perennial drift : speculating possible futures for dust by Katrina Galea

Katrina Galea MA Architecture (Digital Media) University of Westminster 2021/22

perennial drift

Speculating possible

f u t u re s f o r d u s t . .

. . a n o v e r l o o k e d p ro d u c t o f Maltese Landscapes of Extraction

Landscapes of extraction are agents of displacement and deposition, through which deep geological time is disrupted for any form of anthropocentric motive. This active relationship between humans and ground is not a linear process of creating negative and positive space, but a complex system controlled by several entities, all of which impact the distribution of the mass being displaced. Taking the Maltese scenario as a main reference, the process of extraction has been seen to be a condition deeply rooted in the Maltese civilisation’s history, actively changing the landscape and, along with it, cultural memory. With the direct action of cutting and building, limestone is given form and meaning through its displacement, defining a special urban landscape where the built and unbuilt are one and the same. As the growth of the construction industry persists on a small island with very limited resources, questions of identity, meaning and legacy emerge. Limestone, the island’s only buildable resource, is over-extracted, while imported materials interfere with the legibility between source and product of the Maltese built environment. This thesis project is centred around a product of limestone extraction which is often unaccounted for - airborne dust and particulate matter. Significant losses in volume arise as stone is extracted, dressed, processed and transported as it morphs into a built form, as dust is released from Earth into the atmosphere. Dust indirectly affects the Maltese population in a multitude of ways and across different scales, as it shapes daily life and the way the Maltese culture has shaped itself. This open-ended project sees dust as condition, a temporary state of flux, and speculates the potential creation of eventual architectures or landforms from this material. By looking across multiple scales of time and various levels of control, different mechanisms of collection, deposition and transformation are explored to question the possibility of the creation of new (land) forms serving as a testament to extraction.

Perennial Drift : Speculating possible futures for dust, an overlooked product of Maltese Landscapes of Extraction by Katrina Galea w1803133

A Thesis Project submitted to the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster, London In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts MA Architecture (Digital Media) 2021/22

FORM

the petrol pump (excerpt)

definitions

ORIGIN context

ORGANISATION

15 20

landscapes of extraction

in volumes

MIGRATION disrupt to create a maltese condition drift

TRANSFORMATION systems

SETTLEMENT

CLOUD FOLDER

93 94 98 112

131 132

165

reflections

166

bibliography

174

(form)

particle simulations.

This report is a collection of work done throughout the year, a build-up towards a thesis which deals with the hidden constituents of landscapes of extraction. Devices and experiments created during the year are distributed across the work, depending on their relevance to the argument being discussed. The project strives to provoke and not to find direct solutions. It questions, and may not directly answer. It does not aim to reinvent the wheel, but to contemplate different routes across different scales and times by understanding extraction and drift as a process. It looks at ways we have used our material, our relationship with the ground, as a means of informing possible scenarios to return to, while also speculating future deviations from it.

italo calvino

the petrol pump 10

Calvino, Italo. “The Petrol Pump.” In Numbers in the Dark. Translated by Parks, Tim, 170-175: Penguin Books, 1974.

I should have thought of it before, it’s too late now. It’s after twelve thirty and I didn’t remember to fill up; the service stations will be closed until three.

If I set off now there’s a danger I’ll run out on the way; the gauge has been warning me for quite a while that the tank is in reserve.

I had plenty of time to think about it, as usual I’ve been irresponsible; when the red light begins to wink on the dashboard I don’t pay attention, or I put things off, I tell myself that there’s still the whole reserve to use up, and then I forget about it.

Now when the light comes on it transmits a sense of alarm, of menace, at once vague and impending, that is the message I pick up and record along with the many angst-ridden signs sedimenting down among the folds of my consciousness, dissolving in a state of mind that I can’t shake off, but that doesn’t prompt me to any precise practical action as a consequence, such as, for example, stopping at the first pump I find and filling it up. Or is it an instinct for making savings that gripped me, a reflex miserliness: as I become aware that my tank is about to run out,

my attention focuses on sucking up the last dribbles of fuel; I press the pedal as if the tank were a lemon that must be squeezed without wasting a drop I slow down; no: I accelerate, my instinctive reaction being that the faster I go, the further I’ll get with this squeeze, which could be the last.

Every year two million tons of crude are brought up from the earth’s crust where they have been stored for millions of centuries in the folds of rocks buried between layers of sand and clay.

They have been warning us for quite a while that underground global reserves can’t last more than twenty years or so.

No, maybe that’s what happened in the past being careless like that and forgetting about it: in the days when petrol still seemed as plentiful as the air itself.

so I sense refinery stocks dwindling, and likewise oil pipeline flows, and the loads in tankers ploughing the seas; drill-bits probe the depths of the earth and bring up nothing but dirty water; my foot on the accelerator grows conscious of the fact that its slightest pressure can burn up the last squirts of energy our planet has stored;

definitions Kuschler, cited in Müller, Liana. “Landscapes of Memory: Interpreting and Presenting Places and Pasts.” In South African Landscape Architecture, edited by Hindes, Clinton, Hennie Stoffberg and Liana Müller, 7-26: Unisa Press, 2012. 1

Sauer, Carl. The Morphology of Landscape. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1938.. 2

Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

4 Müller, Liana. “Landscapes of Memory: Interpreting and Presenting Places and Pasts.” In South African Landscape Architecture, edited by Hindes, Clinton, Hennie Stoffberg and Liana Müller, 7-26: Unisa Press, 2012.

GEMET. “Sedimentation (Geology).” Accessed 15 November, 2021. https://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/en/concept/7563. 5.

definitions landscape

A landscape consists of the visible association of features and forms of an area of land, its landforms and how they integrate with natural or man-made features - A “physical manifestation of a culture’s understanding of its past and future”1.

cultural landscape

The symbiosis of culture and landscape - both physical and intangible manifestations of the interaction between humankind and its ‘natural’ environment.2

nature

Systemic processes, not necessarily void of human influence/interference. As Morton argues, there is no nature without humans, as traces of human presence have infiltrated the most remote of areas around the planet.3

landscapes of extraction

Landscapes characterised by a process of extraction through human intervention for a particular motive. They can be of any scale and of any kind - from a large scale quarry to tunnels to rock carvings - in either case, there are always physical and intangible manifestations involved between human and territory.

monument

A form or structure of commemoration, through the memory and cultural meaning instilled in its narrative.4

sedimentation

The process of accumulating sediment in layers, including such processes as filtration, transportation, deposition or settling of the particles, the chemical and other changes occurring in the sediment, and the ultimate consolidation of the sediment into solid rock.5

the maltese islands

the mediterranean.

gozo

population 514,564 2 316 km² 3 area sedimentary (limestone); geology upper oligocene - upper miocene, 20 - 8 million years ago 3

Google Earth, 2021

National Statistics Office, Malta. News Release, 2020.

Pedley, H. M., M. R. House, and B. Waugh. “ The Geology of Malta and Gozo.” Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 27, no. 3 (1976): 325-341. 3

Bianco, Lino. The Industrial Minerals of the Maltese Islands : A General Introduction Upper Secondary School Valletta, 1995.

