Dissolve / Evolve - in pursuit of stability within the extreme by Seth Gottlich

index Dissolve | Evolve....................................................................4-5 Preface...........................................................................................6-7 The Pursuit Begins..............................................................8-9 Pretext.....................................................................................10-11 Terra Extremus Ultimate Extreme...........................................................14-15 Dance of Danger.............................................................16-17 Extreme Subnatures.....................................................18-19 Life at the Limits..............................................................20-21 Extreme Beings.................................................................22-23 Terra Fluxus Change as a Constant.................................................26-27 Visualising the Flux......................................................28-29 Instability as Extreme..................................................30-31 Extreme Revelation........................................................32-33 Landscapes of Flux.........................................................34-35 Landscape in Motion............................................................36 Go with the Flow.....................................................................37 Milieu Interieur...............................................................38-39 Building the Flux............................................................40-41 Terra Pulvis Inevitable Dust..................................................................44-45 The End State....................................................................46-47 Landscape of the Lung................................................48-49 Using Light to See...........................................................50-51 Dust Filtration..................................................................52-53 A Filtering Facade..........................................................54-55 Water Filter.........................................................................56-59 Electric Filter.....................................................................60-63 Terra Aurum Tale of Tailings.................................................................66-69 Besieged by Dust..............................................................70-71 Dissolve to Evolve...........................................................72-73 Mapping Instability......................................................74-75 Remove the Extreme.....................................................76-77 Tame the Extreme..........................................................78-79 Symbol of Extreme.........................................................80-83 Terra Stasis Machina Sopora..............................................................86-87 Ultra Stability...................................................................88-89 Machina Speculatrix...................................................90-97 Project Speculatrix........................................................98-99 Our Pursuit Thus Far...........................................100-101 References.......................................................................102-105 List of Figures.............................................................106-107 2

dissolve

he act of material transformation. An incorporation of flux into the atomic components of life breaking down what was thought to be solid and infinite. The fragmentation of the whole into constituent parts, creating new realities, revealing dormant narratives. The interrogation of immutable forms of life, questioning their existence; postulating their circumstance. The adoption of time as a medium of change, creating doctrines of processes, forever changing. The intentional mixture of myriads of knowledge sets into a liquid body of thought, fragmenting theories, challenging contradictions. The hinting of a new beginning whilst acknowledging the need to be formed from and within. An acknowledgement of what was, in the hope of envisioning what can be.

evolve fig

he process of steady improvement. An understanding of self in pursuit of a new form of self; one of discovery, learning and the implementation of ideas. Envisaging future outcomes; overcoming physical shortcomings. A state of change lying in waiting, ready to be unearthed, constantly in the process of being formed and reformed. Incorporating flux and allowing change to drive decisions forward; forever looking at what obstacle is ahead. Always adapting to the pre-existing, creating a new transient form of self. Developing complexity through change. An unravelling of constraints and contradictions; transforming external inhibitors to internal strengths. An acknowledgement of what is to come in the hope of envisioning where possibility may reside.

preface “Because it’s there.” -George Mallory1

n 2003 my father set off on a journey of a lifetime, the quest to conquer one of nature’s most fierce opponents – that of Mt Everest. The 8848m conglomerate of rock, ice and snow, surveys the approaching climbers who slowly but surely wind themselves along its base, leaving behind the world of the known to enter into the world of the unknown. The mountain roars in anticipation of the daunting task that awaits its new inhabitants, from the creaking of the ice to the sound of tents rigorously flapping in this wind; this landscape does its all to repel those who dare enter its den. However, despite the extreme hardships that await, thousands flock to base camp, ready to prove to themselves that the instability of the mountainous environment can be conquered. When boot first meets ice, does the battle between man and the element commence. In the red corner, is man, propelled by his will to live and overcome; yet vulnerable to his own physiological composition. In the blue corner stands nature’s fiercest fighter able to exert all its might to ensure its summit is kept clean of footprints. Despite the mountain’s lack of intentionality, its natural processes exert an immense mental and physical toll on man, who must strive to overcome the natural to survive. Within this arena, life is pushed to its limits. Hypothermia-inducing freezing temperatures, seemingly bottomless crevasses that only darkness calls home, narrow ridges where one wrong footing will be your last, a severe lack of oxygenated air slowly draining the body of its ability to operate and loose snow and ice, ready to destabilise in an instance, coming crashing down, all contribute to an environment where humanity is clearly unwelcomed. An environment of constant oscillation between life and death. An environment where the 6

strength of life saving climbing equipment is only bettered by the strength of the will to live. For those two months of combating the mountain’s might, my father’s willingness to call a dangerous landscape home, spurred a fascination within me of the notion of the extreme – that which exists beyond the realm of the norm. Despite the knowledge of danger, he ventured into an environment of instability and unpredictability. Life existed there in constant paranoia, continuously aware of its vulnerability within a situation where total control was merely a fantasy.

fig 0.i (pg 4) - 99% of all species, who have existed have dissolved/ gone extinct fig 0.ii (pg 5) - from one strand of life, a plethora of evolutions can take place fig 0.iii (pg 7) - my father (pictured left) climbing Mt Everest

When life ventures towards the periphery of habitability, the abyss of the unstable assumes control. Within this zone, man is out of his element, at the mercy of elemental shifts. Here, the unknown gains agency; environmental changes occur drastically and without warning. Life hands over its desire for control as collateral to enter the extreme. Preparedness does not guarantee control. While my father actively sought out the extreme to force both a mental and physical evolution, with months of preparation behind him, what happens when the reversal happens – when the extreme finds a path back to humanity? In this new realm, what are the mechanisms for survival where daily life and the extreme are forced to coexist? Following in my father’s footsteps 17 years later, I too am venturing into the extreme, fully immersing myself within, leaving behind preconceptions, searching for what it means to exist at the edge. And so, in trying to climb the mountain of the thesis, my family’s search for stability within a landscape of the unstable begins anew.

the pursuit begins

hen faced with the relentless might of the extreme, only two choices are available – to dissolve or evolve. This is the arena where instability and stability collide in determining the trajectory of life. Where unique adaptations and the will to live astound; but also, where death and demise preside. The omnipresent tension between stability and instability has characterised the mechanisms of life.2 Stability is the carrot at the end of the stick – a desirable realm that has driven decision making throughout history. We seek zones of moderation, where expectation and outcome coalesce.3 On the horizon, though, lurks the unstable, forever ready to jeopardise our desire for stability. In our search, we have ventured to distant lands, striving to distance ourselves from the unstable – a realm beyond our control. This is where the extreme calls home. A home of the unpredictable. A home of slippages. A home of life at its limits. Bubbling under the surface within our zones of ‘perceived’ stability, a new form of instability has emerged. These extremes, dubbed as subnatures by David Gissen4 posits the frightening realisation that the extreme now lives among us – it has become unavoidable. Subnatures, are by their nature, invasive, pervasive, and threatening to inhabitants and architecture alike, consuming space as they multiply. Formed from within the bowels of humanity’s technological endeavour, they transpose themselves from remnants to selfserving agents of destruction. The extreme is a landscape closer to home than many of us ever imagined. It, therefore, demands attention. Imperceptible to the naked eye and often only existing in the periphery of an architect’s conception of space, a rapprochement with subnatures allows for a new understanding of what it means to exist within the unstable. Situated within the investigation on the 8

notion of “survival” under the extreme condition of subnatures, this research seeks to redefine the position of architecture as an agent in pursuit of stability. This text looks far and wide for inspiration, taking inspiration from our very own physiological drive to maintain stability, seeking to apply such processes to the field of architecture. What extreme might we have to push architecture towards in order to enable life within the unstable? Within the extreme, time and change begin to form the boundaries of what constitutes space. Temporal fluctuations transform the extreme from object to process - forever becoming. The research seeks to reveal time as an organising principle of space, offering exciting opportunities for the creation and revelation of new, previously dormant narratives. It channels and challenges James Corner5 and Christophe Girot’s6 temporal understanding of landscape by using film and drawings rooted in the realm of time as a medium for capturing and showcasing the flux. If fluidity of time is omnipresent, yet often undetected within the extreme, how can architecture embody change as a pillar of life?

This research explores these conceptual underpinnings through site, the mine tailing landscape along Johannesburg’s river of gold. The choice of site emerged through destructive tensions caused by a landscape of fine-grained sand particles enacting instability on the livelihoods living below its dusty peaks. It exists in absurdity, a product of previous endeavours, gradually dissolving in material presence whilst evolving as a realm of perpetual peril, all while maintaining a starkly beautiful, yet eerie (sub)naturalness. It is a landscape of decay, yet alive with limitless potential.

the pursuit PRETEXT

his resea rch documents the initial theoretical a nd technological explorations of the tension between evolving and dissolving, stability, and instability, serving a strong underpinning for a future architectural design. The findings strive for an interrogation of the pre-existing and a postulation of the future, searching for innovative design methodologies and ways of perception. In its essence, the paper situates itself within the extreme, adopting unstable processes as a medium of creative exploration in pursuit of a future stable sense of self. It, therefore, aims to both dissolve and evolve architectural praxis. The paper is divided into five sections, each able to stand alone, yet when read as a whole act as a thread of knowledge, slowly evolving discourse on what it means to exist within the extreme. Sub-sections of dissolve and evolve are evident within each section, demarcating different narrative trajectories. To dissolve is an acknowledgement of what was, in the hope of envisioning what can be; to evolve is an acknowledgement of what is to come in the hope of envisioning where possibility may reside. The explorations do not pursue an immutable and finite answer, but rather to catalyse discourse and generate potentialities for future design. Not only does the content of the paper seek stability, but so too does its structure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; always in pursuit of a dynamic sense of self, in a state where its essential variables are within a set tolerance of mobility, able to speculate, not dictate.

Terra Extremus | Land of Extreme | Frames the existential and material environment of the extreme, tracing its history and isolation. It channels David Gissenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory of subnature to posit whether the extreme has been successfully negated as a zone of the other.

fig 0.iv (pg 11) - outline of the document

Terra Fluxus | Land of Flux | Acknowledges life as a cyclical set of processes forever torn between stability and instability, in a state of perpetual flux. Begins to question the coexistence between instability and extreme, taking inspiration from physiological patterns of change as a first step of interrogation. Terra Pulvis | Land of Dust | Analyses the omnipresent and omnipotent subnature of dust as a landscape of flux where instability reigns supreme. Interrogates technological methods for capturing and harnessing dust. Terra Aurum | Land of Gold | Seeks out locating and interrogating siting as a testing ground caused by a chaotic tension between life and the extreme. It seeks to understand site as a product of flux, always in a state of being, envisaging future processes of change. Terra Stasis | Land of Stability | Inspired by Ross Ashbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cybernetic attempts to create an organism-like machine driven on the journey of the pursuit of ultrastability. Catalyses and tests a design methodology for an architecture situated within the extreme.

