Xinyuan Yue - SCI-Arc Portfolio 2021-2022

Southern California Institute of Architecture

XINYUAN

YUE

2021-2022

XINYUAN

CONTACT INFORMATIONS Xinyuan Yue Xinyuan_Yue@126.com (1) 213-557-8966 ig: inuanue_arch

Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Xinyuan Yue is a developing hybrid designer in the field of art and architecture. Outside the area of architecture, he also has forayed into graphic design and experimental scenography.

Xinyuan regards himself as a versatile person. Art enriches his life and endows him with more energy to devote himself to studying complex problems. Whether realistic or abstract, he creates art to understand the world more deeply and express himself more clearly.

Currently, he is advancing his graduate studies as an M. Arch II student at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Before being here, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with honors from the University of Liverpool and a Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He believes his sound academic and practical experiences can lead to innovation and creativity.

While studying at SCI-Arc, he uses his accumulated knowledge to explore the unknown and possibilities in real with varied technologies. He hopes to advance the fusion of architecture and the medium by crossing their boundaries.

Statement

STATEMENT

Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

2GAX 8

DREAMSCAPE IN BLOSSOM DS1200 Complx Morphologies - classROOM

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COVER INVASION VS4200 Visual Studies - The Mask We Wear

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TIME INVASION VS4200 Visual Studies - Terraform & Overlaid

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ROMBO REFORMA AS3200 Advanced Material/Tectonics

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PLASTIGLOMERATE HT2200 Theories of Contemporary Architecture 1

2GBX 74

SYNTHETIC EPOCH DS1201 Generative Morphologies - bioTECH

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ALTER - NATURE VS4201 Visual Studies - alter|Nature

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RE - EMPATHEIA AS2437 Building Empathy REVIT

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EXCESS OF ECOLOGIES HT2201 Theories of Contemporary Architecture 2

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Dreamscape in Blossom

DREAMSCAPE IN BLOSSOM DS1200 Complex Morphologies - classROOM Instructor: Rachael Mccall Collaborator: Jenny Cook This studio will look at the changing role of the classroom amid a devastating pandemic. We enter this class as the world grapples with problems in the classroom and how much access, or lack thereof, each institution, city, and country has.

Millions of children are engaged in an entirely different model of education that faces endless constraints, including social, technological, physical, and moral issues.

The project mainly focuses on breaking the boundaries of traditional classrooms to solve a series of questions arising from the worldwide pandemic. From a safe, soft, and bright perspective, we are dedicated to designing a creative and inspiring learning space through merging geometries where children can have close contact with nature. The entire project focuses on developing child-scale space under the premise of nature while using textile materials to replace common building materials to create a subtle and fluffy feeling. Starting with the piñata and balloon, we blended these different inflated objects with simple chairs. The furniture began to expand into space-dividing structures and reformed buildings. Building volume is created by clustering chairs and subtracting geometry. For an accessible spatial experience, the openings made by cookie cutters provide a space for conversation and interaction.

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Dreamscape in Blossom

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Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue

Rendering Ballon Chairs

Furniture Scene - Discussion Area 1 12

Dreamscape in Blossom

3D Printing Ballon Chairs

Furniture Scene - Discussion Area 2 13

Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue

FROM FURNITURE TO CLASSROOM Starting with the piñata and balloon, we blended these different inflated objects with simple chairs. These chairs defined classroom new functions and learning experiences. We focused on fabrics and the real natural environment in selecting materials. We chose slightly reflective plastic and metal materials. The furniture began to expand into structures that cut spaces and reformed buildings.

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Dreamscape in Blossom

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Dreamscape in Blossom

FROM FURNITURE TO CLASSROOM These chairs composed of pinata begin to expand into structures that cut spaces.

The overall massing of the building is created by gathering chairs and subtractive geometry. These openings provide users with space for dialogue and interaction.

They make the whole room open and accessible.

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Dreamscape in Blossom

FROM CLASSROOM TO BUILDING Pinatas starts to expand to become a structure and starts to define spaces. The general volume is created by clustering the chairs and subtracting geometry. Many openings created by thin cookie cutters provide the conversation between users and produce many interactive spaces. This operation led to small tight entrances and spaces in kid-scaled level. We tried to represent calmness while keeping the playful environment for the classroom.

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Dreamscape in Blossom

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Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue

FROM LANDSCAPE TO SITE With our landscape, keeping the idea of subtraction, we created different levels of ground using existing geometries. Building relates to differently scaled landscape established by cookie cutters. Overall, our project focused on creating a children scaled spaces while having a subtle and fluffy feelings.

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Dreamscape in Blossom

“Rather than finding orientation by way of images in the real world, today images may mutate into a sort of interface” 25

Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue

Aerial View of the West Side

Aerial View of the East Side 26

Dreamscape in Blossom

“Make School as a Dreamscape” 27

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Dreamscape in Blossom

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Cover Invasion

COVER INVASION VS4200 Masked - The Masks We Wear Instructor: William Virgil Collaborator: Zhao Mu In this visual studies course, we will explore themes of concealment and distortion through the design of physical masks. In the poem, the mask is a metaphor for the duality and invisibility of human beings. There is a saying that the role of masks in human life is inevitable. In the third row, the mask is referred to as “this debt we pay to the wiles of man,” suggesting that the mask is inextricably linked to the human ability to deceive and deceive—perhaps a product of it. Masks must be worn for duplicity and to protect the inner self from the unreliable eyes of the rest of the world.

In the near future, to let society function generally in a heavily polluted environment with vicious viruses variants, the governments of different countries pull out gene reinforcement projects for the new generations. To combine the genes of humans and animals and to re-code the gene of the immune system, the gene reinforcement projects promise the new generation can easily survive in this toxic atmosphere.

However, Akira Wu, the Miao decedent, encountered the failure of re-engineering of the gene, there is an abnormal part on her face, to disguise the pity and protect her respiratory system, she wears this silver mask which inspired by her people’s traditional silverware and with the life-supporting system.

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Left Perspective View

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Front View

Back View

Right Perspective View

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MASK COMPONENTS 34

3D MASK MODELING 35

Photos of 3D-Printed Model

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Cover Invasion

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Time Invasion

TIME INVASION VS4200 Masked - Terraform & Overlaid Instructor: Kumaran Parthiban & Rachael Mccall Collaborator: Zhao Mu Terraformation is the hypothetical process of deliberately altering the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography, or ecology of a planet, moon, or other objects to make it similar to Earth’s environment to make it habitable for terrestrial life.

This visual studies section will explore a small but essential part of world-building - environmental design, and actively violate its principles to create fantastic immersive landscapes.

Instead of creating a grounded realism, flexible rules, and uncharted territory, we will work in the illogical region. As a starting point, the mask from the previous exercise will serve as the basis for the new world. We will use the fundamentals of motion design, simulation, and procedural methods to grow, reproduce and alter landscape elements.

