of the variables that define Louisiana’s coast. One of the methods in defining this condition is through the reveal of all joints that allow the shore base to behave similar to other qualities in the coastal condition.

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N. Exterior rendering of Walking City by Archigram

O. Sectional sketch of future city with a ship docking beneath the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s super structure

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Archigram Drawings] The drawings of Archigram are important to the architecture of a Chevron shore base for two reasons. Firstly, the expressiveness of the drawings to depict a futuristic idea is a quality of the drawings that should be captured by those for the shore base. Since the project for Chevron is designed for the future of the site, then the drawings should express how the future will appear and the necessity for drawing representation to respond to these conditions. Secondly, the scale that Archigram designed architecture for is another similarity between the shore base and Archigramâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s architectural work. The elevation drawing on the following page shows a ship docking at a structure that diminishes the scale of ship by a considerable amount. These two conditions of representation and scale are both applicable and a necessity for architecture at the Chevron site.

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P. Dan Slavinsky. The Axes of Soft Ornament. 2010

Q. Dan Slavinsky. Carnelian Pipe. 2010

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS [Dan Slavinsky] The drawings of Dan Slavinsky are an important precedent for this project because Slavinskyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drawings represent the aesthetic language that needs to be captured in the drawings of the Chevron shore base. Slavinskyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drawings encompass many different informational variables that are layered into one composition. As Slavinsky adds more and more layers to his drawings the drawing allows for more information to be considered, as each component is a unique variable that affects another variable in the drawing. Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shore base is another condition in which many variables act upon the site and to accurately draw the site the drawings of the shore base must have multiple variables layered into them at one time. Layering multiple variables into one composition allows the drawing to relate the interwoven complexity between river sediment, oil infrastructure, human life, and the natural environment. The drawings that follow after the mid-term will continually encompass these variables into every drawing, be that a plan, section, axonometric, or perspective.

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Site Analysis

Site [n] - the place, scene, or point of an occurrence or event Analysis [n] - a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other

Architecture, whether of a town or a building, is the reconciliation of ourselves with the natural land. At the necessary juncture of culture and place, architecture seeks not only the minimal ruin of landscape but something more difficult: a replacement of what was lost with something that atones for loss.15 W. G. Clark. The Hand and the Soul

PROLOGUE

R. Example of boat slip and control center at Chevron shore base in Venice, Louisiana

The coastal region of Louisiana is one of the most unique spatial conditions in the world. The Southern part of the state offers a glimpse into the hyper-realities of the contemporary future in which the effects of landscape deterioration, industrial production, sea level rise, and climate change are visually and experientially witnessed. Yet, this area of the state exudes the existence of uniqueness in an industrially saturated landscape. Through the synergy of cultural richness and industrial formation the Louisiana landscape is a place marked by complex interactions between humans and the environment in which humans live. For example, the road that leads to Grand Isle is washing away due to sea level rise and erosion; however a super highway has been constructed to sustain access to the island and the local port in the area. This condition of human construction defying environmental conditions is a way that humans in the coastal condition have survived to sustain contemporary living standards. This condition of building mega-structures to sustain human life along coastal waterways and ease of shipping is one of many characteristics that define the “site” of the coastal landscape. In order to make architecture for the Venice “site,” one must combine the polarities between industrial landscape manipulation and human life in coastal conditions. Both of these conditions yield the unique opportunity to define “site” in a manner that is no longer parasitic but symbiotic between humans and industry.

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SITE ANALYSIS [Map I] Map I diagrams some of the major site factors at the shore base in Venice, Louisiana. The location of major roadways, with other shore base locations as well as wind directions and eroding land are visible on the map. These site conditions articulate how the network of natural processes, industrial infrastructure, and human life have become intertwined with one another. The Chevron shore base must account for these conditions and produce an architecture that negotiates between these three realms in a symbiotic section. In particular, the gathering of sediment to promote land growth and environmental sustainability is a unique feature of the new shore base that rationalizes the interwoven conditions of the coast in a sectional manner.

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Major Roadways

iss

ipp

ive

iss

ipp

ive

Pass

Site Boundary

Grand

Subsiding Land

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SITE ANALYSIS [Map II] Map II diagrams the qualities of the water that influences the growth and recession of the Chevron shore base. By understanding the major water ways that dominate the forces of water at the site, the architecture of the shore base can relate to the sectional strata of the coastal condition. Furthermore, the movement of water at the site controls how sediment can be collected and utilized to benefit industrial production and natural processes. If the shore base can harvest sediment to remove the need for dredging, then the shore base is more efficient by industrial standards and can use the sediment to help stabilize itself in the landscape. This type of architectural negotiation is a symbiotic negotiation with the coastal condition and a product of understanding how water moves through the site.

126

Subsiding Land

Site Boundary

Major Roadways

ssi

Mi t.3

sec

ive

per

t.3

iss

ipp

ive

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SITE ANALYSIS [Map III] Map III is a map of the deployment of pods across the coastal conditions. In Map II, the relationship between water, soil conditions, and points of access informed the shore base to become singular points of oil operation in the coastal condition. These singular points of oil operation (PODS) span across the Mississippi River in their initial deployment to meet the needs Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current shore base. Large spanning trusses that allow boats to pass underneath keep vehicular transportation connected with the three original pods of the Mississippi. However, once sea level rise and land subsidence reach a critical level, and roads of coastal Louisiana are under water, the bridges connecting the pods become the new highway of the South. As supply boats continually need places to resupply and humans need places to live, the Pods become the new form of inhabitance in which industry and civilian life are intertwined to produce the coastal condition.

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Subsiding Land

Site Boundary

Major Roadways

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Schematic Design

Schematic [adj] - showing the main parts of something usually in the form of a simple drawing or diagram Design [v] - to have as a purpose

PROLOGUE The schematic design phase of architecture is an important part in the development of architecture from intellectual ideas to constructed things. In the previous sections of this narrative, information has developed to produce an understanding of the Louisiana coast that is connected to the hidden strata of human and natural life; insofar that all information in this book has been concerned with articulating how the sectional condition of the coast has made it unique. However, the coastal section is not only a finite condition in Venice but also a larger strain of ideas that relate the contradictory values of humans living in a landscape that is perpetually shifting. Therefore, the architecture of the Chevron shore base is a construction that interlinks the multiplicity of variables acting in coastal Louisiana that make the Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal condition unique. In this section, one will see early drawings that coordinate programmatic elements of the shore base inscribed with architectural scale. These drawings are not finalized designs but attempts to rationalize the sectional condition of the project to the unique requirements of a shore base. Through schematic investigations, the architecture of the shore base is concretized as more specificity and complexity is added. In trying to account for specific programmatic details, the architecture of the shore base better constructs the relationship between sectional stratas in coastal Louisiana. Through architectural construction the sectional relationship of a shore base to nature and man is no longer a hidden condition but expressive of all variables that facilitate a shore baseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence.

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Sketch of section and perspective of a mobile shore base with retractable legs

132

SCHEMATIC DESIGN [Drawing I] Drawing I is the first attempt to rationalize how a shore base could anchor itself to the water of the site and not rely on the land. In Venice, the notion of land is a variable that is continually negotiated by Chevron since land in this portion of the state is slowly eroding and being redistributed. By utilizing a vessel that exists in the water rather than the land allows more flexibility for the shore base in times of flooding and land erosion. Drawing I does not reveal the stratum in a unique way but only elevates itself from the datum of land to create a unique sectional condition; however, this section is not connected to the sectional thesis.

133

Sketch of cross section with deployable pods in main vessel that deploy into the Louisiana landscape

134

SCHEMATIC DESIGN [Drawing II] Drawing II is another section of the main vessel that is disconnected from the land of Venice and inhabit the water of the site. One of the problem areas at this stage of schematic design was the inability for the main vessel to make contact with the land. In order to resolve this solution, the idea was to have dispersible pods that would venture out into the landscape and make contact with humans and industry. This pod deployment began to construct how the sectional condition of the coast could be expressed in architectural form. The dispersal of pods in the landscape would produce a visual language that showed how every variable of the industry was diversified across the landscape.