Refer to appendix for more information on Maltese geology.

comino

malta

maltese architectural stone ** softstone ‘franka’

globigerina limestone, soft-stone typically used as blockwork 4 (avg block size: 24x28x56cm)

heavily eroded (characteristic ‘honeycomb’ effect)

freshly-cut, recently dressed (extracted, cut to size)

hardstone ‘qawwi’

upper & lower coralline limestone, hard-stone. typically used as aggregate for concrete or asphalt production 4

(origin)

particle simulations.

the island of comino

dingli cliffs

ta’ lippija, northwest malta

the jesuit church, valletta

context Hastorun, cited in Miodragovic Vella, Irina. “A Stereotomic Approach to Regional Digital Architecture.” University of Malta, 2019. 1

Tonna, cited in Miodragovic Vella, Irina. “A Stereotomic Approach to Regional Digital Architecture.” University of Malta, 2019. 2

Hughes, Karel J. “Persistent Features from a PalaeoLandscape: The Ancient Tracks of the Maltese Islands.” The Geographical Journal 165, no. 1 (1999): 62-78.

Being a small archipelago located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Maltese Islands, an initial reference for this project, could be said to have been exposed to changing influences yet a fixed materiality. With an area just above 300 km2, the constrained land hosts “very few mineral resources except for clay, limestone and salt, and no indigenous mineral fuel resources” 1. A Maltese cultural landscape emerged from a context defined by limited resources and accessibility, with limestone being the only building material available. With the direct action of cutting and building, limestone was given form and meaning through its displacement, defining a special urban landscape where the built and unbuilt were one and the same. Even as building typologies became more complex throughout the ages, the use of Maltese stone and the development of its affordance persisted. Traditional Maltese architecture could therefore be defined as displaced landscape, and is special in its legibility, particularly through the relation between source and product (remnant and extract), as well as the adaptations/occupations present within the stone itself. The lack of material variation and limited technology tied the traditional methods of working to manual labour and minimal use, and extensive reuse, of non-local materials. Traditional architectural practice was therefore based on simple tools, techniques, and details yet featured highly technical skills. Similarly, due to the laborious processes of extraction, transport, dressing, and assembly of limestone ashlars, material was rarely discarded but was continuously reused and re-engaged, either in its original capacity or as gravel. Its design thinking and methods of working were grounded in self-reliance, frugality, and careful husbandry of Malta’s limited resources 2. This limitation also called for the landscape itself to be occupied and inhabited - with numerous cave dwellings, shelters and makeshift homes scattered all around the island, particularly along coastlines and karstic landscape formations. On the other hand, Malta’s strategic position in the Mediterranean region instigated a continuously increasing connectivity that prompted an increased influx of intangible goods. Since the intangible goods, such as knowledge, skills, ideas, and influences were susceptible to contextual assimilations, they continuously expanded the design thinking and methods of working with the landscape. As a result, the Maltese traditional architectural practice emerged as one which, although limited to a strict context, was constantly evolving through new knowledge on a single material whose affordances were gradually revealed as responses to multiple design constraints of climate, structure, utility, and socio-cultural concerns 2. As Hugh suggests, the power of island landscapes lies in the physical isolation of societies which allows the cultivation of distinct cultures with unique perceptions expressed in the landscape. Throughout history, a number of culturally significant characteristics emerged as remnants of the interaction between society and the raw material available, which persist as reflections of a rich cultural heritage in a transformed landscape. 3

maltese stone (mainly globigerina limestone) in all its forms throughout the years - from landform to eroded/obsolete form.

It can therefore be said that the material-based Maltese traditional architectural practice was bottom-up and process-driven, and that there has been a constant redefinition of the concept of Maltese identity through stone’s form. The process of extraction has been seen to be a condition deeply rooted in the Maltese civilisation’s history, actively changing the landscape and, along with it, cultural memory. The traces of the products and constituents of extraction act as testaments to the process itself, thus serving as active monuments through which some form of meaning can be instilled. However, over the last few decades, a cultural and economic shift due to an increased geopolitical connectivity brought about changes in perspectives, values and materiality, and the relationships between man and land, intent and result, are now being challenged. The result of this change has been a rapid increase in construction dependent on imported materials, aesthetics and technologies, favouring economies of production. The limits of the islands bind the practice within a highly restrictive design space and further emphasises the effects of growth, which contrasts heavily with the continuous landscape of vernacular and traditional architectural practices. That which still is being extracted from the islands is becoming increasingly visible as supply demands grow, and the shift in use from ashlar stone cutting to aggregate manufacturing for concrete production means that the legibility of the extracted material from its source is being negated. This disjunction between past and present ways in which the Maltese culture has dealt with stone has been the key reference behind this project exploring the relationships between territory, materiality and human interaction, and the interactions that happen in order to create interventions of significance, particularly through the process of material extraction.

occupation manipulation

man-made pans for salt extraction - one of the earliest trades in malta

stone serving as the functional and the symbolic

occupation within stone : from natural caves to man-made dwellings

continuation

from sea shore, to shelter, to masonry

a continuation of landscapes

a new landscape

disjunction

(organisation)

particle simulations.

landscapes of extraction

Our interaction and occupation with and within the landscape is essentially a complex set of relationships, relating the principles of nature, culture, form, memory and identity. It is also the way we perceive landscapes which creates the distinction between raw materiality and landmass. Through our knowledge and observations, we can read a landscape as a testament of time, with its layers filled with both natural and cultural values which inform the richness and depth of the place. Additionally, an understanding of activities, traditions and rituals that occur within a place, as well as the forms and symbols that emerge, continue to establish the abundance of cultural significance, as well as the emergence of values which people assimilate to, which in turn create a sense of identity within which the formation of memory is afforded. This shows that both the physical and intangible correspond to the creation of a sense of place, as well as the establishment of meaning associated with landscapes. They provide a framework for narration, be it that of an individual, a place or a community. Extraction can be defined as the activity by which a condition or a material is withdrawn from its original environment, in order to redefine its function - the disruption of deep geological time to create a new form through which a new function or meaning can be assigned. Extractive landscapes can be said to exist through the process that defines them: that disruption which leads to displacement of a material and the meaning that emerges out of the displacement. They narrate stories of displacement and transformation - therefore, extraction cannot be thought of as an isolated activity, but as a process. The act of displacement is an active act of intervention into the ground (the creation of negative space), as well as of manipulation of that which has been removed (the positive space). By looking at extraction as an intervention, as the main event, the act itself becomes an opportunity for the material to become, to transform. Methods and intents are various (in both extraction and manipulation), what matters is that the moment of release of material from ground is a defining moment in its life cycle - a start of a new journey. With stone being such an integral part of the Maltese natural landscape, it is inevitable to notice that the extractive process actively transforms the island’s natural landscape, however we can now acknowledge that this process also transforms the culture that is shaped by it and around it. It is undeniable that stone has a complex geological language of its own, however the cultural language and significance that it offers is one which is just as intricate, as it evolves over time through its different purposes. This would consist of the condition which leads to extraction (be it physical or intangible), the mechanism by which extraction takes place, and also the meaning that emerges.

