BORDERLINE by Francis McCloskey

BORDERLINE

Francis McCloskey Syracuse University School of Architecture Roger Hubeli, Julia Czerniak

Fast changes in environment, economy, and technology drive the growth/shrinkage of supporting infrastructure; often rendering the built architecture too static and slow to adapt.1 The linear edge of land/water borderlines can become an instrument for transformation, as an infrastructure that deploys responsive architectural types that are more ephemeral, reactionary, and compromising with change. The capacity for architecture to float offers the advantage of mobility and interchangeability. 

Woods, Lebbeus, and Ekkehard Rehfeld, eds., Borderline. New York: Springer, 1998.

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resilience [ri-zil-yuhns] noun 1. the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity. 2. ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy. floating [floh-ting] adjective 1. buoyant or suspended in water or air. "a massive floating platform" synonyms: buoyant, on the surface, afloat, drifting antonyms: sunken, grounded 2. not settled in a definite place; fluctuating or variable. "the floating population that is migrating to the cities" synonyms: unsettled, transient, temporary, variable, fluctuating;

Aralsk

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 

 



 

Syr River





 

 

Muynak

Amu River 59

Aral Sea Located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the two rivers that supplied the Aral Sea with water were diverted in the 1960s to irrigate the fields that now make Uzbekistan the world's second largest exporter of cotton. The receding sea has left behind a salty desert the size of Switzerland with abandoned fishing towns and boats in what used to be the fourth largest lake in the world. Following the construction of a large dam, fish are now returning to the North Aral sea, allowing for the fishing industry and population to reemerge.

“Borderline” is an exploration of land/water borders as agents of accelerated change to their communities. Fast changes in environment, economy, and technology drive the growth/shrinkage of supporting infrastructure; often rendering the built architecture too static and slow to adapt.1 The continuous linear edge of land/water borderlines can become an instrument for transformation, as an infrastructure that deploys responsive architectural types that are more ephemeral, reactionary, and compromising with change. The capacity for architecture to float offers the advantage of mobility and interchangeability. Aral Sea and the Kok-Aral Dam This project focuses on the shrinking Aral Sea as a testbed for replicable architectural strategies that perform in relation to water, crisis, and change. The Aral, formerly the fourth largest inland sea on Earth (shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan), has been drying since the 1960’s due to the diversion of the rivers that supply it to sustain the growth of cotton for export. Its borders have shifted by more than 100 km at certain points, leaving behind a desert the area of Ireland. By 2007, the sea had shrunk to 10% of its original size. The river flowing from Uzbekistan no longer makes it to the Aral, drying out 120 km ahead. In 2005, the government of Kazakhstan, with support of the World Bank, built the 14 km Kok-Aral Dam to contain water in a small remnant of sea within the country before spilling out towards Uzbekistan onto a massive evaporative desert. Consequently, local biology is returning, and part of the fishing population that left in the 1960’s when the fish population shrank is starting to return to the region for fishing. A mobile community is emerging directly on the Kok-Aral. During the three month fishing season, young fishermen are camping on the remote dam because it acts like a funnel, concentrating fish before being ejected towards the desert. At the end of the season, they return to their respective villages for the rest of the year. The irony in the recovery is that the population is largely returning to the former fishing town of Aralsk, now 15 km from the nearest coast. Two old canneries are being put to use once again, with a third recently constructed. At one point, the fish catch was being brought to Aralsk by helicopter, indicating that the location and fixed nature of the town is no longer appropriate. As a design project for a fishery/hotel deployed on this linear infrastructure, the dam represents an opportunity for an temporary and resilient architecture that demonstrates adaptations to time of year, water, and patterns of occupation. Design investigation for the thesis relates to how flotation offers resiliency in relation to geography and water level, while also allowing the interchangeability of its components, as a mechanism for growth/shrinkage of its commercial fishing and tourism functions.



Woods, Lebbeus, and Ekkehard Rehfeld, eds., Borderline. New York: Springer, 1998.

 | 

Chloe Dewe Mathews, "Aral: A Dammed Sea," 2010 http://www.chloedewemathews.com/aral-a-dammed-sea/

contents Investigation: Aral Sea testbed for hydrological change: Aral Sea [site] Kok-Aral Dam seasonality

7 19 27

Empowering Community By Design... 28 scope of investigation 29 program 31 pt.I: typology 32 [temporary structures] Dre Wapenaar 33 [adaptability] Makoko Floating School; Lagos, Nigeria 35 [technology] the climatic envelope 39 [form] conventional water-based vernacular 45 pt.II: organization 59 [deployment] Plan for Tokyo; Tokyo, Japan 59 regional opportunities 63 [organization] linear city proposals 69 city as process 82 global scope bibliography

87 88

ď&#x20AC;´ | ď&#x20AC;ľ

"Virgin Lands Project" The Aral Sea, formerly the fourth largest lake in the world and shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is fed by two rivers, the Amur Darya and Syr Darya, which were diverted in the 1960s to irrigate the cotton fields that now make Uzbekistan the world’s second largest exporter of cotton, or “white gold.” The Aral Sea Basin is shared by five countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The Aral dried to a dismal 10% of its original size in 2007 (divided into four separate bodies of water).

Syr River

Amu River







testbed for hydrological change: Aral Sea Aralsk

          Muynak

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

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Aralsk North Aral Maloye Morye (Little Sea) Kokaral Kokaral Peninsula Dam Kokaral Island

Syr River 46

Vozrozhdeniya

45 Bolshoye Morye (Big Sea)

South Aral

Syr River Ba Amu River [Uzbekistan] The Amu Darya originally had a series of tributaries that flowed into the Aral Sea up until the 1970’s. Hydrological works began in the 1950’s, where much of its waters were being taken to irrigate cotton and wheat in the lower basin of the river. In the 1960’s, the Soviet Government completed the Karakum Canal to divert large amounts of water westward. Due to the decreased input of water, the Aral Sea started shrinking. To make matters worse, the hot, dry plains of the Amu Darya accelerated evaporation, not only decreasing the quantity of water, but depleting the nutrient quality of the soils due to the salt deposits being left. By the 1990’s the Amu Darya’s discharge onto the Aral would stop periodically until its present point: 120 km ahead, due to a dam for irrigation. 1

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"Amu Darya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amu_Darya>.