When the meteorite fell, the city did not become like ruins, but it was quickly eroded and reconstructed by the unknown material carried by this foreign object. When the scientific expedition team came here, they found that the terrain began to fold, and all the substances began to foam and expand. The traces of the city before can hardly be seen on the ground.

The strange thing is that some of the past buildings emerge from the ground one by one like mushrooms. The past and the present of the city are merged into the restructured community of alien creatures.

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Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue 40

PORTION TERRAFORMING Here is the story’s beginning after a meteorite carrying an unknown substance fell. Around the meteorite fragments, plants began to change color and deform. The mushrooms grew to the height of a man, and the birds scattered in a hurry to escape.

Time Invasion

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture Non-human Invaded City Submerged Buildings

Time Invasion

Probing Aircraft and Invading Fungus

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Time Invasion

SPAWLING Unidentified substances gradually spread around the city. An old building that appears in the folded space releases a red spore.

When attached to plants, these plants become so huge that they can even cover the sky.

Several cities in time and space are all intertwined, and there is no concept of time here. People have taken refuge in shelters, can this world still be called the Anthropocene?

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Probing Aircraft and Invading Fungus

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Time Invasion

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Time Invasion

WHAT’S REAL Sometime after the invasion, the environment on Earth entered a new phase. This place seems to be torn apart under the influence of particles and multiple spacetimes. Whether the substance causes visual damage to people or qualitative changes to the world, we can’t figure out what’s real.

HALLUCINATIONS? Future and past worlds appear simultaneously, But we don’t find any humans from these worlds. It is not excluded that they appear in other ways, such as numbers or more microscopic particles.

The superimposed images are intended to interpret the concept of folded space-time, which I hope is just the visual impact of this substance on people.

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Rombo Reforma

ROMBO REFORMA AS3200 Advanced Material/Tectonics Instructor: Randy Jefferson, Dwayne Oyler Collaborator: Hao Wang, Jinxin Xu, Shuang Chu This course recognizes that tectonic development is not only a necessary stage of project development but also an integral part of the design process. In general, construction decisions can either lead the design process or be subject to design intents. This course assumes that the most effective form of architectural development acknowledges a constant exchange between the two ways of thinking. Given this position, the aim is to understand better the construction of buildings and the processes involved in their development so that more important design intent can work in parallel with technical development.

The project looks at the evolving ability of architects to design, develop and produce façade systems for particular applications, as they apply to the envelope and its relationship to the main structure of the building. We explore new materials and the overall production of building envelope systems and structures - from design concept to fabrication and installation - to precisely meet designer specifications and deliver optimized performance. Through in-depth precedent analysis and speculative design transitions, we will document the technical, environmental, and cultural dimensions of building façades, formulating hypotheses about the interrelationships between envelope systems and their associated structures.

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Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue

TORRE REFORMA According to the International Highrise Award jury’s summary: the structure is “a masterful expression of a new way of thinking about the highrise”. In the view of the experts, the 246 m high structure with 77,053 m2 floor space places Mexico’s capital “on the world map of ground-breaking highrise architecture”.

To some, the tower reminds them of an open book standing vertically on its end, to others it recalls the traditional design of the Aztecs. Continuing the book metaphor, the facade represents the page edges. Known locally as “Tetris” because of the characteristic window patterns in the two solid walls, the tower has a skew-cut spire which stands in formal contrast to its otherwise prismatic shape.

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Rombo Reforma

SECTION FLOOR Selected Chunk Section SECTION24th-26th 24th-26th FLOOR

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

TORRE REFORMA ANALYSIS Original Curtain Wall Analysis

Rombo Reforma

Original Concrete Curtain Wall

Original Glazed Curtain Wall

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

TORRE REFOR

Details of Original C

Pyramid beam Ceiling Sprandel glazing Steel plate perimeter beam Insulation Daylight glazing

Xinyuan Yue

Mullion Floor slab Concrete slab Vision glazing Alumininum profile

Concrete load-bearing wall Floor slab Concrete slab Pyramid beam Ceiling Shutters used for ducting Double glazing window Reforced steel

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Project Tittle

RMA ANALYSIS

Curtain Wall Chunks

Neoprene sponge sepraratior Silicon seal Alumininum profile

Vision glazing Alumininum plate Plastic seal Alumininum angle anchor Firewall

Threaded rod projection Pigoeon spike protection Drain for rain and hail Alumininum panel tray Sprandel glazing

Exposed concrete wall Reinforcing Steel

Alumininum box Dropper detail on concrete wall Double glazing window Alumininum flashing Thermal barrier

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

TORRE REFORMA TRANSFORMATION New Curtain Wall Design

Aluminum mullions

Triple glazing formed by tempered glass with air gap plus two crystals

Xinyuan Yue

Mineral wool used as flame retardant and smoke insulation

Drain for rain and hail

Aluminum composite panel Steel plate perimeter beam 3 hours cementitious fireproofing

Aluminum sun shading with pigeon protection and hail drainage fixtures

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Structural beam

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Rombo Reforma

b)

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Gravity support steel

Seismic support steel

Primary beam Overslung glazing facet

Triple glazing formed by tempered glass with air gap plus two crystals

Corner structural column Slope support beam Horizontal connection beam

d)

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Southern California Institute of Architecture Xinyuan Yue 60

TORRE REFORMA TRANSFORMATION The Connection between Floor and New Curtain Wall

Rombo Reforma

Gravity support steel

Floor slab Concrete slab Pyramid beam Steel plate perimeter beam Finish ceiling Overslung glazing facet Seismic support steel

Quadra glazing system Wide flange steel joining plate Bolt and washer Molded aluminum mullion cap Seismic support steel Steel bolt connection Beam box Gravity support steel Steel back plate

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Steel beam Irregular I-beam Welding connection Angle beam Steel column Aluminum sun shading Steel bolts connection Steel column Fire proofing

Xinyuan Yue

Structural beam

Floor slab Concrete slab Pyramid beam Steel column Steel column Overslung glazing facet Steel back plate Gravity support steel Seismic support steel

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The Connection between Corner Column and Two Curtain Walls

Rombo Reforma

TORRE REFORMA TRANSFORMATION

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

TORRE REFORMA T

The Connection between Corner

a)

Fire proofing Steel column Angle beam Welding connection

Xinyuan Yue

Irregular I-beam

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Waterproofing membrane gutter liner

Bolt and washer

Aluminum mullion Steel bolt Vertical glazing facet

Seismic support steel

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Rombo Reforma

TRANSFORMATION

r Column and Two Curtain Walls

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Steel Column Glazing Sealant Steel back plate Wood blocking Rigid insulation Aluminum mullion cap Aluminum corner panel

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Wide flange steel joining plate

Seismic support steel Molded aluminum mullion cap Quadra glazing system Hand-Tooled silicon sealant Exposed cap fastener Bolt and washer Steel back plate 65

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GAN-Style AI Training - Plastiglomerate

Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Plastiglomerate

PLASTIGLOMERATE HT2200 Theories of Contemporary Architecture 1 Instructor: Erik Ghenoiu, Marcelyn Gow (Individual Article) The main objective of this course is to provide a platform for students to do work on the territory of contemporary architectural theory in the interest of formulating their current studio production and future professional agendas. Currently, architecture is being actively redefined by shifting political, social, technological, and ecological paradigms. Taking as a starting point Sigfried Giedion’s characterization of transitory facts and constituent facts as decisive in the shaping of architectural history, we will examine the complex terrain defined by the recent shifting of paradigms and attempt to discern the difference between constituent and transitory facts.