135

Sketched section of main vessel with program, exterior materiality, and section of pods

136

SCHEMATIC DESIGN [Drawing III] Drawing III showcased more specific shore base operations with program being incorporated into the structure of the base. The legs of the structure are movable in this condition and could move as water levels and soil levels changed in the coast. The adaptability of the shore base in this drawing made the shore base an effective economic operation and a symbiosis with the coastal condition. Furthermore, the sectional condition of the shore base in this drawing began to articulate how oil ships, human life, and natural processes could interact to create a symbiotic shore base for the coastal portion of the state.

137

Exterior perspective of main vessel with legs deployed in Mississippi River

Interior perspective of interior dock area with ship in main vessel opening.

138

MID-REVIEW CRITICISM [Part I] At this point in the project, the studio went through the Mid-Review process to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their current proposals. There were a couple of points brought forth by the reviewers for a project about revealing the sectional condition of coastal Louisiana. Firstly, the reviewers noticed an issue of scale in the project since the current proposal of the shore base seems larger than it needs to be. This criticism by the jury is correct and will be dealt with in the following iteration of the project. Second, the jury noticed that the project did not have technical and programmatic specificity to validate the proposal and scale of the current shore base. This criticism by the jury was also correct in its observation, as more detail is needed to justify the movement and dynamic qualities of the project.

139

Interior perspective of main vessel displaying levels of shore base operations

Interior perspective of bottom level of ship displaying vehicles entering main vessel

140

MID-REVIEW CRITICISM [Part II] Thirdly, the jury raised questions about theoretical underpinnings of the project. The major criticism of theory of the project was that the objectivity of the project only intensified the disconnection between humans and the landscape; therefore, the goal of the project in revealing the stratum should not be to objectify the program and form of the shore base but create a more harmonious juxtaposition between the two conditions. These conditions are that of industrial production and that of human interaction, in which the natural environment is heavily intertwined with both. This criticism is, to a certain degree, valid in the project. The debate or technique of how to remove objectivity from architectural form is a long discussed architectural topic and is a possibility in the making of the shore base; however, this position will have to be considered if it supports the idea of a sectional world revealed through architecture.

141

Exterior perspective of legs and trusses retracted into main vessel.

Interior perspective of one of the cabin rooms that could hold housing or social activities.

142

MID-REVIEW CRITICISM [Part III] Finally, the overall criticism of the mid-review can be deduced into three simple points: programmatic specificity, tectonic specificity, and the role of objectivity to connect with the sectional coastal condition. These three variables will be the major points of focus in the project in order to progress the design of the shore base further. Through the resolution of tectonic issues the way in which the shore base connects to the land is grounded both in the theory of connection and the literal connection; through programmatic specificity, the circulation and occupation of humans in the project will be concretized; and through the sculpting of form in the project to either highlight or remove objectivity will be decided. These three conditions are the points that need resolution to reach a thesis that is specific and defensible for the final review.

143

Section I of shore base main vessel

Section II of main interior space in shore base vessel

144

MID-REVIEW CRITICISM [Drawing I and II] Drawings I and II are sections that evolved through the production phase of the Mid-Review process. Section I was the first draft of a piece of the main vessel that is held to a set architectural scale. This drawing encompasses the need of structural integrity with large trusses to span the required distances of the shore base and a small analysis of what areas of program will be needed for the base; however, the drawing does not have the aesthetic complexity to represent the multiplicity of variables that are interconnected at the Venice site. Section II is another section of similar quality to section I but is further abstracted from the thesis of the project. This drawing does not relate to the project and only has a set scale to regulate the relationship of architectural scale and the program of the project. These drawings are only images of the Chevron shore base and do not investigate the complexity needed to understand the infrastructural network existence in the site.

145

Section III is the final portion of longitudinal section with details added to the drawing

Section IV is a transverse section articulating structural ideas and programmatic arrangement

146

MID-REVIEW CRITICISM [Drawing III and IV] Drawing III and IV are both sections but drawing III is a combination of sectional idea with details added to the drawing. Drawing IV is a transverse section displaying the structural integrity of the main vessel and the arrangement of program in the structure. Again, both of these drawings do not capture the unique variables that define the complexity of the coastal condition. In order to move forward from these drawings, more information must be layered into the drawings to better articulate the complexity of the coastal section and how a movable shore base can magnify and correlate itself to existing coastal conditions. The drawings that proceed these will incorporate physical and natural variables that better define the site, coastal condition, and the architecture of the shore base.

147

Exterior side of main vessel showcasing overall form

Front side of main vessel showcasing legs and exterior skin

148

MID-REVIEW CRITICISM [Model] The model for this portion of the project is the most complete iteration of the project that combines ideas of exterior form and materiality. The mid-review model does articulate how the form of the building is situated in the landscape and its relationship to the land; however, this model does not represent the breadth of scope of how the proposal of something of this scale would affect the coastal condition. The proceeding sets of models for this project will have to represent how the multiple variables of the site require an object of this complexity to exist and function in the coastal section. If an object of this size and scale is to exist symbiotically in the coastal condition, then it must unify itself to existing structural entities. By integrating into existing structural entities, the Chevron shore base must also capture and utilize the sediment of the Mississippi River to contribute positively towards the sustainment of the natural environment.

149

NOTES [Text] 1. Kate Nesbitt, “Territory and Architecture,” in Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995. (New York: Princeton Architecture Press, 1996), 338-345. 2. Scott Johnson, “Coastal Backswamps: Restoring their values…” (Ballina: Wetland Management Company, 2008). 3. Foster Associates, “Gulf of Mexico Natural Gas Resources and Pipeline Infrastructure 2001.” (Bethesda: Foster Associates, 2001). 4. Lesley D. Nixon, “Deepwater Gulf of Mexico 2009: Interim Report of 2008 Highlights.” (New Orleans: U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 2009), 141. 5. J. J. Daigle, G. E. Omernik, and J. M. Faulkner. “Ecoregions of Louisiana.” (Reston, Virginia: United States Geological Survey, 2006), 1. 6. U. S. Geological Survey World Energy Assessment Team, “Map Showing Geology, Oil and Gas Fields, and Geologic Provinces of the Gulf of Mexico Region.” (2000). 7. Dean Kelly, “Climate and Geography.” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2014), 26. 8. —— “Climate and Geography.” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2014), 28. 9. —— “Climate and Geography.” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2014), 31. 10. —— “Climate and Geography.” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2014), 31. 11. J. J. Daigle, G. E. Omernik, and J. M. Faulkner. “Ecoregions of Louisiana.” (Reston, Virginia: United States Geological Survey, 2006), 1. 12. Bernard Tschumi. “Reciprocity and Conflict,” in Event Cities 3. (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004), 112. 13. Kenneth Frampton. “Towards A Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance,” in The Anti-Aesthetic. (Seattle: Bay Press, 1983), 21. 14. Terry Kirk, “Pier Luigi Nervi’s Engineering Solutions for Architecture,” in The Architecture of Modern Italy, Volume II: Visions of Utopia, 1900-Present. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005), 190-196. 15. W. G. Clark. “Replacement,” in The Hand and the Soul. (London: University of Virginia Press), 279. 150

Appendix: Project Narrative

NOTES [Images] A. Steven Pinnings, “Batis martima,” Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER. last modified January 16, 2013, http://www.gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu. B. ——, “Spartina patens,” Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER. last modified January 16, 2013, http:// www.gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu. C. ——, “Spartina alternifora,” Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER. last modified January 16, 2013, http://www.gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu. D. ——, “Distichlis spicaffa,” Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER. last modified January 16, 2013, http://www.gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu. E. Elliot Manuel, “Venice, Louisiana,” Google Earth. last modified October 7, 2013, http://www. google.com/maps/ F. Nanette Clark, “Orvieto Hangars,” An Engineer’s Aspect, (blog), February 20, 2014 (10:00 p.m.), http://www.anengineersaspect.blogspot.com. G. Terry Kirk, “Pier Luigi Nervi’s Engineering Solutions for Architecture,” in The Architecture of Modern Italy, Volume II: Visions of Utopia, 1900-Present. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005), 190-196. H. Luis Remelli, “Quadracci Pavilion,” An Engineer’s Aspect, (blog), February 20, 2014 (10:20 p.m.), http://nevagiveup.com/post/35267206453/quadracci-pavilion I. Michelle Brady, “Samuel Beckett Pavilion,” Michelle Brady Photography, http:// michellebradyphotography.co.uk/cms/gallery-landscapes/#!lightbox[group]/5/ J. Ben Proctor, “Prometheus Exterior 1,” Ben Proctor, last modified February 13, 2013, http://www. benprocter.com/journal/ K. Ben Proctor, “Prometheus Landing,” Ben Proctor, last modified February 13, 2013, http://www. benprocter.com/journal/ L. Joey Paur, “AT-AT Walker,” Geek Tyrant, last modified January 25, 2010, http://geektyrant.com/ news/2011/4/12/time-to-build-a-full-size-fully-functional-at-at-walker-from.html M. ——, “AT-AT Walker,” Geek Tyrant, last modified January 25, 2010, http://geektyrant.com/ news/2011/4/12/time-to-build-a-full-size-fully-functional-at-at-walker-from.html