44 Muynak

Amu River

Amu River Basin

UZBEKIS Amu River Basin

TURKMENISTAN

Syr River Basin

KAZAKHSTAN

asin

STAN

Syr River [Kazakhstan] The Syr Darya and its tributaries, similar to the Amu Darya, irrigates massive exents of land for the purposes of cotton and wheat agriculture. It is estimated that the Syr Darya alone is responsible for 5,000,000 acres of cotton growth. Its water diversion also contributed to the shrinkage of the Aral Sea, with a much smaller flow of water than it did in the first half of the 20th century. Due to increased salinification of soils, there is an added need for farmers to incorporate fertilizer into their processes, which makes it downstream into the sea. These chemicals are left as residue on the dried seabed, which then get airborne, to further challenge plant and animal life. Particularly, the local populations have had an exponential increase in respiratory illnesses.1

KYRGYZSTAN

 "Syr Darya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syr_Darya>.

TAJIKISTAN |



1950 Until the 1960's, the Aral Sea was a barrier that protected Central Asia from the cold north winds, and the large mass of vapor that evaporated from its surface replenished snow and ice on distant mountains.

 

 

     



varied farming: fruit trees & agriculture industry fruit and vegetable food source

fishing towns: fishing industry

healthy sea: climate control fish food source

Agents of Regional Change

2007 "Produce millions of tons of cotton at any cost."

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    

    

fragile sea: reduced climate control fish and ecosystem depletion

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columbia.edu

     

 

The now-frequent salt storms and the effects of the drying of the Aral are not restricted to the region. Salts from the exposed seafloor have been found in the Pacific and Arctic, in the Ganges and Brahamaputra rivers in India.

         



  

                                      

exposed desert: abandoned ships fertilizer pollution remains from biological weapons tests

abandoned towns

 

intensive cotton monoculture

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Desertification Before then, the Aral exported roughly 40,000 tons of fish annually, and was a sea with many large (100’) industrial ships. There were thousands of fishermen, while another portion of the populaion was employed in the processing plans, canneries, and railroad yards. Trains left daily for Moscow with their cars full of fish. The population was rather large, including 19 villages around the sea with two large cities. 40,000 people lived in Moynaq, Uzbekistan at the southern tip, and 80,000 people lived in Aralsk, Kazakhstan in the norhern tip. Nowadays Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan face an influx of “disaster tourism,” or tourism geared towards observing the visible disaster of the Aral Sea. Especially famous are the iconic rusting ships scattered all over the landscape.

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Canalization Soviet engineers designed a massive irrigation network with 45 dams, 80 reservoirs, and more than 20,000 miles of canals, that are leaky and inefficient. The Amu Daryaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flow is so reduced that it no longer reaches the Aral Sea, now ending 70 miles away.

Thirsty Cotton Plant Cotton naturally grows in the tropics, due to the humidity. Rain, however, is problematic because the plants absorbs water and rot. These plants need sunlight and plenty of water, and therefore are best cultivated in dry areas and irrigated artificially.

Salinization of Aral's Waters The lakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s salinization has accelerated the lakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evaporation. With rapid changes in temperature, the surface water has a lower salinity than the bottom water. Surface water thus heats up faster than if the salinity was equaly at all depths.

1950

Exposed Former Seabed An estimated 43 million metric tons of sand, salt and dust of the former seabed have been picked up by strong winds that now make 150-300 km wide dust storms. The dust is often carried great distances, up to 500 km away, and depleting the nutrient quality of surrounding soils.

Fertilizer and Pesticides With a lowering of the water table, and increased deposits of salt, local agricultural industry must use more additives in their production, which in turn makes its way down the watershed, contributing to the contamination of soils and the quality of the air.

Smallpox and Bioweapons The former island of Vozrozhdeniya was the USSR’s testing site for bioweapons such as anthrax, smallpox, plague, brucellosis, and tuleramia. The town of Kantubek once had 1,500 inhabitants, who left in 1992. Many containers holding spores have developed leaks since.

women recommended against breast feeding due to toxic milk

kidney & liver diseases 3x in Aral region than rest of Kazakhstan outbreaks of gastroenteritis, about 2/3 of inhabitants infant mortality 100/1000

2007

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moving borders

As the Aral sea shrank in size, up to 10% of its original size by 2007, it receded from the harbors of Aralsk and Moynaq. Fishermen started by extending their ports by deepening canals. They ultimately relied on helicopters to get their catch to the Aralsk and Moynaq processing plants when needed.1

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ news/2010/04/100402-aral-sea-story/ Left: Collage image by author.

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Aralsk

Google Aerial Image: 46.090269,60.789093

Aralsk

 

The Kokaral Dam now separates the North Aral sea from the South Aral Sea.

  



 

Syr River





 

 

Muynak

Amu River 59

The 8 mile long Kokaral Dam was built in 2005, to contain water coming from the Syr River on the Kazakh side, as the Amu River on the Uzbek side no longer makes it to the Aral. While the South Aral will continue to shrink, the North Aral will grow to support a fishing community once again. ...regrowth

[site] Kok-Aral Dam site opportunities

Kazakhstan

containment

“preserving what was left in the Little Aral from spilling into the evaporating desert” flow toward Uzbekistan

The [North] Aral ecosystem has since then started to recover slowly with the help of the $85 million 8-mile long Kokoral Dam, mostly funded by the World Bank. This Dam was expected to raise the water level in the North Aral Sea by about 13 feet in five years, but surprisingly did so in 8 months. Salinity lowered to levels much closer to those of the 1960s, and native plants and migrating birds have again started to emerge. Freshwater fish (pike, perch and carp) are finally returning to the Aral. In 2008 fishermen caught 1,500 tons of fish, close to 3,000 in 2011, and 10,000 in 2012*. They began selling locally, but have already started exporting to Russia and Georgia. Two fish processing plants are operating in the [farfrom-coast] former fishing town of Aralsk, while a third is under construction. People who left the region when they were young are starting to return to the Aral for fishing. Additionally, the government is attempting to promote tourism to the returning the Aral Sea, as disaster tourism is currently creating one of the largest influxes of tourists to Kazakhstan.

 | 

point of exchange

By taking advantage of the 100m stretch of Kokaral dam that flows outward to the Large Aral, one can exploit the brief point of contact between the contained ecosystem of the north and the disappearing landscape of the south. “The natural space for this transformation is the borderline, where systems of all kinds collide and abrade, as the world breaks up, not into chaos, but rather into new patterns of order.”1 Lebbeus Woods describes borderlines as collisions between landscapes and the overlay between systems.