㄀琀攀爀爀愀攀砀琀爀攀洀甀猀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

⠀渀⸀⤀ 昀甀爀琀栀攀猀琀昀爀漀洀琀栀攀挀攀渀琀爀攀漀爀愀最椀瘀攀渀瀀漀椀渀琀

猀甀瀀攀爀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀漀瀀漀爀愀

愀猀栀戀椀愀渀漀爀最愀渀椀猀洀搀愀瘀椀搀最椀猀猀攀渀簀猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

琀椀洀攀 ☀ 挀栀愀渀最攀挀漀爀渀攀爀簀栀攀爀愀挀氀椀琀甀猀簀最椀爀漀琀簀昀氀甀砀

⠀椀渀⤀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀攀簀搀甀猀琀猀挀愀瀀攀猀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀瀀攀挀甀氀愀琀爀椀砀

樀栀戀洀椀渀椀渀最氀愀渀搀猀挀愀瀀攀

搀攀猀椀最渀瀀爀椀渀挀椀瀀氀攀猀猀琀漀挀栀愀猀琀椀挀猀琀攀瀀氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最昀爀漀洀琀栀攀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

漀爀椀最椀渀氀椀瘀椀渀最椀渀琀栀攀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀瀀愀猀琀Ⰰ 瀀爀攀猀攀渀琀 ☀ 昀甀琀甀爀攀挀漀渀渀攀挀琀椀漀渀攀砀琀爀攀洀漀瀀栀椀氀攀猀

猀甀戀樀攀挀琀椀瘀椀琀礀挀漀渀焀甀攀爀椀渀最攀瘀攀爀攀猀琀瀀甀爀猀甀椀琀漀昀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀最爀漀眀椀渀最甀瀀椀渀樀栀戀

砀Ⰰ 礀Ⰰ 稀簀猀椀琀攀猀攀攀欀椀渀最猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

搀礀渀愀洀椀挀栀漀洀攀漀猀琀愀猀椀猀猀攀攀欀椀渀最甀氀琀爀愀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

ultimate extreme

s far as humanity is concerned, Earth is the only known habitable and inhabited planet within our solar system.1 The rock of molten metal that we call home, journeys through the fabric of space – a fabric of so much, yet so few. We exist as a ball of infinitesimal life within the overwhelming darkness of space. Telescopes, positioned within and around our world, gaze into the abyss, focusing their eyes on distant stars and galaxies. What we may perceive as a glimmer in the night sky, a sparkle of life, is in most likelihood the last remnants of existence. Distances within our galaxy are so vast that by the time waves of light implant their existence on our visual detectors, their source of origin is no more.2 The life span of planets is finite; just like humans, they are privy to the laws of dissolution of time. Their fire gradually burns out, leaving only embers behind. The infinite void of space triumphs over the finite. As humans, we have been aware of our place within the universe for thousands of years – a feeling of vulnerability has and forever will be apparent within us all. However, in 1968 when astronaut Bill Anders captured the famous photograph Earthrise,3 could we finally see proof of the extent of our vulnerability. Here, Earth was a ball of life floating within a matrix of nothing. Anders captured light existing in the dark. Space became the ultimate extreme.

yet a constant reminder of the precariousness of such hope. Its smooth orbital appearance is a badge of defiance against the might of the extreme – a spatial veil of protection guarding what lies within. However, the extreme can never be fully overcome, it is a forever lurking presence, obscuring the lower half of the Earth from sight, trying with all its might to reclaim life by pulling it back into the extreme.

fig 1.i (pg 12-13) terra extremus cover page fig 1.ii (pg 15) earthrise

Earth is therefore the epitome of life existing in defiance against the extreme, however, it has been unable to fully distance itself from extremities. The extreme found a way through Earth’s defences slowly but surely wreaking havoc, defining and redefining life for millennia. The extreme has become the architect of habitability, creating zones where it gains control, zones of moderation where the extreme has been pushed back and in rare instances, zones of co-habitation defying the odds of what it means to live at the limits.4

The scene depicts the spectrum of life existing within the extreme. The foreground moonscape epitomises lifelessness, overrun by the vacuum of space, desolate in nature. Its disfigured surface bears testament to the aftermath of being at the mercy of the extreme. Exposed and without protection, through asteroids from beyond, the extreme has implanted its might on the moon’s surface. Standing as an antithesis to the moon, is Earth, a picture of life and of hope, 14

dance of danger

irst off, what is extreme? According to the NASA Astrobiology Institute, “Extreme is a relative word.”5 Perhaps, then, extreme is in the eye of the beholder – a set of conditions existing far beyond the reaches of normality for some, or to many others, existing on the horizon, tenable and able to be overcome.6 All the physical conditions of life are on a continuum, and extremes are the peripheral margins within the continuum, where life, to varying degrees of difficulty, struggles to function. The upper and lower most ranges of temperature, radiation, pressure, desiccation, salinity, and toxicity are all examples of environmental conditions which exist within the spectrum, operating at the margins, asserting its might.7 Within this range, extreme becomes the new normal, a normal which misaligns with our conception of normal. The tension created from the dissonance between the two has shaped life. When confronted with this new normal, the fight or flight instinct kicks in and we either attempt to distance ourselves from the extreme or venture head on into its den. Throughout history, the courting dance of danger between man and the extreme has been an omnipresent actuality of survival. During the dawn of early man, the perpetual struggle for survival propelled resourcefulness as a necessity for survival, impelling life to the limits of endurance.8 Society was born within the extreme – it existed in an environmental arena pitting life and death against one another in a constant battle of existence. Environmental instability and resource unavailability define what it means to exist within the extreme.9 Here, life exists in a state of perpetual angst, aware of its vulnerability, striving to gain a foothold of control within the uncontrollable. Around every corner, new and unforeseen challenges present themselves. Varying in degrees of potency, these environmental tests serve as 16

benchmarks for survival, either consuming all that lay in its path or allowing its path to be manipulated and carved to suit the will of the inhabitants. Instability defines the degree of potency, representing the fluctuating existence of the extreme. Never settled and immutable, the extreme constantly defines and redefines itself as an agent of unpredictability. The extreme’s adoption of the unknown created immense difficulty in the pursuit of the known. The parameters of existence within the extreme are constantly shifting, with fixed knowledge sets struggling to anchor themselves as spatial landmarks. This forms part of the problem of resource unavailability within the extreme. Here the act of knowing predates the act of doing; if the knowing is torn, so too is the doing. Through a continual shifting of form, the extreme actively sought to disassociate knowledge from place – what was known, quickly became irrelevant in the forever transient realm of the extreme.10 What is common to both these factors is that they limit possibilities – they impose hardships in maintaining relative physical and psychological comfort. Through limitations, the extreme quashes evolutionary desires, disincentivising access into its zone.

fig 1.iii (pg 17) elemental extremes

The great human migration, one hundred thousand years ago which saw footprints spread throughout the globe ma rked the transition of life moving away from the extreme, in sea rch of modera tion and control.11 The extreme became an environment of the other, a negated existence. The extreme had successfully repelled the advances of life, setting it on a new journey of discovery outside of the extreme. The two zones drifted apart… or so we thought…

extreme subnatures

hile we were successful in distancing habitation from the extreme of the natural world, a slow but steady resurgence of the extreme was growing from within these new zones of supposed moderation and control. Subnatures, a term coined by David Gissen12 are such natures where the extreme has found new footings within society. Gissen posits the frightening reality that the extreme is inescapable – a part of life that has secretly been bubbling beneath the surface, following our every move, slowly but surely re-asserting chaos, instability, and danger within our environments. An omnipotent hidden force of nature often overlooked due to its physical imperceptibility, subnatures are the new forms of extreme. This extreme differs from its natural counterparts such as volcanic eruptions, raging rivers, and scorching temperatures, to name but a few, preferring gradual accretion over instant change– where the collective might of the individual incrementally gathers momentum and destructive capabilities over time. As the prefix suggests, subnatures a re positioned below other forms of nature. At the peak of the tree resides the supernatural – a world of miracles, a religious world existing above and beyond nature. Nestled below is the natural world – the world of humanity, where ‘traditional’ extremes such as avalanches and flooding rivers exist, and lastly taking its place at the base is the subnatural – a realm in which life struggles to exist in its pre-existing state of normality.13 It is the denigrated zone of life deemed as most fearsome, intentionally marginalised from thought. It is a dystopic reality – a product of human endeavour within which we are all currently living. We have created for ourselves a life of perpetual angst and hardship in the midst of elemental forces which we struggle to control. Whilst life has endeavoured to position itself within the bounds of habitability, subnatural landscapes 18

posits the frightening realisation that terra extremus is unavoidable. Subnatures, are by their nature, invasive, pervasive and threatening to inhabitants and architecture alike, consuming space as they multiply. These natural landscapes are primitive (mud and dankness), fearsome (gas or debris), filthy (smoke, dust and exhaust) or uncontrollable (weeds, insects and pigeons). Such landscapes predominantly frequent the post-industrial spaces at the periphery of cities, where rusting buildings filled with dust, weeds, mud, and industrial debris coalesce.14

fig 1.iv (pg 19) - the bubbling underworld of subnatures

The subnatural realm is where the tension with the extreme is heightened. It is a realm in which we can barely exist in the state we currently conceive ourselves, socially and physiologically. As a hidden enemy, its growth and strength often go unnoticed and as such it is a realm that is most fearsome. Antoine Picon15 refers to this psychological realm of the subnatural as an Anxious Landscape, where a sense of imprisonment and the feeling of death reign supreme. According to Picon, the realisation of the extent of the subnatural induces feelings of vulnerability. The pervasive, seemingly limitless subnatural frames an existence of mental instability; never stable and secure. Similar sentiments were shared by Buckminster Fuller, where, in book after book, he compares the Earth to a spaceship aboard which humanity finds itself trapped.16 With the extreme here to stay, the question becomes how do we begin to utilise the subnatural extreme as a form of agitation and intellectual provocation? What are the architectural implications of negotiating a rapprochement with subnature, embracing its existence and accommodating for its extreme?

life at the limits fig 1.v (pg 20) - the fragility of life within the extreme

“Normal is passé; extreme is chic.” -Rothschild & Mancinelli17

ristotle preached the ma ntra of “everything in modera tion.” The Romans, however, known for their excesses decided to transgress such wisdom, coining the word ‘extremus’, the superlative of exter – being on the outside.18 With the knowledge that the extreme of subnature lives among us, an interrogation of how life has managed to exist within the traditional natural extremes may help in understanding how life may exist at the limits. While the natural realms of the extreme may be on the periphery for many of us, a distant realm where we dare venture, history tells us that life within the extreme is still possible. From the primitive hunters who confronted their prey armed with only a stone axe, to the space pioneers of the late twentieth century who subjected themselves to years of intense training to prepare themselves for life within the vacuum of space, human beings have always shown an innate desire to push the limits of what is possible in order to survive within the extreme.19 Man is by nature an inventive, forward-thinking being whose relentless confidence to master himself and the world around him, is so strong that some fear that it may eventually lead to his destruction. We brave the extreme head on, aware of the dangers, willing to adapt and create in order to sustain life.

extreme is able to conquered, while others remain trapped within the extreme due to a mixture of social, political and economic forces. What is common to both is that the extreme necessitates survival on a daily basis, the absence of which will surely result in death and demise. Despite the challenges involved, and with immense difficulty, society is able to survive and to some extent thrive in the extreme. Settlements have arisen in the most unlikely of places, each devising unique methods of adaption. Meghalaya, India, the wettest place on Earth, averaging 2,6m of rainfall each year has necessitated bridges and ladders to be the infrastructure of movement between nonerosive rubber construction. In Oymyakon, Russia, exists the coldest settlement on Earth, where 5000 people live in -60°C. With daylight only lasting 3 hours a day, where the sun provides some respite from the freeze, citizens are forced to ensure that there is no need to venture out at night – where the cold is able to kill in minutes.21 Here, life is frozen, severely immobilised by the extreme cold; yet somehow a society has been established, carving out a niche of habitability for themselves. They have become extremophiles.