151

NOTES [Images] N. Archigram, “Walking City,” Archigram, last modified October 13, 2013, http://www.archigram. net/projects_pages/walking_city_6.html O. Elunami, “Cities of the next century, close up,” Elumani (blog), February 20, 2014 (6:30 p.m.), http://seenurphil.tumblr.com/archive P. Dan Slavinsky, “The Axes of Soft Ornament,” Dan Slavinsky (blog), February 20, 2014 (6:35 p.m.), http://findingslav.blogspot.com/ Q. ——, “Carnelian Pipe,” Dan Slavinsky (blog), February 20, 2014 (6:35 p.m.), http://findingslav. blogspot.com/ R. Jason Cohen, Chevron Shorebase, JPEG, (2014, New Orleans), Photograph.

152

Appendix: Project Narrative

153

Schematic

Schematic [adj] - showing the main parts of something usual diagram

Tectonic [adj] - a general term for the theory and techniques o

Integration [n] - the combining and coordinating of separate p

c Tectonic Integration

lly in the form of a simple drawing or

of construction

parts or elements into a unified whole

Code Analysis

Code [n] - a set of laws or regulations Analysis [n] - a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other

If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.1 Code of Hammarabi. c. 780 BCE

PROLOGUE

A. “Code of Hammarabi.” The Louvre. 1780

The following section investigates the application of building code in a shore base for Chevron. The first section of this chapter deals with the International Building Code. In the IBC, the code is concerned with the protection of buildings against fire damage and allowing proper egress of humans in buildings. Therefore, the analysis of IBC code focuses upon the fire rating of structures and how people evacuate from set structures. The second section of this chapter focuses upon the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. The guidelines established by ADA make movement in architectural space easier for those with disabilities. These guidelines are essential in a tower that houses highly flammable materials near residential living quarters. The final section of this chapter reviews the Florida Building Code guidelines for coastal regions affected by hurricanes. Florida’s building code is one of the most stringent codes in the United States and helps to mitigate damage from hurricanes. Because the coast of Florida is affected by hurricanes, the building code of Florida is unique in its ability to remain aggressive in its construction techniques. By analyzing these three code systems, the shore base of Chevron is a structure that provides an accessible living environment that helps to promote a symbiotic relationship between humans and the environment.2

157

BUSINESS (B) Business Group B occupancy includes, among others, the use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof, for office, professional or service-type transactions, including storage of records and accounts.3 Control Center 3842 SF Office Pool 1200 SF 5 Private Offices 120 SF each Flex Space/Training room 1450 SF Communications Closet 50 SF Shipping and Receiving 105 SF Office Kitchen and Break Area 192 SF Storage 230 SF Janitor Closet 15 SF Bathrooms (3 total, 1M, 1F, and 1 Unisex - All ADA Compliant) 240 SF Heliport Facility 1700 SF 3 Offices/control spaces 285 SF each Entry/Waiting Room 500 SF Safety Training Room 250 SF Storage Closet 15 SF Bathrooms (2 total - ADA Compliant) 80 Sf HAZARDOUS (H-2) Buildings and structures containing materials that pose a deflagration hazard or a hazard from accelerated burning shall be classified as Group H-2.4 Shore Base Site Operations 22300 SF Septic System 20000 gal. Fuel Tanks Hazardous Storage/Radiation Testing 2300 SF

158

International Building Code [Occupancy Types]

RESIDENTIAL (R-2) Residential occupancies containing sleeping units or more than two dwelling units where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature.5 Bunkhouse and Pilot Bunks 12895 SF Single Bunks (10) - double bed, desk, closet, bathroom with shower 220 SF each Double Bunks (14) - 2 double beds, desk, 2 closets, bathroom with shower 310 SF each Private Bunks (2- ADA Compliant) 1 double bed, desk, closet, bathroom 255 SF each Dining Hall 1460 SF Kitchen 900 SF Laundry - 5 washer/dryers, utility sink, ironing board, folding table 290 SF Fitness Center 650SF Recreation Hall 1400 SF Outdoor Space 1400 SF min. Gross Spaces (6 utility/janitor closets, 4 storage closets) Mechanical Space (> 10%) Circulation Space (>15%) STORAGE (S-2) Includes, among others, buildings used for the storage of noncombustible materials such as products on wood pallets or in paper cartons with or without single thickness divisions; or in paper wrappings. Such products are permitted to have a negligible amount of plastic trim, such as knobs, handles or film wrapping.6 Ship Slips 1 Heavy Lift Slip - 120’ by 625’ (51,000 sf of staging area) 51000SF 2 Regular Slips - 120’ by 475’ (32,000 sf of staging area) 32000 SF Exterior Slip Storage 1500 excess l.f. of Bulkhead (ship waiting area)

159

CONSTRUCTION TYPE (IA) Types I and II construction are those types of construction in which the building elements listed are of noncombustible materials.7

FIRE RESISTANCE OF EXTERIOR WALLS BASED ON FIRE SEPARATION DISTANCE Wall Location

Fire Separation Distance

Rating

North

x>30

South

x>30

East

x>30

West

x>30

FIRE RESISTANCE RATING REQUIREMENTS - IA Wall Type

Rating Required

Rating Provided

Structural Frame

Bearing Wall - EX

Bearing Wall - IN

Floor Construction

Roof Construction

Walls & Partitions (EX)

Walls & Partitions (IN)

Fire Separation Distance

Rating

TOTAL OCCUPANT LOAD Wall Location

160

North

x>30

South

x>30

East

x>30

West

x>30

International Building Code [Building Construction]

OCCUPANT LOAD AND BUILDING EXITING Types I and II construction are those types of construction in which the building elements listed are of noncombustible materials.8 Occupant Load Per Floor Floor 1: 96 occupants Floor 2: 96 occupants Floor 3: 96 occupants Floor 4: 96 occupants Floor 5: 90 occupants Floor 6: 90 occupants Floor 7: 240 occupants Floor 8: 240 occupants Floor 9: 240 occupants Floor 10: 240 occupants Floor 11: 240 occupants Floor 12: 240 occupants

NUMBER OF EXITS AND EXIT WIDTH FROM EACH LEVEL

Calculations for Occupants 48000 SF / 500 gross = 96

48000 SF / 200 gross = 240

Exit Width

Number of Exits

Stairs

Other Egress Components

Required

Provided

Required

Provided

Required

Provided

Basement

N/A

First Floor

100”

N/A

Mezzanine

N/A

Second Floor

100”

N/A

Other Floor(s)

40”

100”

N/A

161

AREA LIMITATIONS (IA) Buildings and structures designed to house special industrial processes that require large areas and unusual building heights to accommodate craneways or special machinery and equipment, including, among others, rolling mills; structural metal fabrication shops and foundries; or the production and distribution of electric, gas or steam power, shall be exempt from the building height and area limitations of Table 503.9

AREA LIMITATIONS FOR PROPOSED OCCUPANCY

OCCUPANCY I

OCCUPANCY II

OCCUPANCY III

OCCUPANCY IV

H-2

R-2

S-2

Area Limitation

Total Allowable Floor Area

Actual Floor Area

Total Allowable Building Area

Occupancy Group

OCCUPANCY TYPE

162

FLOOR AREA SERVED

PLUMBING LOAD FACTOR

PLUMBING OCCUPANT LOAD

WATER CLOSETS

LAVATORIES

Male

Female

Required

Provided

Male

Female

Required Provided

3842

1 per 25

H-2

2300

1 per 10

International Building Code [Area Limitations and Plumbing Fixtures]