“The essence of these landscapes is in the narrative they present, and through the memory and cultural meaning instilled in them, they can be therefore seen as monuments. They serve as active monuments which do not necessarily freeze the concept of time and dictate a particular story, but allow varying degrees of interpretation and perception. Through the unformalised layers of presentation of this extractive landscape, multiple stories of collective memory are illustrated. This landscape is authentic in a way that it does not contest the reality of past and present culture, but rather reveals the complexity of it and how it has evolved over time. It can be seen as an excavation on its own, revealing the levels of stories and memories that lie beneath the surface, allowing for the constant reconstruction and reinterpretation of the past.” *

* excerpt from essay ‘displace/define’, full piece found in appendix

landscapes of extraction. limits of siggiewi, malta.

għar ta’ zamberat, malta.

rock-cut faces. għar ta’ zamberat, malta.

inhabited voids

softstone blockwork

contemporary practices

qala quarry, gozo.

Point cloud data source : Planning Authority, Malta,2018. (image by author)

qala quarry, gozo, in photogrammetry.

softstone quarries in qrendi, malta.

Point cloud data source : Planning Authority, Malta, 2018. (image by author)

softstone quarries in qrendi, malta, in photogrammetry.

experimentation (a)

An experiment centred around the concept of stone being a symbol of national identity, questioning the role of material extracted in a culture’s identity by targeting instances at which a material or form stops being identifiable. Through the use of machine learning, a system was designed to operate through a process of disruption/displacement of a material, and with an iterative process of manipulation, the system ‘interrogates’ the material, as it tries to identify the national traits in it to classify it as belonging to a culture’s identity.

Miodragovic Vella, Irina. “A Stereotomic Approach to Regional Digital Architecture.” University of Malta, 2019.

Pallasmaa, Juhani. “Hapticity and Time.” The Architectural Review no. 207 (May, 2000): 78-84. 2

Extracts constitute the raw material being displaced from its surroundings in order to redefine its function. Taking the case of ashlar stone, in particular in softstone quarrying, the direct action of cutting and building gives stone meaning through its placement, defining a landscape with settlements undulating across the terrain, making the built and unbuilt one and the same. In the case of Maltese architecture, the limestone, and its strict constraints had to respond to all architectural concerns. “In short, any pursued design intents were subservient, and thus secondary, to the design thinking and methods of working formulated by limestone. As a result, the Maltese traditional architectural practice actualised built forms that did not comply with stylistic classifications and taxonomies of the hinterland context, albeit in the treatment of their surface ornamentation” 1. As architecture is inhabited, meaning is instinctively associated by the personal user. However as a typology grows in popularity and becomes a cultural symbol, collective memory starts to emerge and the relationship between culture and landscape becomes evident. The tactility and the materiality of stone also holds a lot of potential for meaning - its sensory invitation and its depth offers timelessness through its authenticity. The way it ages and changes over time is purely the inverse of an artificial condition negating the concept of time. Stone can be said to invoke liminal spaces through a haptic architecture - “It seeks to accommodate rather than impress, evoke domesticity and comfort rather than admiration and awe” 2. Through advancements in technology and the growing geopolitical connections, the possibility of new materialities and a change in values bring about a change in the way the built environment is perceived, and the primary use of Maltese hardstone started to be as an agent in the production of concrete, therefore becoming a ‘secondary’ material. Therefore it cannot be read in its entirety through its architecture, rather the scale of the void left behind can be seen as a testament much more true to its being.

experimentation (a)

A series of photographs of different kinds of Maltese stone in different states was ‘fed’ to Google’s Teachable Machine. Photos of built environments which were not in Malta, as well as photographs of different materials were also included in the non-Maltese class.

teachable machine sketch. *

Video - refer to link provided

device 2 when the stone = identity relationship is challenged

MEDIUM

materials : colour/texture

feeding information

mechanisms resulting forms

EVENT intervention / manipulation

local context

assembly

MEDI

TOOLS

machine learning

INSPECTION / INTERROGATION

teachable machine

vibration senso

repeat until unrecognisable arduino

processing

blen

read values

write values

valu geom

data is heigh of each box rotate each box / value incrementallly

is this maltese stone? can this be traced to its original context? what level intervention does it take to lose / change identity?

device system diagram.

from land to block. qala, gozo.

concrete blocks blocking a historical portal. birkirkara, malta.

experimentation (b)

Finding new ways of creating traces of tools and the process, producing new artefacts through resistances of material. As legibility between source, tool and product is being negated in new industrial processes, this device aims to question the possibility of creating new records or artefacts out of the process of extraction to retain meaning. By trying to find new ways of quantifying the process of displacement, the resistance of a material was measured and quantified through touch sensors to create forms out of the data relating to this resistance. The data allowed the possibility to draw artefacts/ compositions out of events with drawings as records of the process.

There are several cases of traditional buildings across Malta in which the building site itself served as the quarry, with the lowest part of the void transforming into a well. Additionally, quarries are often part of a town’s periphery, and tool markings present in quarries, as well as the stone itself, serve as records of the methods used.

Narratives of landscapes of extraction remain accessible through the visual testimony of the land, with traces of the process remaining visible in voids and their surroundings. From extensive terraced quarries to tool markings and dormant machines,voids lie at the intersection of landscape, geology, technology, and culture. The intent behind the process may either be to make use of that which is being extracted, or to transform the void - in either case, a trace of the process is always left behind. Resultant forms of voids also serve as records of the process, from the precise cuts arising from ashlar stone quarrying to the seemingly haphazard volumes of blast-driven quarries for stone aggregates. Given the limited size of the islands, legibility between source and product (extract and remnant) is generally present. ** The question lies in whether one can assimilate meaning through the form of a void with current cultural conversations. As the scale of contemporary quarries grows steadily along with the rising demands of the construction industry, they serve as a record of that which has been extracted from nature to serve the growth of a society - be it in the name of culture or economy. However, with blasting techniques being used in hardstone extraction, tool traces are not as legible, and what remains is an undefined wound in the rock face. Additionally, with the increase of imported materials, voids attesting to these products are no longer part of a landscape belonging to a single culture.

experimentation (b) The data was used to create a bar chart in 3 dimensional form, with a small rotational increment applied to each consecutive value. This resulted in a helix-like structure, and although the form of this is arbitrary, the scope of this exercise was to explore ways a process could be quantified, and navigating possibilities of using data to create form.

blender sketch.

device 3 when landscape no longer presents traces of process within itself

MEDIUM

OOLS

TOOLS

EVENT

vibration sensor

repeat until unrecognisable arduino

processing

blender

read values

write values

value to geometry

RECORD RESISTANCE

MAP VALUES

data is height of each box rotate each box / value incrementallly

FABRICATE

new emergent artefacts / new traces of events to be archived

device system diagram.

tool traces at softstone (globigerina) quarry. qrendi, malta

quarry blast remnants. qala, gozo.

logic of cuts experimentation (c)

sel to superstructures

slice

extract

serrate

scrape

twist

snip

After documenting a wide range of tools of various forms and sizes from different fields tangible / product of knowledge (woodworking, construction, surgery, dentistry, metalworking etc), tools could be abstracted and categorised according intangible / meaning to the logic behind their movement: slicing, serrating, snipping, twisting, picking, and scraping. Small scale tools which follow these movements were obtained (scissors / has the/toolsurgical taken over meaning? 1mm drill bit / tweezers / peeler bucket wheel/excavators blade serrated knife/ clipper) and tested for surface mining ; largest vehicles produced in the world on raw, unfired clay due to its malleability. continuous digging machine wheel f continuous pattern The action was: large documented, while observing of buckets used to scoop material as wheel turns. the motion of the tool, the action of components: removal as well as the form that remains. 1. bucket wheel The process was documented and filmed - it superstructures? 2. discharge boom 3. conterweight boom that shots were highly zoomed in was ensured 4. cutting boom and no reference to the external context was 5. movemeny systems beneath structure made. The parallels between this minuscule applications: scale and much larger scales can easily be 1. lignite mining (inc. coal) 2. materials handling transport drawn. The /observed actions and remnants can 3. heap leaching (constructed stacks of crushed material to be said to be an example of the uncanny which a solvent is applied to extract valuable materials) things are almost real, but not quite.

cutting out / cutting in zooming out / zooming in

landscape simulations eg. Horror Vacui – Exploring Earth’s (un)real geological formations (2018)

blur the distinction between reality and a digital recreation of it.