The seminar will introduce several contemporary disciplinary themes through readings and project presentations.

For buildings with plastiglomerate as the main material, the different feelings that such experiments bring to users can attract users’ attention, stimulate thinking about this material, and even change the general perception of inherent objects.

The articles I completed in this course mainly discussed the abstract meaning of plastics as building materials in architectural design. Specifically, it will be discussed and analyzed from three aspects: organizational foam, construction technology, and user experience.

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The Abstract Meaning of Plastiglomerate as a Building Material

Photos: Jeff Elstone. Courtesy of the artist. 2012

“Architecture can be an active participant in the construction of, or challenge to, new knowledge formations. The physical and aesthetic qualities of architecture can create visceral cues, sensible reminders of the elsewheres and elsewhens that encompass and support that architecture’s existence.”

- Views from the Plastisphere: A Preface to Post-Rock Architecture, Meredith Miller, 2016

Introduction: Plastic is the product of human civilization. It can survive for decades or even thousands of years in most environments. When the untreated plastic wastes in human life increase and become ubiquitous on the earth, they will join the circulation of lithospheric and become a part of the rock. In this way, the retention time of the plastic will become very long. People first discovered

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the plastiglomerate on Kamilo Beach in Hawaii¹. The burned or melted plastic will stick to rock fragments, silt, and corals to form a mixture of plastic and rock. Rock has been the primary material of construction for a long time². Although the presence of these mixtures is now a small amount, when it accumulates to a certain amount in the future, whether the architect can reuse this new type of plastic rock as a building material is very worthy of discussion.

Such plastiglomerates are not composed of a single material or simple form. When this Post Rock can be used as a building material in architectural design, its abstract aesthetic meaning lies in the subjective feeling that it is enlarged to the scale of the building. As Michael Young said, “The process necessary in the aesthetics of abstraction is the length and intensity of attention that the abstraction triggers for aesthetic engagement.”³. From painting to architecture, the disassembly and

¹ Kirsty Robertson, PLASTIGLOMERATE, CSPA Quarterly, no. 19 (2017): 41. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/90020305. ² Robertson, PLASTIGLOMERATE: 41. ³ Michael Young, The Aesthetics of Abstraction, Aesthetics Equals Politics (mark foster gage, March 12, 2021): 135. https://www.academia.edu/45484365/The_Aesthetics_of_ Abstraction.

reorganization of different elements build the abstract system behind it. For buildings that use plastiglomerates as the primary material, the different feelings that such experiments bring to users can attract users’ attention, stimulating thinking about this kind of material and even changing the general perception of inherent objects.

This article will mainly discuss the abstract meaning of plastic as a building material in architectural design.

Specifically, it will be discussed and analyzed from three aspects: organization foam, construction technology, and user experience.

Organizational Foam: In terms of the organizational form of buildings, the leading abstract meaning of plastiglomerates is to encourage a new thinking to consider whether the spaces can be forged or combined like different materials of this post rock randomly and unconsciously. In postmodernism and deconstructionism, it is not difficult to find that architectural design no longer focuses more on pragmatism. With the development of modern aesthetics, the spatial organization of buildings has become diverse, bold, and avant-garde. Like the plastiglomerates found on the beach, the overall shape of most deconstructive buildings is also derived from simple objects in real life. Unlike Post Rock under the influence of natural activities such as wind, marine, and geomantic crustal movement, deconstructed architecture is a subjective creation of the architect’s aesthetics. Analyzed from modern aesthetics, they are all abstract things processed by the outside world, whether the magical power of nature or human creativity. But most of the human creation is inspired by nature and life moments.

Take Frank Gehry’s MoPOP Museum as an example.

Gehry uses irregular shapes with different textures and colors to express this music museum’s other main architectural spaces. Such abstract artistic expression allows people to feel the vitality and fluidity of music in the overall spatial form. In the record of the Museum’s design process, Frank Gehry bought a few electric guitars. He cut them into small pieces for early model design to design a building that evokes the rock music experience⁴.

Photos: Jeff Elstone. Courtesy of the artist. 2012

⁴ MoPOP, Architecture of the MoPOP Building Museum of Pop Culture . https://www. mopop.org/about mopop/mission/architecture of the mopop building

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Photos: A. Zahner Company, MoPOP Museum.

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Combining various objects brings a sense of the whole is far greater than the effect of direct addition. The interspersed occlusion of different things effectively increases the space’s interest under the architect’s creativity, and the environment treats these plastic wastes more randomly and naturally. Nature is the teacher of humankind, and architects can continuously harvest a steady stream of inspiration from it, empower their works, and redefine space repeatedly.

of natural creativity. Learning to imitate the fusion of such differences is the new enlightenment that the Post Rock abstraction processing in the spatial dimension brings us.

The fusion method of plastiglomerates can be regarded as the deconstruction and reorganization of space in architectural design. And when it acts as a material in the architectural space, it brings not only the atmosphere creation of a certain special moment, but also the abstraction of the overall shape after typological process.

By simulating the random fusion of various parts in computer technology can undoubtedly stimulate a path and direction of the design. After the above discussion on the organizational form, the abstract meaning of the plastiglomerates as a material is based on the close connection between architecture and nature. But it does not stay at the level of the relationship with the surrounding environment, but from the perspective of abstract aesthetics to connect with the human learning

Regarding the construction technology of buildings, the primary abstract meaning of plastiglomerates is to broaden the imagination and draw inspiration from it to promote new construction methods and even new technical means. Given the inherent durability of stone and plastic, plastiglomerates will last a long time. They are difficult to use directly at this stage but recycling plastic waste can make sustainable building materials. Therefore, according to the research conducted by Taubman College of the University of Michigan, they have created a post-natural architectural creative material—Post Rock based on the mixed composition of plastiglomerates and peculiar aesthetics. In the manufacturing process, the components of the plastiglomerate are not completely fused into a homogeneous whole. Then, when making Post Rock, it

Construction Technology:

is necessary to fully consider its image and meaning and its structural performance and possibilities. Postmodern architecture confuses materials by referring to building fragments, and the explicit components reflect the production and consumption of plastics in the geological and cultural fields⁵. In the design experiment at Taubman College, they aimed to redefine plastiglomerates from unnatural byproducts to post-natural resources.