AREA LIMITATIONS FOR PROPOSED OCCUPANCY

OCCUPANCY I

OCCUPANCY II

OCCUPANCY III

OCCUPANCY IV

H-2

R-2

S-2

Occupancy Group B (IA) PLUMBING REQUIREMENTS

Buildings of Type I construction permitted to be of unlimited tabular building heights and areas are UL UL UL UL Area Limitation not subject to the special requirements that allow unlimited area buildings in Section 507 or unlimited building height in Sections 503.1.1 and 504.3 or increased building heights and areas for other types of 10 Total Allowable Floor construction. UL UL UL UL Area Actual Floor Area

Total Allowable Building Area

OCCUPANCY TYPE

FLOOR AREA SERVED

PLUMBING LOAD FACTOR

PLUMBING OCCUPANT LOAD

WATER CLOSETS

LAVATORIES

Male

Female

Required

Provided

Male

Female

Required Provided

3842

1 per 25

H-2

2300

1 per 10

R-2

23004

1 per 10

each have ind. closet

S-2

180000

1 per 100

NUMBER OF DRINKING FOUNTAINS

Required

Provided

Accessible

163

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Elevator] Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed by the United States Congress in 1990. ADA was the first comprehensive bill addressing the needs of people with disabilities, particularly discrimination in employment, public service, and telecommunications. The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB) issues guidelines to make ensure buildings are usable by those with disabilities. The following drawings show elevator typologies in compliance with ADA. 11

164

Building Codes [ADA and Florida Building Code]

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Coastal Tower Elevator Example] The shore base for Chevron uses large elevators for vertical transport through the tower. The large elevator cars allow for large human traffic movement and accessible use by handicapped individuals. The openings of the elevator cars are 6’3” which doubles the ADA requirements and the car size is larger than required to allow wheel chair rotation and room for other traveling oil workers.

6’3”

7’9”

7’3”

6’3”

165

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Doors] Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires enough space around doors for disabled individuals to utilize the function of the door with interference from surrounding objects. The following examples shows variations in door typologies and approach (f) is the typology utilized in the living quarters of the shore base tower. 12

166

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Coastal Tower Door Example] The living quarters of the shore base apply to ADA regulations by using 36 inches door openings and space on the exterior of the living units for turning. Also, the interior bathrooms of the Private Bunks allow for 60 inches of rotation to provide space for comfortable bathing and hygiene.

36”

Single Bunk

Private Bunk

36”

60”

Double Bunk

Single Bunk

167

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Bathrooms] Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires enough space around doors for disabled individuals to utilize the function of the door with interference from surrounding objects. The following examples shows variations in door typologies and approach (f) is the typology utilized in the living quarters of the shore base tower. 13

168

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Coastal Tower Bathroom Example] The bathroom requirements for ADA require space for wheel chair accessibility and the ability to freely move through door openings. The following bathrooms allow for these requirements and are placed in public area of the tower for maximum use by residents and shore base workers.

60 “

36 “

169

FLORIDA BUILDING CODE The Florida Building Code is the most stringent coastal building code in the United States and protects buildings from environmental disasters. The Florida Building Code ensures maximum safety for buildings and occupants in coastal conditions by adhering to certain structural standards, fire ratings, and concrete ratings.14

170

AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT [Coastal Tower Hurricane Proofing] The floor plates of the coastal tower use steel and reinforced concrete to resist high velocity winds that occur in Southern Louisiana. Floor plates are eight feet thick which gives the floor plates a structural capacity to resist lateral forces and flying debris.

171

Circulation

Circulation [n] - a passage or transmission from person to person or place to place

We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us.15 Winston Churchill. House of Commons

PROLOGUE

B. Rem Koolhaas. Seattle Public Library Diagram. 2004

The issue of circulation in architecture is one of the defining characteristics that articulate innovation in architecture. From the work of Bernini, Palladio, Bruneschelli, Le Corbusier, Kahn, Tschumi, and Koolhaas, the work of these architects mark significant changes in how humans circulate through architectural space. In particular, many distinctions of circulation have been invented to support new building typologies that require a reassessment of how humans interact in architectural space. For example, Villa Savoye as an innovation in architectural circulation utilized the relationship between new technologies, like the car, to generate architectural form, which responded to a new occurrence of humans and circulation. The shore base of Chevron is another type of architecture typology that requires innovation in circulation to confront multiple variables that need assistance to have an operational shore base. One possibility at the Chevron shore base is to combine the daily interactions of human living in the area to generate new circulatory possibilities between humans and oil operations. In coastal Louisiana, the tendency of combining oil operations with human occupation remains separate to insure safety and liability; however, combining these two coastal conditions into one event, the symbiotic condition could be postulated. As the multiple circulatory paths are combined into a single architectural operation, the synthesized result will be an innovation in the consideration of how humans, oil operations, and the coastal landscape interact with each other.

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CIRCULATION [Model III] Model III is a larger model than the previous two and utilizes key components created by the previous. The first is the connection between all parts of the landscape. The zones of operation that occur at the Venice site are broken apart by physical boundaries in the landscape. The land behind the shore base is dying marsh that could be gone in the future. The site of the base operates in the present time and has been created as an artificial place to sustain economic operation between the water and the dying land. The third component of the site is the land across the river that is new land. Therefore, in the section of the Chevron site one can see the new, artificial, and dying land of the Louisiana coast. The goal of the project is to make this sectional condition readable and beneficial to the environment.

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Circulation Routes

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Circulation Routes

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CIRCULATION [Model IV] Model IV rearranges the boat slips into a usable gesture for the site. Many of the boat slips in the oil industry are mammoth in size but never utilize the roofs and excess space of their occupation in the landscape. By reconfiguring a boat slips formal structure, the occupation in the landscape could become beneficial for humans and the environment. If the top of the structure in the boat slip is utilized as green space, there could be a place where food for the shore base is grown, leisure activity space for shore base workers, and a possible habitat for local fauna at the site. Also, similar themes apply from Model III but the exposure of the sectional condition is still not present and will be developed further in subsequent models. The need to invert the horizontal condition of the coastal strata into a vertical condition is a necessity for a symbiotic condition at the Chevron shore base.

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CIRCULATION [Model IX] Model IX was produced early in the schematic design process. The model investigated the sectional stratification of the coastal condition by placing program and circulation routes into one singular form. This rectilinear form would enclose human circulation and industrial circulation to better connect the perceived difference between these two coastal inhabitants. By having the circulation paths of industry and humans cross one another, the overall effect was a sectional condition that would intertwine with one another. However, the failure of this model and this diagram resides with the diagram being an abstracted plan that does not ascertain validity in connecting to the stratum of the coast. In order to have an architectural shore base that connected to the coastal stratum, one must traverse in the vertical dimension to present an experience that crosses all thresholds of the coast, both industrial and human.

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Circulation Routes

Program

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Circulation Routes

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Program

CIRCULATION [Model X] Model X was a model that investigated the sectional condition in the coastal strata but instead of remaining in a horizontal condition moved into a vertical one. Utilizing a form that forced circulation into the vertical dimension changed the relationship between humans, industry, and the coastal environment. As humans move from ground level higher into the strata, the complexity between industrial operations and human operations would separate. The separation of human experience and physical program suspends how the relationships of humans intertwine and separate into the coastal condition. This effect of separating experience and program facilitated the idea of a sectional stratum that revealed the coastal condition. However, Model X did not have enough circulatory distinction between humans and industrial processes. This lack of programmatic specificity propelled subsequent ideas to be advantageous in their relationship to the ground and further separate the sectional condition.

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CIRCULATION [Mid-Review Model] The model made for the Mid-Review, at the time, articulated the most concise idea of how to articulate the sectional condition. The form of the shore base was a singular object that hovered above the ground level and created relationships at the bottom, middle, and top of the vessel. However, the problem with this model and the sectional condition was the placement of the vessel in space. Again, the problem of this modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s circulation was a lack of expression, both formally and throughout programmatic circulation, which did not relate the sectional strata to the coastal condition. By having an object above the coastal landscape, the coastal condition remained below the shore base and the circulation of humans became an isolated incident inside the vessel.