Mumford, Lewis. Technics and Civilisation. United Kingdom: Routledge, 1934. 1

device

The tool developed as an extension to the human body, to achieve that which the hands, the eyes and the senses are limited to do, or aid them in doing so. The aim is either to extend the powers of the otherwise unarmed organism, or to manufacture outside of the body a set of conditions more favourable toward maintaining its equilibrium and ensuring its survival. There is always a sort of environmental adaptation. Lewis Mumford clearly distinguishes between the tool and the machine, but clearly states that every technological complex includes both, and both play a major part in the development of the modern environment. The essential distinction between a machine and a tool lies in the degree of independence on the operation from the skill and motive power of the operator: the tool lends itself to manipulation, the machine to automatic action. The degree of complexity is unimportant: for using the tool, the human hand and eye perform complicated actions which are the equivalent, in function, of a well-developed machine; while on the other hand, there are highly effective machines, like the drop hammer, which do very simple tasks, with the aid of a relatively simple mechanism.1 In general, the machine emphasises specialisation of function, whereas the tool indicates flexibility : a planing machine performs only one operation, whereas a knife can be used to smooth wood, to carve it, to split it, or to pry open a lock, or to drive in a screw. The automatic machine is a very specialised kind of adaptation; it involves the notion of an external source of power, a more or less complicated inter-relation of parts, and a limited kind of activity. From the beginning, the machine was a sort of minor organism, designed to perform a single set of functions. 1 Extraction tools and machines comprise of a wide range of mechanisms, depending on the scale of the operation, the form of the remnant desired and the properties of the material being disrupted. The traces of tools often remain visible through the remnant, and serve as a testament to the process. Although varied, the logic behind the physical action is often very similar, and the movement pattern behind extraction is either perpendicular (cut / blast) or parallel (shear) to the surface being disrupted.

initial experimentations

Video - refer to link provided

experimentation (c) This setup aims to simulate the process of extraction, but navigates between the physical and the digital world. Through the device, an archive of displacements and scars can be developed. The physical action of cutting following a particular tool/logic is digitally recorded, and through graphic manipulation and scaling the extent of the physical cut can transform into new emergent digital landscapes.

DIGITAL RECORD

PHYSICAL RECORD

MEDIUM

TOOLS

EVENT

REPEAT

SCAN

tools

extract / residue

endoscope / processing / blender

void

digitise

typical assembly

tools

void

DISPLAY

additive assemblies

FABRICATE

DISPLAY

COMPARE

...and?

device system diagram.

extract

Through the setup presented, an endoscope camera is used to record a physical manipulation of a clay surface through a cutting / drilling process. Each frame of the recorded process is converted into a displacement map, which in turn is used to manipulate a three dimensional plane. By having a real-time connection between the physical process and the development of the digital plane, the process consists of a constant navigation between the two realms. One is confined to physical constraints, and the other is confined to a proportional limit defined by the information it is being fed. The real-time connection between the endoscope and the digital was established through a Processing sketch, in which the brightness of each pixel of the frame being captured is recorded. The value of this brightness (which exists in a range from 0 to 255) is then used as the displacement value in the z-axis of that particular point of the frame. For a smooth landscape, the brightness of each neighbouring pixel (around its corners) is also recorded. Several three dimensional models of the simulated landscapes were created using the displacement maps generated on 3d modelling software, which were then 3d printed for exhibiting. Parallels between the original and the fabricated could be drawn.

serrated landscape

peeled landscape

drilled landscape

The original intent for this thesis project was to create a ‘catalogue of wounds’, serving as a visual diary of all the processes examined so far, thus serving as a method of showcasing the ways the Maltese society has interacted with its land. It would question the possibility for these traces to become new artefacts to be saved and archived for future scenarios to come. It would visualise the processes of extraction, defining the constituents and the logic behind the process as well as examples of them in use. The majority of tools used in processes of extraction can be recreated on a small scale, which enables recreation on a small scale for simulations. Through the creation of digital three dimensional models of landscapes of extraction, possibility for a digital intervention emerges.

Focus was shifted away from this path after realising the outcomes of this process were not speculative and critical enough for the scope of the work, and other avenues needed to be explored.

Animation - refer to link provided

digital voids.

fabricated voids.

excavator. siggiewi, malta

core drillers for explosives. qala, gozo.

ta’ zuta hardstone quarry. siggiewi, malta.

in volumes

Landscapes of extraction, through all their constituents, act as agents of displacement and deposition. Upon cataloguing and understanding different methods of extraction present on the islands, the Maltese built environment can be described as a displaced landscape, as stone is released from the earth and reconfigured in ways to conform to a culture’s intent and needs. By looking at extraction, or the act of displacing landscape, as an ongoing practice rooted in Maltese culture, rather than distinct or complete, one can highlight the dynamic ways in which materials are displaced and assembled together through the temporality of the practice. Stone can be seen as a medium of action, rather than as an object set in a record, and it is therefore imperative to shift focus upon practices of displacement and arrangement rather than ascribing a fixed set of traits to a built object or a void. Focus is therefore shifted not on the potential function of the built environment (dwelling/ritual/infrastructural etc.) but on the process of cutting surfaces and intervening into the landscape for any purpose - i.e architecture is seen as a disrupted landscape, and, in the scope of the project, program is irrelevant. The process is that of shifting material from one place through dismembering, splitting, transforming and relocating a volume of mass. Accurately quantifying volumes of displaced material and its journey is an arduous task, however upon simple observation of various processes of extraction, it was clear that the active relationship of humans with ground is not a linear, romanticised process of creating positive and negative space, but significant discrepancies in volumes arise as imported materials are added (such as Portland cement in the case of concrete production), yet also lost throughout the process; as they turn to waste or as they are released from the earth into the atmosphere, and perhaps temporarily, lost.

intent a driver behind the process life form

shelter / survival knowledge / education necessity / resource growth / capitalistic sacred

r.o.2 invisible/neglected PM10/PM2.5/dust

r.o.1 visible/inert waste

main output stone (block form)

void (possible inhabitation)

embedded knowledge

Vella, Alfred J. and Renato Camilleri. Fine Dust Emissions from Softstone Quarrying in Malta Malta Chamber of Scientists, 2005. 1

Vella, A & Camilleri, R. calculated estimates of fine respirable dust (PM10) emission from softstone quarrying techniques, to show that the rate of PM10 emission in production of n stones is 0.38 n kg, amounting to 13.3% of dust volume per block; taking into account mitigation of dust release during the wet months, it is estimated that the 67 active open pit quarries which lie in close proximity (0.2 to 2 km) to urban centres generate, annually, about 1200 tonnes of PM10 dust.

