Pamphlet Architecture 30: Coupling, Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism

COUPLING Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism

PAMPHLET ARCHITECTURE 30 INFRANET LAB / LATERAL OFFICE

Neeraj Bhatia / Maya Przybylski / Lola Sheppard / Mason White

Princeton Architectural Press, New York

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 1

11/1/10 3:44 PM

Published by Princeton Architectural Press 37 East Seventh Street New York, New York 10003

Airport

Roads

For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657.

Visit our website at www.papress.com.

Highways Railway

© 2011 Princeton Architectural Press All rights reserved Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens 14 13 12 11 4 3 2 1 First edition

High Speed Rail Trucking Ports

Shipping

This project is supported in partBridges by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tunnels

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written ipelines permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews.PPipelines Energyowners of copyright. Errors Every reasonable attempt has been made toWind identify or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions.

Editor: Becca Casbon Geothermal Energy Designer: Fei-Ling Tseng / InfraNet Lab Drinking Water

Special thanks to: Bree Anne Apperley, Sara Bader, Nicola Bednarek Brower, Janet Behning, Megan Carey, Carina Cha,Tidal TomEnergy Cho, Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Russell Fernandez, Pete Fitzpatrick, Jan Haux, Linda Lee, John Myers, Katharine Myers, Margaret Rogalski, Dan Simon, Andrew Stepanian, Jennifer Thompson, Paul Wagner, Joseph Weston, and Deb Wood of Princeton Architectural Press —Kevin C. Lippert, publisher

Internet

Submarine Cables

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 2

2009

2000

1990

1980

1970

1960

1950

1940

Server Farms

1930

1920

1910

1900

1800

1700

1600

1500

1000

0

500 AD

500 BC

1000

1500

2000

2500

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pamphlet architecture 30 : coupling : strategies for infrastructural opportunism / InfraNet Lab/Lateral Office, Neeraj Bhatia ... [et al.]. -- 1st ed.

Landfills p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Greenhouses ISBN 978-1-56898-985-3 (alk. paper) 1. Architecture--Environmental aspects. 2. Infrastructure (Economics)--Planning.

Aquaculture 3. Engineering design. I. Bhatia, Neeraj. II. InfraNet Lab (Firm) III. Lateral Office (Firm) IV. Title: Pamphlet architecture thirty.V. Title: Coupling : strategies for infrastructuralAgriculture opportunism.

NA2542.35.P36 2010 Buoys 724’.7--dc22 2010043984

11/1/10 3:44 PM

PAMPHLET ARCHITECTURE 30

Urbanism After Form

4

Formatting Contingency

6

Charles Waldheim

InfraNet Lab / Lateral Office

Fresh Field 10

Keller Easterling

WATER ECOLOGIES / ECONOMIES 14

LAND RESERVATIONS 24

RE-RIGGING 32 The Architectural Reconstruction of Geography 42 David Gissen

NEXT NORTH 46

WIRING RUNWAYS 56

ICELINK 66 Afterword: Figuring It Out 76 Christopher Hight

2009

Acknowledgments 79

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 3

11/1/10 3:44 PM

14

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 14

11/1/10 3:44 PM

Water Ecologies /  economies An increasingly saline terminal lake in California is resuscitated as a water farm, recreational retreat, and habitat haven.

15

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 15

11/1/10 3:44 PM

WATER ECOLOGIES / ECONOMIES: FARMING A TERMINAL LAKE Salton Sea, California, United States 33°15’ N, 115°42’ W Perhaps the most striking aspect of the water infrastructure sustaining the American Southwest is the accelerated rate at which landscapes and ecologies are created, erased, and redefined. An extreme example is the Salton Sea in California, formed in 1905 during a season of heavy rain that caused the Colorado River to breach its canal, flooding the Imperial Valley and refilling an ancient inland seabed. The Salton is endorheic, or terminal, and has high evaporation rates. Officially designated as an agricultural sump for the massive farming operations of the Imperial Valley, its highly salinated water levels are perpetuated by agricultural runoff.