 Woods, Lebbeus, and Ekkehard Rehfeld, eds., Borderline. New York: Springer Wien, 1998.

 | 

Chloe Dewe Mathews, "Aral: A Dammed Sea," 2010 http://www.chloedewemathews.com/aral-a-dammed-sea/

In 2010, British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews hitchhiked from China to Britain. Part of her work, as seen in “Aral: A Dammed Sea," was documenting the miracle of the return of the North Aral. She witnessed and documented how the youth of the surrounding villages, are once again taking up fishing as an economic activity, after a major generational gap. Dewe Mathews describes the Kok-Aral during the three month fishing period, when a group of young fishermen have taken to camping (right image) for fishing day and night near the spillway, despite the remote location. Because the dam works like a funnel, it concentrates the flux of fish, providing for a vantage point from which to gather the catch (left image). After the season is finished, the young men return to their respective villages.

≥ 80 fishermen

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The construction of the dam, which cost approximately $81,000,000 USD, is the third of its kind at the Kokaral site. An earlier example was built in 1992 with rather loose construction, and was destroyed within 9 months in spring 1993 due to a sharp Sea level rise. Its construction was a matter of budget due to the fact that it was built directly from funds by the locals. In 1996, a second attempt to preserve the North Aral was started, with construction finishing in spring 1997. This was the first iteration of the current 14km by 30m layout.



        

 

   







Environmental and biological benefits started to emerge, with increased rainfall, and decreased salinity which boosted flora and fauna in the North Aral . In 1999, the increased water flow of the Syr Darya again washed the dam, in a 4 km segment. Work on the current dam was completed in 2005. It incorporated the compacted sand of the 1999 dam, with concrete covers and a roadway on top.  | 

The Fisherman

The Merchant

Fishing Season: Spring + Summer The Aral fleet registers 710 vessels, with 570 privately owned and 140 owned by the state. That number is likely to be much larger due to smaller boats not having registration. 483 of these vessels have grants for fishing. According to Mathews’ observations, the temporary camp site on the Kok-Aral site can number as many as 100 fishermen. There is also a long tradition of ice-fishing near the shore of the North Aral in the winter period. Most water reservoirs in Kazakhstan are filled in the autumn-winter period from October to March and drawn from April to September. “The contradiction is that irrigation requires drawing water in the spring when an increase in water level is in the interest of fishery as fish start to spawn.” 1 

Ismukhanov and Mukhamedzhanov (2003).

fco

illw

fis

hin

ish

ing

l fi

ing

ice

fis

hin

seasonality

fis

Tourist Season: Spring + Autumn With Aralsk’s cold winters (−37.9o F) and hot summers (116o F), especially with the lack of surrounding water to moderate temperatures, the tourist season occurs biannually during the spring and autumn seasons. This means a biannual schedule for the supporting industry, which consists of the Aral hotel, and the tour company Aral Tenizi, which organizes excursions to the ship graveyards, Aral shores, and the Kok-Aral dam.

hotel industry tour organizers

ico

nic

ist

ice

The Traveler

The Hotel Manager

 | 

EMPOWERING COMMUNITY BY DESIGN...

1. Rescue Industry

2. Enable Access

While it is not possible to bring the Aral Sea back to its former size and scale of economy, one can create industry for its biggest resource: its people. The two biggest assets of the North Aral Sea are (1.) its fishing industry and (2.) its tourism industry.

The Kok-Aral site is rich in resources, but is remote and inhospitable.

Fishing Industry: The construction of fisheries and introduction of fish hatcheries can lengthen the fishing period and provide more employment and stability for the local community.

Transportability: Access of material supply requires structures that are light and transportable, and flexible to changing programmatic needs.

Tourism Industry: An alternative tourism industry based on positive development can provide a counterpoint to the current disaster tourism that creates humilliation and tension between locals and tourists.

Climate: The variable climate of the Kok-Aral site requires climatic performance to endure extreme weather in summer and winter periods, thereby lengthening the overlap in tourist and fishing seasons.

The creation of habitable community spaces is key to creating a more durable community.

scope of investigation

3. Motivate Ownership

4. Empower Longevity

Ownership of industry, of action.

Careful considerations for the deployment of units.

Flotation and Interchangeability: Flotation offers interchangeability of the unit, as a method for shrinkage/growth of individual businesses and measures for their competitiveness.

System Flexibility: Flexibility on the scale of infrastructure guarantees functionality in spite of any possible changes in industry, water level, salinity, and biology.

Innovative Business Types: Ease of adaptations to scale of operation will create businesses that otherwise would exist on land.  | 

piecemeal agregations and urban fragments

urban infill

fish hatchery

With use of present water level, a hatchery for local fish species requires little maintenance. Hydroponic vegetation allows alternative plant growth, while the fish hatchery is meant to stimulate the regrowing local economy by replacing unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices and provide a basis for education.

Alternative to the growing functions, an urban grid provides an influx of people and movement. The new coastlines will have to confront the relationship between land and water travel, new views and surfaces.

1. housing fishermen

Temporal program may house the 100 young fishermen during the Spring and Summer for spillway fishing on the Kok-Aral. This also includes ancillary spaces such as those for drying and processing fish, restaurants for tourists, etc.

2. tourist lodging

As a counterpoint to the present â&#x20AC;&#x153;Disaster Tourismâ&#x20AC;?, these units may also morph into lodging for tourists. These provide more comfort amenities, but also are a base from which to educate foreigners.

program Турист, рыбак и ученый. The tourist, the fisherman and the scientist.

Architectural Opportunities As a fishery/hotel project (ecological demonstrator) the Aral’s return indicates an opportunity for an architecture that demonstrates resiliency, and adaptations to water-related changes in salinity, level, location, and species. As the Aral shrank it receded from harbors, it forced its fishermen to extend their ports, and finally relying on helicopters to transport their catch to processing plants once the sea had receded too far.1 This indicates that a fixed geography is not appropriate for this project, but rather a floating community that houses fishermen and canning facilities, and simultaneously is able to foster a vibrant hotel/tourist community. While flotation offers resiliency in relation to geography and water level, it also allows the interchangeability of its components, as a mechanism for growth/shrinkage of its commercial fishing and tourism functions.

compositional form 



megastructure

group form

Zonghije Lin Book

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1263516/How-Aral-Sea--half-size-England--dried-up.html

 | 

Design Opportunity The present site condition as a place of convergence that relies on the three month fishing period demonstrates an ideal placce for a temporal architecture.