Society, when faced with existing in the extreme, has had to create mechanisms for survival, constantly solving previously unsolved problems and pioneering a way forward into the extreme. While the majority of civilization has nestled itself away from the natural extreme, some still reside in its presence, either by force or by choice.20 Some people, like my father have ventured into the extreme to prove to themselves that the 20

EXTREME BEINGS fig 1.vi (pg 22) tardigrade scientific illustration

ecently, more interest has developed around organisms who call extreme environments home. Such organisms, known as extremophiles, thrive amid inhospitable conditions, in which most terrestrial life forms find intolerable, or even lethal.22 Extremophiles occupy niches within the phylogenetic tree of life, with some thriving in extreme hot niches, salt solutions, as well as in alkaline and acidic solutions, while other extremophiles may call organic solvents, toxic solutions, heavy metals and environments of radioactivity home. Life has been found 10km deep inside the ocean, 6,7km inside the Earth’s crust, in 122°C hydrothermal vents and in frozen sea water measured at -20°C. For almost every extreme environmental condition envisaged, some life can not only tolerate these conditions, but also depend on the extreme for their survival.23

organisms measuring 0,1 – 1,2mm in size, defy the odds, managing to survive in almost any situation. Their secret is down to their ability to go into suspended animation, curled up in a ball of defence, waiting to be reawakened when they feel comfortable. With the knowledge that the extreme is not a realm of the impossible; but where niches of possibility may lay, it allows us to rethink the intriguing question of what are the limits of life? If life is able to exist amid inhospitality, how can the mechanism of architecture become the most recent form of extremophile enabling and sustaining life within the extreme?

To return to where this section began, in space, takes us to the most resilient of extremophiles capable of withstanding the ultimate extreme. Tardigrades | Water Bears are the ultimate extremophiles, to date being the only known form of life able to survive the vacuum of space.24 The microscopic

㈀琀攀爀爀愀䘀䰀唀堀唀匀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

⠀渀⸀⤀ 琀栀攀愀挀琀椀漀渀漀爀瀀爀漀挀攀猀猀漀昀挀漀渀琀椀渀甀漀甀猀挀栀愀渀最攀

猀甀瀀攀爀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀漀瀀漀爀愀

愀猀栀戀椀愀渀漀爀最愀渀椀猀洀搀愀瘀椀搀最椀猀猀攀渀簀猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

琀椀洀攀 ☀ 挀栀愀渀最攀挀漀爀渀攀爀簀栀攀爀愀挀氀椀琀甀猀簀最椀爀漀琀簀昀氀甀砀

⠀椀渀⤀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀攀簀搀甀猀琀猀挀愀瀀攀猀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀瀀攀挀甀氀愀琀爀椀砀

樀栀戀洀椀渀椀渀最氀愀渀搀猀挀愀瀀攀

搀攀猀椀最渀瀀爀椀渀挀椀瀀氀攀猀猀琀漀挀栀愀猀琀椀挀猀琀攀瀀氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最昀爀漀洀琀栀攀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

猀甀戀樀攀挀琀椀瘀椀琀礀挀漀渀焀甀攀爀椀渀最攀瘀攀爀攀猀琀瀀甀爀猀甀椀琀漀昀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀最爀漀眀椀渀最甀瀀椀渀樀栀戀

砀Ⰰ 礀Ⰰ 稀簀猀椀琀攀猀攀攀欀椀渀最猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

搀礀渀愀洀椀挀栀漀洀攀漀猀琀愀猀椀猀猀攀攀欀椀渀最甀氀琀爀愀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

change as a constant “On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow” - Heraclitus1

ooking thousands of years into the past, the prominent Ionian philosopher, Heraclitus, intrigued by the idea of stability, formulated his Doctrine of Flux, a controversial condition of life, standing in stark contradiction to the picture of the inert and motionless universe.2 Heraclitus’ radical conception of reality has flourished throughout time, still holding relevance within contemporary society, influencing philosophers from Marcus Aurelius to Nietzsche, even filtering into the field of architecture through the works of James Corner, Christophe Girot and David Gissen. To Heraclitus, flux is the omnipotent driving force of the material world; it is the constant flow of a river where nobody can step twice into the same river as different waters flow in perpetuity. Permanence and form are rejected; change and process are adopted. Almost a fourth of a millennium later, R.M. MacIver noted3 “All composite things begin at a time, endure for a time, change in time and end at a time… A person can travel and return. But nothing created, nothing animate or inanimate can go back in time to where – or to what – it was before… Even the most enduring of things is changing imperceptibly every moment, though it may be years or centuries or ages before the change is manifest… Change is insistent in all our experience, change in ourselves, change in our condition and in our relationships…” Or to put it succinctly, as John Henry Cardinal Newman states, “To live is to change.”4

existence; without which, life ceases to exist. What is at variance with itself is in accord with itself.6 The process of life can be likened to a flame – a flame seems to hold material presence; however, it is not – it is a process in perpetual flux. Matter passes through a dancing flame with ease, uninterrupted by its ‘presence.’

fig 2.i (pg 24-25) terra fluxus cover page fig 2.ii (pg 27) - flame in motion

The omnipotence of change results in an omnipotence of stability. With flux being the only true constant, all entities undergoing flux are inherently stable as they abide to a measured, regular law of change.7 Different processes undergo cha nges a t va rying degrees of speed, however by knowing the rate of change, we are able to predict future outcomes and possibilities. When expectation becomes reality, is when true stability is achieved. The predictability of the cycles of flux, therefore, ensures stability. The knowledge of the change between what was, to what is, is key in determining, with accuracy what will be. These patten sequences ensure stable inevitabilities. “what is cold becomes hot and what is hot becomes cold; what is moist becomes dry and what is dry becomes moist.”8

For Heraclitus, immutability and permanence are fallacies; there are no unchanging things.5 What may appear as a thing is in fact a process. Thus, process and movement are the essential prerequisites for continued 26

visualising the flux

he earliest known attempt of depicting the flux of the natural world order can be seen on a cave wall in France some 40 000 years ago, where paint met stone, animals were shown in the act of running – with their hindquarters planted, rigid torsos and stiff front legs raised ever so slightly off the ground. The Palaeolithic artists captured a moment in time – a moment eluding to past and future flux, however struggled to capture the entire range of motion.9 Depictions of flux proved a seemingly insurmountable task for thousands of years to come. That was until the 1870’s when a man at Stanford University beca me obsessed with the mystery of evolving the primitive animal cave paintings, dedicating his life towards the pursuit of capturing animals in motion. To achieve such a feat, Eadweard Muybridge positioned dozens of lenses at the same subject, quickening the shutter speed to a fraction of a second, and, was able to capture the gait of various animals through a sequential development of images, a process known as chronophotography.10 Unbeknownst to him, through his creative endeavour, Muybridge was able to elucidate an invisible realm of the natural world, previously hidden from our eye and thus from human understanding. Through his experiments, he revealed dormant narratives

of existence, showcasing how, famously, during the galloping of a horse, all four of its legs are off the ground for an instantaneous moment in time. Muybridge found a way to stop and elasticise time, depicting the flux of the everyday through a sequential fragmentation of time and motion.

fig 2.iii (pg 29) horse in motion chronophotographic stills fig 2.iv (pg 3031) - forming the instability

After seeing Muybridge’s work in 1882, one reporter remarked11 that “a new world of sights and wonders was indeed opened…, which was not less astounding because it was truth itself.” Throughout this paper, the work of Muybridge is chanelled and challenged to allow for the creation of a new world of sights within a world of perpetual flux. The medium of time is used a method of defining a new understanding of existence. Stills and frames from videos are employed and overlaid to create a further dimension of space, one where new unforeseen realities and relationalities emerge, highlighting stable and unstable processes. Through a sequential development of the frame and an understanding of change through time, do we begin to liberate our gaze from the known, striving to capture the fluctuating unknown. Time as a referential medium – questioning stability of movement within the fluid matrix of time

Each particle is spawned at the edge & undgoes physics simulations being drawn to the centre – moving along its stable and predictable trajectory. However, as more particles are added, the particles in the centre collide and converge, attracting one another, throwing each particle off its natural trajectory to create the chaos of the central ball of instability

instability as extreme “Whatever begins to be tranquil is gobbled up by something that is not tranquil.” - William Randolph Hearst12

or Heraclitus, processes organised by a cyclical pattern are stable as form aligns with expectation,13 however, at the extreme is where notions of stability are thrown out of the window. This is the domain were instability exists. The extreme abides to no ordered measure of change, it assumes its own agency of change, deciding at will what its next form will be. Instability describes the gap between expectations and reality, where the unknown becomes a productive force in determining variations between device and matter.14 This is the realm where slippages occur, altering the arrangements of matter beyond its pattern of change – here, new unforeseen permutations come into play. As we are unable to predict the processes, the unstable realm becomes extreme – beyond our control.