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Circulation Routes

Program

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CIRCULATION Comprehensive Diagram] The following diagram is the circulatory path for humans to exit different levels of the tower. Each floor level has two exit stairs spaced equidistant from one another to facilitate every individual with an exiting strategy near them. The exit stairs are eight feet wide for each riser, which gives ample space for large masses of people moving up and down in the case of a fire. The individual risers of the stair are one foot wide and six inches in depth, which is an easy incline for human to walk. As a second component, placing the stairs of the tower as an attachment to the primary structure reveals the scale of human circulation along side the monumentality of the tower.

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Materiality

Materiality [n] - the quality or state of being material

We work without bright colors or decoration because in our opinion it is in fact this untouched “natural” state of these common materials, their “purity,” so to speak, which gives the buildings an extraordinary effect.16 Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron. Architect

PROLOGUE

Fort Saint Jean-Baptiste in Natchitoches, Louisiana

Kenneth Frampton stated in Towards a Critical Regionalism, “It [critical regionalism] may find its governing inspiration in such things as the range and quality of the local light, or in a tectonic derived from a peculiar structural mode, or in the topography of a given site.” The role of materiality in architecture defines a characteristic of how architectural space transforms human occupation into a phenomenological experience. Through the articulation of materials and their correspondence to a tectonic methodology, architecture moves beyond a composition of inert matter and into inspiration. For Chevron and similar oil corporations, a unique paradigm exits between materials for humans and those of the machines utilized to support oil operations. Humans that work in oil expose themselves to a wide range of materials but those materials that house humans in oil operations have a brief life span. However, the materials used to support oil operations are made of high quality materials that allow oil operations to remain as efficient as possible. This condition of oil corporations using finer materials for industrial processes and leaving human workers with cheaper materials is the material challenge of the Chevron shore base. In order to bring an experience to the workers of Chevron, the materials that workers interact with must find a deeper connection in the landscape and the minds of workers. The establishment of a connection in the materials used at the shore base suspends the stratum by allowing the human experience to interrelate with many parts of the sectional condition. By establishing a connection through materiality, the human experience aligns to the stratum and reveals how the sectional condition resides in coastal Louisiana.

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C. Exterior perspective of Agbar Tower during the day with louvers exposed to regulate natural light

D. Agbar Tower at night displaying a lighting pattern that changes the aesthetic of the louvers and the overall tower

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MATERIAL [Agbar Tower] Agbar Tower located in Barcelona, Spain is a tower by Jean Nouvel that has apartments and other mixed-use purposes. According to Nouvel, Agbar Tower is not a skyscraper but an “emergence” or a “rising singularity in the center of a generally calm city.” This architectural image by Nouvel is one that is expressed through the materiality and color of the tower. By implementing a louver system across the exterior of the tower allows the objectivity of the tower to fade as an individual moves closer to it. This material condition is a possibility for Chevron’s shore base. A tower in the coastal landscape would appear strange but if the material can disintegrate as one moves closer to it then a tower can better position itself in relationship to a surrounding context.

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E. Tower of Wind at night displaying organization of tower structure through light

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MATERIAL [Tower of Wind] The Tower of Winds by Toyo Ito is another precedent for the exterior skin of a tower in the Louisiana coast. The visual openness of Itoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tower reflects the surrounding context in the day and at night transforms into a beacon. In the Louisiana condition, a tower that reflects the surrounding context in the day will better situate the sectional condition as a part of the coastal landscape. During the night, a tower with a light of activity from industry and people could be beacons to near by ships and markers of the new inhabitants of the coastal condition. In either case, the openness of materiality to reflect itself or something else makes the material grounded in the place in which it exists

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F. Albion Apartment appears as a solid mass from afar in the larger urban context of London

G. Albion Apartments external skin disintegrates at the human scale and interacts with the street in a different manner

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MATERIAL [Albion Riverside Apartments] Albion Riverside Apartments by Norman Foster is a unique architectural element in the city of London on the Thames River. The building is situated between two conditions: the hardscape of the urban context and the “natural” condition of the river. The shore base of Chevron has a similar condition of contextual operation except the distinction between natural and man-made occur internally. Therefore, if the tower of Chevron’s shore base is to operate in the sectional condition then the external material has to reconcile the internal conditions of the natural and the industrial. Albion Riverside uses an exterior skin made of delicate tubes that create an overall tone for the form but upon approach of the building fade away and reveal another level of tectonic complexity. The exterior skin of the tower must utilize this proximal reality as humans, ships, animals, and other species will be shifting in-between proximal and distal proximity.

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Sustainability

Sustainability [adj] - involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources

But the environment is where we live; and development is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are inseparable.17 Gro Harlem Burtland. Our Common Future

PROLOGUE

H. Auxiliary Control of Old River Control generating hydroelectric power

The discussion of sustainability in the contemporary era is a topic that continues to build weight in the construction of contemporary architecture. As climatological issues and sea level rise continue to influence human habitation globally, the role of architecture to respond to climatological conditions is a necessity to make architecture that responds to a context. In particular, the site of Venice, Louisiana is one that has extreme climatological issues that affect many aspects of human and natural processes. The placement of a shore base in the Venice site is problematic but the architectural condition of the shore base can respond to the environment through sustainable practices. Utilizing sediment from the Mississippi River to build land is one architectural response to Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal system. Collecting rainwater is another sustainable practice that could help alleviate the need to transport non-potable water to the shore base and other shore base vessels. Furthermore, by having a shore base inhabited by people who live in the area would facilitate a new sustainable coast where land is no longer a necessity for human life. The connection of shore bases with one another could build an infrastructural network of human life that spans across the Gulf Coast. This connection of shore base facilitates would define a new shoreline that allows industrial processes to continue and allow humans a place to live in the future of substantial land subsidence. In conclusion, the primary motive of all sustainable practices is to promote a shore base that behaves in the most â&#x20AC;&#x153;naturallyâ&#x20AC;? occurring manner. Utilizing rainwater, sediment, and sunlight promotes a shore base where humans and the environment are no longer in opposition with one another but exists symbiotically.

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Water Collection and Piping 196

SUSTAINABILITY [Water] The need for water sustainability at Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shore base is a necessity to have a shore base that is symbiotic with the natural environment. Generally, water is brought to shore bases from municipal authorities or by ships but in the case these infrastructural networks fail, the shore base tower will need to be self-sufficient. In order to provide a self-sufficient shore base, water cisterns placed at the highest floor plate capture the largest amount of water. This placement is also opportune because water proximity to residences is key and the use of gravity will supply the pressure needed to push the water through pipes. Furthermore, having water pipes externally located allows pipes if damaged to be easily replaced and waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence in the coastal stratum is witnessed in scale and materiality.

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Solar Radiation Utilization 198

SUSTAINABILITY [Solar Radiation] Capturing solar radiation in a coastal environment is a necessity to provide a symbiotic tower that does not require power brought to the structure. With the availability of solar energy in the Gulf South, capturing this energy source allows the tower to utilize the environment to sustain shore base operation and residential operation. At the top of the tower, there are solar panels that capture sunlight and provide electricity for residences and the small amount of electricity needed for water pumps. Second, shading devices utilized in the structure facilitate comfortable working conditions for shore base workers. Allowing more shade in the interior of the lower tower levels promotes work efficiency and protects humans from the harsh summer conditions of coastal Louisiana. Again, the external expressiveness of these solar devices displays the variables needed to exist in the coastal condition, which reveals another variable of the coastal stratum.

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Solar Radiation Utilization 200

Water Collection and Piping

SUSTAINABILITY [Water] The first four levels of the shore base tower are comprised of shore base operations. These operations allow the shore base to operate as a functional structure that serves the needs of Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offshore drilling platforms. Accompanying logistic necessity, placing the shore base operations at the lowest level makes an interesting architectural condition that has humans, industry, and nature operating in very close proximity. This sectional condition is different from previously designed shore base sections because the entire coastal stratum occurs in one vertical sliver of space.