Kazakh Yurt The yurt typology was developed in Central Asia, as a portable dwelling structure for nomads. A compression wheel supports roof ribs, which are also supported by a lattice wall. The structure is covered by fabric for insulation.

1. Kerege

2. Shanyrak

3. Uyk

4. Sykyrlauyk

5. Kiiz

[temporary structures] Dre Wapenaar Rotterdam

SoundBox Pavilion, 2013

Birthingtent, 2003

The SoundBox pavilion takes advantage of the acoustic As a project that explores intimate interaction and distance, the capabilities of tensile structure. This canvas tent structure positions birthing tent is a temporary structure for giving birth, and the a large audience around the musicians. Half the audience faces enjoyment of this moment. The skylight gives views, while a bench away, to completely engulf the occupant in sound. on the perimeter is for family, friends and nurses.

Dre Wapenaar: Pavilions and Tents Dre Wapenaar is a sculptor and designer that works with canvas, steel and wood to create architectural tent structures that relate to the relationship between its occupants.

 | 

Makoko is an example of a resilient, self-sustaining community as a floating slum in Lagos, Nigeria. It is was first established in the 18th century as a fishing village, and consists of an urban fabric on stilts, known as the “Venice of Africa.” It is a self-governing community, with an estimated population of 85,840, although could be much higher considering that the area was not officially counted in the Nigerian census in 2007.1 Community security is the responsibility of “area boys,2” young men that defend territory with threat and violence in exchange for money. Due to increasing danger in the area, the government provided a 72-hour notice for eviction before clearing many residences.

 

This Day (May 1, 2009). "Makoko Residents And Their Unwanted Guest". Africa News UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (September 5, 2006). "Lagos, the Mega-City of Slums". Africa News.

[adaptability] Makoko Floating School; Lagos, Nigeria NLÉ Architects, 2013

Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi devised a concept for a low-cost public structure. His Makoko Floating school was a triangular frame, taken from the local vernacular of the A-frame roof that resists the heavy rains of Lagos. The structure was set to float with 250 plastic barrels, which creates a rainwater collection system at the bottom. The lowest level platform, the largest, is a 1,000 square foot space that serves as a play area or public space in which fishermen can also make nets when the school is not in session. Classrooms above serve 100 elementary school students. The architect’s intention is that this typology is repeated to meet other public functions such as housing and healthcare.1



Adeyemi, Kunle. "Makoko Floating School." NLE. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nleworks.com/case/makoko-floating-school/>.

 | 

Environmental Control rainwater control

crossventilation

louver shading

barrels flotation rainwater collection

Possible Morphological Adaptations

Aquaponics: Fish Farm + Greenhouse

Desalination Still

Housing/Healthcare Typology

Market &Public Space

 | 

Transportability: Access of material supply requires structures that are light and transportable, and flexible to changing programmatic needs.

The Kok-Aral site is rich in resources, but is remote and inhospitable. The creation of habitable community spaces is key to creating a more durable community. Air Cushion cladding is therefore an ideal for an architectural unit to be transported to site. This technology is light and performative with relation to climate control. Technology: In recent years, ETFE has emerged as the material of choice for air cushion cladding for technologically innovative buildings such as the Media TIC in Barcelona, the Eden Project in Cornwall, the National Space Centre in Leicester, and the Khan Shatyr in Astana, Kazakhstan. The advantages of ETFE are its thinness and light weight, with resistance to tear and environmental performance.

[technology] the climatic envelope

pneumatics: lightness, performance, & soft structures

Media-TIC; Barcelona Enric-Ruiz Geli, Cloud 9, 2008

Air Pavilion, Magna Project, Rotterdam Wilkinson Eyre Architects, 2000

National Space Centre, Leicester, Grimshaw, 2001

Eden Project, St. Austell, Grimshaw, 2001

 | 

Above: The Leicester Space center uses a perimeter air cushion to control interior climate.

lightness

Leicester Space Center, Leicester, UK Nicholas Grimshaw

Below: Typical details of external wall with ETFE cladding

1000 g ETFE foil

stainless steel gutter section extruded rubber seal 500 g ETFE foil beaded edge to foil

the climatic envelope

Khan Shatyr, Astana, Kazakhstan Norma Foster

Above: Adapted from the yurt typology, the the radial cables supported by a large mast counteract lateral wind forces, and held together by circumferencial cables for suction. Below: detail of cable from below.

 | 

Node detail of ETFE cushions at the Eden Project The ETFE cushions are fixed directly to the primary structure. The structure and ETFE cushion envelope of the world's largest plant enclosure weighs less than the air contained inside.

soft structure

Eden Project, Cornwall, UK Nicholas Grimshaw

performance

Media TIC, Barcelona, Spain Enric Ruiz-Geli [Cloud 9]

Above: Daylighting strategy at the MediaTIC building in Barcelona, Air Cushions have three membranes that react to current lighting conditions. Below: Southwest facade of the building features long hanging air cushions that fill with nitrogen gas to opaque the facade and make it more reflective.

 | 

Formal Strategies: the Definition of a Unit

Incrementalism: Community construction on a unit by unit basis allows equitable and integrated participation in community development. The community becomes the sum of individual contributions rather than the single architectural feat. Flotation and Interchangeability: Flotation offers interchangeability of the unit, as a method for shrinkage/growth of individual businesses and measures for their competitiveness. Ease of adaptations to scale of operation will create businesses that otherwise would exist on land. Form: A study of conventional typologies provides a basis for generating architectural forms that relate to exchangeability.

[form] conventional water-based vernacular

node

network

review of conventional water-based architectures

splavs [splavovi], floating river clubs

Before the 1990’s, a “splav,” or barge, was a privately owned lakeside or riverside getaway, for friendly get togethers and private parties. After the nineties, with a changing political climate in Serbia, they have changed into popular destination venues, where the Serbian elite spends the night time until the hours of the morning. Image Taken by author.