What causes the shift from stability to instability? The answer is difficult to pinpoint. Andrea Oldani begins searching for the answer.15 She proposes that instability is produced by a crashing of different and conflicting stable systems. When processes interact, new, unforeseen realities emerge. Insta bility is thus the product of the interaction of stability. Each stable process is driven by its own stability – no matter what lies ahead of it, it will not budge in progressing its inherent rate of change.16 When the confluence of these obstinate systems results in chaotic unpredictability, can we say that the stable becomes the unstable and the unstable becomes extreme. The use of the computational tool of Blender to analyse particle motion when subject to forces, allows for a visualisation of how a multitude of stable processes transfigures into the unstable & extreme. 30

Forming the Instability 1 Chronophotography Wind Force

Forming the Instability 2 Chronophotography Vortex Force

Forming the Instability 3 Chronophotography Wind & Vortex Force 31

extreme revelation

Forming the Instability 3 Wind & Vortex Force Chronophotographic Overlay Full Sequence of Motion

hrough the overlay, we begin to understand how stability is destabilised through collision and interaction. A | Zones of low collision and low frequency - this is the zone of the highest coalescence between expectation and reality, where the knowledge of what will be is strongly linked with what is and what was, creating highly stable scenarios. With minimal interference between the two processes, each particle in this realm is less likely to converge with another from the other set of movement, meaning that its trajectory of movement can be easily traced and predicted. B | Zones of low collision & high frequency – despite the high number of particles, each particle’s path can just barely be traced. A low rate of interaction between particles creates an area of stability, that is, however very close to venturing towards the unstable. Although difficult, each particles past, current and future location can be traced within this realm of stability. C | Zone of high collision & high frequency – zone of the extreme – the darkest part of the overlay, showing where the particles coalesce most frequently. Due to the high frequency and collision rate, identifying the trajectory of each individual particle is impossible. The particles in this realm collide most often to create a chaotic ball of unpredictability and instability. D | Zones of high collision & low frequency – the realm of subnatural extreme -the formation of a new form of extreme within areas of ‘perceived’ stability. Occurring at the periphery, these new forms of the extreme are subtle, yet still highly unstable. The particles within this unstable realm accumulate slowly over time, gradually transforming stability into a new unstable extreme. 32

landscapes of Flux

re notions of flux, stability, and instability relevant to the environment and landscape? In Terra Fluxus, James Corner17 begins searching for the connections between the three. Corner begins the quest for answers by defining the difference between environment and landscape. Environment is a self-contained system of processes where both stable and unstable forms exist. The cycle of snow on a mountain can be envisaged and predicted, however when the snow’s stable cycle interacts with the stability of the thawing process; unstable and unexpected cycles may emerge. A sudden, deadly avalanche can strike at any moment, rendering those in its path hopeless in overcoming the might of the unstable. Landscape on the other hand, is an intentional construction of the environment. It is here, where the hand of human occupation and cycles of action plays a significant role in shaping the land, complicating the stable/ unstable interactions within. Corner refutes a clea r distinction of landscapes as being either stable or unstable systems, rather preoccupying thought on the processes that shape stability and instability themselves. These processes enable landscape to be in a perpetual state of becoming.18 The complexity and interaction between elements and agents across a broad field of operations continually evolve and shape the landscape over time. The dynamic relationships between environmental processes and the processes of human habitation create a fluid form of space - the staging ground for uncertainty and promise, a field of action where anything is possible. By focusing on process, Corner departs from the object qualities of landscape, perceiving them as ‘fluid’ entities existing in an even larger fluid matrix.19 What we may perceive as form within the landscape, is in fact the product of fluidity – a snapshot in time 34

and space of change. Landscapes exist on a longstanding moving continuum, a complex flux of interwoven systems and epochs, no longer a product of single thought and action, but rather the result of a palimpsest of successive layers of action each asserting their own voice into space. Landscapes are thus a syncresis of countless moments compressed into a single space.20 Each distinct voice has resulted in landscapes of flux, continuously undergoing diverse and complex alterations. Only through the perception of landscape as flux, can an imaginative reordering of landscape ensue – a creative endeavour using change as an organising principle of design.

fig 2.v (pg 3233) - revealing the extreme through chronophotgraphic overlay fig 2.vi (pg 35) landscapes in flux attributes

With subna tures being a product of environmental construction, they ca n be considered as la ndscapes, adhering to Corner’s notion of landscape as flux. Subna tures a re la ndscapes of extreme change, where the hand of man has tipped the balance of scales towards instability.21 They are landscapes where man plays such a pivotal role so as to permanently disrupt the stability of its constituent parts. We shape landscapes of smoke, burning fossil fuel after fossil fuel, releasing record levels of dangerous gasses into the atmosphere. We shape landscapes of mud, removing topsoil at an alarming rate, not allowing the earth to enact its cycle of repair. We shape landscapes of debris, destroying as we produce, leaving chaotic remnants behind, unable to be pieced back together. The landscapes of smoke, mud and debris are but three examples where the subnature is moulded by extreme human interaction. The processes we impart into these landscapes creates landscapes of extreme instability and chaos. With the systems pushed to their limit, the agency of instability assumes control. Landscape of Flux 1 Cyclical Pattern of Events Stable & unstable processes on site

Landscape of Flux 2 Convergence / Divergence Being a product of multiplicity

Landscape of Flux 3 Creation of the New Formation of fluctuating self 35

landscape in motion “Form is qualified above all else by specific realms in which it develops, and not simply by an act of reason on our part, a wish to see form develop regardless of circumstance.” -Henri Focillon22

hristophe Girot, in his seminal text Vision in Motion23 seeks to find methods of capturing and representing the flux of the natural world order. He argues for an analysis of landscape that completely distances itself from the established institutional paradigms of landscape representation in architecture – the plan and the perspective. These depictions reveal an inert understanding of space, showing landscape in a moment of time as opposed to landscape as a product of time . The role of time-based media and the importance of digital film are identified as pivotal representational tools in capturing the temporality, subjectivity and multiplicity of vision and processes of the landscape. Why has flux remained so marginal in our visual understanding and representation of space? As Girot states, “Aren’t the fleeting sounds of the city just as significant as the tweet of a bird in our appreciation of a given

go with the flow place?24 Landscape’s fluctuating character demands a fluctuating medium, where both traces of the past, traces from far and wide, and future potentials can be grasped synchronously. By viewing site as a process, as an evolving selfreferential frame, can we deeply appreciate its position within its larger environmental setting. The act of gazing out beyond what we see in front of us and perceiving site as being formed by a series of disparate elements allows site to transpose its physical boundaries, existing in multiple locations simultaneously. The tool of Muybridge’s chrono-sequencing allows for the multiplicity and complexity of landscape to be seen and analysed. The blending of different times in space reveals hidden realities and processes, producing a new dimension to landscape. This new dimension is one of synthesis, where the relativity of time, space, motion and action are all accounted for and atomised into a single gaze. The convergence of sequence provides a basis for a new, four-dimensional understanding of landscape.

Across the sky, the clouds move, Across the fields, the wind Across the fields the lost child Of my mother wanders. Across the street, leaves blow, Across the trees, birds cry – Across the mountains, far away, My home must be. - Herman Hesse25

n 1902, author Herman Hesse eloquently describes, through poetry, his pursuit for stability in a world of instability. Hesse learned that if he wanted to find stillness and rest, he would have to work all his life to be constantly updated with himself.26 To find inner stability in a chaotic world was not to resist the change happening around him, but to embrace and acknowledge these changes. For Hesse, stability did not mean lack of change – it was a never-ending process of being at home within a fluctuating world.

movement as a weapon of defiance, setting up devices where the internal and external move and adapt in accordance with one another. The thinking’s of Hesse hold power within this paper as it explores the idea of living with, not against the unstable landscape. As Gissen has proposed tha t unsta ble subnatural extremes are an inescapable fact of life, the question becomes how does one begin to exist in a landscape of perpetual change? How can architecture be used as a medium of inhabiting the unstable, constantly oscillating and adapting to external movement? The search for an answer, leads us to the world of physiology and the theory of milieu interieur.

For Hesse, to survive within an unstable environment was not to perceive its movement as adversarial, setting up fixed bunkers of defiance, but rather to use its

milieu interieur fig 2.vii (pg 38) - the pursuit of inner stability within the unstable fig 2.viii (pg 40-41) - a homeostatic architecture constantly reacting to flux, in pursuit of inner stability

“The living being is stable. It must be in order not to be destroyed, dissolved or disintegrated by the colossal forces, often adverse which surround it. By an apparent contradiction it maintains its stability only if it is excitable and capable of modifying itself according to external stimuli and adjusting its response to the stimulation. In a sense it is stable because it is modifiable – the slight instability is the necessary condition for the true stability of the organism” - Charles Richet 27

iologists have long been intrigued by the ability of living beings to maintain their own internal stability in the face of external instability. According to biologist L.J Henderson, the structure of life goes beyond independent systems that exist within self; it is being attuned with the environment, the interstimulta tion which occurs between inner and outer forces.28 Claude Bernard29 introduced the concept of the pursuit of stability into physiology through the concept of the “constancy of the inner environment”. The milieu interieur, French for constant interior, is the ultimate pursuit of all organisms, humans included. It is the mechanism that ensures that the internal conditions necessary for life are maintained at a stable level. 60 years later, building on the work of Bernard, Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon coined the term homeostasis to describe and extend the notion of the interieur milieu.30 Homeostasis is a direct feedback loop between the internal and external, emphasising processes as the driving forces behind stability. Highly developed beings are hardwired to their environment. Changes and fluctuations in the surroundings trigger alarms within the wiring, calling forth compensatory activity to neutralize or repair the disturbance. When change is detected, the system reacts accordingly by changing itself, combating flux with flux, ensuring that the

instability of the external is managed and brought back down to stable, manageable levels.31 It ensures that the disturbances are kept within narrow limits, not allowing their influence to destabilise the internal processes for life. This is the wisdom of the internal – the fundamental organization of stability. Homeostasis, therefore, ascribes to the theory that in order to be stable, change and continual adaptions to the external need to be constantly occurring. It is thus a process of dynamic interactions and reactions. A static state of stability is never achieved. What is achieved is a dynamic range of stability, where the organism is always adjusting to the disturbances around it, ensuring that it stays within its stable homeostatic range, never venturing to the precipice where extreme instability resides.32 This is the realm of danger for all organisms where the external begins to overwhelm the internal, where control and the pursuit of stability are lost. Practical examples of homeostasis include the adjustment, in the face of changing external conditions, of body temperature, fluid balance, respiration and blood sugar levels all being kept within certain pre-set limits of stability – the homeostatic range.33 This range represents the tolerance level for ensuring stability, if the external instability is managed to be internalised and adequately responded to, whilst ensuring that it does not venture beyond its range of comfort, then the system will be stable. The constant adaption of the internal to its surroundings ensures that a system placed within an environment of change is able to absorb the change and respond adequately to counteract the instability. In a landscape of the subnature where change is constant and gradual, homeostasis provides the ideal mechanism of response.

building the flux

y nature, architecture reacts to reality slowly and acts on reality eventually. It is the epitome of gradual, existing in a deescalated realm, with processes taking years to come to fruition, by which time they may be redundant. Architecture is gradual both prior, during and after construction. Once complete, buildings become inert giants, slowly dissolving, eroding and crumbling away. Architecture learns from the new earlier reality, but often ignores the reality later for the sake of exercising utopian ideologies within the ivory tower. Architecture becomes susceptible to its material and ideological foundations, finding difficulty in transposing itself out of its inert and vulnerable situation. How can the principle of homeostatic adaptation be applied to architecture, to create an architecture of perpetual flux, one that refutes inertia, constantly striving to be in tune with its environment? A homeostatic architecture holds potential to become a diachronic servo mechanism for the continual maintenance, perpetuation and modification of its structure and function. It allows architecture to be anything but inert; but rather, to be alive, constantly monitoring its surroundings, forever ready to change itself when its essential variables tip into instability. Within an ever-changing unstable environment, a homeostatic architecture is able to provide the stable reference point for change if necessary for survival.