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SUSTAINABILITY [Comprehensive Diagram] The following diagram is a comprehensive analysis of the building systems and the sustainable systems within the coastal tower. First, utilizing prevailing winds at the site promotes workable and livable conditions for shore base employees. Second, the interconnection of pipes for the shore base allows human activities and oil operations to behave as one connected system. Third, the use of solar panels and water cisterns allows the residential spaces of the tower to remain off the grid and utilize the heavy rainfall typical in Southern Louisiana. Fourthly, the use of garden space allows shore base employees to have space for vegetable growth and other crops as well as green space for relaxation. Combining these sustainable variables defines a coastal section connected to the landscape and limits the necessity of physical infrastructure to supply humans with comfortable living conditions.

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Program Spaces

Program [n] - a plan of things that are done in order to achieve a specific result Spaces [n] - the amount of an area, room, surface, etc., that is empty or available for use

PROLOGUE The following section investigates the relationship of program organization to the overall form and structure of the shore base tower. Each level in the tower is broken a part to reveal or magnify a particular part of the coastal stratum that also serves a particular function in shore base operations. The bottom levels of the tower are reserved for shore base operations and storage. These levels provide the shore base with shade and natural light to promote an efficient workspace that is comfortable for humans to work within. These levels also provide sectional visibility of how the operations of a base are situated in the Louisiana context. These levels are enclosed for humans to work within but demand privacy from the general public; therefore, the lower portion of the tower is programmatically functional and speaks to the current state of oil operations in the Gulf South. At the top of the tower there are the floors of living and the heliport. These levels provide a panoramic view of Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coast and an escape from the lower levels of the tower, which are dominated by shore base operations. The dichotomy between work and leisure, in a coastal tower, is what defines the unique program of the base. As a worker moves through the tower, the worker simultaneously moves through the stratum of the coastal condition in an analytical and experiential manner. The negotiation between an experiential and analytical section through the architectural program is the unique feature of the shore base tower.

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PROGRAM SPACES [Shore Base Operations] The first four levels of the shore base tower are comprised of shore base operations. These operations allow the shore base to operate as a functional structure that serves the needs of Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offshore drilling platforms. Accompanying logistic necessity, placing the shore base operations at the lowest level makes an interesting architectural condition that has humans, industry, and nature operating in very close proximity. This sectional condition is different from previously designed shore base sections because the entire coastal stratum occurs in one vertical sliver of space.

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Shore Base Operations 207

PROGRAM SPACES [Shore Base Liquid Storage] Levels four and five of the shore base tower are programmed for storage of important oil materials. The storage of barite, fuel, potable and non-potable water, and drilling mud are required for the shore base to remain efficient in an oil economy. Also, there is a logical functionality to have more permanent storage about the shore base, which is constantly changing depending if a vessel is docking at the base or night. This sectional condition also has a unique quality to revealing the stratum as the pipes of this section have external expression that showcases the location of important good being stored within the tower.

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Liquid Storage 209

PROGRAM SPACES [Shore Base Parking] Levels seven and eight of the shore base tower are programmed for storage of vehicles. The storage of vehicles for the shore base allows workers of the base to live on the base and have their vehicles protected from dynamic weather conditions. Second, the plan for the shore base tower in the future is to have residence of low lying coastal areas move into the tower. Having parking in the tower allows people to live in a vastly different manner than the present day coastal condition. People will have to traverse drastically different sectional conditions that are each informed by a unique variable of the coastal stratum. This sectional condition actualized in architectural space provides a unique and informative experience to those that live in a tower in order to relate how the coastal stratum relates to every aspect of human life in coastal Louisiana.

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Vehicular Parking 211

PROGRAM SPACES [Shore Base Residences] Levels nine, ten, and eleven of the shore base tower are programmed for permanent human occupation. This area of the tower is reserved as a place of seclusion from the lower sections of the tower that is devoted to industrial operations. As humans awake in the morning and go to bed in the evening, they will have to move between the strange layers of that comprise the shore base tower. At the top of the tower, in the morning and the evening, humans will be presented with a view of the coastal landscape that comprises the entire coastal operation. Furthermore, the ability of viewing the entirety of the coastal condition allows humans to understand the unique complexity that forms the coast of southern Louisiana. The goal of this architectural move is to prompt a better understanding of the state of the Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coast and a more symbiotic way to live with the coastal strata.

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Residential Spaces 213

PROGRAM SPACES [Programmatic Layout] The final layout of the towerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program unites the unique sectional qualities of the coastal condition with a circulatory pattern that takes humans through or near each level of a suspended sectional stratum. As a human moves through each level of the tower, the view becomes more encompassing of the coastal condition as industry operates at one level and those who live at the top of the tower view the landscape in a more encompassing condition. Furthermore, moving through each level of the shore base tower reinforces the day-to-day operation of separation between how one lives and works in the coastal condition. The goal of a shore base tower is to promote an understanding where the life of coastal human becomes further integrated into the unique qualities of the coastal strata.

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Circulation Routes

Shore Base Operations

Liquid Storage

Vehicular Parking

Residential Spaces 215

PROGRAM SPACES [Final Programmatic Section] The following diagram displays the separation of program in the coastal tower. The lowest levels of the tower are the ship slips that shore base operations require. Levels one through four are shore base operations that intersect the road network of other towers and facilitate storage of supplies for supply vessels. Levels five and six are liquid storage for fuel, water, drilling mud and other materials required for offshore drilling. Levels seven and eight are reserved for parking to store the cars of oil workers and other residents in the tower. Levels nine through eleven are dwelling units for oil workers and future residents of towns that are destroyed by sea level rise and land subsidence. Level twelve of the tower is the heliport where helicopters land to refuel and collect workers to bring out to oil rigs.

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Boat Slips

Shore base Operations

Vehicular Parking

Liquid Storage

Residential Spaces 217

NOTES [Text] 1. “Code of Hammurabi,” Wikipedia, last modified May 3, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_ of_Hammurabi 2. International Code Council. “Part I: Scope and Application,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 1. 3. ——. “Chapter 3: Use and Occupancy Classification,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 24. 4. ——. “Chapter3: Use and Occupancy Classification,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 2533. 5. ——. “Chapter3: Use and Occupancy Classification,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 35. 6. ——. “Chapter3: Use and Occupancy Classification,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 3536. 7. ——. “Chapter3: Use and Occupancy Classification,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 8992. 8. ——. “Chapter3: Use and Occupancy Classification,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 8992. 9. ——. “Chapter5: General Building Heights and Areas,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 79-88. 10. ——. “Chapter29: Plumbing Systems,” International Building Code. (Illinois: 2009), 549-552. 11. Alyce Howe, “Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines” (presentation, Louisiana State University School, Baton Rouge, LA, January 2014). 12. ——, “Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines” (presentation, Louisiana State University School, Baton Rouge, LA, January 2014). 13. ——, “Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines” (presentation, Louisiana State University School, Baton Rouge, LA, January 2014). 14. ——, “Florida Building Code” (presentation, Louisiana State University School, Baton Rouge, LA, January 2014). 15. “World War II,” National Churchill Museum, https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/worldwar-ii-churchill-quotes.html 16. Ruth Peltason and Grace Ong-Yan, “Herzog and DeMeuron,” Architect: The Work of Pritzker Prize Laureates in their Own Words, ed. Ruth Peltason (New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2010), 112-123. 17. Ruth Peltason and Grace Ong-Yan, “Herzog and DeMeuron,” Architect: The Work of Pritzker Prize Laureates in their Own Words, ed. Ruth Peltason (New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2010), 112-123.