A study by Vella, A. & Camilleri, R., states that airborne dust pollution in soft stone block extraction and production amounts to almost 15% the volume of a stone block produced 1, but the traces this extract leaves behind are often unaccounted for. **

experimentation (d)

Using basic mathematical methods, volumes presented through this study were compared proportionally, and using computational methods, each of the volumes was constrained to have the same planar area of a cube (to replicate the surface area of a void), and its depth being the one that changes according to volume, in order to be able to compare the differences in volumes of different constituents. In order to emphasize the fact that a significant portion of this volume is unaccounted for, the volumes were then reconfigured whilst still being restricted to the same cross-sectional area, having the viewer’s perception of extracted volumes change upon looking around the piece.

volume distribution, grasshopper.

MEDIUM

TOOLS

EVENT void

residual output 2 : particulate matter

visible

residual output 1 : inert waste

through reuse, reprocessing, decay

(in)visible

visible

main output

stone block becomes waste & dust, waste becomes dust

extraction no longer seen as linear creation of positive / negative space

REPEAT UNTIL ALL TURNS TO DUST

RECORD VOLUME

invisible! MO+RO1+(RO2) = VOID

dust as the only consistently additive process

imported material

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN/SHOULD CONTROL THIS?

volumetric surveying / local research values fabrication of volume breakdown

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oganisation / optimisation of volume in specfic form additive assembly

random organisation waste

digitizise / visualise digitally / spatially

same algorithm, diff number of blocks.

point cloud

system diagram.

3d printed volume distributions.

processing sketch

Animation - refer to link provided

Through the iterative, repetitive process as stone is dressed, processed, transported and is then recycled / goes to waste when the architecture goes through decay, the release of particulate matter can be seen as the only consistently additive process

“For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Genesis, 3:19 85

dust over the quarry. qala, gozo.

This numerical proportion has been the main driver behind the final development of this thesis, and although the scope of the project is not strictly scientific, from it stemmed several questions and investigations. Where does this dust go? When will it settle and what form shall it have? How will surrounding processes affect it? Now that we are aware of this significant amount of local material drifting in our atmosphere, to what extent should we attempt to control or reclaim it? Is there a way of claiming ownership of it? Should we?

quarry blast I. mellieha, malta

quarry blast II. mellieha, malta

dust covered lands. qala, gozo.

(migration)

particle simulations.

disrupt to create

Practices of extraction do not just invoke the concept of time, they can also interrupt it. As the rotary saw makes its way through the layers of stone in a matter of minutes or seconds, it cuts through that which required millions of years to become. Human beings and their practices have become geologic agents. Methods of stone extraction can be seen as processes of material displacement through disruptions of deep geological time through human intervention. They embody one major anthropocentric shift, a discontinuity in earth’s development following millions of years of land formation. Following these moments of disruption and release, resulting airborne dust will restart the process of transportation, deposition, sedimentation and compaction over deep time. Perhaps this process will contribute to the creation of a new landscape, that which would have emerged as a result of human disruption. If this connection is legible, these landscapes/ landforms can serve as new monuments to the age of extraction, serving as testaments to the process that happened from years to eons ago; processes which were necessary for our species to survive, but may have escalated beyond our control. We are now at a point where we need to establish to what extent we are to control this. The concept of nature as we know it has been radically altered. In the Anthropocene, there is no nature without humans. No natural process which isn’t impacted by our presence, and this is one of them. Our impact / presence will be a part of the process, but to what extent? We are at a very delicate stage where we need to evaluate the repercussions of previous practices to inform our next choices.

possible anthropocentric catalyst

in water depths over 200 m in an environment characterized by free access to the open sea, aerobic conditions, and moderate sedimentation rates. Aquitanian (Early Miocene, 23.03–20.44 Ma) in age. 1

extraction as a major anthropocentric event, disrupting deep time processes.

Pedley, H. M., M. R. House, and B. Waugh. “ The Geology of Malta and Gozo.” Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 27, no. 3 (1976): 325-341.

plausible further disruptions

a maltese condition The Malta Independent. “The Air our Children Breathethe Dust and Pollution Silently Killing Us.” The Malta Independent, 18 May, 2019. https://www.independent.com. mt/articles/2019-05-18/newspaper-leader/TMID-EditorialThe -air- our- children-breathe -The - dust-and-pollutionsilently-killing-us-6736208305. 1

Guiot, Joel, cited in Buttigieg, Albert. “Stop Fiddling with our Future.” Times of Malta, 10 December, 2021. https:// timesofmalta.com/ar ticles/view/stop-fiddling-with-ourfuture-albert-buttigieg.920305. 2

Cassola, Arnold, cited in The Malta Independent. “The Air our Children Breathe- the Dust and Pollution Silently Killing Us.” The Malta Independent, 18 May, 2019. https://www. independent.com.mt/articles/2019-05-18/newspaper-leader/ TMID-Editorial-The-air-our-children-breathe-The-dust-andpollution-silently-killing-us-6736208305

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Malta is also prone to being hit by dust storms from the Saharan Desert, so there are frequent episodes of ‘xita tal-hamrija’ (literal translation: rains of soil), where the entire country becomes coated in a reddish-brown layer, as the light in the air turns into a hazy orange and windows become opaque. *

According to Guiot, there is a high possibility for Malta to become a desert. His research states that, unless temperature increases are kept below 1.5˚C, Mediterranean ecosystems will most likely change, causing deserts to expand northwards across southern Spain, Malta and Sicily. **

Stone and its characteristics form a significant part of Maltese culture and identity. With a significant portion of our land being converted into dust through processes of extraction as well as decay and erosion, dust has also made its way to become part of our cultural landscape. * The way we navigate around it shapes our daily life and our collective identity. Dust prevails on everything that is Maltese, a participant in all our lives, all the time. It is persistent - we clean our houses everyday, only to find it has returned the next. We try to keep it spotless for any possible guest, but it would always be a good excuse to have when golden hour light reveals a thin layer coating all kinds of horizontal surfaces. When buying old properties to be restored, we do so knowing that a significant amount of dust will always be present as it will always be emerging out of the thick stone walls. Any brush against a wall will always leave a trace. We keep a bottle of water in our car to wash down the layer of dust on our windshields, as wipers would only smudge it and make it worse. Dust has fostered a nation-wide obsession with cleanliness (or rather, the projected image of it), as we sweep away the dust out of our space into the streets, making it someone else’s problem to deal with - a literal embodiment of sweeping things under the rug. Dust is constantly transferred out of sight, but it can never be made rid of. It is now becoming a part of us as we ingest it, affecting us in ways which are much harder to divert. With increased traffic congestion and building construction rates, respiratory problems are on the rise. Maltese children suffer the highest asthma rates in the whole of Europe. Additionally, with studies projecting the desertification of Malta due to climate change

, levels of dust are only bound to rise, as conditions for dust to take flight and drift are

becoming more favourable and consistent. As Cassola points out, “The building dust produced in Malta and the heavy car emissions have rendered Malta the sick country of Europe with our children condemned to unhealthy living conditions for the rest of their lives.”3

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an intrinsically dusty stone

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washed away

in everyday spaces

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in new builds

and neglected ones

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Can that which is collectively seen as a nuisance become a resource?

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source: NASA earth observatory, 2007

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a saharan dust storm approaching malta on march 27,2007

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dust as a maltese condition a collection of articles, photographs, sayings revolving around dust in malta.

