Kseniya Yerakhavets Graduate Thesis by Kseniya Yerakhavets

Hypogeal Succession Machine Misuse and Construction in Quarry Architecture

M. Arch December 2023

Kseniya Yerakhavets

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my thesis advisors Sasa Zivkovic and Christopher Battaglia for their unwavering support and motivation through the whole process. Their feedback pushed this project to become one of my favorite undertakings.

Thank you also to my thesis helpers Christopher Rouhi and Frank LaPuma, without whose incredible rendering skills and modeling help this project would not have reached its full potential.

Many thanks to the shop staff for their technical and emotional support, many projects have come to life in the wood shop.

Lastly, thank you to Cornell University for taking a chance on me – I have grown as a designer and person to innumerable heights in the last two-and-a-half years.

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Arch Thesis Cornell Architecture

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Yerakhavets M.

Context

In a post-extractive future, architects are tasked with integrating waste streams into construction practices. Hypogeal Succession posits that contemporary quarrying policies can be reconfigured to promote ecological remediation from the onset of extraction. In-situ fabrication and machine misuse will allow for the emergence and maintenance of an early succession habitat. The quarry waste rock will become occupiable masonry structures integrated in this ecological niche. The decommission of the quarry will reveal a productive landscape, allowing for economic and ecological prosperity for the region.

Historically, people have always been geological agents, extracting raw materials from the earth in order to produce tools and promote the growth of agricultural products, all of which was expedited by the industrial revolution. Continued global demand for raw materials has promoted the growth of the quarrying and mining industries. Barre, Vermont has been a hotspot for granite quarrying due to the presence of a granitic pluton close to the surface of the earth. The E.L. Smith quarry has been active since the early nineteenth century and will likely continue to be active for hundreds of years to come.

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Phase 1: Context Cornell Architecture

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Today

GEOMORPHOLOGY TIMELINE

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Yerakhavets Phase 1: Context Cornell Architecture EARLY STONE AGE DOMESTICATION, AGRICULTURE, AND LAND CLEARANCE METALS AND MINING IRRIGATION INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION FIRST BARRE GRANITE QUARRY 2.6 million years ago The early Stone Age saw the development of the first stone tools by Homo habilis, one of the earliest members of the human family. These were basically stone cores with flakes removed from them to create a sharpened edge that could be used for cutting, chopping or scraping. 11,000 B.C. The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. 8,000 B.C. The copper ores were mined using technique known as fire setting. Fire setting involved setting fire against the rock face and then throwing water on the heated surface. The copper ores were then prised from the rock face using mauls and hammer stones. The ores were crushed before being smelted. 6,000 B.C. The earliest known systems of irrigation originated in Egypt and Mesopotamia in 6,000 B.C. Fighting against the flooding of the Nile several months each year, ancient civilizations pioneered technique to divert flood waters to nearby crop fields, thereby utilizing excess flood water. 1760 The Industrial Revolution was period of major mechanization and innovation that began in Great Britain during the mid-18th century and early 19th century and later spread throughout much of the world. The British Industrial Revolution was dominated by the exploitation of coal and iron. 1812 It was soon after the War of 1812 that high-grade granite was utilized for myriad of commercial purposes. Soon after the war, Robert Parker, veteran of Bunker Hill and the War of 1812, returned to Barre and with one of his associates, Thomas Courser, opened the first quarry in the town. The quarry was later known as Wheaton's.

Kseniya

AN ANALYSIS OF GROUND LINE SUBTRACTION

The United States is heavily saturated with quarries and mines, making this a multi-billion industry

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1: Context

Phase

gray tone visualizes the granite pluton, making Barre the ideal site for extraction

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The

The E.L. Smith quarry is the deepest dimension granite quarry in the world, the accumulated rain water is a bright blue color due to algae colonies and suspended minerals from the rock extraction

About 25% of the granite that is quarried is not utilized, it is piled up in hills surrounding the site

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The derrick crane is fixed to the rim of the quarry with tension cables, allowing it to lift multi-ton granite blocks

The wheel loader is one of the primary machines for moving stone within the quarry

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Rain

Flat

Flat bedrock covered in scree creates a more permeable sub-stratum, ideal for larger intervention

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transportation networks excavated into site

slopes allow for water catchment and nutrient retention

water lake creates aquatic habitat Existing

Terraced

elements

Micro-climate protected from the

SECTION

EXTRACTION

terraces of rock receive large amounts of sun exposure SITE

PRECICTED PROFILE OF

Process

Machine misuse implies that the wheel loaders, saws, drills, and cranes already on site can be used in a different way. By adjusting the parameters of how these machines operate, the end product can be that of additive tectonics. This can create economic continuity for the town of Barre, seeing as the quarry workers can continue to operate the equipment. The goal simply changes: allow the quarrying process to continue, but allow the last layer of each terrace to have horizontal surfaces with stacked structures made out of waste rock. This will produce an early successional habitat for people, plants, and animals to prosper within.