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Appendix: Schematic Tectonic Integration

NOTES [Images] A. Marie Lan Nguyen, “Code of Hammurabi,” Wikipedia. last modified June 21, 2006, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prologue_Hammurabi_Code_Louvre_AO10237.jpg. B. Arturo Olavarrieta De la torre. “Diagrams Everywhere,” Through An Architect’s Eyes, (blog), March 10, 2014 (10:00 p.m.), http://throughanarchitectseyes.tumblr.com/post/11368026665/diagramseverywhere. C. Isabelle Lomholt, “Torre Agbar,” e-architect, last modifed March 6, 2014, http://www.e-architect. co.uk/barcelona/agbar-tower. D. Ralf Roletschek, “Torre Agbar,” Wikicommons, last modified March 2, 2007, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Torre-agbar-nit.jpg E. Tomio Ohashi, “Tower of Winds,” Archdaily, last modified March 18, 2013, http://www.archdaily. com/344664/ad-classics-tower-of-winds-toyo-ito/ F. Norman Foster, “Albion Apartments,” Foster and Partners, http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/ albion-riverside/ G. Norman Foster, “Albion Apartments,” Foster and Partners, http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/ albion-riverside/ H. Rob Holmes and Stephen Becker. “Atchafalaya II: Old River Control,” Mammoth, (blog), March 14, 2014 (8:30 p.m.), http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2011/08/atchafalaya-ii-old-river-control/.

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Design Specificity Design [adj] - to plan and make decisions about (something that is being built or created) : to create the plans, drawings, etc., that show how (something) will be made Development [adj] - the act or process of growing or causing something to grow or become larger or more advanced

Materials

Materials [n] - relating to or made of matter

I believe that the real core of all architectural work lies in the act of construction. At the point in time when concrete materials are assembled an erected, the architecture we have been looking for becomes part of the real world.1 Peter Zumthor. Thinking Architecture

PROLOGUE

A. Peter Zumthor. Bruder Klaus Field Chapel. Germany. 2009.

The specificity of materials in the Chevron shore base is the focus of this section. Compared to the previous section regarding materiality, this segment investigates how the construction of architecture articulates conceptual ideas regarding Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal condition. The coastal condition of Louisiana is unique and complex, which demands the material palette of a coastal tower, be complimentary to environmental conditions. Environmental considerations with respect to materials require that a coastal tower respond to intense humidity, heat, and heavy rainfall during the summer months. Winter months in Louisiana are usually mild but the materials of a tower need to provide warmth and comfort from wind and rain while responding to sporadic temperature changes that occur in the transition periods of seasons. With respect to the poetics and materials, the materials of a coastal tower invoke the vernacular language of southern Louisiana. The use of corrugated metal around permanent spaces of human occupation expresses the historical relationship of aluminum and it usage in the coast. However, the change of scale in a tower requires the riveting of the metal be larger to complete a proportional relationship to the tower. The remaining structure of the tower is either steel or concrete in a grey tone that allows the light color of the corrugated metal to take visual prominence in the tower. In conclusion, the materials of the tower are simple but resonate from a functional and historical standpoint to articulate the unique sectional complexities of coastal Louisiana.

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MATERIAL [Corrugated Metal Panels] The parking and residential units of the coastal tower are clad in corrugated metal panels. These panels denote a programmatic occupation that is longer and more permanent than the lower levels of the tower. Enclosing humans and vehicles in a cladding protects human life and their material possessions from the elements. Furthermore, the tone and quality of the corrugated metal is rusted because of previous use. Assuming this tower is constructed in the future, the materials acquired would be the remnants of the surrounding landscape. These materials are rusted and marginally degraded because of previous use, which translates into an important aesthetic language for the tower.

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MATERIAL [Wooden Floors] The floors of the coastal tower are composed of wood. The majority of shore base vessels and oil operations use a flooring type that reduces slippage for human workers and the goods stored in these areas. Using wood in the tower reduces accidents and relates to the regional use of wood as a flooring material. Dwelling units in the tower would also use wood as the floor surface to infer the connection of wood to shotgun homes in earlier Louisiana history. Through the use of wood at two scales, industrial and residential, the wood floors of the tower relate to scalar changes in programmatic occupation and the historical usages of wood in the Louisiana.

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MATERIAL [Zinc Panels] The louvers of shore base operations are clad in zinc. Zinc is a corrosion resistant material that can withstand the intense environmental conditions of Louisiana. Lower levels in the tower have the appropriately designed louvers for solar directions and provide shade for oil workers in the intense summers of Louisiana. The zinc covering of these louvers produces a complimentary aesthetic to corrugated panels of parking and dwelling. Areas in the tower programmed for oil operations remain unspoiled while the spaces used by humans accumulate continually age. One can then observe the relationship between human life and the oil industry through the material expressivity of the tower.

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MATERIAL [Metal Pipes] The pipes of the coastal tower are made of steel. Pipes used to move liquids and goods in the tower require a strong material that resists the harsh elements of Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment and provide safety from the explosive materials that move through them. Consequently, the use of steel requires that the pipes would need continual maintenance to remain undamaged from rust. The use of steel on the pipes displays the relationship of time and human occupation to the tower. As the pipes begin to rust, there will always be a human cleaning and scraping the pipes to maintain pipe usage and express the stratified relationship of human life in oil operations.

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Structure and Construction Details

Structure [n] - the aggregate of elements of an entity in their relationships to each other Construction [n] - the way something is built or made Details [n] - extended treatment of or attention to particular items

We may refer to a building at times as a structure and at times as a construction without really intending to denote in one case something different from the other. But such looseness seems inadmissible in critical usage, once we begin to think about the very real distinction that exists between the concepts linked to the words...2 Eduard K. Sekler. Structure, Construction, Tectonics

PROLOGUE

Brion Cemetery by Carlo Scarpa in Verona, Italy

The specificity of structure in the Chevron shore base is the focus of this section. In colloquial speech, the interchangeable usage of the word structure and construction removes the distinction between these two modes of architectural operation. Structure in architecture is defined as a type of system that organizes architectural space into a particular hierarchy. Construction in architecture defines how spatial relationships, with respect to a structure, reveal a structural logic through a process of making. Utilizing the conditions of structure and construction allows buildings to reveal the logic of their making and their relationship to a particular context. Chevronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shore base facilitates this notion between structure and construction by having the program of the building fit as a secondary component to the structure of the tower. Each programmatic element requires a unique adaptation of architectural skin that facilitates human use a certain section of the tower. The bottom section of the tower uses a filigree defined louver system for solar protection and wind. The parking and liquid storage layers of the tower use another visual language that separates itself from the bottom levels since fewer humans occupy these spaces. Lastly, the upper portions of the tower use a material skin that is permanent in its making to supply human protection against the elements. Every skin adaptation or sectional translation of the coastal condition occurs as a negotiation between the structure of the tower and how oil and humans use the structure. The inference from this negotiation between structure and skin defines a tower that is unique to the place and time in which it was constructed and each subsequent tower would be a unique articulation of the location, climate, and economic operation in which it occurred.

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STRUCTURE [Columns and Floor Plates] The primary structure of the tower is a typical column and floor plate system. However, the uniqueness of the towerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s structure is the scalar operation of the tower. Columns of the tower are eight feet in diameter and rise over 600 feet from the bottom of the Mississippi River. Floor plates in the tower span 150 feet in the long direction and use large steel members to brace between each structural bay. By deferring the loads of the tower to large structural members, every programmatic element becomes an attachment from the structure to support a particular function or necessity of shore base operations. Furthermore, the openness of the structural span allows efficient crane operation and ships to move underneath the tower for refueling and restocking of supplies.

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CONSTRUCTION DETAIL [Wall Section] The following construction detail is a typical wall condition in the upper dwelling units of the tower spaced between the larger structural floor plates of the primary structure. Walls of residential units use fiberglass insulation to reduce sound between units and mitigate loss of heat and cool air during the summer and winter months. C-Channels are fastened to hollow core slabs, which secure metal stud walls and allow gypsum board to hang from the walls. The floors of the tower are covered with wood to soften the industrial nature of the remaining program and provide a locally utilized material for residential space.

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CONSTRUCTION DETAIL [Floor Plate Section] The following construction detail is a typical floor place section of the tower spanning approximately fifty-two feet in one direction and 162 feet in the other. Large steel members span end to end of the modular units, which allows a large steel grate to defer all of the live loads of the tower to the columns. These large steel grates are eight feet thick and arranged in two feet by two feet grids to maximize structural strength and material efficiency. Once the modular plates come together, they produce a dynamic structural frame that allows programmatic operations to be an attachment of the structure. As each programmatic variable attaches to the tower, every programmatic unit reveals a translation of the coastal condition into a sectional relationship.