㌀琀攀爀爀愀倀唀䰀嘀䤀匀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

⠀渀⸀⤀ 昀椀渀攀Ⰰ 搀爀礀瀀漀眀搀攀爀挀漀渀猀椀猀琀椀渀最漀昀琀椀渀礀瀀愀爀琀椀挀氀攀猀漀昀攀愀爀琀栀漀爀眀愀猀琀攀洀愀琀琀攀爀

猀甀瀀攀爀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀漀瀀漀爀愀

愀猀栀戀椀愀渀漀爀最愀渀椀猀洀搀愀瘀椀搀最椀猀猀攀渀簀猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

琀椀洀攀 ☀ 挀栀愀渀最攀挀漀爀渀攀爀簀栀攀爀愀挀氀椀琀甀猀簀最椀爀漀琀簀昀氀甀砀

⠀椀渀⤀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀攀簀搀甀猀琀猀挀愀瀀攀猀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀瀀攀挀甀氀愀琀爀椀砀

樀栀戀洀椀渀椀渀最氀愀渀搀猀挀愀瀀攀

搀攀猀椀最渀瀀爀椀渀挀椀瀀氀攀猀猀琀漀挀栀愀猀琀椀挀猀琀攀瀀氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最昀爀漀洀琀栀攀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

猀甀戀樀攀挀琀椀瘀椀琀礀挀漀渀焀甀攀爀椀渀最攀瘀攀爀攀猀琀瀀甀爀猀甀椀琀漀昀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀最爀漀眀椀渀最甀瀀椀渀樀栀戀

砀Ⰰ 礀Ⰰ 稀簀猀椀琀攀猀攀攀欀椀渀最猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

搀礀渀愀洀椀挀栀漀洀攀漀猀琀愀猀椀猀猀攀攀欀椀渀最甀氀琀爀愀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

inevitable dust “It does not transgress: it invades and pervades.” – Teresa Stoppani1

erhaps no form of unstable fluctuating landscape haunts society and architecture more than dust. It is a subnatural extremity which although is infinitesimal in material scale, holds substantial presence. It is forever pervasive, seeping into the interiors of everyday life. It gathers itself, heaping and sifting, with the individual particles adhered not to one another, but to the principle of enacting instability, ready to be unleashed by far-off winds or a passing automobile. No opening is too small for dust. Dust particles occupy niches and crevices, going undetected, slowly accreting themselves, forever in a state of destructive flux. Dust travels, and for this reason, it is a heterogenous landscape. It is the product of organic and inorganic particles from a variety of origins, each a marker of it previous whereabouts. Dust not only travels through environments, it collects environments, exchanging part of itself with the space around it to become a forever accretive landscape, constantly engaged in a mutual exchange with its surroundings.2 By nature, dust is formless and malleable – only through interaction and accumulation with space, does the form of dust begin to emerge. It assumes the form of its host, occupying niches and surfaces in which it is deposited. By consuming and becoming space, covering, and obliterating surfaces, it constantly redefines what it means to exist in a landscape of flux. Dust is the aftermath of natural decay in architecture, pollution from cars and factories, and the result of landscapes transfigured by disasters.3 The temporal dimension is therefore pivotal. No more is this evident in that of the hourglass where the act of turning activates the dust, engaging 44

its fluctuating processes to not only consume space, but consume time. Cultural theorist George Bataille4 echoes this sentiment, stating that the power of dust resides in its uncanny ability to register time. He asks one to imagine the character Sleeping Beauty. Surely after one hundred years of being idly asleep, thick blankets of dust would overwhelm her beauty? A transformation from the picturesque to the disdained form would ensue. For Bataille, dust is the enemy lurking behind every corner – forever waiting in the shadows, ready to assume total control by invading a world without human beings. Dust is the ultimate spatial ghost, haunting space waiting to transform the ‘natural’ into the awaiting subnatural material future. We, as humans, will not only eventually turn into dust, but in a world without the presence of human beings to remove the dust, it will become to not only dominate space, but become the new space of existence.

fig 3.i (pg 42-43) terra pulvis cover page fig 3.ii (pg 45) Piranesi - Views of Rome - etching plate 82, 1772

Dust literally and figuratively appears as background within a rchitecture – manoeuvring itself as the landscape lying in waiting, often overlooked or underestimated. In Piranesi’s images of ruins, in particular in his Views of Rome, ruins of a civilization past appea r half buried, slowly being overcome by dust.5 Like an undertaker, dust is incrementally returning architecture to the earth, reclaiming the land that society previously borrowed and developed. Dust is inevitable, however its momentum is gradual, often taking hundreds, if not thousands of years to become an all-encompassing presence of space. In John Ruskin’s philosophy, the temporal aspects of dust were pivotal; to him dust was a spatial record of history.6 To deny a building of its accreted dust – its (sub)natural state of inevitable being – was to deny it its own record of history.

the end state

hile dust’s natural state of flux may be slow and accretive, its momentum can be hastened from sudden disasters or massive technological and ecological changes. Here, dust emerges from a state of ‘nothing’ becoming intense and geographic as opposed to temporal and volumetric. This instantaneous flux of dust is what architect Gabriel Pierre Martin Dumont depicted violently erupting from the jaws of Mount Vesuvius – the infamous volcano that buried Pompeii.7 In Dumont’s depiction, smoke, dust and fire spew uncontrollably from a geological engine. A landscape of immediate flux was created where the rate of landscape change outweighed the rate of human adaptability. Not only is dust a causality of disaster, but it can also be a disaster identifier, a signal of previous violent transfigurations. It creates a cloud of visual obscurity, becoming an allencompassing spatial veil, waiting to reveal the devastation that lies beneath its gaze. Artist Laura Kurgan tackles this element of dust through her work Four Days Later, which documents the persistent dust cloud over Ground Zero in the days following the devastating 9/11 attacks. Her imagery reinforces our understanding of disaster as a transformation of matter into dust. The cloud of dust signals a violent event of the past - a remnant of something that was - its lurking presence haunting both space & our imaginary. Another disaster of dust - the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 poured such large quantities of ash and dust into the air, blowing the cinder halfway across the Atlantic reaching the Azores Islands.8 To the Azores population, the approaching sky of darkness was the frightening realisation of hundreds of years of folk lore – here dust became the harbinger of an apocalyptic end.

Dust, therefore, epitomises the end state of life and matter, the final fluctuating landscape transfiguration signalling death and destruction. Its inevitability haunts the subconscious. Unlike extreme la ndscapes existing within the natural realm, we are unable to distance ourselves from dust’s presence. Its looming presence constitutes to an extreme societal paranoia. Despite our best efforts to dista nce ourselves from peripheral landscape extremities and exist within zones of habitability, landscapes of dust are inescapable. Terra Pulvis does not exist as the other, in an unknown land; it exists within, an extreme landscape shaped by the ongoing laws of time and instability.

fig 3.iii (pg 47) Laura Kurgan - Four Days Later - dust hovering over Ground Zero in New York City

Dust adheres to the idea previously discussed whereby the confluence of stable processes results in unstable and extreme outcomes. Each particle of dust abides to the laws of gravity and motion, however when multiple collisions of dust particles ensue, its movement and future form is thrown into chaos. The instability of dust is further exacerbated by the act and creations of man. We aid in creating the extreme around us – as dust is, in fact, primarily the remnants of architecture. It represents material wearing, weathering and ruination existing from fragments to debris, to powder. The more we build, the more dust we create and the more the relationship between dust and architecture, dust in architecture and dust of architecture is heightened.

landscape of the lung

he imposition of dust onto space is not only limited to the physical space around us, but also the space within – the space within the cavities of our lungs.9 The fine particulate matter of dust is able to pervade all that stands before it, entering our lungs, enacting chaos and fostering instability from directly within the body. Dust is comprised of particles comprised of various harmful and unharmful substances. It is the result of fine-grained soil lifted off the earth by wind, the result of architectural decay as well as the remnant of human and animal matter. It is also the harbinger of toxicity and death, carrying highly toxic particulate matter – by products of industrial processes where chemicals harmful to human health are prevalent. According to the World Health Organisation, any particle below 10 microns (0.01mm) in diameter is able to penetrate our lungs causing serious damage to the alveoli – the tiny air sacs in our lungs that aid in gaseous exchange.10 For comparison, human hair measures on average 70 microns in diameter

while particles of dust range anywhere between 2 and 10 microns wide. The smaller the particle, the deeper they can inhabit the space within our lungs, with hazardous dust being a primary factor in the rise of lung cancer, asthma and respiratory related illnesses. When living in a landscape of dust, living with dust quickly transforms to living amongst dust and lastly dying from dust itself.

fig 3.iv (pg 48) healthy lung & chest x-ray fig 3.v (pg 49) unhealthy lung & chest x-ray - silicosis - silica & dust inhabitng the lung cavities

Unbeknownst to us, dust is constantly invading our internal mechanisms, employing its minute size to deadly effect. Life within the extreme of dust is one in perpetual strife and angst – at the will of the flux which surrounds it. In landscapes of immense dust, existence within the extreme is always on the precipice of becoming overwhelmed by the extreme. Dust is the ultimate end-state of matter – not only is it formed by dead and decaying matter, but it will stop at nothing to ensure that everything and everyone in its path endures the same deadly fate.

using light to see fig 3.vi (pg 50) viewing dust in a beam of incoming light

he imperceptibility of dust is its primary weapon – by being obscured from sight, its accumulation and pervasion of space often goes unnoticed. The extreme of dust is among us and yet we struggle to contain it, yet alone locate it. All of us, at one time or another, have been mesmerised by the floating of mysterious pa rticles captured in a bea m of light penetrating through a space. The particles dance in a chaotic fashion, caught in the midst of the light’s shackles. We wave our hand through the light, disturbing the already fluid particles, and suddenly, become aware that the vacuum of air which occupies the space around us is alive and heavy with microscopic life. The phenomenon of light as a medium of sight offers an opportunity for revealing the ‘hidden’, making the imperceptible, perceptible allowing for the unknown to transform to the known. Scattering describes

such a process in which the collision between dust particles and light rays, cause a deviation of light’s linear path, scattering light in all directions.11 The dust absorbs the light energy, re-emitting light in multiple directions, with differing intensities, of which some reach the corneas of our optical receptors, allowing us to perceive the subnatural extreme. Due to the small size of the dust particles, they emit low amounts of energy and thus not all collisions with light are visible. Only through a high contrast between light and dark within space, can the low-level energies of light be detected.12 Beams of light penetrating darkness offers hope in shedding light on the extreme of dust. With light and darkness being integral components of space, how can architecture be mobilised to construct spaces formed by light itself, illuminating the unknown darkness of the extreme?