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Phase 2: Process Cornell Architecture

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Yerakhavets

Hypogeal Succession 20 21 Kseniya Yerakhavets Phase 2: Process Cornell Architecture MACHINE CHOREOGRAPHY Point engagement with granite Movement sequence Path travel Location engagement MACHINE CHOREOGRAPHY Point of engagement with granite Movement sequence Path of travel Location of engagement 4 3 MACHINE CHOREOGRAPHY Point of engagement with granite Movement sequence Path of travel Location of engagement 2 4 2 Point of engagement with granite Movement sequence

Hypogeal Succession 22 23 Kseniya Yerakhavets Phase 2: Process Cornell Architecture MACHINE MISUSE Existing extractive practice lifting stone pilot holes wire inserted through pilot holes saw moving on track tilted wire cut hoisted rock hoisting and scribing hoisting and carving set stone assembled stone wall proposed wire cut Proposed additive practice Movement and assembly fulcrum step center mass mass fill stone megalith [Flip and Switch Method] [Tilted pilot hole] [Experimental center of mass] [Wally Walk] Tilting and hoisting Quarrying pilot holes vertical suspension calculated center mass drilled hole close perimeter lintel wire cut opening WIRE SAW DIAMOND DRILL pilot holes wire inserted through pilot holes saw moving on track tilted wire cut assembled stone wall [Tilted pilot hole] [Experimental center pilot holes vertical suspension calculated center of mass drilled hole close to perimeter MACHINE MISUSE WHEEL LOADER DIAMOND DRILL Existing extractive practice lifting stone pilot holes Proposed additive practice fulcrum center fill stone megalith [Flip and Switch Method] [Tilted pilot hole] [Experimental center [Wally Walk] pilot holes vertical suspension calculated center of mass drilled hole close to perimeter

WHEEL LOADER DIAMOND DRILL Existing extractive practice lifting stone Proposed additive practice fulcrum step center of mass mass fill stone megalith [Flip and Switch Method] [Wally Walk] vertical suspension calculated center of mass drilled hole close to perimeter

MACHINE MISUSE

Hypogeal Succession 24 25 Kseniya Yerakhavets Phase 2: Process Fragment Quarry strategy = mo horizonatal surfaces Soil etention ojections Cavities allow for soil etention and dec ease slope Uneven stepping to further dec ease slope Stepped fragment with cuts based on drill and wi saw constraints more Fragment Quarry strategy = mo horizonatal surfaces Cavities allow for soil etention and dec ease slope Uneven stepping to further dec ease slope more Fragment Quarry strategy = mo horizonatal surfaces Soil etention ojections Cavities allow for soil etention and dec ease slope Uneven stepping to further dec ease slope Stepped fragment with cuts based on drill and wi saw constraints more Fragment Quarry strategy = mo horizonatal surfaces Soil etention ojections Cavities allow for soil etention and dec ease slope Uneven stepping to further dec ease slope Stepped fragment with cuts based on drill and wi saw constraints more Quarry strategy = mo horizonatal surfaces Soil etention ojections more horizonatal Fragment Quarry strategy = mo horizonatal surfaces Soil etention ojections Cavities allow for soil etention and dec ease slope Uneven stepping to further dec slope Stepped fragment with cuts based on drill and wi saw constraints more horizonatal

Hypogeal Succession 26 27 Kseniya Yerakhavets Cornell Architecture THE FORMATION OF AN EARLY SUCCESSIONAL HABITAT Stone dust Quarried granite Quarried granite Scree Organic matter Quarried granite Scree Soil Pioneer plants Sectional profile Quarry orthographic projection Decommissioned quarry Infill of scree for artificial soil formation Primary successional landscape THE MAINTENANCE OF AN EARLY SUCCESSIONAL HABITAT Material Library Dust and aggregate Gravel Cobble stone Blocks Megaliths Bedrock Barn Goat ... seed deposits, soil aeration, soil enrichment Soil Soil Soft mast plants Soft mast plants Dust, aggregate, gravel

habitats provide

ecological

shrub-land birds and

Early succession

niche for

reptiles

more horizontal beds within the quarry and stacking waste rock, soil can be retained to allow succession to occur

By creating

The waste rocks on site create a material library for construction

The smaller offcuts can be used for retaining walls and ramps for circulation between the terraces

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Phase 2:

CUT STONE TYPOLOGIES MATRIX OF MACHINE MISUSE

Typology

In-situ fabrication allows for the construction of structures from highly custom offcuts as the material library. While it is impossible to predict what each piece will look like, it is helpful to establish some typologies as to how stones can interlock with each other. A variety of joint systems can be tested and applied to onsite rock, allowing for the construction of occupiable interventions that promote inhabitation of all kinds.

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Phase 3: Typology

The site plan features stacked stone interventions along with circulation ramps and plant life emerging from the textured landscape

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3: Typology

Kseniya Yerakhavets Phase

This typology uses structural stacked stone in order to create pavilions which circulate between two terraces, allowing for plant life to take root in the nooks and crannies

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Phase 3:

This typology creates a permeable corridor and archway between the floor and the face of the quarry

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Conclusion

Hypogeal Succession aims to shed light on the attitudes surrounding extractive practices. The goal of the project is to demonstrate that quarrying can be done in a better way, a way which promotes remediation at its onset.

The E.L. Smith granite quarry does not sell 25% of the rock that is extracted. In addition, landscape remediation costs at the end of the project are very high. Lastly, the decommission of a quarry often leads to the economic downturn of the industry town.

By quarrying in a way that produces textured horizontal surfaces, soil can be retained more effectively than if it consisted primarily of sheer vertical faces. The waste rock that is inevitably produced can be moved and stacked on location, limiting transportation costs. By ‘backfilling’ the quarry landscape with its own granite, the sense of place remains. The remediation can begin on older terraces, even when lower down the quarry continues to be active. This approach not only increases benefits environmentally and economically, but also reframes the perspectives surrounding global industries of extraction.

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M. Arch Thesis Cornell Architecture Today

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Bibliography

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Yerakhavets M. Arch Thesis Cornell Architecture

Kseniya