As these units line the edge of the Danube river in Belgrade, they are grounded by platforms that swivel, allowing the structures to adapt quickly to changes in water level. These structures are also quickly moved about and replaced on the basis of business competitiveness. Construction and deconstruction happens quietly offsite.

Google Aerial Image: 44.813352,20.444342 Begrade, Serbia

1http://www.jingleweb.nl/index.php/paginas/offshore-days-keeps-goin/

 | 

water in land

land in water

review of conventional water-based architectures

floating homes _ designed

Google Aerial Image: 37.901059,-121.610798 Discovery Bay, 1964. Planned waterfront community by Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, built on land previously used for growing barley and potatoes.

Google Aerial Image: 53.039496,5.775326 Waterpark Sneekermeer by Waterstudio.NL

 | 

resiliency

settlement

review of conventional water-based architectures

floating homes _ informal The floating city of Belen is an informal mestizo settlement along the Upper Amazon river. Due to the seasonal rise in water level, the structures are built on balsa logs as a floating mechanism. Iquitos does not have any roads connecting to other cities. It is therefore considered the largest isolated city in the Americas. Image © Butch Osborne

Google Aerial Image: -3.76503,-73.247696 Belen, Iquitos, Peru, Upper Amazon River Basin

A similar typology exists in Kazakhstan. The floating structure illustrated is a conventional structure for fishing and drying fish in the Balkash-Alakol region of Kazakhstan, particularly in the Lake Alakol.

 | 

fortification

micronation

review of conventional water-based architectures

Sea Forts

The Principality of Sealand was an abandoned WWII antiaircraft platform, seized by Roy Bates, a pirate radio operator in the 1960s. Because it was in international waters 3 miles from the coast, it became an unrecognized sovereign state. Image © Ian Boyle, 7th July 2009

The Sea Fort typology offers a method for deployment. Once it is deployed it is fixed into place, which defeats the purpose of the exchangeable unit. It does, however, offer a flexibility of placement, and may then operate as a node of activity: to provide moorage, safely control electricity, water purification, and other technical aspects necessary to sustain community on the KokAral.

Roy Bates became King Roy, created passports and a currency. Several legal incidents supported Sealand's claims of sovereignty, in which the British government ruled that it was out of their jurisdiction. The first incident involved Sealand firing warning shots at a nearby boat. A second incident occured as some Germans seized the platform, and were captured in a helicopter raid, after which they were held prisoners for several weeks, without the British government being able to get involved. Image © Tony Crowe 1http://www.jingleweb.nl/index.php/paginas/offshore-days-keeps-goin/

 | 

community

isolation

review of conventional water-based architectures

Oil Platforms

Left Deepwater Horizon Rig (before destruction) Right The 25 story Versabar VB10000 is a $100 Million Dollar Oil Rig Remover, capable of removing an oil rig in a single day.

Similar to a Sea Fort, the Oil platform is necessarily more stable. Due to their remote locations, they characteristically have means for continual repair, such as cranes and electricity generators, that sustain its operations.

While satellite imagery of oil rigs is rather difficult to find, NASA published this image to report on the smoke and oil spillage caused by the explosion and fire of the Deepwater Horizon Rig in the Gulf of Mexico. 28.736667,-88.386944 (Deepwater Horizon) Gulf of Mexico image NASA, Earth Observatory

 | 

How to deploy mobile architectures? "mobility, urban structure, linear civic axis, and city as process"

How to deploy mobile architectures?As a waterfront linear expansion with a growing population, an appropriate precedent for the Kok-Aral site is Kenzo Tange’s proposal for Tokyo Bay. With postwar Japan as a backdrop, Kenzo Tange’s 1960 proposal for Tokyo bay was born in a time where industrialized cities all over the world were experiencing urban sprawl. The scheme accomodated Tokyo’s continued expansion and provided a method for it to internally regenerate: effectively imposing a new order for the city that united the part and the whole within an architectural language. It featured a linear series of interlocking loops that would allow Tokyo to expand towards the bay, a gesture that is understood by various authors to have started the decade-long megastructure movement. According to Zhongije Lin, who has authored various texts on Tange and the Metabolists, Kenzo Tange was somewhere between the Western and the Eastern mentalities1. His mentor, Kunio Maekawa had been trained by Le Corbusier. Later Tange had attened the CIAM meetings since 1951, where he connected with Louis Kahn and Team X. Lin argues that his western colleagues inspired the notion of mobility and urban structuring: the notion of infrastructure. The Metabolists, a group of young architects that he mentored, viewed the city as an organic human process, and not a mechanical object as the modernists would have it. He also demonstrated a strong alliance to the idea of Metabolism as city as process, which resonates with Japanese notions of permanence through continual deconstruction/reconstruction cycles such as Ise Shrine’s 60 year lifespan.

 Lin, Zhonjie. "Urban Structure for the Expanding Metropolis: Kenzo Tange's 1960 Plan for Tokyo." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 24.2 (2007): 109-124. Print.

[deployment] Plan for Tokyo; Tokyo, Japan Kenzo Tange, 1960

Lin, Zhongjie. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist movement: urban utopias of modern Japan. New York: Routledge, 2010.

 | 

mobility Tange defined cities with populations of ten million or more as “pivotal cities.” The reason for this term is for the state of confusion in which he found cities such as his contemporary Tokyo, New York and London: they had “grown too old to cope with the current rate of expansion.1” He stressed much importance on the communication systems of a city, but also on the automobile, as it was rapidly proliferating in urban life and changing transportation networks and the relationship between architecture and street. Speed and scale, according to Tange, were changing space itself and its conception.  Lin, Zhonjie. "Urban Structure for the Expanding Metropolis: Kenzo Tange's 1960 Plan for Tokyo." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 24.2 (2007): 109-124. Print. p112

fishing town?!?

A new city and city type will be taking its place, on the nonfunctional remains of its former self.

traffic as generator of design Obviously, this is not the case we find in the Aralsk and Kokaral regions, it is in fact, quite the opposite. We find a desolate landscape, but like pivotal cities, at a point of transition. The “formerly-former” fishing town of Aralsk is lucky to be finding a resurgence. As the North Aral sea is “coming back,” Aralsk, which used to be 64 miles away from the nearest coast at its worst in 2007 is now at about 10 miles, a coast line that will presumably stay there thanks to the Kokaral Dam. We see a repopulating town. As pipelines and railways (re)connect Aralsk with Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the infrastructure will be in place to create a hub of commerce: if not of fish, it is of the exchange of goods, ideas and people.

