Master thesis lenna galanis

//CONNECTIVE TISSUE\\ LENNA GALANIS_2018 An interactive project that explores a mutualism with form.

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//HELLO This Master Thesis project aims to explore a mutualistic relationship between humanity, the environment and technology. Bare with me as I lead you on an explanatory path of how I got here. It began by studying the Biological Soil Crusts that inhabit regions that undergo harsh environmental conditions.

Their survival can be attributed to the mutualistic relationship they have with other organisms.

What does a mutualistic relationship mean for humanity, technology and the environment? Could we manufacture such mutualisms? This project explores these questions.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

08-15 pg.

18-35 pg.

38-39 pg.

42-45 pg.

48-53 pg.

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INFORMATIVE STUDY PRELIMINARY FORM GENERATION THEORY POINT OF CONVERGENCE CONNECTIVE TISSUE

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INFOR P.06|

RMATIVE STUDY |P.07

BIOCRUSTS

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Biological Soil Crusts are composed of algae, moss, lichen and cyanobacteria. These organisms have a mutualistic relationship and carry out many organizational behaviors in order to survive. The most prominent being, immediate growth, mutualistic, and migration.

Cyanobacteria found in biological soil crusts have a key role in the biological soil crust survival. They are able to change pigment to survive in high UV radiation. Additionally, they are able to migrate to areas underneath the surface to protect themselves from UV radiation.

Cyanobacteria found in hyper-arid deserts located in extremely cold temperatures have the ability to melt ice for nutrients. Due to the harsh climate, the only way a biocrust can be stimulated to life would be to change the environment around them.

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BICRUST DATA CLIMATE | TYPES | BEHAIVOURS

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ANALYSIS soil morphology

The biological soil crusts rely heavily on the granular composition of the soil they inhabit. The size of grain will cause the type of growth, how quickly it will grow and how successfully it will contribute to the environment. In a healthy biocrust, the first layer of soil is sand like, consisting of small soil composites held together by the mucus excreting cyanobacteria. This process acts as the first layer of defense against infiltration.

PROTECTION

The hierarchy can easily be seen in the image to the right. The small grains protect the exterior layer and the large soil granules allow for the spreading of rainwater to the other micro organisms found in the biological soil crusts. This hierarchy is integral to combating erosion and nutrient depletion/runoff. Biocrust ability to self organize acts as an additional layers of protection. Assembling and migrating to areas in need of nutrients.

HIERARCHY

The type of soil size heavily influences the growth behavior and spread of cyanobacteria. If soil granules are small and consistent the cyanobacteria will form a smooth like mat, intertwining the soil granules within its matrix. If the soil type is large and inconsistent the cyanobacteria will grow in patches, this type of growth would be less desirable because it limits the cyanobacteria capacity to distribute nutrients to neighboring organisms.

CONNECTIVITY

There are many growth patterns and different types of cyanobacteria. Each type of cyanobacteria will grow in the environment it is best fit for.

Some are more successful in cold climates, others in extremely hot climates. Therefore, the type of growth and the type of cyanobacteria is all dependent on the environmental conditions of that specific location the cyanobacteria is inhabiting.

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CONNECTIVITY

ANALYSIS cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria are a product of evolution. It is one of the very first bacteria to colonize the earth.

Its systematic existence can be contributed to its adaptability. One important adaptability is the mucus like sack that the cyanobacteria excrete to protect themselves from UV. radiation. The more layers the stronger the radiation. This layered system has allowed cyanobacteria to thrive in extreme temperatures.

LAYERS

Upon contact with water the cyanobacteria expand. They can retain water up to the times their body weight. This retention process helps manage the cyanobacteria livable during extremely dry environments. This expansion also contributes to there capacity to mobilize upon contact with water. The mucus excrete also acts as a propelling agent fro microbial activity. Also, cyanobacteria expand like this under extreme UV. radiation.

EXPANSION

Under normal conditions contraction occurs in cyanobacteria. This contraction is incredibly interesting because of how the shell of the cyanobacteria can adapt to environmental conditions. This evolutionary trait has huge role in the success of the biocrust. Cyanobacteria act as the epicenter for nutrient distribution and soil stability. Therefore, if biocrusts did not have this capacity it would cease to live.

As you can see in the image on the right. A mucus like sack is excreted from the cyanobacteria cell. This process allows free movement and propulsion of cyanobacteria to distribute nutrients.

Once wet, this layering system expands and allows of microbial activity and movement. The exterior layer or shell of the cyanobacteria acts also as a protection barrier from the environmental factors of its location.

CONTRACTION

MOVEMENT

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ANALYSIS growth

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Lichens are able to erode the substrate they occupy. They almost act as a leech and the substrate its host. In the graphic to the right you can see how, once a lichen has died, the imprint of its colonization can still be seen. Meaning that its capacity to erode can be evident years later. This is a significant finding. This idea can be connected to the subtraction of space. This concept is interesting because of its capacity to inform a narrative.