The process from plastiglomerates to Post Rock is abstract. The research team made design attempts in terms of materials and structure. Their design is not directly piling up each unit but disassociating and reorganizing the concrete mixture and applying the designer’s aesthetics from an abstract perspective to build larger-scale structures and even buildings. Take the Summerhouse of Meredith and Thom as an example. It is a pavilion with a roof and supporting columns formed by multiple inverted cones. Mix plastics and other polymers with granite and other inorganic substances in the ideal ratio and fill the mold. Then boil it to let gravity pull the melt to the bottom to form a hollow structural column with a heavier base. Last, it will be assembled after cooling down⁶. The whole process uses existing technical means, but the most important thing is design intervention. The Post Rock is a unique material to create a sculpturelike architectural space because the design team draws inspiration from the plastiglomerate and abstracts it. In terms of construction technology, the abstract meaning of the plastiglomerate is that it provides an example of how to reuse the plastic waste in architectural spaces with more aesthetic value. Therefore, it can give new construction ideas for architects when they want to achieve similar sustainable design goals.

User Experience: In respect of the user experience of buildings, the primary abstract meaning of plastiglomerates is to stimulate people’s environmental awareness of plastic reducing, reusing, and recycling and stimulate people to think about geology, time, and space through ingenious design methods. Plastiglomerates represent the long-term impact

Images: Meredith L. Miller & Thom Moran. Post Rock.

⁵ Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning Post Rock . https:// taubmancollege.umich.edu/research/research-through-making/2016/post-rock ⁶ MMeredith L. Miller & Thom Moran Post Rock ACSA Faculty Design Honorable Mention ( 17. https://www.acsa arch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/fd-hmmillermoran.pdf

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of human activities on the environment, but they also highlight the need to solve the global plastic crisis⁷.

Architecture can also actively participate in environmental pollution treatment and sustainable urban development.

To solve the problems of pollution and industrial waste, Miller and Moran’s T+E+A+M is promoting the utilization and reinterpretation of the industrial heritage of America’s Rust Belt. They used Detroit’s post-industrial landscape as a source of inspiration, and discarded materials were recycled, recast, and used as construction tools and independent structures⁸. Their use of Post Rock to update and transform industrial sites can reactivate areas that have lost vitality and affect users’ attention to the environment by reusing plastic waste. The experiment of T+E+A+M focuses on the cutting and reshaping of space by different materials. In the abstract architectural area formed by the fusion of these small figurative objects, users can have a different experience and feel of materials at different scales.

Take the Clastic Order experimental building that T+E+A+M unveiled at the 2017 California Academy of Art Design Materials Innovation Exhibition as an example. It is made of stacked and thermally cast Post Rock. This casting process allows each whole to have multiple physical properties, reflecting the ingredients found in each casting, as well as the proportions of color and texture⁹. These differences give the space a vivid atmosphere. When users walk through the building, their mood will also change with the constituent units or composite new structures changes. The broken walls of industrial ruins and plastic shards will give people the feeling of dilapidation and decadence. But in this experimental project, Moran used the design of the Roman arch to weaken the sense of brokenness of various small parts. The integrally poured decorative structure retains the composition form of the plastic body and continues its abstract aesthetic value. Such abstract design is still symbolic. When users are in such an architectural space, they can directly experience the existence of the Anthropocene. The plastic body represents human activities in this time and space. Using this material combined with contemporary design expression brings users thinking about the past, present, and future.

⁷ Patricia L. Corcoran & Kelly Jazvac . The consequence that is plastiglomerate . Nature Reviews Earth & Environment ( 2020): volume 1, 6 7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-019-0010-9 ⁸ Matthew Marani, T+E+A+M Simulates Natural Processes to Make Spectacularly Synthetic Materials The Architect’s Newspaper, March 5, 2019 https://www.archpaper. com /2018/05/team simulates-natural-processes-to-make-spectacularly-syntheticmaterials/. ⁹ Marani, T+E+A+M Simulates Natural Processes to Make Spectacularly Synthetic Materials

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Photos: Matthew Marani. T+E+A+M simulates natural processes to make spectacularly synthetic materials. May 21, 2018

This abstract design that retains the characteristics of plastiglomerates has another purpose of alerting people to the better and more rational use of plastics.

Conclusion: To sum up, the abstract meanings of the above three aspects are all based on understanding the “new rock” plastiglomerate at this stage. Whether macroscopic or microscopic, they are all discussions on the abstract meaning of plastiglomerates in architectural design under the experiment and practice that they act as building materials. The research of plastiglomerate can promote the innovation of the new architectural spatial organization, promote the development of construction technology, and affect users’ perception of materials.

The abstract meaning of plastiglomerate in architectural design focuses on its impact and value on design, people, and the environment through its formation process, existence, and application. It is an essential issue in terms of environmental protection because it provides a solution to the irreversible consequences of plastic waste generated by human activities on the environment.

Instead of spending more energy to separate the plastic attached to the rock, it is better to use the products of nature directly. Focusing on reducing the impact on the overall environment, let it become a part of building and stand together on the planet. However, the application of plastiglomerate is still a hypothesis. Artists, engineers, and the public still need time to explore to use it in architectue.

Bibliography: Corcoran, Patricia L. & Jazvac, Kelly (2020). The consequence that is plastiglomerate. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 1, pages6–7 (2020).

Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-0190010-9 (Accessed: 10 October 2021).

Marani, Matthew (2019). T+E+A+M Simulates Natural Processes to Make Spectacularly Synthetic Materials. The Architect’s Newspaper, March 5, 2019. Available at: https:// www.archpaper.com/2018/05/team-simulates-naturalprocesses-to-make-spectacularly-synthetic-materials/.

(Accessed December 2, 2021).

Miller, Meredith L. & Moran, Thom (2017). Post Rock, ACSA Faculty Design Honorable Mention: 17. Available at: https://www.acsa-arch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/fdhm-millermoran.pdf (Accessed: 3 December 2021)

MoPOP. Architecture of the MoPOP Building. Museum of Pop Culture. Available at: https://www.mopop.org/ about-mopop/mission/architecture-of-the-mopop-building/.

(Accessed December 2, 2021).

Robertson, Kirsty. PLASTIGLOMERATE. CSPA Quarterly, no. 19 (2017): 38–44. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/ stable/90020305 (Accessed: 10 October 2021).

Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. Post Rock. the University of Michigan. Available at: https:// taubmancollege.umich.edu/research/research-throughmaking/2016/post-rock (Accessed: 3 December 2021)

Young, Michael. The Aesthetics of Abstraction. Aesthetics Equals Politics. mark foster gage, March 12, 2021.