$ 













 







 | 



1950





Astana





Aralsk 







Muynaq Nukus 



 

   

 Tashkent







      

watershed management...

regional opportunities

 resource management and infrastructure

2007





Astana





Aralsk 







Muynaq Nukus 



 

   



 Tashkent Bukhara







   

   

   

and socioeconomic impact

 | 

rail traffic density approximately 90% of exports in Central Asia travel by rail







Astana





Aralsk 









Muynaq Nukus 



 

   

 Tashkent







     



http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_eng/Content?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/dt59-2009

geo-economics / connectivity

Pipelines, Existing and Proposed







Astana





Aralsk 









Muynaq Nukus 

 



   







 Tashkent Bukhara





   

  

geo-economics / resources

 



 | 

Aralsk, Kazakhstan, 2010 The formerly-former city of Aralsk is populating on the remnants of its former self. Because of its 1970â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s status as one of the largest suppliers of canned fish to the USSR army, it has retained the same urban fabric. Its old industrial buildings are once again being put back to use. The irony of this location is that it is now very distant from the coast, meaning that transport on water is now supplemented with terrestrial transport of fish. The old railways are still in use. As a result, plans are being made to include Aralsk in the extension of pipelines in Central Asia.

     

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Kokaral Dam, Kazakhstan, 2010 The Kokaral Dam has a latent potential as a metabolizing linear system. Railroad, highway infrastructure, and pipelines may easily take advantage of the existing linear fabric. The water-facing North has the opportunity to create a flexible system similar to that which was theorized by Tange. Finally, by replacing Aralsk’s functions along this system, and on the water, Kokaral can achieve a flexible city system that responds to geo-economics, hydrological change, and regional connectivity.

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Implications of Linear City Proposals and Unit Deployment Careful considerations for the deployment of architectural units.

Supporting Infrastucture: Understanding the Kok-Aral as a linear infrastructure that will serve as a backbone to a floating community requires design decisions in terms of how to create relationships between the units and clusters of activity. System Flexibility: Flexibility on the scale of infrastructure guarantees functionality in spite of any possible changes in industry, water level, salinity, and biology. Incrementalism: Community construction on a unit by unit basis allows equitable and integrated participation in community development. The community becomes the sum of individual contributions rather than the single architectural feat. Flotation and Interchangeability: Flotation offers interchangeability of the unit, as a method for shrinkage/growth of individual businesses and measures for their competitiveness. Ease of adaptations to scale of operation will create businesses that otherwise would exist on land. linear city proposals

[organization] linear city proposals

Tokyo Bay, Kenzo Tange, 1960

Tange critiqued the “closed system” nature of pivotal cities, which were and are predominantly organized centripetally, with a civic center at its core. Instead, he proposed an open civic axis, which was emblematic of modern society’s spontaneous mobility. For this reason, the linear expansion strategy boldy started at the existing center of Tokyo, imagining a drastic mutation of the existing city fabric as a consequence of a new unity of city, transportation, and architecture.

Kenzo Tange's Tokyo Bay Proposal, 1960 Kokaral Dam, Kazakhstan, 2007

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Arturo Soria, Ciudad Lineal, 1883 Linear system proposals have been around since the 1880’s, and became popular after WWII, as a method to control urban sprawl and the decentralization of the city. The earliest known example of a linear city proposal was Soria’s proposal for Madrid. This system would connect dense urban centers, and the space enclosed would be devoted to a maximizing of agricultural production. The main backbone, of 50 m width, was to be occupied with a tram, as the commercial automobile was not yet in use. Soria and his partners kept active by promoting the Ciudad Lineal idea in Spain and abroad.

Tony Garnier, Cite Industrielle, 1901-4 Tony Garnier proposed a socialist utopian ideal of living, a city of 35,000. It was located between a mountain and a river, which provided hydroelectricity. This plan allowed vocational schools to be located near their respective industries, and in proximity to all methods of transportation. The arterial avenue connected a linear set of courtyard housing, civic center and port. 1

 [1966] George R. Collins, “ The Linear City,” in Pedestrian in the City: Architect’ s Yera Books, V. 11, ed. David N. Lewis (London: Elek Books), 204-217

linear city proposals

recipro-city linear city by hubs

By re-reading the linear city proposals of Soria and Garnier through the lens of Lebbeus Woods’ “borderline” as applied to the Aral Sea, they reveal that the movement between its ‘urban’ nodes is about reciprocity between strategic points. Each node, or center of activity, becomes a focal point of activity such as fisheries and fish hatcheries, while floating architecture supports ancillary program.

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Roadtown, Edgar Chambless, 1910 It was conceived as an economy of means and construction, maximizing energy, pipes, wires and transportation on a continuous two dimensions, transcontinentally if need be. As a linear city, the proposal established that it was to be surrounded by farmland, so they travel its length to find particular products, but only need the building to gather food. Two stories of living and working spaces were stacked above three lines of railway, with a continuous promenade on the roof. Similar to Arturo Soria’s concept, it was the a transportation spine surrounded by massive agricultural production. Differently, however, it was about creating a megastructure to maximize construction systems.

linear city proposals

Milo Hastings, Solution to Housing, 1919 A separate line of thought evolved from Soria’s Ciudad Lineal. While Roadtown sought to maximize and densify to achieve an economy, Tony Garnier in England and Milo Hastings in the USA felt that the slow transportation methods of the past led to congestion and crowded living areas, where modern trains required only living near a trainstation. This sought to decentralize industry, with nearby housing for workers, intensification of agriculture, and “an increase in productivity through living conditions.1” Hastings proposed U-roads that would contain communal parks.  [1966] George R. Collins, “ The Linear City,” in Pedestrian in the City: Architect’ s Yera Books, V. 11, ed. David N. Lewis (London: Elek Books), 204-217

resource delivery thick infrastructure

Chambless’ and Hastings’ ideas for linear cities gave priority to the machine as the central component of linear expansion. The line itself, the railways, are a method for the machinistic deployment and delivery of industrial resources. When read against “borderlines,” and the latent opportunities of the Aral, it begins to imply a continuous network, a thickened edge, that may distribute supporting systems such as electricity and water through a linear network, as much as people through some sort of railway.