fish, kelp, water, and (in a return to its namesake) salt. The proposal offers three zones of coastal development: an ecology zone, an industry zone, and a recreational zone. Floating pools, or waterpads, of various sizes and salinities serve as salinityregulation devices as well as harvest plots, habitats, and recreational destinations. The pool types vary in dimension, complexity, depth (to control evaporation rates), and width (to suggest different uses). Pools aggregate to establish intensified habitats or harvests. Acting as micro-ecologies, they can be partially moored in place or migrate within a territorial range of the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea’s extreme salinity and threatened ecosystems offer an opportunity for economic, social, and ecological innovations. This proposal establishes the sea as a unique site for water harvesting. No longer serving as a hydrological sump or supporting a mono-agricultural landscape, the Salton would offer new forms of leisure, protected habitats, and industries—harvesting

Regulating the water’s salinity levels, saltwater pools separate salt from freshwater through passive solar desalination, where freshwater condenses on a transparent fabric and collects in the hollow structural ring of each pool. Briny by-products foster high-salinity habitats. Meanwhile, salt is harvested, shifting a current ecological liability into an economic and environmental asset.

Salton Sea water

New shoreline interface

Infrastructural ponds

New waterfront program

16

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 16

11/1/10 3:44 PM

2010

Productive Ecologies Reactivating the Salton Sea from an aqueous sump to economically productive territory

2010

Sea as water dump

2025

2025

Sea as waterfront

17

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 17

11/1/10 3:44 PM

LOS ANGELES

Colorado River Aqueduct (CRA)

PALO VERDE

COACHELLA VALLEY

SAN DIEGO

Central Arizona Project (CAP)

PHOENIX IMPERIAL VALLEY

Data from www.citymayors.com

YUMA

All-American Canal (AAC)

Waterstructures of the Southwest The fastest-growing cities in the United States are in the areas of greatest water shortage. The constant drive for urban growth in the face of water scarcity has necessitated ever-more-elaborate infrastructure to transport water from wet regions to dry ones. The Colorado River is the site of man-made water networks that artificially sustain cities and agriculture in the desert conditions of the Southwest. Almost every mile of the Colorado River has been modified and diverted by a system of dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and pumping stations.

TUSCON

NEVADA TOTAL: 248,613 a.f.

CALIFORNIA TOTAL: 4,358,000 a.f.

The Colorado River

USA MEX ICO

LOWER DIVISION STATES TOTAL: 9,118,092 acre-feet (a.f.)

ARIZONA TOTAL: 2,831,711 a.f.

Other: 1,171,903 a.f.

CAP: 1,659,808 a.f.

Metropolitan Water District (CRA): 967,495 a.f.

Palo Verde Irrigation District: 1,180,000 a.f.

Imperial Irrigation District (AAC): 2,679,356 a.f.

Coachella Valley Water District (via AAC): 322,730 a.f.

MEXICO TOTAL: 1,564,000 a.f.

Allocating the Colorado River’s Flow Data from the 2009 Colorado River Accounting and Water Use Report

18

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 18

11/1/10 3:44 PM

1 2 3 4 5 6 1b

2b 3b 4b

1

3

2

4

fresh water is harvested from water harvesting pools sedimentation tanks water filtration water processed in settling tanks fresh water stored in tanks or underground water pools water exported to cities or agriculture hyper salinated water is harvested from salt pools and allowed to evaporated in salt flats brine pools salt is stored or sent on trucks for export

5

6

Interactive Waterfront A new landscape emerges on the shore, completing water- and salt-harvesting cycles. New wetlands treat incoming agricultural runoff before it enters the sea.