Available at: https://www.academia.edu/45484365/The_ Aesthetics_of_Abstraction. (Accessed: 1 December 2021)

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Xinyuan Yue

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Synthetic Epoch

SYNTHETIC EPOCH DS1201 Generative Morphologies - bioTECH Instructor: Herwig Baumgartner Collaborator: Yiyu Zhou This Course engages in a comprehensive building project while asking some foundational disciplinary questions: what is the form of contemporary participation to the construction of scientific knowledge? How can architecture offer a space where an expanded agency can be effective? How can we design an architecture that facilitates a network of stakeholders and allows them to work together? Can architecture promote awareness and active communication regarding technological investments? Can a Bio-tech facility act more like a parliament of negotiations, rather than a branded lobby for a shared workplace?

Synthetic Epoch is the latest research project from a researchbased company in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on carbon neutrality and human-computer interaction for human society. The project recycles and transforms the remaining carbon in the atmosphere by studying the carbon transport of fungi between plant roots. It is a remarkable sign of the friendly coexistence of human activities and the ecological environment. Like a synthetic machine, the project is like a microscopic symbiosis of humans and non-humans in this epoch.

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

GAN-Style AI Training

Coral is an important part of the earth’s ecology, and the formation of reefs provides a living environment for many plants and animals. Flowers with vitality and vigor as organisms symbolize the power of nature. The laboratory representing science and technology is like a microscope for humans to explore nature. The factory is representative of the working environment of high production efficiency in human society. The unique form of the engine is a contemporary product of human intelligence, which continuously bursts out energy to drive the operation of the machine and promote the progress of technology.

Xinyuan Yue

Agent: Engine & Food

Agent: Engine & Fungi

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Synthetic Epoch

GAN-Style AI Training

We want to explore the form of natural things and synthetic objects. The combination of them discusses how a natural ecological environment affects the working environment of the machine. Whether it is an environment or an agent, we are mixing mutable and relatively immutable.

They influence each other actively or passively. The growth of flowers and corals is to break the order of the laboratory and factory with more possibilities. The research core of the two images is based on the division and merging of organizations in the process of morphological transformation to stimulate a new order of production and creation.

Environment: Laboratory & Flower

Environment: Factory & Coral Reef

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CHUNK 1: Biological Lab: Build biomimetic machines by studying the process by which fungi forage food.

CHUNK 2: Air Simulation Lab: biomimetic machines float back into indoor spaces to recycle greenhouse gases.

CHUNK 3: Translation Lab: Researchers study how to use the excess carbon captured to produce new clean energy.

CHUNK 4: Research Center: Undertake the most cutting-edge scientific and technological forums and academic discussions

CHUNK 5: Carbon Museum: new energy sources and plant cultivation results are displayed.

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Synthetic Epoch

THE SYNTHETIC EPOCH Synthetic Epoch is the latest research project from a research-based company in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on carbon neutrality and human-computer interaction for human society. The project recycles and transforms the remaining carbon in the atmosphere by studying the carbon transport of fungi between plant roots.

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Synthetic Epoch

ENTER THIS NEW EPOCH Enter the building along the main passage, which is covered with plants. People will find that it is a remarkable sign of the friendly coexistence of human activities and the ecological environment. Like a synthetic machine, the project is like a microscopic symbiosis of humans and non-humans in this epoch.

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the Eastern View of the Parliament

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Synthetic Epoch the Western View of the Parliament 89

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Synthetic Epoch

50 + 50 IN CHUNKS The design method is chunk interaction. Committed to promoting the integration of various functional blocks to connect human space and non-human space without barriers. The entire building is divided into solid and void spaces, each occupying 50%. The substantial spaces are mainly laboratories, research centers, and exhibition halls, while void spaces are large gathering spaces and main experimental areas. The fungal biomimetic simulates how fungi collect carbon in a zero-gravity laboratory and store it as energy capsules to develop new clean energy feedstocks and nutrients for plant growth, how fungi use ecological networks to connect plants and conduct carbon as nutrients.

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“The Future Under The Green”

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Synthetic Epoch

Converting Machine and Laboratory

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ACHIEVE THE CARBON NEUTRALITY To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Company Bio, founded by the United Nations, aims to simulate a fungus that can find food in the shortest path between two points to collect excess carbon from the natural environment. After collecting and processing, the extra carbon, especially greenhouse gas, will be concentrated and converted into clean energy.

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“Humans cannot answer all these environmental problems on behalf of everything in the world, but humans must deal with and change them. ” 95

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Studies have shown that fungi in the soil can also transport carbon through the root systems of various plants. By translating this crucial research project, the building strives to provide its users with an efficient and unhindered research office environment. The building spaces will be organized around the core of interconnectivity.

Synthetic Epoch

THE CORE OF INTERCONNECTIVITY

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

alter - Nature

ALTER - NATURE VS4201 Visual Studies - alter|Nature Instructor: Andrea Cadioli (Individual Work) alter|Nature explores the visual phenomenon of codependency of physical, digital, and biological in bio-diverse environments. Atoms, Bits, and Genes will redefine objects in the Anthropocene area in terms of the arrangement of objects and the agreement of parts. Spatial organizations and power structures collapse in a single instance, where one defines the other and vice versa. “alter|Nature” aims at the creation of Trans-Habitats, temporal and physical spaces where organic and inorganic elements find ecological logics of distribution, symbiosis, and hierarchies. Starting from the understanding that nature is created as a process of ceaseless morphogenic modulations, “alter|Nature” explores the aesthetic of the event and of the ritual.

The project consists of spheres of various materials, such as wood, iron plate, and marble, most common in the human world. They are interlocking and surrounding each other, suggesting that the different shreds of evidence for the existence of the Anthropocene are interdependent and closely related. The flowing water envelops them, the wind blows the droplets and the leaves, and they rise and fall like breathing.

Humans also belong to nature, and all changes are constantly going on.

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SCENE 1 - Drops Detailed View in the alter-Nature Box

SCENE 2 - Leaves Detailed View in the alter-Nature Box 107

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SCENE 4 - Frames Detailed View in the alter-Nature Box 108

alter - Nature

SCENE 3 - Cables Detailed View in the alter-Nature Box

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Southern California Institute of Architecture

Re-empatheia

RE-EMPATHEIA AS2437 Building Empathy REVIT Instructor: Ashley Hastings Collaborator: Abhishek Kadian, Yashwanth Munukoti, Wei-Chieh Wang, and Wei-Hung Chen, A practical application of Revit looking beyond architecture.

This course will provide a comprehensive understanding of 3D modeling and design as it exists in a shared environment.