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Focus was therefore shifted to looking at dust and particulate matter as a material of agency, despite it being often overlooked or regarded as a nuisance or threat. It is a constituent of extraction which holds potential in the properties that define it - its ability to drift, it acting as a unit of information, a scaled down form of a unit of identity, its ability to travel and its ability to become. It is a condition present in all states of stone. As we recognise its presence, new obligations of care start to develop towards that which can drift. Can we create new systems of reclamation based on its characteristics? Can dust serve as a new testament to the process of extraction or as a new vessel for cultural identity?

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drift Ruskin, John, cited in Vally, Sumayya. “Ingesting Architectures: The Violence of Breathing in Parts of Joburg.” The Architectural Review no. 1482 (2021) 1

Weizman, Eyal, cited in Vally, Sumayya. “Ingesting Architectures: The Violence of Breathing in Parts of Joburg.” The Architectural Review no. 1482 (2021)

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Szerszynski, Bronislaw. “Drift as a Planetary Phenomenon.” Performance Research 23, no. 7 (2018): 136-144. 3

Particulate matter, or dust, is the most fluid of extracts, undefined by the boundaries from which it emerges. It is a state present within each configuration of stone, waiting for the time to become. As stone is released from the earth, reconfigured, reused, and as it decays out of sight, the disembodying state of becoming dust is always present, as time is stretched and compressed along with it. At the liminal point of detachment from ground/stone/form, dust is neither here nor there, it holds information on where it has come from and also holds a potential to where it is going. It is an agent, linking material elements and processes together - what has created it, what has released it, what will influence what it will next become. As Ruskin suggests, dust, along with the atmosphere and clouds, holds evidence of archives of history, struggle, practices of labour as well as the interconnectedness of these factors.1 Even though these volumes are largely forgotten, released or eroded out of sight, they are ever so present. Eyal Weizman, from Goldsmiths’ Forensic Architecture, described an anecdote from one of his colleagues in Palestine: ‘His neighbourhood was turning to dust. He was coughing and he was saying, “I am breathing my house”. He was literally breathing in his house, his street, his ground, his family. 2 Dust is a part of our landscape and a part of us. Long after we are gone, it will remain, keeping our voice within it. Processes including extraction, construction, and decay, drive an increasing amount of circulating dust in the atmosphere. As it takes flight, it is influenced by a new set of processes - the climatic and atmospheric, which can allow for the accumulation of dust flows which slowly imprint themselves onto surfaces of Earth, or on the surrounding sea bed. All of these are externalities, processes which do not belong within the material itself, but have a significant role in what dust becomes. The act of drift is what resonates with the logic behind dust - it seems at times intentional, at times passive, aimless, uncertain, pulled by forces of attraction and repulsion. It holds a certain kind of duality within it - the word ‘drift’ itself can mean both the motion and the result of that motion. 3 Dust itself drifts, but is not in control of the drift, the externalities are. Passive and active roles of the driver and the drifter can therefore interchange. Perception of which has the most power depends on the distinction between the two - the carrier and the carried, the medium and the message. As Szerszynski suggests, “in drift, we are not driving – and neither are we being driven.” 3

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experimentation (e)

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physical drift experimentations, calcium carbonate

drift studies in calc source: aut

cium carbonate. thor

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experimentation (e)

Can a set of particles be simulated and controlled physcially/digitally? A motion detection technique was created to act as an external driving force to a particle system, therefore facilitating the process of controlling a body of particles by the hand’s motion, while visualising what forms emerge when particles are influenced to drift and transform.

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digital particle manipulations, touchdesigner sketch

digital particle simulations

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digital particle manipulations, touchdesigner sketch

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A second sketch was created with two input sliders: one representing dust settling over time, while the other representing a level of control. The longer time passes, the more settlement. The higher the level of control, the more contained the drifting environment is. The two sliders therefore affect the compaction of the environment and, in turn, the particle system. It was interesting to note instances when the system was triggered too quickly, which caused leaks, implosions.

Video - refer to link provided

PHYSICAL

DIGITAL

sketch 01 physical motion

frame 01

camera

difference in frames

frame 00 cache

internal force (properties) no. of particles size shape weight

sketch 02

time slider

PARTICLE SYSTEM drifter

circle radius 01

mouse input control slider

circle radius 00

EXTERNAL FORCE driver

difference in radii

system diagram

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digital particle simulations

Animation - refer to link provided

digital particle simulations

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Szerszynski, Bronislaw. “Drift as a Planetary Phenomenon.” Performance Research 23, no. 7 (2018): 136-144. 1

Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

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Marcus, Griel, cited in Szerszynski, Bronislaw. “Drift as a Planetary Phenomenon.” Performance Research 23, no. 7 (2018): 136-144. 3

Szerszynski refers to four motion characteristics of drift which attest to its power 11. A duality in movement, “the topological folding of motion within motion, of a solid moving in a moving medium, both being moved by, and moving within, the moving”; 1 2.The potential to be collected and picked up into drift; 3. The potential to be delivered and deposited; 4.The ability to be in a process of carrying, sifting and sorting over a period of time. These properties and potentials have allowed the drifting process to build the world we inhabit over deep time, “through the sinking and settling of chemical elements into compartments, the being-carried of the continents on the liquid mantle, the settling of sediment that became the sedimentary rocks, the pushing-together of tectonic plates and the driving up of mountains, and the concentrating of minerals into ores and deposits by subterranean hydrological flows.” 1 Dust is a hyperobject - an entity of such vast temporal and spatial dimensions that it often defeats notions of what it is in the first place.

Once we are aware of its presence,

such a being puts a significant strain on our normal ways of being and thinking. As Morton argues, concepts such as nature, world and environment are no longer concepts against which human events take place, but have become intertwined, with human intervention and presence influencing all systems present within.

Given these changes in processes

and our involvement in them, it is time to reinvent how we think in order to ecologically understand the place we live in and what it may become. Drifting processes over deep time have allowed planetary self-organisation to occur, however can these processes be further-altered or influenced on smaller, local contexts to achieve particular modes of organisation, such as material compositions, which can allow for certain levels of cultural meaning to emerge? As the Situationists advocate, drifting can be an act of power by reimagining daily rituals as interface between rational production and free play. Guy Debord’s dérive includes both a letting-go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psycho-geographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities. 3 Could we adopt processes from driftwork to inform mechanisms which can reclaim that which has been released?

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Szerszynski, Bronislaw. “Drift as a Planetary Phenomenon.” Performance Research 23, no. 7 (2018): 136-144.