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NOTES [Text] 1. Ruth Peltason and Grace Ong-Yan, “Peter Zumthor,” Architect: The Work of Pritzker Prize Laureates in their Own Words, ed. Ruth Peltason (New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2010), 22-33. 2. Eduard K. Sekler, “Structure, Construction, Tectonics,” PDF.

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Appendix: Design Specificity

NOTES [Images]

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Conclusion Conclusion [adj] - a final decision or judgment : an opinion or decision that is formed after a period of thought or research

Final Images

Final [adj] - happening as a result: happening at the end of a process Images [n] - a mental picture: the thought of how something looks or might look

Architecture is the most universal of the arts. It enshrines the past in a form more extensive, more varied, and more easily apprehensible than any other form of culture. Paintings are in galleries, literature in books. The galleries must be visited, the books opened. But buildings are always with us. Democracy is an urban thing, and architecture is its art.1 Robert Byron. The Appreciation of Architecture

PROLOGUE

Interior view of Fort Pike in the Rigolets near New Orleans, Louisiana

The final section of this book is the culmination of the previous three months of research and design thought. Every image and idea developed through the architectural process of designing a shore base produced a tower that rises above the landscape of the coastal region. Each level of the tower is a translation and transformation of a variable that is uniquely apart and integral to Louisiana’s sectional condition. As the levels of the tower rise higher, the skins of the tower change and adapt to environmental conditions and human need. With the change of a skin from one programmatic occupation to the next, the tower changes in a visual manner to produce a tower defined by multiple programmatic variables occurring in one singular section. The hope of this vertical translation was to remove the openness of the coastal condition and place it into on sectional location that all humans can experience. Visually understanding how each variable of oil operation effects larger ecological systems and human life implies that the future of Louisiana’s coastal region is not through separation but a combination of each element to survive. Bringing together operations of oil and the lives of oil workers with surrounding towns, acknowledges a coastal future where the occupants of coastal regions live integrally to the economic derivatives that define that region. In some sense, Chevron’s shore base tower is not a singular incident but a moment where the future of coastal life has a potential to thrive. Towers placed in Louisiana’s coastal environment represent a future where oil and human life are not separate entities in Louisiana’s landscape but one cohesive occurrence that intertwine the realities of coastal life with the needs of human occupation.

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FINAL IMAGES [Elevation I] Elevation I displays the separate programmatic elements of the tower and how each program relates to a larger framework of the tower’s composition. Between each floor is a structural skin that provides a particular function, denotation of program, and an aesthetic component to balance the tower’s overall composition. Switching from thin to lite and horizontal to vertical in the skins of the tower reveals the unique variables the produce Louisiana’s coastal condition. Chevron’s coastal tower attempts to derive an aesthetic and compositional language from the place it resides by translating each program into a visual variable of the tower’s elevations.

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FINAL IMAGES [Elevation II] Elevation II is the opposing side of Elevation I of the coastal tower. The same use of structural skins to articulate a programmatic function is employed on Elevation II. Movement from each section of the tower uses a different system of horizontal and vertical elements to articulate a variable of Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal condition. Each change in the skin of the tower is a place where program differs and skins of the same language have the same programmatic function. However, Elevation II does not have a circulation stair in the foreground, which leaves this side of the tower with less depth.

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FINAL IMAGES [Elevation III] Elevation III displays one of the longitudinal sides of the coastal tower. The longitudinal sides of the tower connect in the same visual manner as Elevation I and II. However, the small slender Elevations of I and II become dramatically larger in the longitudinal directions to articulate the size and scope of a tower in Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal landscape. Elevation III displays the unique relationship between each programmatic element and how those programs visually connect each other through a network of pipes moving across the elevation of the building.

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FINAL IMAGES [Elevation IV] Elevation IV displays the opposite side of Elevation III in reference to the longitudinal sides of the tower. First, the circulation stair dominates the foreground by anchoring itself to a larger section of the tower. Second, the location and proportion of the mega highway is displayed on the longitudinal sides of the tower. Third, different programmatic elements are visually connected by the same pipes of Elevation III but stop and begin at different points of the towerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elevation.

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FINAL IMAGES [Perspective I and II] Perspective II and I are rendered from the same corner of the coastal tower but at two different times of the day. These two images display how the tower changes from the day to evening and what components of the program would be highlighted during these time. During the day, the corrugated metal would reflect the most sunlight and draw attention of the places where human occupation is the most permanent. During the evening, the lights of the tower would highlight the circulation stairs and the dwelling units. Either case of light or dark displays the important of human occupation as a required necessity for survival in the dynamic conditions of coastal Louisiana.

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Perspective I displays the importance of corrugated metal to denote more permanent areas of human occupation

Perspective II displays the coastal tower during the night hours in which the only life is from dwelling units and circulation elements

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FINAL IMAGES [Perspective III and IV] Perspective III and IV are two different images in which III is the opposite corner of Perspective I and IV is what a viewer would see when approaching the tower from the mega highway. Both images display the tower during the day but Perspective III shows how the top of the tower changes and reveals the open space for residences at the top. Perspective IV displays the intricate relationship between the skins of the tower and how skin marks an important distinction in the program of the tower.

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Perspective III displays how the tower opens up towards the top to allow more space for the dwelling units

Perspective IV displays the intricacy of the pipes and exterior skins that compose the facade of the tower

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View of an abandoned cabin near Grand Isle, Louisiana after years of hurricane damage

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FINAL CRITICISM [Summary] Criticism from the final review focused on three aspects about the tower: programmatic relationships, relationship to water, and rendering techniques. First, the reviewers brought up issues regarding the relationship of the tower and other programmatic elements that could occur in a tower of this scale. Since the proposal of these towers is to have residences of outlying towns move onto them, the towers must be more complex in its distribution of space for those that live in the high rise structures. There would need to be a methodology developed around the towers to maintain the ways in which Southern people allocate space for themselves in coastal environments. Allowing the allocation of space to occur with individual use would maintain an existing urban fabric that is dynamic in coastal communities and at the core of Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture. Second, the relationship of the tower to the water at this stage of the project is void. People living in the tower do not have access to the water to participate in activities that Southerners use for recreational use on a daily basis. To ensure that the rich culture developed around the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge does not erode, the tower must bring people down to the water for recreational purposes. Third, the reviewers noted that the rendering style of the perspectives lack vibrancy that distinguished the tower from the surrounding landscape. Future stages of this project will address the importance of waterfront culture, programmatic relationships, and rendering techniques to ensure that a shore base tower develops from the rich contextual history of Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal stratum and surrounding conditions.

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NOTES [Text] 1. Franco La Cecla, “Why I Did Not Become an Architect,” Against Architecture, (San Francisco: PM Press, 2012), 15.

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Appendix: Conclusion

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NOTES [Text] Cash, W.G. The Mind Of The South. New York: Vintage Books, 1946. Coker, Coleman. “Regions and Regionalism.” Batture: Critical Regionalism. Baton Rouge, LA: Edwards Brothers Press, 2004. Daigle, J. J. , G. E. Omernik, and J. M. Faulkner. “Ecoregions of Louisiana.” Reston, Virginia: United States Geological Survey, 2006. Derrida, Jacques. “Of Grammatology.” In Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, 300-31. Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Foster Associates. “Gulf of Mexico Natural Gas Resources and Pipeline Infrastructure 2001.” Bethesda: Foster Associates, 2001. Frampton, Kenneth. “Towards A Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance,” In The Anti-Aesthetic. edited by Hal Foster, 21. Seattle: Bay Press, 1983. Howe, Alyce. “Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines.” Presentation at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, January 2014. Iliescu, Sandra. The Hand and the Soul. London: University of Virginia Press, 2009. International Code Council. International Building Code. Illinois: International Code Council, 2009. Jensen, Richard. “Deep Landscapes.” Clark and Menefee. edited by Richard Jensen, 26-34. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000. Jensen, Richard. “W.G. Clark: Writings.” Clark and Menefee. edited by Richard Jensen, 8-18. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000. Johnson, Scott. “Coastal Backswamps: Restoring their values…” Ballina: Wetland Management Company, 2008. Kane, Harnett T. Plantation Parade: The Grand Manner in Louisiana. New York: William, Morrow, and Company, 1946.

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