Beginning with a baseline project, students will understand how data processing produces discrete design options. We will generally observe multidisciplinary workflows, consider other perspectives or possibilities across all disciplines (SMEP, façades, lighting, acoustics, etc.), and examine what empathic design looks like. We will cover Building Information Modeling (BIM) principles, data extraction and analysis methods, and the theory behind systems thinking and emotional intelligence about the built environment.

This course will simulate what it’s like to work collaboratively in a shared space, delve into project settings and BIM management for projects according to industry standards, and develop a multidisciplinary perspective as students prepare for the practical transition to the profession after graduation.

We worked as a team to complete the renovation of the Uber World Headquarters. This is a simulation of real work, in which we learn how to communicate and cooperate effectively and learn to put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues. In the same work environment, how to maximize the potential of the team should start with the empathy of each of us.

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Image 1: Anthropocene traces in the Pacific Ocean, Territorial Agency, 2020 1

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Excess of Ecologies

EXCESS OF ECOLOGIES HT2201 Theories of Contemporary Architecture 2 Instructor: John Cooper, Marcelyn Gow (Individual Article) Building on the base ideas established in Theories of Contemporary Architecture 1, this course will examine in detail recent and historical texts on architecture, philosophy, literature, music, and art. Through these texts, a diversity of approaches to architectural theory and practice will be examined and interrogated within broader social, cultural, and historical contexts from the 1950s to the present. Through analysis of and critical writing about these texts as well as buildings and projects of the period, students will develop new vocabularies for contemporary architectural discourse.

In terms of marine ecology, human activities have caused irreversible damage to the entire marine environment. Humans are primarily responsible for whether it is catastrophic waste pollution, the destruction of the food chain of local ecosystems caused by invasive species, or the reduction of marine habitats caused by reclamation and mineral extraction. Faced with this severe situation, we should not sit idly by but take immediate action to find effective measures to curb these situations’ aggravation and protect the marine ecological environment.

This article will mainly focus on balancing human activities and marine ecology in response to these issues. There will demonstrate and analyze three aspects of garbage utilization, alien species placement, and habitat construction.

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The New Form of Equilibrium between Human Activity and The Marine Ecosystem in Anthropocene “Today, the global ocean is rapidly changing its circulations, energies, interactions, and ecologies. It is the most dynamic and sensitive component of our living planet, yet the most unknown. The ocean is in a new phase of its non-linear history, shaped by the intensification of the impact of human activities on the Earth System—the Anthropocene. ” - Oceans in Transformation, TBA-21 Academy, 20202

Living Together on A Blue Planet

On this blue planet, human beings are insignificant compared to the ocean, ecosystem, and earth, but the impact of human beings on the entire marine ecological environment is enormous. We in these hyperobjects are part of it, and we have no chance of staying out of it. As Timothy Morton said, in the time of hyperobject, people find their coexistence with nature is the meaning of home for the whole ecology; In this time, humankind has gradually realized that it is at the cost of causing damage to the ecology3. Over the past few decades, ¹ TBA-21, “Oceans in Transformation,” Territorial Agency, 2020, https://www. territorialagency.com/oceans. ² TBA-21, “Oceans in Transformation,”. ³ Timothy Morton, “Architecture without Nature,” Academia.edu, May 30, 2014, https:// www.academia.edu/2064219/Architecture_without_Nature, 6.

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Image 2: The Blue Marble by the Crew of Apollo 17, NASA, 1972 5

various human pressures on this environment have increased, leading to significant changes in marine ecosystems. The marine environment is a dynamic system exhibiting variability due to natural and human-driven phenomena4. Under such circumstances, human beings need in-depth research to find a new balanced form of coexistence with the marine environment and the species it contains to promote marine biodiversity conservation and utilization management.

In terms of marine ecology, human activities have caused irreversible damage to the entire marine environment.

Humans are primarily responsible for whether it is catastrophic waste pollution, the destruction of the food chain of local ecosystems caused by invasive species, or the reduction of marine habitats caused by reclamation and mineral extraction. Faced with this severe situation, we should not sit idly by but take immediate action to find effective measures to curb these situations’ aggravation and protect the marine ecological environment. This article will mainly focus on balancing human activities and marine ecology in response to these issues.

There will demonstrate and analyze three aspects of garbage utilization, alien species placement, and habitat construction.

4 IFREMER. “Department of Biological Resources and Environment.” Ifremer, September 17, 2019. https://wwz.ifremer.fr/en/Research-Technology/Scientificdepartments/Department-of-Biological-Resources-and-Environment.

5 NASA Content Administrator, Blue Marble - Image of the Earth from Apollo 17, photograph, NASA, accessed April 8, 2022, https://www.nasa.gov/content/blue-marbleimage-of-the-earth-from-apollo-17.

Image 3: Placement of a single port outside of Auckland Harbor, Ashley Johnson, 2010 10

Species Invasion and Biome Typology of Alien Species Since the advent of the era of great seafaring, marine civilization has gradually replaced continental culture and continuously promoted the development of human society.

As the globalized market puts increasing pressure on shipping, the creatures scattered across the continents are brought along with international cruise ships to new habitats without natural predators. In these new worlds, they grow unbridled and savagely. The changes brought about by migrating species to local ecosystems are often disruptive or even devastating. Shipping is less affected by subjective and objective environmental obstacles such as geography and politics, and it is still the primary way of transporting goods today. Ballast water from large freighters is one of the leading causes of species migration problems. International shipping ports are the first stop for invasive species, and contaminated water is dumped recklessly at these ports far from its source6. To effectively solve the problem of species invasion caused by loading water, it is still necessary to establish strict management mechanisms and disposal sites. We already have a sound management system for urban wastewater treatment, which is an example worth learning from the ocean.

Different wastewater is circulated in a hydronic building cooling system or transported to the sewage treatment

6 Hanno Seebens et al., “Predicting the Spread of Marine Species Introduced by Global Shipping,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 20 (2016): pp.

5646-5651, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524427113.

plant through the pipe network, rather than letting it flow to the block, river, or the sea. For instance, sludge from the Point Loma treatment plant is dried on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay, a frequently used recreational area, and composted for soil conditioners or, as a last resort, disposed of in a landfill7.

Ashley Johnson’s Species Indetermina project offers a solution to the problem of species migration in ballast water. These exotic species are exploited in Species Indetermina by manipulating ballast water and creating a core sample of wildlife and landscapes from different parts of the globe8. The ballast water of the freighter is first pre-treated here, and the organisms it carries will also settle here (see Image 3). By managing shipping routes and exotic ballast water, these core samples of ecosystems containing invasive species have created a new zoo typology. It could provide a prototype to handle ballast water worldwide in all international shipping ports9.

A travel network will incorporate ecosystems that introduce the public to new and exotic worlds through tourists’ sightseeing. It is a sharing platform to disseminate marine ecological protection to the public. In addition to this, the site also functions as an energy capture. The energy

7 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas,” Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, January 1993, p. 48, https://doi.org/10.17226/2049.