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DeLanda, Manuel, cited in Szerszynski, Bronislaw. “Drift as a Planetary Phenomenon.” Performance Research 23, no. 7 (2018): 136-144. 2

Szerszynski claims the diverse range of driftwork can be broken down into four broad categories: sorting (creating and maintaining structures), shifting, soaring and surging.1 Although these are processes which the drifting material can assume, they are also processes which externalities can take up to influence the drifter. Sorting - As DeLanda describes by referring to river bends, sorted pebbles are laid down and compressed into ordered strata. For DeLanda this sorting and then sedimenting is prototypical for many other processes of structure creation in the earth – not just geological but also genetic, social and cultural and political. 2 Shifting - shifting is a form of driftwork that is not done by the action of drift itself but by the entities that launch bodies (or themselves) into drift, and involves moving the launched bodies up and down the different scale-related mobility zones of the air. Here, entities are subjecting themselves to the power of drift to sort and deliver, but their insertion into the sorting process is altered in advance. Soaring - in soaring, a body modulates the drift process more dynamically, by choosing when and where to enter drift, and/or by reorienting its body so that it crosses the streamlines of the enveloping fluid in a controlled way, usually in order to subordinate drift to directed motion. Surging - the process of drift not by individual bodies, but by multiple drifting bodies acting in concert. Instead of ordered, hierarchical structures, the resultant forms are dynamic, unfolding phenomena. “Dunes as they form (by the wind dropping sand particles) shape the flow of the sand-carrying wind over them, so that it picks up sand on the windward face and deposits at particular points on the downwind side, producing complex dune shapes that can migrate across the land surface, and even pass through each other. Dunes are drifts, made by drift, that shape drift, and that themselves drift.” 1

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“By practicing at various scales and paces simultaneously, we are able to ask different questions and see design problems through a different set of lenses. Are there more vibrant ways to define location rather than the physical site or scale alone? Can we become more agile and fluid in our understanding?” 2 Sumayya Vally

Space Caviar, ed. Non-Extractive Architecture : On Designing without Depletion. Vol. 1. Berlin: Sternberg Press, V-AC Press, 2021.

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Vally, Sumayya in conversation with Gintoff, Vladimir. Pairs Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2021. 2

Extraction was necessary for our survival, and our tools gave us the means to achieve that which the hands, the eyes and the senses couldn’t. Unaccustomed to the accelerating effectiveness of our tools, we failed to fully consider their compound effect at a systemic level. We now face an evolutionary crisis: we are unable to biologically adapt to our environment at the speed we are able to transform the conditions of life on Earth. “In the face of our accelerating technological supremacy, we can no longer afford to simply ask how much it is possible to extract from our habitat; we are now compelled to ask how much it is reasonable to extract”. 1 By understanding the value of dust and the potential it holds to create contextual forms of significance, we cannot resort to allowing ‘nature’ to displace and organise its own material in its own way. We need to question to what extent our drivers control the drifting dust, and start imagining what outcomes can emerge out of each iterative mechanism of control. A balance is needed for the constant negotiation between disruption and reclamation to take place - a negotiation between mitigating and producing habitat, slowing down and speeding up time and production.

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collage of scales and states I

collage of scales and states II

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(transformation)

particle simulations.

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systems 134

Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Felix, cited in Kleinherenbrink, Arjen. Against Continuity : Gilles Deleuze’s Speculative Realism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019. 1

Taking the processes defining driftwork, external mechanisms can be created to act as drivers in the drifting process inherent to dust, and to draw attention to this reality itself. To have results which are meaningful and sustainable, there needs to be a deeper understanding of the world around us and the processes of drift that abound in it. It is imperative that we learn how to use drift without taming it (a case which has still been explored in this project), and rethink the predatory principles that modern industrial economies are optimised towards. There needs to be a shift from having a top-down, hierarchical system to one which is just as complex as the process it is to ‘control’ - by being a multiplicity and an assemblage of mechanisms1, taking all possible externalities into consideration. The externalities were conceived through imagining different ways one can manipulate an object in drift. These were then categorised according to the properties Szerszynski listed that drifters afford in order to understand how these mechanisms would affect dust in drift.

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driftwork categories

externalities

properties afforded by drifters as stated by ____

mechanisms to act as drivers

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plausible furt disruptions

Animation - refer to link provided

collect

change state

reconfigure

deposit

block

release

transfer

add

null (free drift)

mechanism logic*

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In order to create provoking systems for driving externalities, multiple scenarios were created by looking at systems of deposition, adaptation, decay and control. For each of the drivers, precedents were various (which do not necessarily relate to the same materiality), ranging from mechanisms which exist, events that have happened, and others which have also been imagined (such as in literature/media). The precedents act as references to ways of creating systems of reclamation and adaptation to certain conditions. The combination of these systems is optimistic, offering productive negotiations between drivers and drifters, however there would always be instances throughout the process which may disrupt intents and lead to failures - which will ultimately see dust in full agency.

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null (free drift) intermingling and migration

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Dot-shaped dunes migrate across the plains of Wadi Hazar in the Yemeni part of the Rub’ al Khali Steinmetz, G., 2004

Ash covers a grave at the La Palma cemetery as volcano continues to erupt on this Canary island. Morenatti, E., 2021

Dust Bowl Interstellar (2014)

Dust Bowl in droughtstricken Southern Plains region of the United States, 1930s. Corbis, n.a.

Sand-filled buildings of Kolmanskop, a former diamond mining town in Namibia. Veillon, R., 2019

release abandonment / decay

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block shield and flow with dust

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Inflatable blobs that slowly expand and contract in response to changing environmental conditions at the Nordic Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2018. Eero Lundén and Juulia Kauste. Ferro, A. 2018

Children wearing make-shift face mask to protect themselves during the Dust Bowl of the Southern Plains region of the United States, 1930s. Corbis, n.a.

Loess Plateau, China. The largest dust deposit on the planet, at which yellow wind-blown sediments, were compacted over 2.6million years to form loess. Richardson, J. 2007

Emerging from a stilltent - a tent used to sleep in the deep desert of Arrakis, placed under a layer of sand. The tissue was airtight, so the humidity created inside could be kept and gathered. Dune (2021)

change state creation of a new land through sedimentation

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deposit - change state a new land

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Pisciculture in Boknafjorden, Norway Atlas of Places, instagram

change state new structures source: author

The Passenger , Eduardo Sarabia. 2021

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Mineral deposits. Calcite, forming stalactites and stalagmites in karstic landscapes. Northup, Diana and Ingham,Kenneth

add/reconfigure fabrication of dust structures

Stone spray 3d printed models Kulik, Anna, Shergill, Inder and Novikov, Petr, 2012

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Rammed earth. Boltshauser, Roger, 2008

Chinese Dunhuang watchtower ruins from the Han Dynasty (202 BC—220 AD).Dunhuang, China. Wikipedia commons

Land reclamation in Singapore, dredging boat Jamieson, William

Land reclamation, The World islands, Dubai Getty images

reconfigure / change state fabrication of dust structures

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change state / release a new land to be domesticated once more source: author

Structures of inhabitation at the Loess Plateau. Rudofsky, Bernard

Structures of inhabitation at the Loess Plateau, China. Niermann, Till

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Sand Compactor, creating rhythmic frequencies to manipulate dune flows Dune (2021)

Harvestors, extracting spice from dunes Dune (2021)

Water harvestors Oblivion (2013)

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collect harvesting, re-extract

Illuminated glowtab, shedding light and levitating sand Dune (2021)

Industrial dust collectors/ auditorium. Portalegre, Portugal Souto de Moura, Eduardo and Correia, Graça

transfer redirect airflows

Robot vacuum cleaners Getty Images

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This final body of work is presented as a matrix of possibilities, demonstrating flows/patterns of dust and examples of systems of manipulation at three different levels of control (no control, partial control and full control) across different scales of time. It is not presented as an ultimate and definite system, but rather the opposite. Systems derived need to be constantly evolving, with mechanisms, materials and actions being added and subtracted along the process, and therefore, being fluid and constantly updating.