ife within the extreme of dust may seem like a hopeless endeavour, one doomed to be overcome and overwhelmed by the extreme, however there are mechanisms for pursuing internal stability within dustscapes of vast flux and instability. As dust enters into our lungs through our mouth and nasal cavities, preventing the influx of particles at the source is the first step in combatting the extreme. Respirators enable physiological comfort and existence within landscapes of dust. They provide the wearer with a clean filtered intake of air, whilst ensuring that exhalation is as seamless and non-invasive as possible. Incoming air is filtered through a series of layers of fabric, each designed to capture and filter harmful particulate matter of various sizes and composition. The fabrics are all imbued with an activated carbon mesh, which chemically bonds itself to the incoming carbonbased dust particles, successfully immobilising the hidden flux within the air we breathe. After a sustained period of use, the fabrics become saturated with dust and need to be replaced.

dust filtration fig 3.vii (pg 52) - exploded view of respirator components fig 3.viii (pg 53) filter layers imbedded within respirator

ife within the extreme of dust may seem like a hopeless endeavour, one doomed to be overcome and overwhelmed by the extreme, however there are mechanisms for pursuing internal stability within dustscapes of vast flux and instability. As dust enters our lungs through our mouth and nasal cavities, preventing the influx of particles at the source is the first step in combatting the extreme. Respirators enable physiological comfort and existence within landscapes of dust. They provide the wearer with a clean filtered intake of air, whilst ensuring that exhalation is as seamless and non-invasive as possible. Incoming air is filtered through a series of layers of fabric, each designed to capture and filter harmful particulate matter of various sizes and composition. The fabrics are all imbued with an activated carbon mesh, which chemically bonds itself to the incoming carbon-based dust particles, successfully immobilising the hidden flux within the air we breathe. After a sustained period of use,

the fabrics become saturated with dust and need to be replaced.13 The respira tors a re proof tha t with preparation, physiological combatant against the extreme of dust is possible. If we view architecture in a landscape of dust as a physiological organism, able to breathe and sustain life within, what are the architectural respirators at the faรงade that can be employed to monitor and ensure that the landscape beyond, dust not overpower the landscape within?

The respirators are proof that with preparation, physiological combatant against the extreme of dust is possible. If we view architecture in a landscape of dust as a physiological organism, able to breathe and sustain life within, what are the architectural respirators at the faรงade that can be employed to monitor and ensure that the landscape beyond, dust not overpower the landscape within?

a filtering facade fig 3.ix (pg 54) detailed section of Vacuum Wall showcasing the pneumatic cyst mechanism fig 3.x (pg55) render of facade of felt in motion

acuum Wall by Lydia Kallipoliti & Alexandros Tsamis14 is a proposition for how a breathable and adaptive architectural skin may exist. The design study is the reevaluation of the function of large exterior facades within highly polluted environments, a ble to a ugment their environmental performance through dust collection. The proposition functions as a cleansing device for the ambient air within the city, attracting floating dust particles, intentionally polluting itself in the process. The device for dust collection is activated by an electrical charge, whereby a similar process to that of a magnet attracting iron fillings ensues. Electricity catalyses the process, channelling or vacuuming floating dust particles towards the façade, capturing them in its felt surface. The wall consists of two translucent façade layers enclosing folded surfaces of felt. The fabric of felt is adaptive, expanding outwards through carefully designed apertures within

the façade. The felt can unfold thanks to an internal mechanism of pneumatic bubbles embedded within. Over time, as the dust begins to settle on the felt, the structure can expand, creating additional surface area for the deposition of airborne dust. The dust and felt coalesce to create a thicker, denser felt material, continually changing its physical composition and form throughout its life cycle of use. When fully saturated, at the end of its acceptable levels of functionality, the felt can be removed and recycled as moisture barriers in building foundations.15 During the felt's life cycle, the structure becomes alive – a marker of the time, with the expansion of felt causally relating to the quantity of dust collected. The wall begins to accommodate for the extreme of dust, not by creating a chasm between itself and its surroundings, but by welcoming its inherent instability within.

water filter fig 3.xi (pg 56) - an arhitecture of venturi scrubbers fig 3.xii (pg 57) - section through venturi scrubber & cyclonic separator fig 3.xiii (pg 58-59) - an architecture of extreme venturi dust collectors within an extreme landscape of dust

enturi scrubbers are industrial devices designed to extract dust from air using a high-pressure inflow of liquid to scrub the gas stream free of harmful dust particles. They are positioned at the periphery of industrial factories supplementing and cleansing the toxic air formed as a result of the mechanised processes within. The principle of particulate removal within wet scrubbers is based on the collision of dust with, and becoming entrapped in, liquid droplets. The smaller the dust particles, the smaller the liquid droplets required for removal.16 Venturi scrubbers consist of three sections - a converging section, a throat section, and a diverging section. The inflow of gas laden with dust particles enters the scrubber via the converging section and, as the area decreases, gas velocity increases. It is here when liquid is introduced forcing the two to converge at the throat of the scrubber. Here, the gas, now moving at extremely high velocity shears the liquid from its walls, fragmenting the

liquid into thousands of tiny droplets. Dust segregation occurs in the diverging section, where the inlet gas stream becomes entangled with the droplets. Dust and droplet become one. The heavier particles sink towards a trough at the base of the scrubber. The resultant air rises through a secondary tube, that of a cyclonic separator, passing through multiple layers of arrangements of mesh pads designed to capture the dust, whilst allowing for clean air to pass through its grid.17 When the gas has passed through the multiple stages of separation, does it exit through an outlet valve, where, propelled by a fan, it delivers clean and healthy air to the inhabitants of the building in which it is located.

Water filter To what extreme can we create an architecture of venturi scrubbers within a landscape of dust?

electric filter fig 3.xiv (pg 60) - an architecture of electrostatic precipitators fig 3.xv (pg 61) - inner workings of an electrostatic precipitator fig 3.xvi (pg 62-63) - an architecture of extreme electrostatic precipitators dust collectors within an extreme landscape of dust

lectrostatic precipitators (ESP) are devices that employ static electricity to remove dust, soot and ash from exhaust fumes before they exit the smokestack of highly pollutant-generative architectural spaces. The dry scrubber, filters dust from inflowing gas using the force of an induced electrostatic charge minimally impeding the flow of gases through the unit. Contrasted to wet scrubbers, which apply energy directly to the flowing fluid medium, ESP dry scrubbers apply energy only to the particulate matter being collected and are thus highly efficient in energy consumption.18

along their surface. The dust from the plates is collected in hoppers below the electric mechanism. ESPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are extremely effective in decoupling dust from air, removing, on average 99% of harmful particulate matter.19 Similarly, to wet scrubbers, the clean air which successfully passes through the system is passed through a series of ventilation ducts, re-circulating healthy air to its inhabitants.

ESPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are comprised of a row of thin vertical wires followed by an arrangement of flat metal plates spaced 1 to 18cm apart. The dustladen air flows through the charged wires, ionizing the air around the electrodes, which in turn ionizes the particles in the inflowing air stream. Due to electrostatic force, the now ionized particles are attracted towards the grounded plates, capturing the dust

electric filter To what extreme can we create an architecture of electrostatic precipitators within a landscape of dust?

㐀琀攀爀爀愀䄀唀刀甀洀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

⠀渀⸀⤀ 琀栀攀挀栀攀洀椀挀愀氀攀氀攀洀攀渀琀漀昀愀琀漀洀椀挀渀甀洀戀攀爀㜀㤀

猀甀瀀攀爀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀漀瀀漀爀愀

愀猀栀戀椀愀渀漀爀最愀渀椀猀洀搀愀瘀椀搀最椀猀猀攀渀簀猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

琀椀洀攀 ☀ 挀栀愀渀最攀挀漀爀渀攀爀簀栀攀爀愀挀氀椀琀甀猀簀最椀爀漀琀簀昀氀甀砀

⠀椀渀⤀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀攀簀搀甀猀琀猀挀愀瀀攀猀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀瀀攀挀甀氀愀琀爀椀砀

樀栀戀洀椀渀椀渀最氀愀渀搀猀挀愀瀀攀

搀攀猀椀最渀瀀爀椀渀挀椀瀀氀攀猀猀琀漀挀栀愀猀琀椀挀猀琀攀瀀氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最昀爀漀洀琀栀攀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

猀甀戀樀攀挀琀椀瘀椀琀礀挀漀渀焀甀攀爀椀渀最攀瘀攀爀攀猀琀瀀甀爀猀甀椀琀漀昀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀最爀漀眀椀渀最甀瀀椀渀樀栀戀

砀Ⰰ 礀Ⰰ 稀簀猀椀琀攀猀攀攀欀椀渀最猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

搀礀渀愀洀椀挀栀漀洀攀漀猀琀愀猀椀猀猀攀攀欀椀渀最甀氀琀爀愀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

tale of tailings â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although gold dust is precious, when it gets into your eyes, it obstructs your visionâ&#x20AC;? -Hsi Tang

tale of tailings

he traveller arriving at OR Tambo interna tional a irport, East of Johannesburg â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is greeted by the sight of lustrously yellow mounds of dust. In the late afternoon, they appear as blazing red beacons dotted around the landscape stretching for as far as the eye can see. These are the forms of Johannesburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mine tailings. Rising high above the ground, these mounds of dust are markers of terra pulvis â&#x20AC;&#x201C; landscapes where the extreme of dust is asserting its might. Communities living below their peaks are besieged by the subnatural extreme of dust, unable to resist its pervasion and dominion.

fig

These dust-laden landscape of Johannesburg can be traced back 3000 million years when rivers flowing through the area drained into the natural depression, depositing sediment, which would later become one of the largest mineral deposits on the planet.1 The millennia that followed saw the tectonic plates rise, slowly covering the deposits of wealth. Deep below the surface, gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, coal and uranium were ready to be unearthed. The discovery of this rich geological substrate in 1886 accelerated the development of the city, making it unique as being one of the only major cities in the world without a significant body of water to sustain it. No ocean, no river, no lake; but a reef made of gold. This reef of gold runs for 120km in an East West direction and, ever since discovery, has nourished life along its banks.2 In the later stages of life, this river has begun to slow down and deposit tailings along its path. These mounds are remnants of the landscape that was, at the mercy of unstable forces, slowly dissolving away.