8 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,” Web log. Infrastructure Networks Laboratory (blog), May 13, 2010. https://www.infranetlab.org/blog/ecologies-excess/.

9 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,”.

10 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,”.

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generated by this small ecosystem will be recycled on this sea far away from the mainland, making it self-sufficient11.

Ashley’s proposal is not like a typical sewage treatment facility. It does not isolate the public but intentionally invites everyone to participate. Moreover, the sample case is not disposed of by direct elimination. This approach minimizes the impact of alien species on the living environment of local species and the plunder of available resources and creates a variety of biomes. It highlights the integration of human life and the natural environment and the harmonious coexistence of humans and other creatures.

Garbage Gyre and Compound Garbage Continent

The land and the sea are closely linked, and their relationship can be described as a shared destiny. The garbage generated on the continent will remain on the ground, but tens of thousands of garbage are caused by human activities floating in the entire ocean. Furthermore, garbage is scattered on a vast sea surface. It will be much more challenging to clean up marine garbage than the garbage on land. Garbage patches gathered in the North Pacific Gyre are a powerful example. Garbage patches are mainly formed by the accumulation of terrestrial garbage in the surrounding countries under circulation. A garbage patch is an amorphous object drifting through the ocean and media space in many ways. It is an ominous sign of whether it heralds some apocalyptic moment as the ocean becomes saturated with this synthetic and disposable material12. When the media introduces the garbage patch, it often describes it as “a new continent in the ocean” and “an island made of garbage.” It is a bit arbitrary to describe this scattered garbage as continents and islands, but it also provides a new idea for people to deal with marine garbage. Can it solve the problem of garbage circulation if we want to collect garbage in the Pacific Ocean? In addition, can this new continent bring other benefits to the marine ecosystem? In one way, the garbage patch has given rise to technoscientific practice with its intractable plasticity. As Jennifer describes it in her article, the ocean and objects are sites of ongoing perception practice13.

Drifters and sensors and the study of particle motion and ocean currents are abstract ways to understand garbage patches and concrete things to navigate in generating the world to be perceived14. This technoscientific

11 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,”.

12 Jennifer Gabrys, “Ocean Sensing and Navigating the End of This World,” e - flux Journal, June 21, 2019, https://www.e-flux.com/journal/101/272633/ocean-sensing-andnavigating-the-end-of-this-world/, 3.

13Jennifer Gabrys, “Ocean Sensing,” 8.

14Jennifer Gabrys, “Ocean Sensing,” 8.

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Image 4: Polymergy Waterscapes, Igraine Perkinson, 2010 15

15 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,”.

observation technique focused on marine debris in circulation will inevitably also mobilize responses to fix and manage the plastic problem in the ocean16. Ocean sensing can help us take substantial actions on this hyperobject, such as imagining a new artificial continent proposal from an architectural, urban, and geological perspective.

Igraine Perkinson’s Polymergy Waterscapes project has come up with an implementation for the idea. It creates a floating aquatic society that contradicts this relationship, using garbage as a generative device for new urbanism.

The project will be placed where the wind and currents are slowest, the best place to collect rubbish. The pavilion employs a labyrinthine system of open waterways containing waste in specific areas by disrupting circulation clockwise (see Image 4). Each project area will undergo a unique architectural treatment of the collected waste, such as stacking walls, soft plazas, synthetic dunes, and waste vortexes, to create a vision of the clusters generated during the design process17. In the case of the Project’s Polymergy Spa, it is an underwater refinery that melts plastic and converts it into energy that heats water, providing a comfortable place to relax. Other waterways discharge debris into laboratory collection ponds or terrain terraces above sea level. After these wastes are processed and dried, they create a new landscape and store energy18. The project raises awareness of this emerging wasteland and integrates projects that can harness waste. According to estimates, these systems can effectively reduce debris by about ten times through collection and compaction. The accumulation or densification of islands slowly clears larger bodies of water over time. Garbage is the unit of growth and the main body of occupation here. In addition, this new land can inhibit the impact of floating garbage gathering places on marine ecologies, such as ocean oxygen and phytoplankton production. The garbage continent does not mean that it will become another new paradise for human beings.

Still, it is to use modern science and technology to reduce the negative impact of human activities on the marine ecological environment over the years. Even a series of measures represented by this project can be understood as the awakening of human-environmental consciousness.

Marine Habitat and Biodiversity of Zones

The marine ecological environment is interlinked. Whether 16Jennifer Gabrys, “Ocean Sensing,” 8.

17 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,”.

18 Neeraj, “Ecologies of Excess,”.

it is a species invasion or marine debris, tracing its origin is because marine life habitats have been destroyed. The impact of human activities on the ecological environment is increasing year by year with the progress of civilization, and the rich and diverse ecosystems around the world are gradually decreasing. By implementing strict marine ecological governance measures, the decline in the number of marine species has been curbed, and the degraded marine ecosystem has been restored.

Nevertheless, to restore ocean health generally, people will need to govern and respond more aggressively¹⁹.

Pollution problems are often particularly acute in areas with high levels of human activity. IFREMER’s research promotes sustainable aquaculture through an ecosystem approach. Their approach relies on studying the food chain balance and potential conflict of use between various human activities along the coast²⁰. This research provides a theoretical basis for new artificial marine habitats offshore. The Port of San Francisco, known as one of the three best natural harbors, is the hardest-hit area for species invasion and marine pollution problems.

Especially here is the Olympia oyster, which has been almost expelled from other invasive species. To preserve the last homes of these native species, the California College of the Arts-led floating lab project aims to promote healthy marine ecological sustainability by creating healthy habitats for native species²¹.

The laboratory aims to cultivate an unconventional home for marine flora and fauna and gain insight into the Gulf’s complex marine habitats as marine biologists and ecologists gather more information about the underwater ecosystem²². Adam Marcus said the idea behind the floating lab was to “create diversity through geometry so that small organisms can safely exist in small pockets without predators approaching them, creating a stronger food chain.” While the lab’s main target population at this stage is the Olympia oyster, it also seeks to increase the number of oysters at all scales by focusing on the rough surface of the boat-shaped lab to attract a more diverse marine community to settle here²³. As a sustainable habitat, the surface area draws more animals to attach.

The dung left by passing seagulls provides nitrogen to produce algae, and on this basis, the animals and plants

19 Cristiana Paşca Palmer, “Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystems Underpin a Healthy Planet and Social Well-Being,” United Nations (United Nations, May 2017), https://www. un.org/en/chronicle/article/marine-biodiversity-and-ecosystems-underpin-healthy-planetand-social-well-being.

20 IFREMER. “Department of Oceanography and Ecosystem Dynamics.” Ifremer, September 17, 2019. https://wwz.ifremer.fr/en/Research-Technology/Scientificdepartments/Department-of-Oceanography-and-Ecosystem-Dynamics.