4b

1b

2b

3b

1 2 3 2b 3b

salinated agricultural water is intercepted and collected water flows into naturally remediating wetland marshes remediated water is sent back into agricultural loop salinated water naturally evaporated to create brine marshes salt + brine water sent to habitat and recreation pools

3b 3

2

2

1

agricultural runoff flowing towards Salton

1

processing tank/ coagulant

sedimentation ponds

aeration/ filtration basins

settling tanks

water tower

underground water storage

greenhouses

agri. wetland

salt flats

brine pools

drying beds salt, sludge

salt storage

19

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 19

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Aquaculture / Kelp: Cluster 1. Salt harvester and algae nursery feed brine shrimp 2. Brine shrimp feed fish culture 3. Fish culture waste is cleaned by kelp nursery 4. Kelp is brought onto pool platforms to dry in sun 5. Fish and kelp are brought to shore for harvest 5

4 3

5 4

5

1 3 2

1

5

3 4

Aquaculture / Kelp: Operation A. Fish farm B. Kelp farm C. Kelp drying platform

5

Habitat: Cluster 1. Salton Sea is a major bird migratory area 2. Habitat mass is created by clustering of pools 3. Brine shrimp and algae pools provide food for birds

1 4 3

2

4

1

Habitat: Occupation A. Mesh of suspended growth media B. Wetland vegetation

20

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 20

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Recreation: Cluster 1. Boats pull up to recreation pool 2. Freshwater pools deliver recreation pool 3. Saltwater feeds therapeutic pools

2

1 3

Recreation: Occupation A. Diving platforms B. Tanning decks C. Marina D. Freshwater pool E. Hypersaline pool

Salt / Water: Cluster 1. Water pool takes in saline sea water 2. Desalinated water delivered to shore for treatment 3. Brine pools deliver saltwater for salt harvesting

1 3

1

2

Salt / Water: Operation A. Saltwater intake B. Freshwater harvesting C. Evaporation/condensation dome

3

1

21

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 21

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Pool Typology Pools vary in width and depth to address a range of uses and environments.

Section of Desalination Pool The desalination pool takes in water roughly filtered by a mesh (1), which then gets heated up and evaporates (2).

The evaporated water gets collected (3) into a storage cell (4) where it is available for various uses (5).

Watercone, designed by Stephan Augustin.

22

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 22

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Pools for Hybrid Ecologies View of ecology delta, with remediating wetlands treating the agricultural runoff of the Imperial Valley before entering the Salton Sea

Pools for Salt Farming View of industry waterfront with large water harvester brought to shore

Pools for Recreation View of new recreation waterfront with pools and expanded shoreline in Salton City

23

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 23

11/1/10 3:45 PM

R PO

LLS DF I

TA NAF E-D TITL

SUB

AIRSPACE S ING SYSTEM

IMPACT MANAGEMENT GY GEOLO

SITE

LICY -PO O VIR N E

ILL NDF LA

LIQUIDS

CONTROLLING

FOGG

MA MANA TERIAL GEME NT

TECHNOLOGY

COLLECTING

S

CO RP

.

EXTRACTING RE-CIRCULATING

GAS SES SOLID

AL TION RNA

.A U.S

A AD

OLL ING

DEPO SITIN G COM PACT ING GRAD ING PILING CAPPING

INTE

EPA

US-

N CA

NTR

HINE S

CAPP ING S YSTE se M 6” gro eded grass w e 24” p ing mediu s rotec tive c m ove 4 18” co 0 mil LLD r PE mpac ted cla y

PUMPS CELL BASE SUM PS HOLDING TANKS PLASTIC LINERS

LAN

MAC

N IG A CH MI

ING

E NT CEM ON PLA UCTI TR NS CO

NS

A -EP MI CT S A CT A T ION ER AT ION UL LIZ NT AC T I EG GAT TS L R ITI POR RT SME ION AC M FIL E M F ND ND E I LA TLA AST ES CT DS E W ID W SS TE OO L L A RO G SO TA L P US EN TA RO NM EN NGE M RO VI RON F DA EN O VI EN ION T TA