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Stone is extracted for some human motive. A significant amount of dust is released into the atmosphere.

As processes and rites of extraction persist on the islands, dust levels continue to rise, becoming a significant constituent of atmospheric compositions.

Dust infiltrates and dominates, as it becomes harder to ingest and live with.

On larger scales, clouds of dust are free to move away from maltese borders, intermingle and migrate, picking up others along the way, as they traverse the waters and lands.

Dust clouds settle, water flows in and submerges the mounds. compaction and sedimentation begins.

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A new land emerges. One that contains traces of all the places it has been, and all the things it has seen.

no control drift in full agency, humans to fully adapt and flow with drifters, becoming drifters themselves. human-derived externalities only serve as means to adapt.

Sweeping the dust out of the home and into the street is sufficient. As long as the house is clean.

As homes and villages are abandoned and start to decay, all (re)turns to dust

The only way to adapt is to shield, and flow with dust. structures inflate, shift, expand and move to adapt to drift. We become drifters.

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no control

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Stone is extracted for some human motive. A significant amount of dust is released into the atmosphere.

Affecting airflows, diverting that which is airborne to a desired deposition spot.

Deposition in a contained environment, allowing dust to settle and be compacted over time.

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A new land emerges out of that which has been defined

partial control drift in partial agency, mechanisms serve to alter drivers/ surrounding conditions, which in turn affect the drifter.

In order to prevent dust from escaping the island, water is sprayed across the land, therefore reducing drift and saltation.

As homes and villages start to decay, all (re)turns to dust

Fabrics catch dust, and a solution containing silicates or acids promotes ‘rapid‘ crystallisation of carbonates into new structures.

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partial control

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Stone is extracted for some human motive. A significant amount of dust is released into the atmosphere.

Dust collectors are spread across the land, re-collecting and filtering the released atmospheric dust

small-scale fabrication of dust structures allows for reassembly and reconfiguation of dust

Dust is stored and secured, as it becomes a new precious resource.

Fabrication of a new land starts. With no time to wait for sedimentation, binders and compactors become main agents in the process.

large-scale processing

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A new land is fabricated. One whose composition is predetermined, there to be domesticated and to serve as it is inhabited.

full control drift in minimal agency, mechanisms serve to reduce drifter’s potential to drift, and claim ownership and control of it.

A transition from domestic (smallscale robot vacuums) to industrial dust collection systems within homes. A shift from omitting dust to recognising its potential.

As homes and villages start to decay, all (re)turns to dust

dust harvestors patrol the island, becoming the new tools of extraction

As extraction restarts the fabricated land has become a new resource to be utilised

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full control

(settlement)

particle simulations.

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reflections

This report is a compilation of the process(es) undertaken to study landscapes of extraction, and includes works from the very beginning of the project up until the last moments. It started with a fascination towards ways humans have dealt with landscape and ended by sparking a new curiosity on what may become of that which we do not yet see. This project aims to bring attention to the subject of material extraction, and making users aware that there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to the extractive process: that there are physical and intangible manifestations involved, that there is a potential for meaningful practices to take place (just as has been done before), but most importantly, that there is a significant amount of a material which we identify with that is persistently being overlooked, forgotten and neglected. This thesis has been one which saw paths changed, questioned, abandoned and rekindled.

Just like processes of extraction, the project’s process was not a linear,

straightforward one, but it involved many rabbit holes, loops, deviations, blocks, and thankfully, some leaps - all of which are understandably part of a thesis process. Given the scale and vastness of the topic being studied, multiple paths needed to be explored until narrowing questions and aims, and there were so many methods of dealing with the study itself. Mediums and approaches throughout the process were therefore highly varied - from photography, to writing, to physical and electronic devices, to 3d-animation and fabrication - however this was all due to a strong curiosity towards the subject, and a constant questioning of whether approaches taken were the most suitable for the vast subject being studied. The viability and practicality of using dust as a resource is a study which requires years of research across multiple disciplines, however this project aims to shed light on the subject and provoke readers by highlighting some scenarios which have happened or could happen. It aims to encourage the rethinking of the balance between extractive practices and systemic processes, the role of technology in achieving this, and the responsibility of the architect as a mediator between the entities involved in the process, an agent of transformation. While extraction was necessary for us to survive, we are now faced with big questions and problems as we start to realise, and deal with, the impacts of these processes which are acting on a multitude of scales (from the dust on our bookshelves to rising health complications and the climate crisis). We are at a very delicate stage where we need to evaluate the repercussions of precious practices to inform our next choices.

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Space Caviar, ed. Non-Extractive Architecture : On Designing without Depletion. Vol. 1. Berlin: Sternberg Press, V-AC Press, 2021. 1

Steyn, Stephen. “The Possession of Architecture.” . Accessed 5 December, 2021. https://counterspace-studio. com/writing/the-possession-of-architecture/?fbclid=IwA R3LY0QaH0MLX5KRo0SkxTHHsgoU8QH9m78zs0j0NglZl XB_meMhtqO-P7k.

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As Grima points out in his manifesto for Non-Extractive Architecture, we have been conditioned to think that there is an equivalency between ecological responsibility and energy efficiency, but this is false - while it is necessary to keep efficiency in mind, it is not sufficient, and having only that in mind will only add to extractive loads rather than minimising them.

“The reality is that a far broader and more ambitious reassessment

of human activities is urgently needed. In the place of energy efficiency, we propose to consider externalities as a metric of sustainability. Designers have a decisive role to play in envisioning the possibilities of future habitats, and they could start by conceiving alternatives to the radically decentralised geographies of contemporary material production and consumption.”1 These alternatives, as this project attempted to do, do not consist of a single solution, but a range of agents and mechanisms framed by architects and designers (which would also require inputs from many other stakeholders). In the case of this research project, the architect therefore becomes an intermediate between those generating or controlling dust and those being affected by it. Emerging practitioners and architects, such as Sumayya Vally of Counterspace, Assemble, Space Caviar and plenty more are striving to achieve this mode of practice, and as Steyn notes in his essay on Counterspace’s work, “in subtle contrast to some big practices, Vally offers us not ‘a world’ made by ‘an architect’ but worlds, made by an innumerable cast of agents — biological, material and abstract — framed and presented by the architect. She effectively anticipates a shift in our culture from an aesthetic sensibility that recognises the value of buildings to one that recognises the values of building.” 2

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As noted in the different situations presented in this thesis, certain processes of decay and adaptive reuse are bound to happen in every path we take (perhaps at different times), and our mechanisms will probably eventually fail, however it is up to us to find some form of balance for this constant negotiation between man and ‘nature’, disruption and reclamation to take place across different timescales - a negotiation between mitigating and producing habitat. It is impossible to just stick to one timeline, and it is necessary to understand the multiple possibilities and conditions present in each. The element of decay across time is inevitable, however focus can be shifted in finding meaning through this decay. We need to acknowledge that for meaning to persist, there always needs to be adaptation / negotiation. There are so many contingencies in this process, but if there’s anything we’ve learnt, it is that the most successful situations are those which are able to have some form of dialogue with time and the unknown, while always having clear intentions involved. We are no longer able to control our future as much as we want to, we need to start leaving some space for nature to reclaim its space. We are in such a delicate stage that everything lies in tension with each other. These are situations which are now much bigger than us, and the more complex they become, the harder it is for us to understand them.

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makeshift hideout. qala, gozo

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