besieged by dust

he la ndscape of dust tha t calls Johannesburg home owes it presence to its historical underpinnings in mining. The tailings represent the aftermath of previous mining operations – just like dust, the tailings epitomise death and demise. They are the remnants of gold extraction processes – the material left over after the process of separation of valuable minerals from unvalued ore. Due to its involvement in industrial processes, the tailings have become laden with toxic by-products used to extract gold from ore.3 The tailing material has passed through the machines of man, fragmenting its form, destabilising its natural structure. The tailings begin life as a slurry mixture of fine-grained soil and water pumped from the location of mining excavations to their new locations at the periphery of cities. Spigots are placed along the length of the tailing discharge pipe, distributing the slurry evenly across the chosen site. Over time, the solids and liquids from the slurry delink – the solids amass and dry out to form the tailing mounds and the liquid collects at the base of the mounds, in decant ponds which are discharged and recycled.4 The remnant that remains are comprised of fine-grained sand and dust particles, highly unstable, forever susceptible to erosion and flux. These mounds are the harbinger of dust within the city, continually evolving through dissolving.

caused by their dusty neighbours. The ambivalence and anxiety associated with the tailing landscape is not only attributed to the physiological damage that the tailings cause, but also their role in concealing the identity of the Southern communities.5 Soweto and Riverlea are the two areas that have experienced the extreme of dust more frequently throughout history.6 Residents here live in the shadows of these tailings, often up to 70m high, constantly faced with the spatial and physiological impacts of the tailing’s instability. The extreme of the tailings shapes their lives daily. The landscape of adjacency becomes the landscape of here, with the dust dissolving from the tailings, invading the livelihood’s below. "Look at my spinach. That is the sand from the mine. The yellow one in the soil - it's destroying everything," -Thabo Ngubane | Soweto resident7

fig 4.i (pg 64-65) terra aurum cover page fig 4.ii (pg 66-67) proximity between tailings and human settlements within Johannesburg fig 4.iii (pg 68-69) - map of tailings within Johannesburg fig 4.iv (pg 71) tension between tailing landscape & human settlement the creation of a new & extreme landscape of dust fig 4.v (pg 7273) - timeline of how tailing will dissolve away, slowly transforming into particles of dust

For residents of Soweto and Riverlea the extreme of dust is overwhelming. As the tailings dissolve, so too do their livelihoods. The extreme is slowly but surely evolving itself to create a new landscape of existence – one where dust and destruction prevails.

Johannesburg is rare in that the tailings exist as an immediate adjacency to surrounding communities, who reside below its unstable peaks. This rarity can be attributed to Apartheid spatial planning, with the tailings used as an overt buffer between the South of Johannesburg, housing predominantly black mining labourers and the, then, Northern white settlements. Despite the transition to democracy, many communities in the South have remained shackled to previous spatial legacies, unable to escape the extremity 70

dissolve to evolve

he act of looking forward in time, envisaging future potentials and realities.

The use of the computational tool of Blender to analyse particle motion when subject to forces, allows for a visualization of how a tailing is able to evolve its presence through the act of dissolving into dust. The tailing chosen is by no means the chosen site of the project, but rather a case study of how the landscape of loose soil, will, over time, dissolve into dust. August & September are Johannesburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s windiest months with winds regularly reaching speeds of up to 25 km/h. They are predominantly from the North and it is in these months that the residents of Soweto & Riverlea fear the dust emanating from the tailings the most. The tailing chosen is sited within the centre of Soweto, with the settlement of Snake Park, located directly south of its dusty peaks. In Blender, the tailing was broken up into millions of particles. A strong Northerly wind was then applied to the model which blew and scattered the tailing dust particles Southwards. The chronophotographic stills showcase this process â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the process of a landscape in flux. The visualization depicts the spatiality of the process of dissolving â&#x20AC;&#x201C; revealing the future life cycle of an unstable & extreme landscape.

mapping instability fig 4.vi (pg 74) -chronophotographic overlay of dissolving tailing to reveal zones of stability & instability

ow can we map the hidden movement of site – locating degrees of instability on a tailing? By running a scenario whereby, the tailing is subject to an accurate force of wind, we can, with a high degree of accuracy analyse time within landscape. The predictive modelling allows for an understanding of the manner in which the tailing will dissolve. Through an overlay of the landscape’s life cycle, does the dormant narrative of instability become evident. A |Top of Tailing - the lightest part of the map; the zone with the least number of overlays and the area most likely to dissolve first. The top of the tailing is subject to the Northerly wind and thus is most susceptible to be directly the most unstable and dissolve into particles of dust. B| Sheer Face – zones of high instability and likely to dissolve early in the life cycle. The sheer wall becomes darker at the base due to the accumulation of particles from above. While the upper portion of sheer vertical drops of the tailing experiences high direct instability, the lower section experiences high levels of indirect instability – sited in an unstable zone of dust collection.

C| Lower Embankment – the zone of intermediate instability. Will dissolve after zone A, however as it in the path of particles from A, experiences higher levels of indirect accumulated instability. D| Upper base of Tailing – the zone of high indirect instability accumulating the dust from the mound above, yet shielded from direct instability – being dissolved itself. E| Base of Tailing – the darkest part of the map, the zone with the greatest number of overlays. Will experience the highest levels of indirect instability on site, accumulating all the dust from the mound above. These are the zones most fearful when experiencing dust from elsewhere, yet their actual grounding is stable and secure. F | Snake Park – the community of Snake Park in Soweto slowly dissolving away

remove the extreme fig 4.vii (pg 76) - museum of lost tailings - the tailings in Johannesburg that have recently been repossessed

Earth is this not what you want: to arise within us invisibly? – Is it not your dream someday to be invisible? - Earth: invisible! What if not transformation is your urgent commission? -Duinesian Elegies. R.M. Rilke8

he closure of the gold mines in the 1970’s due to high production costs of labour, water, electricity and the physical constraints of deeper level mining saw mining companies turn their eye elsewhere. It was at this point when the tailings, rich with latent gold, uranium and other trace elements were the new nexus of mining activities within the city.9 The repossession of the historic gold tailings was enabled through newer technologies that ensured that the process was economically viable for the mining houses. In this hydrointensive process, the tailings are sprayed with water, slowly transforming the mounds of loose, dry sand and dust particles into slurry. The slurry flows down the mound and is caught in catchment areas at the base of the slope. From there it is drained and pumped through a pipeline to a nearby processing and treatment plant where the extraction of gold and toxic minerals ensues. The new and supposedly ‘clean’ waste is then repumped at another site, creating yet another tailing within the city – re-establishing the cycle of tailings within the city.10

extreme is the morally responsible path to take, the manner in which this path has been undertaken is questionable, at best. During the re-mining endeavour, which usually takes 9 – 12 months, the process emits extremely high levels of dust into the atmosphere, further destabilising the livelihoods of the communities living adjacent to their dusty peaks.11 Although, in this tailing landscape, removal of the extreme is possible, the extreme still pervades. The removal of tailings creates new tailings, and the instability of dustscapes is here to stay. Due to the omnipresence of the tailings within the city, they have become fundamental to the heritage and identity forma tion of the urba n morphology. Kentridge and Pierneef12 have regularly included images of tailings in their depictions of the Johannesburg skyline, understanding and appreciating the importance of the subnatural extreme as an integral feature within the city’s identity.

Through tailing repossession, the extreme is demolished, not for altruistic reasoning, but for capitalist motives, revealing a new landscape of decay and neglection which requires further rehabilitation to ensure safe future habitability. As of yet, the mining companies are yet to deliver on the promise of repairing the land imbued with generations of toxicity from the tailings which existed above. Although the process of removing the 76

tame the extreme fig 4.viii (pg 78) planting on top of tailing to reduce dust dispersal & instability fig 4.vix (pg79) phytostabilisation

ubnatural extremes exist in a realm often beyond our control, enacting chaos and instability during the course of their life cycle. As they are formed from the bowels of human endeavours and creations, the hand of man plays an integral role in further destabilising their existence. While subnatures assume â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a life of their ownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as they grow and multiply, the severity of that life can be mitigated by intervening during their formative period, lessening their future instability. With landscapes of dust, future stability within the unstable can be achieved through the use of plants â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a process aptly named phytostabilisation.13 The process involves the use of carefully selected plants, able to tolerate the loose soil, establishing roots within the highly dissolvable land. Through the process of establishing roots, the plants aid in de-mobilising flux and instability within the tailings, aiding in bonding the loose sand particles together.

Additionally, the plants chosen must be able to live within soil conditions of high toxicity, highly prevalent within tailings. As their job is to contain the landscape of dust, the selected plants must ensure that the toxic metals and compounds do not accumulate within their root and cell structure,14 allowing for the potentially deadly scenario of the toxicity escaping from its shackles. The aim of phytostabilisation, therefore, is to contain the instability of dust, diminishing its prevalency for transposing its physical location, disincentivising its tendency of becoming a chaotic force of unstable destruction.

process of binding soil together takes roughly 18-60 months shoot toxin uptake undesirable

bacterial precipitation of toxins plants chosen need to withstand loose sand particles & toxicity toxins in loose soil

root precipitation of toxins roots aid in binding loose soil

symbol of extreme fig 4.x (pg 80) - using the headgear as an architectural symbol of existing within & attracting the extreme fig 4.xi (pg 81) Johannesburg gold mine headgear 1956 fig 4.xii (pg 82-83) - view from within dust mining shaft

dormant architecture lies in the shadows of Johannesburg’s tailing landscape. Steel sections rivetted and bolted together in an A frame dot the landscape, a reminder of the historic narrative of the city. These structures, called headframes, were spatial markers for mining processes hidden below. Headframes are used to support the winching and transfer of men, material, and rock to and from underground, as well as housing the equipment and safety devices necessary for sinking and production.15 They have become icons of venturing into the extreme – the dark and dankness of the earth below. The headgears exist as a vertical piece of architecture – their height necessary for creating enough leverage potential to vertically winch the shaft within. With dust existing in the three-dimensional medium of space, an architecture of height may be essential to capture the dust emanating from the tailings, most of which stand at over 30m in height. The headgear’s small footprint and

steel construction opens up the possibility of a flexible and mobile architecture – one that is not bound to its siting on the ground, but rather one that is able to adapt and respond to the fluidity of dust within the air, adjusting its location accordingly. What are the possibilities of repurposing headgears, not themselves physically, but their image as existing as part of the extreme? How can we envision an architecture within the extreme of dust that adopts the mining heritage of the city, by actively 'mining' the air around us, separating dust from air? Will clean, dust-free air become the gold of the 21st century?