21 Zach Mortice, “Floating Lab Aims to Promote Healthy Marine Habitat in San Francisco Bay,” Redshift (AUTODESK, August 21, 2019), https://redshift.autodesk.com/marinehabitat/.

22 Mortice, “Floating Lab”.

23 Mortice, “Floating Lab”.

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Image 5: The Float Lab installation, CCA Architectural Ecologies Lab, 2019 24

Image 6: On Tidal Zones, Climavore, 2017 25

24 Mortice, “Floating Lab”.

25 Climavore. “On Tidal Zones.” CLIMAVORE, September 2017. https://www.climavore. org/seasons/on-tidal-zones/.

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that live here can obtain the life resources they need (see Image 5). The project team says the installation will not plant or seed any species, which they take as an open invitation. The available proposal allows the experiment to be rolled out globally. The Lab’s goal is to create a better world for humans and non-humans. This theme is more about the relationship of the whole ecosystem. Today, with frequent catastrophic events, this seemingly utopian issue can no longer be regarded as an idealized model, and the development of this idea should be more practiced and tested. The floating laboratory has found a new balance between the two for the marine ecological environment and human activities. Rather than directly establishing habitable habitats for marine life, it indirectly provides new ideas and new samples developing the entire Earth’s ecosystem.

The ‘on tidal zones’ installation on the isle of Skye in Scotland also focuses on balancing aquaculture and habitat protection. Local problems such as acidification of water bodies and disappearance of wild species caused by the release of antibiotics and chemical elements caused by open salmon farming. In response to these human-induced changes in water ecology, the CLIMAVORE project, in the context of Bayfield’s intertidal zone, united local stakeholders and residents to respond in the form of tidal table installations. The installation acts as a habitat for seaweed and shellfish at high tide and continues to provide Gaels with a healthy diet at low tide26.

These algae and bivalves are necessary to filter feeders for maintaining a solid and healthy intertidal ecosystem, and they can breathe to clean the water27. Reframing our diets and challenging the production and consumption dictated by large agribusiness groups, CLIMAVORE’s concept critically questions the geopolitical implications behind climate change and its impact on humans and nonhumans28. The project not only possesses artistic value in the field of architecture and installation but also provides a balanced approach to science for the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. It plays a catalytic role in the ecological, social, and circular economy.

the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems.

And they give solutions to the problems that arise. Biotypological bases that host exotic species brought in by international shipments slow down the pressure on local ecosystems to cope. New landmasses formed by the accumulation of garbage offer new possibilities for the disposal of ocean currents of waste. Floating labs can increase the biodiversity of local marine ecology. All three of these measures are striking examples of active human involvement based on sustainable development, and they do not separate any of them for independent discussion. Such new forms of balance are educational and reproducible. After these discussions, go back to the first photo of our planet taken by the Apollo spacecraft - the blue marble. Astronomer Fred Hoyle speculates: “Once there is a picture of Earth taken from the outside, we will gain an extra dimension emotionally.29” Therefore, for the severe issue of marine ecology, all humanity should pay more attention and empathy to it.

The prospect of marine biodiversity and the marine ecological environment is still unclear. Although the deterioration trend has begun to reverse after many efforts, human beings, as an inseparable part of the entire environmental environment, still have the responsibility and obligation to continue to restore the environment.

Alfred says that civilization advances are extended by the number of significant operations we can perform without thinking30. When we subconsciously have formed a consensus that the world will not come to an end, the decisions people make at that time will naturally no longer be solipsism. As Benjamin reiterates in the terraforming article, it is time for our ideas to take a Copernican turn.

For the balance of human activities and the ecological environment, the coexistence of humans and non-humans, and the future of global sustainability, human beings need to join hands to face difficulties and remove obstacles to realize the desired vision as soon as possible. Devastating oceans and smoky ecosystems cannot mark the Anthropocene. We cannot allow pollution and destruction to spread freely.

Where Should the Equilibrium Go?

Whether it is the balance between human activities and marine ecosystems, or human beings and nature, the above three forms focus on discussing and analyzing

26 Climavore. “On Tidal Zones,”.

27 Climavore. “On Tidal Zones,”.

28 Climavore. “On Tidal Zones,”.

29 Benjamin H. Bratton, The Terraforming (Moscow, Russia: Strelka Press, 2019), 6.

30 Benjamin, The Terraforming, 13.

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Bibliography

Bratton, Benjamin H. The Terraforming. Moscow, Russia: Strelka Press, 2019.

Climavore. “On Tidal Zones.” CLIMAVORE, September 2017. https://www.climavore.org/seasons/on-tidal-zones/.

Gabrys, Jennifer. “Ocean Sensing and Navigating the End of This World.” e - flux Journal, June 21, 2019. https:// www.e-flux.com/journal/101/272633/ocean-sensing-andnavigating-the-end-of-this-world/.

IFREMER. “Department of Biological Resources and Environment.” Ifremer, September 17, 2019. https://wwz. ifremer.fr/en/Research-Technology/Scientific-departments/ Department-of-Biological-Resources-and-Environment.

IFREMER. “Department of Oceanography and Ecosystem Dynamics.” Ifremer, September 17, 2019. https://wwz. ifremer.fr/en/Research-Technology/Scientific-departments/ Department-of-Oceanography-and-Ecosystem-Dynamics.

Mortice, Zach. “Floating Lab Aims to Promote Healthy Marine Habitat in San Francisco Bay.” Redshift.

AUTODESK, August 21, 2019. https://redshift.autodesk. com/marine-habitat/.

Morton, Timothy. “Architecture without Nature.” Academia. edu, May 30, 2014. https://www.academia.edu/2064219/ Architecture_without_Nature.

NASA Content Administrator. Blue Marble - Image of the Earth from Apollo 17. Photograph. NASA. Accessed April 8, 2022. https://www.nasa.gov/content/blue-marble-imageof-the-earth-from-apollo-17.

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas.”

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1993, 48. https://doi.org/10.17226/2049.

Neeraj. “Ecologies of Excess.” Web log. Infrastructure Networks Laboratory (blog), May 13, 2010. https://www. infranetlab.org/blog/ecologies-excess/.

Palmer, Cristiana Paşca. “Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystems Underpin a Healthy Planet and Social WellBeing.” United Nations. United Nations, May 2017. https:// www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/marine-biodiversity-andecosystems-underpin-healthy-planet-and-social-wellbeing.

Seebens, Hanno, Nicole Schwartz, Peter J. Schupp, and Bernd Blasius. “Predicting the Spread of Marine Species Introduced by Global Shipping.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 20 (2016): 5646–51. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524427113.

TBA-21. “Oceans in Transformation.” Territorial Agency, 2020. https://www.territorialagency.com/oceans.

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