IMPRINT

The interweaving of minerals found in lichens are an integral process to sustaining its life. Lichens erode different substrates, extracting minerals from them and using the minerals as nutrients.

This process is extremely interesting. Almost as if a lichen is attaching to a host and extrapolating life from it. Once minerals have been eroded they become part of the lichen structure, therefore, this interweaving structure comes to life.

ATTACHMENT

The morphology of lichens is complex and ever-changing. It continues to grow and adapt to the surrounding environment. The structure is an interweaving complex archetype. Larger interweaving interactions occur in places where structural strength is less needed. While other areas, interactions of structure happen more frequently because of the structural need. The morphology is an example of a structural use in architecture.

Lichen is a mutualistic with cyanobacteria. The only way a lichen would survive is through this process. The cyanobacteria convert nutrients to energy for the lichens. This mutualistic behavior can be seen in the interconnectivity of lichen and cyanobacteria in this graphic. Therefore, a radial growth occurs because the distribution of nutrients happens at one location. The pedals represent the flow of nutrients from its origin.

MORPHOLOGY

CONNECTION

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PRELIMINAR

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RY FORM GENERATION

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PRELIMINARY sketches

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GENERATING connections

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GENERATING growth

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GENERATING attachment

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GENERATING migration

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GENERATING dispersal

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GENERATING networks

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GENERATING patterns

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GENERATING segments

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THEORY |P.037

THEORY

“IN DELEUZE AND GUATTARI, A PLATEAU IS REACHED WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES COMBINE TO BRING AN ACTIVITY TO A PITCH OF INTENSITY THAT IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY DISSIPATED IN A CLIMAX. THE HEIGHTENING OF ENERGIES IS SUSTAINED LONG ENOUGH TO LEAVE A KIND OF AFTERIMAGE OF ITS DYNAMISM THAT CAN BE REACTIVATED OR INJECTED INTO OTHER ACTIVITIES, CREATING A FABRIC OF INTENSIVE STATES BETWEEN WHICH ANY NUMBER OF CONNECTING ROUTES COULD EXIST.” BRIAN MASSUMI

ASSEMBLAGE THEORY Emerge

/Assemblages emerge from the

Interactions between parts.

Adding Complexity EITHER

/1/ Add to the degree of homogeneity OR

/2/ Dismantling current identity Morphology

/Growth happens simultaneously

NOT A LINEAR PROCESS Interactions

/Interactions define the process of the Assemblage.

DeLanda

Mexican-American writer, artist and P.038| philosopher

RHIZOME THEORY Layering Complexity

//Simplicity becomes Complex Multiplicity

//Network keeps forming despite Barriers.

//No Beginning or End

//No subject or object /Determinations /Magnitudes /Dimensions Deterritorialization + Reterritorialization

//Mutualism between living things.

//The interlinking relationship = RHIZOME

“ A capturing of code, surplus value of code, an increase valence, a revertible becoming, a

becoming wasp of the orchid and a

becoming-orchid of the wasp. The two becomings

interlink and form relays in a circulation of intensities

pushing the deterritorialization ever further.”

Key Words //Active

//No Hierarchy //Becoming //Layering //Interconnectivity

Deleuze + Guattari

French philosopher, and Félix Guattari, a French psychiatrist and politi|P.039 cal activist Deleuze.

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OF CONVERGENCE |P.041

TYPES of Mutualisms

1 EXPLOITATION/ PARASITIC A living thing is able to benefit at the cost of another living thing. An organism that lives on or near the organism it feeds off of. Not an exchange.

2 ENDOSYMBIOSIS The host cell lacks some of the nutrients which the endosymbiont provides.

As a result, the host favors endosymbiont’s growth processes within itself by producing some specialized cells. These cells affect the genetic composition of the host in order to regulate the increasing population of the endosymbionts and ensure that these genetic changes are passed onto the offspring via vertical transmission.

3 SYMBIOSIS One living thing depends on another for survival.

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A BIOTIC SOIL ROCK WATER MUTUALISMS

BIOTIC PLANTS ANIMALIA BACTERIA FUNGI ALGAE

ASSOCIATION

BY-PRODUCT

FOOD/PHYSICAL FORM

CLEANSING/FOOD

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MEDIATED Environment

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The connective tissue would capture the data of ecological behavior, human interaction and technology and combine them in a mediated environment.

This exchange of data produces an investigation of a mutualistic behavior that will influence how we perceive the natural world.

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INTERACTION

TECHNOLOGY

TRANSLATION

FEEL HEAR SENSE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

BIO-ENGINEERING MANIPULATION ADAPTATION

MIMICKING THE BEHAIVOR OF ECOLOGICAL BEHAVIORS

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CON P.046|

NNECTIVE TISSUE |P.047

STUDY 1 HUMAN Gestures

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HUMAN Gestures

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STUDY 22 STUDY

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HUMAN Gestures

HUMAN Gestures

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STUDY 3

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HUMAN Gestures

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