A TR

TIPP

EN EMP L V EN IRO OYM B FIS VI NM E U RO N IL TE HE NM ENT T S DIN CH ENV EN AS TAN G C IRO RI NI T P S E D A OD CA ES S L S NME RO SM RD E A TA AC ND NTA MU TECT EN S AC CT FIR L N T N OC E PR UTR WA ARD BIL ICI ION AC T T P L CU T E S I PA VEN ENT STE & S OF R AL A ACT T ON ION TION MAN DIVE AFE IGH CT TA AL & AG RS TY TS R CO IO W HEAL PROT EME ION ACT NS ON TH AT E N A O E & CT T CT CO AGG LIDA R RE SA ION ACT TA S NS F T RI ERV REGA ED H OUR ETY ACT T A C E ATI E O ON RES ARIN ES A CT AU OUR GS CT THO CE AC ON T S TAR E R IO P LECTR ITIES ACT HIG A L I HW UMB CITY CT AC I AY T T NG PLA RAFFI CODE C NN ING ACT ACT CO

FIN

AL

CO VE R LA ES R M ND TR A FIL ICT IN L G IN TEN AS G A A RE CC NCE M ES OV S AL

N URATIO CONFIG TURES TION A STRATA E EF LOCA ON-SIT ION CIES AT ME I N R E T C E ADJA ACCESS OP ONE SITE SITE N INE TI O UT RUC PING O T S R ON CAP &C T ON I T EN A EM ENT GUR I G F RE G NA EM ON SU MC MA NAG STIN L E T O E L A RO ST VE SYS WA TE M HAR ONT TC E A S C SE E U H C C HO G AN ACT PO ALE IPPIN AN G LEA ETH T - SC ING EN RIN NT MP ER ING I T V M V I O O E C E E N IT N REC M C AI TIO L M ON GE AN A LEC ION OL M OV N E ECT NG M C A N P T RE ATIO INS IGHI L HA ITY AN TE CU WE DING UR A AC UAL R M AIN CIR LO DING E DO ON N O L U E I A M Q AT FIC ED GR TING R AT Y IN F NIZ AC VER GA AM TRA W ILIT TE MP O OR NT A T CO IL C O A M B C W SO DM ER OR TA ILY OVE AT W R DA ST E S PP ND A U O ILY GR OP DA SL 24

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 24

11/1/10 3:45 PM

EM RE PLO TR CYC YEE CO AN LIN S S G 5 LA LLE FER PL 0,00 ND CTI ST AN 0 FIL ON AT TS EM I O L S OPE NS - 131 PL -2 OY 83 RAT - 37 EE IO 0 S NS -3 -4 6,0 13 00

SIT SU E DEV W MPT ELOP ILS E ER S ON R E N W E LO RG AS G Y T RE IST A PU EMA ICS SSO CIA NA BL IN TE IC C. GE S SE M EN RV T IC IN ES C. IN C.

CO RP OR AT IO N

6 - 8 242 427 S N T N S NS A O PL I O T I G TAT ERA N S P I O 9 CL ER CY SF ON 21 RE AN CTI LS R E L I L T L F CO AND L

A RE

S

RIO TA N O IO OH A HIG C I M

ST -WA NON

AMS STRE

S ION ICT SD RI JU

N A IO EG ION NTO R G O L E R E PE RK R R TO YO EATE GR Y NT OU E C NTY O NR OU MO NE C Y A W N

WASTE

MATERIALS

OPERATIONAL

WASTE

EN GC LIN

R TO

TE

R

C C CY Y SE RE T IC ILI ST T BL NS C O N U A P P ME OM SF IZE CIT VERN N C OLID FILL O -S ND LT GO LA BIO MI HA TON LLEY L A A V H E EL KE