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Ivan Leonidov, Magnitogorsk, 1930 Soviet urbanists’ superblocks were programmed wih nurseries, gymnasia, sports halls, and large cafeterias. Their counterpoint “deurbanists” argued that the massive scale of such proposals was dehumanizing, and as such, an alternative was the continuous strip of smaller neighborhoods had social amenities distributed at regular intervals. Each neighborhood had eight communal houses of sixteen people. In Leodinov’s proposal for Magnitogorsk, group living was arranged for a more casual socialization instead of excessive density. Architecture and nature were more close by removing private lots. Living arrangements were more free, and allowed for more interpersonal relationships. Finally, the planned organization of discrete territories provided a sense of resilience. linear city proposals

Miliutin, Plan for Stalingrad, 1931 Drawing from Garnier, this Marxist adaptation of the linear city ideal was proposed by professor N.A. Miliutin, for a linear city of 100-200,000. The use of parallel zones along the Volga (6) was used to break down the social distinctions between the urban and rural proletariat. Though it was ultimately not adopted for practicality and lack of industrial capacity, it promised the abolition of centralized cities in favor of collectivism, decentralized industry, and mechanized agriculture throughout the indefinite length of the linear city (with collective dwellings). First came the railway (5), then industry (3), green buffer zones (2), highwas (4) and residences (1).

community resilience pockets + gradual infill

Leonidov and Miliutin proposed systems that created pockets of activities for the resilience of their comunities: in hopes of leading to a more casual socialization, and relief from density. An important concept is that because there were no private lots, there is always the removability of the architecture. A parallel can be drawn here because on water, the architecture does not have to be fixed to a piece of land, but can be freely floated.

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MARS plan for London, 1938-1942 MARS, or the Modern Archicetural Research Group, developed the idea of a master plan for Greater London on linear principles. The intention was to control the expansion of London, by organizing industry, commerce, and administration east-west along the Thames and railroads, where residential zones were to be placed in sixteen perpendicular ribs, each a mile wide, separated by two miles of country side. North-south highways would connect the city to the rest of the nation. Historic london is indicated at the center of the drawing, to be retained. With the County of London schemes of 1943-44, the plan was abandoned.

linear city proposals

Ludwig Hilbersheimer, the New City, 40's All of the previous examples, save for Tony Garnierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, concentrate industry on the main trunk of a linear proposal. As a response, Ludwig Hilbersheimer developed a more open system, with what he claimed to be a more efficient transportation system due to the closer proximity of home (above) and working area (below). This creates distinct neighborhood zones. It also incorporates both a main highway, and a local highway, commercial areas, and schools placed in parks between distinct neighborhoods.

expandandability branching structure

The branching proposals for postwar London as applied to the thick edge of the Kok-Aral site is a pattern that is equally adaptable to the land side of the linear structure as much as the water side. The discrete identity of each pier can be maintained while another mutates between fishing and tourist seasons.

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Linear Urban Systems in Vernacular

Linear Village, Iga, Japan Fumihiko Maki, a member of the Metabolists that often theorized with vernacular settlements, published this image in his Investigations in Collective Form book1. His point was that the house was the generator of village form, and the village was the generator of house form, where the house may be replaced without changing the character of the village. What is also useful about this example, as an idea embodied by both Chambless and Soria, is that it condensifies and maximizes human space and effort, to then maximize productive space on its exterior. ď&#x20AC;ą Lin, Zhonjie. "Urban Structure for the Expanding Metropolis: Kenzo Tange's 1960 Plan for Tokyo." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 24.2 (2007): 109-124. Print.

linear city proposals

La Rambla, Barcelona, 1377 - present La Rambla was originally a streambed whose function was tocarry sewage out to sea, and for stormwater management from the nearby hills. In 1377, the city walls enclosed la Rambla, and in 1440 the stream was diverted towards the new walls, and La Rambla slowly became a street. Over the next centuries, it became the 1.2 km-long center of city life in Barcelona. As a thoroughfare it is the heart of the city’s festivals, markets and sports, as well as several religious buildings built along its length. Trees were planted in 1703,.

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city as process "Architecture is situated between the biological and the geological - slower than living things but faster than the underlying geology." -Stan Allen1

ď&#x20AC;ą

Allen, Stan. Landform building: architecture's new terrain. Baden, Switzerland: Lars MuĚ&#x2C6; ller Publishers ;, 2011. Print.

city as process

Cedric Price, Potteries Thinkbelt, 1964.

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Cedric Price, Potteries Thinkbelt, 1964 The Potteries was the industrial center of the ceramic industry in England for 250 years before WWII. As the global economy changed from industrial production of commodities to the production of technological and scientific goods, the Potteries failed to adapt and instead largely fell in disuse. Frustrated with the dilapidated industrial infrastructure that was reduntant all over the North Staffordshire Potteries, Cedric Price proposed turning the infrastructure into a hightechnology university on rails: a Thinkbelt. Price contended that architecture was too slow, and it could therefore not

city as process

solve issues like the Potteries’ state immediately, and were limited to their programmed functions. Primarily, he argued that buildings should be built for adaptability, for unforeseen futures. Architecture should be able to be dismantled. Price thus atempted to rebrand the Potteries as a symbol for science and innovation as the concept for a constantly mutating university. This campus had no single building, but had all of its components displaced in a network of mobile classrooms, laboratories, and supporting spaces on the pre-existing industrial rail lines. The movement allowed constant variation through various transfer points. Architectural strategies for these structures included portable decking and inflatable walls.

info: http://citymovement.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/cedric-prices-potteries-thinkbelt/ images sourced from http://hacedordetrampas.blogspot.ca/2010/10/potteries-thinkbelt-de-cedric-price.html

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ACTIVE

Water and Borders in the Global Context As scientists predict that natural hazards and disruptive events will continue to escalate in frequency, there is a global need to address the capacity of architectural and urban systems to actively recover, mitigate and manage risk, not just to passively perform sustainably. Resilience is defined as the ability of complex systems to adapt to changing conditions. Hydrological change is quickly emerging as an agent of the risk of fixed urban forms due to (1.) floods/ droughts originating from inland watershed interventions and (2.) rising sea levels. On a global scale, this is a timely and relevant effort as it makes todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rapidly urbanizing and populating coastal zones most prone to change. Global Scope