A) (GT H IP NS OW R T SHIP E T N EXE TOW IP H N SH AS OW RT T P E M U IP S T NSH ROI DET N TOW O R U H

E AL ATION INTERN E T A T INTERS MICHIGAN

IMPORTED BASE MATERIALS

A ONT

D GRI ON H DIS ARS T-E I M O S R DET SWIND MS R S A F CRO ON LET ORT CAR IT AIRP RO DET

RIO

AND E ISL RHOD E MAIN CHUSETTS A MASS UT ECTIC CONN RSEY NEW JE TE ORK STA NEW Y OHIO OLIS INDIANAP IN WISCONS

ILLINOIS IA PENNSYLVAN

CAPPING FILLING EXCAVATION DAILY COVER

LEACHATE BY-PRODUCTS METHANE GAS AUTO-FLUFF FRITZ ENTER MUNICIPA PRISES L SOLID W ASTE INCINER ATOR A SH SLUDG DETROIT E RESO

LEACHATE CIRCULATION LEACHATE MIGRATION METHANE COLLECTION METHANE PRODUCTION

URCE RE COVERY CENTER ASHBR IDGE'S BAY TR HALTO EATMEN N BIO -SOLID T FA CILITY S FAC ILITY

LAND RESERVATIONS A call to extend the agency of landfills to organize open space networks

25

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 25

11/1/10 3:45 PM

land reservations: landfill as connector Wayne County, Michigan, United States. 42°05’ N, 83°25’ W In Southeast Michigan, open spaces are defined as being composed of four primary types: wetlands, cultural parks, grasslands, and active agricultural land. While wetlands and cultural parks have a safeguarded status, grasslands and active agricultural fields are in a more vulnerable position, as the region’s current development plan doesn’t grant them any protection. With these land types’ removal, the open space network experiences a significant reduction in its continuity.

At the moment of their conception, landfills are located at a point of equilibrium, where their distance from developed regions minimizes operational impacts while maintaining an economic proximity to sources of waste. When we examine the outward growth of urban centers such

as Detroit into the surrounding Wayne County, this rationale fails to hold. Ironically, four of the six active landfills within the county are now surrounded by development that emerged after the landfills were opened. Thus, the existence of a landfill does not preclude development around it.

Active agriculture once reserved open spaces, so why not now deploy another industrious, open space–preserving land use in order to regain some of the lost connectivity? Why not use the landfill as part of a land reservation system? Landfills inherently preserve open space since they cannot be built upon. Land Reservations explores the unutilized potential of landfill sites to structure, organize, and connect the open space network.

Absorbing Landfills in Sprawl Detroit’s growth, paired with landfill locations and opening dates: onceexurban sites become engulfed by development.

1920

1965

1995

2025 1967

1967

1985

1985 1983

1970

1971

1952

1983 1970

1971

1974

1974

1952

1964

1952

1964 1975

1993

1964 1975

1993

26

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 26

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 27

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Landfill as Connector The top two images show the existing open-space network of southern Wayne County (in black) and the potential fragmentation of this network should unprotected land uses be lost to development. In the image below, landfill sites are strategically deployed to reverse this process, stitching islands of open space into a continuous fabric.

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 28

11/1/10 3:45 PM

120 m

270 m

120 m

270 m

15º

270 m

30º

15º slope cell limit 325,901 m³ per cell 2,884 truckloads 19 days of filling capacity

120 m

45º

30º slope cell limit 701,975 m³ per cell 6,212 truckloads 41 days of filling capacity

45º slope cell limit 1,214,800 m³ per cell 10,750 truckloads 70 days of filling capacity

Cell Morphology The basic building block of a landfill is a cell—the active dumping site within the landfill bounds. The filling sequence is planned to optimize the capacity of the site as a whole, and is limited primarily by waste materials’ angle of repose.

When considerations are expanded to anticipate post-landfilling programs, a much wider variety of geometries becomes plausible.

29

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 29

11/1/10 3:45 PM

Pamphlet_30_ToP.indd 30

11/1/10 3:45 PM