FRONTIER global scope

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bibliography 1. Lin, Zhongjie. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist movement: urban utopias of modern Japan. New York: Routledge, 2010. Zhongije’s book traces the evolution of Metabolism from 1960 until its demise in the World Expo of 1970. The author discusses relevant material as to the successes and failures of the system, as much as the continued life of the projects in theoretical terms and constructed realities. The book has a number of well-documented photographs and sketches belonging to the Metabolist group. 2. de Graaf, Rutger. Adaptive Urban Development. Rotterdam, NL: Rotterdam University, 2012. This study illustrates the theories that drive DeltaSync’s work, in terms of symbiotic ecological and societal relationships between land and water-based architectures. 3. Paul Romer. "Charter Cities | Urbanization Project." Urbanization Project. http://urbanizationproject.org/blog/chartercities# (accessed September 11, 2013). Romer’s blog clearly delineates the basic idea behind the Charter Cities concept, as well as relates it to other functions inside the Urbanization Project. 4. Dreiseitl, Herbert, and Dieter Grau. New waterscapes planning, building and designing with water. Expanded and rev. ed. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2005. This book is particularly useful in addressing waterscapes as large-scale applications of water in landscapes and buildings, describing water as being the fundamental soft element, demonstrating plasticity in form, transparency, reflectivity, refractivity, color, movement and sound. The authors are also concerned about the fact that cities are expanding worldwide. Natural spaces such as forests, meadows and wetlands are being consumed and displaced. Water is rarely thought of as a polluted, though “we drink it everyday, use it to keep clean, to promote a sense of well-being, and for recreation… it is generally and constantly available, naturally and through technology, the frequent precipitation in our latitudes, and running water in our homes all seem to give the lie to the idea that water could be a problem.” (p. 130) This attitude is certainly useful in terms of thinking about water-based architectures in terms of exploiting programs and details that would otherwise take these things for granted. Problem of quantity and of quality People have become accustomed to the fact that rivers are not suitable for bathing, or springs for drinking. Even tap water is distrusted. Air-conditioning, cleaning cars, and flushing toilets. Significant elements of urban life are no longer directly visible, including water and electricity. This highlights the need to regain an experience of the natural and technical context of urban life. 5. Moore, Charles Willard, and Jane Lidz. Water and architecture. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1994. This book expands on the symbolism of water in architecture, providing a well documented set of photographs. It elaborates on the meaning of water in architectural history, the use of public fountains, islands, rivers as communication, and water’s role in general at the architectural scale.

6. Wylson, Anthony. Aquatecture: architecture and water. London: Architectural Press, 1986. Wylson provides a comprehensive study of the waterfront, in historical and sociocultural context, but elaborates quite a bit in the waterfront and what it means to maritime cities, water corridors, seaside resorts, before studying the architectural detail and the technical details of water spaces. 7. Leeuwen, Thomas A. P. van, and Helen Searing. The springboard in the pond: an intimate history of the swimming pool. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1998. Leeuwen comprehensively studies the architectural history and implications of the swimming pool, where water is used as a social factor for space. He describes swimming as a complex bodily sensation, with water as a primitive force with tactile quality, that is once erotic and at the same time reminds one of the imediacy of death. 8. Kasperson, Jeanne X., Roger E. Kasperson, and B. L. Turner. Regions at risk: comparisons of threatened environments. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 1995. Kasperson and Turner, from the point of view of government and geography, hold that human-induced environmental change is found ubiquitously around the globe, and expand on nine particular regions that are considered “critical environmental regions,” which are particularly vulnerable and suffering from degradation. Their studies make available and clear vast amounts of data, and provides an elaborate understanding of the Aral Sea Basin catastrophe. 9. Greenberg, Melanie C., John H. Barton, and Margaret E. McGuinness. Words over war: mediation and arbitration to prevent deadly conflict. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000. This book discusses how the international community can prevent deadly conflict. The Aral Sea Basin appears in Chapter 3: “Intermediation in Noncivil Conflicts,” examining the history of the dispute over water resources and water quality. It holds, “Shared freshwater resources present problems for the international system of nation-states because water does not adhere to political boundaries.” This will be useful in studying the politics at large involved in the Aral Sea Basin case. 10. Patteeuw, Véronique. City branding: image building & building images. Rotterdam: NAi, 2002. In terms of City Branding, Patteeuw describes the value and creation of the city’s branded image within the context of the experience economy and the leisure industry. Considering the Bilbao effect, the author exploers how a city competitively positions itself in a global environment for tourism, in the eyes fo the inhabitants, companies and investors. 11. Reisner, Marc. Cadillac desert: the American West and its disappearing water. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking, 1986. This book describes the American West’s water crisis, as water is evidently a precious resource. It will help draw parallels to the Aral Sea situation. It documents Western expansion as related to the power of acquisition of water resources, and to the diversion and damming of American rivers 12. Brown, Kate. "Gridded Lives: Why Kazakhstan and Montana are Nearly the Same Place." The American Historical Review 106, no. 1 (2001): 17-47. jstor.org (accessed October 8, 2013).  | 

To help more clearly make the relationship between the American plains and Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan in terms of water resource management and food production. 13. Precoda, Norman. "Requiem for the Aral Sea." Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 20, no. 3/4 (1991): 109-114. http:// www.jstor.org/stable/4313794 (accessed September 16, 2013). This article very clearly illustrates the workings of the Aral Sea situation in a manner that is very comprehensible. 14. Goes Soft: Bracket. Barcelona: Actar, 2012. 15. Corner, James, and Alex S. MacLean. Taking measures across the American landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. 16. Mehaffy , Michael , and Nikos A. Salingaros. " Toward Resilient Architectures 1: Biology Lessons - Point of View March 2013." Metropolis Magazine - Covering Architecture, Culture & Design. http://www.metropolismag.com/Point-ofView/March-2013/Toward-Resilient-Architectures-1-Biology-Lessons/ (accessed October 14, 2013). 17. Woods, Lebbeus, and Ekkehard Rehfeld, eds., Borderline. New York: Springer Wien, 1998. 18. Busquets, Joan, and Felipe Correa. Cities, X lines: a new lens for the urbanistic project = Ciudades, X formas : una nueva mirada hacia proyecto urbanistico. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Graduate School of Design ;, 2006. Print. 19. LeCuyer, Annette W.. ETFE technology and design. Basel: BirkhaĚ&#x2C6;user, 2008. Print.

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