symbol of extreme

㔀琀攀爀爀愀匀吀䄀匀䤀匀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

⠀渀⸀⤀ 愀猀琀愀琀攀漀昀搀礀渀愀洀椀挀攀焀甀椀氀戀爀椀甀洀

猀甀瀀攀爀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀漀瀀漀爀愀

愀猀栀戀椀愀渀漀爀最愀渀椀猀洀搀愀瘀椀搀最椀猀猀攀渀簀猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀愀氀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

琀椀洀攀 ☀ 挀栀愀渀最攀挀漀爀渀攀爀簀栀攀爀愀挀氀椀琀甀猀簀最椀爀漀琀簀昀氀甀砀

⠀椀渀⤀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

猀甀戀渀愀琀甀爀攀簀搀甀猀琀猀挀愀瀀攀猀

洀愀挀栀椀渀愀猀瀀攀挀甀氀愀琀爀椀砀

樀栀戀洀椀渀椀渀最氀愀渀搀猀挀愀瀀攀

搀攀猀椀最渀瀀爀椀渀挀椀瀀氀攀猀猀琀漀挀栀愀猀琀椀挀猀琀攀瀀氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最昀爀漀洀琀栀攀攀砀琀爀攀洀攀

猀甀戀樀攀挀琀椀瘀椀琀礀挀漀渀焀甀攀爀椀渀最攀瘀攀爀攀猀琀瀀甀爀猀甀椀琀漀昀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀最爀漀眀椀渀最甀瀀椀渀樀栀戀

砀Ⰰ 礀Ⰰ 稀簀猀椀琀攀猀攀攀欀椀渀最猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

搀礀渀愀洀椀挀栀漀洀攀漀猀琀愀猀椀猀猀攀攀欀椀渀最甀氀琀爀愀猀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀

machina sopora

way forward | Learning from a groundbreaking invention, with stability hardwired into its electronic behaviour. Forged during one of the most unstable periods of human history, the homeostat was finally completed in 1948 by its inventor Ross Ashby. Not only forged within the extreme, but comprised of it, the homeostat was a machine comprised from ex RAF bomb control switch gear kits.1 Dubbed by Norbert Wiener as “one of the great philosophical contributions of the present day,”2 the homeostat is a machine of self-organization that strives to pursue a stable sense of self within the instability of the extreme. Ironically nicknamed Machina Sopora| The Sleeping Machine by fellow cyberneticist William Grey Walter, the homeostat is remarkable in its counterintuitive bias toward inaction.3 In the Ashbian organism, pre-eminence is accorded to non-action where the most stable state of existence resides – or, in Walter’s mocking words, it acts in order to sleep. The homeostat will go to extraordinary lengths, willing to act as much is needed in order to return back to sleep. Action is mobilised to attain a state of future inaction. The Ashbian organism is by nature a passive machine who will always accommodate itself to its environment by whatever means necessary – its sole purpose is to regain stability in response to perturbations in its environment.

activates when the essential variables become unstable. Electrically conducing vanes dipped in water troughs topped each unit and like oscillographs, the vanes fluctuated back and forth in the trough, reacting to the electrical input from their environment. As all four units were connected, each unit’s environment, consisted of the electrical output of the other three vanes, with the output determined by the position of the vane in the trough. If the vanes’ position was central in the trough, its electrical output would be zero; if, however, its position was anywhere but central, it would provide an electrical output to the other units, in turn affecting the positions of the other three vanes.

fig 5.i (pg 84-85) terra stasis cover page fig 5.ii (pg 87) Ashby's homeostat - machina sopora

This cycle of flux would ensue until all the vanes were in their middle positions – this was when stability was reached. For the process to begin anew, one of the vanes would have to be destabilised, pushed out of its position, prompting the machine to strive, with all its might, to return to sleep – to become stable again.5

The machine comprised of a fully connected collection of four double feedback loops, with each including a random step mechanism capable of adjusting its electrical output when triggered. It was set up as four identical units connected to each other via electrical inputs and outputs.4 The first feedback loop was engendered by the continuous interaction between the system and its environment, while the secondary feedback loop only 86

ultra stability “A determinate machine changes from a form that produces chaotic, unadapted behaviour to a form in which the parts are so co-ordinated that the whole is stable, acting to maintain its essential variables within certain limits.” -Hywel Williams6

he homeostat exists in one of two overall states. Stability is reached when all vanes come to a rest in their central positions, such that small deviations of the position of any one needle would induce small deviations of the other three, with all four needles eventually settling down to their midpoints. Or, the configuration might be unstable, when the needles are driven to the extreme of their ranges. The tension between the two fascinated Ashby, who perceived life as being a fundamental process constantly torn between the two states, solely focused on escaping the extreme of instability. The most fascinating element within this machine was the uniselector, which would be called into action each time a vane became unstable and oscillated from its middle point. The uniselector would determine the output current through a random selection of 25 pre-set electrical values.7 As there were four identical units, the machine in total had 254 = 390 635 possible states of existence, endlessly cycling through the ra ndom sta tes of permutations until the correct configuration was found, where the total current within the system was zero. This, according to Ashby transposed the pursuit of stability, to become that of ultrastability - the process whereby, through a stochastic step mechanism, unstable essential va ria bles were continuously rearranged until stability was found. A system would become ultrastable through randomly stepping through the parameters that connect its various constituent parts. Through the use of ultrastability, Ashby’s organism can be viewed as a simulator of life, called forth to action when the environment sees fit. 88

The beauty of the stochastic step process is that it fundamentally refutes deterministic devices of that time period, such as lathes and drilling machines whose purpose is singular and predictable. By antithesising determinism, the homeosta t exhibits properties of variability and adaption, able to program and re-program itself operating as multiple states of being.8 Agency can therefore be attributed to the machine, making decisions and enacting responses that sprang, as it were, from inside itself. Ashby likened his creation to a kitten stating that “When a kitten first approaches a fire its reactions are unpredictable and usually inappropriate. It may walk almost into the fire, or it may spit at it, or may dab at it with a paw, or try to sniff at it, or crouch and stalk it. Later however, when adult, its reactions are different. It approaches the fire and sets itself at a place where the heat is moderate. If the fire burns low, it moves nearer. If a hot coal falls out, it jumps away. Its behaviour towards the fire is now adaptive.”9 The analogy reveals Ashby’s belief that an organism aims to ignore pain rather than rectify the cause of such pain, when the cause of such pain is insurmountable. Through constantly adjusting its essential variables, an organism determines for itself a favourable trajectory in pursuit of a stable existence amid persistent unstable surroundings.

fig 5.iii (pg 89) - stochastic reprogramming of self to reach state of ultrastability fig 5.iv (pg 90-95) machina speculatrix -chronophotographic stills of a robot in pursuit of ultrastability fig5.v (pg 96) chronophotographic overlay of robot's overall movement fig 5.vi (pg 97) - the journey through light to ultrastability

How can an architecture in the extreme learn from the findings of Ashby?

machina speculatrix fig

ollowing on from the homeosta t, Ashby proposed a hypothetical thought experiment, to further his living organismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning and adaptive intelligence. In this instance, the machine would be mobile, able to move freely, on its own accord. The machine would be positioned on a table, surrounding a central light source. It would be calibrated with its critical states set to seek a mid-range situation of illumination. Detectors in the living machine would constantly monitor its environment.10 When entering the field of high illumination or darkness, i.e. the extreme, the same stochastic step mechanism as before would be activated, calling forth a random direction of steering. The mobile homeostat aimed to affect a stable trajectory of movement, constantly adapting to its environment, seeking stability in the form of light. The machine would actively speculate its environment, becoming more active in its approach to its surroundings. Unafraid to venture into the unstable, the machine would purposefully approach the extreme, slowly learning from its experiences. It would allow itself to become unstable, taking itself to its extreme form. Here, knowledge of what it means to be stable was acquired by first understanding what it means to be unstable. Building off of a programme of stability, developed by Steve Battle,11 a script to visualise a machine in pursuit of ultrastability was devised. The language of stability is used to create a visual representation for how life within the unstable can be sustained.

machina speculatrix fig

int RATE=25; int VWIDTH=55, VLENGTH=85, VSIDE=50; PImage bg; Thing src; Vehicle vehicle, v1, v2a, v2b, v2c, v6a, v6b; void setup() { size(800,800); frameRate(RATE); imageMode(CENTER); // java alternative (generates image) //bg = createImage(width, height, RGB); //backgroundImage(bg,new PVector(width/2,height/2)); //bg.save("data/bg800x800.jpg"); // javascript alternative bg = loadImage("bg800x800.jpg"); background(bg); src = new Source("source.png",VSIDE,width/2,height/2); v1 = new Vehicle1("vehicle1.png",30,VLENGTH); v2a = new Vehicle2a("vehicle2a.png",VWIDTH,VLENGTH); v2b = new Vehicle2b("vehicle2b.png",VWIDTH,VLENGTH); v2c = new Vehicle2c("vehicle2c.png",VWIDTH,VLENGTH); v6a = new Vehicle6a("vehicle6.png",VWIDTH,VLENGTH); v6b = new Vehicle6b("vehicle6.png",VWIDTH,VLENGTH); //setVehicle(initialise); setVehicle("6b"); void setVehicle(String v) { PVector p=null; float a = radians(random(360)); if (vehicle!=null) { p = vehicle.position; a = vehicle.angle; if (v=="1") vehicle = v1; else if (v=="2a") vehicle = v2a; else if (v=="2b") vehicle = v2b; else if (v=="2c") vehicle = v2c; else if (v=="6a") vehicle = v6a; else if (v=="6b") vehicle = v6b; if (p!=null) { vehicle.position = p; vehicle.angle = a; void backgroundImage(PImage img, PVector v) { img.loadPixels(); float dmax = sqrt(pow(img.width,2)+pow(img.height,2))/2; // pythagorean distance: sqrt(dx^2 + dy^2) for (int y=0; y<img.height; y++) { // dy^2 is constant for this row float dy2 = pow(y-v.y,2); for (int x=0; x<img.width; x++) { float dx2 = pow(x-v.x,2); float d = sqrt(dx2+dy2)/dmax; float l = 255.0*(1-d); img.pixels[x+y*img.width] = color(l,l,l); img.updatePixels(); void draw() { // in processingjs imageMode() applies to the background image imageMode(CORNER); background(bg); imageMode(CENTER); src.draw(); src.solve(null); if (vehicle!=null) { vehicle.trace(); vehicle.draw(); vehicle.solve(src.position); vehicle.borders(); void mouseClicked() { vehicle.event(mouseX,mouseY); class Homeostat { // k: fraction of current sent to milliammeter (-1<=k<=+1) // less frictional force, assumed proportional to velocity of y, per unit velocity (viscosity) // l: force on needle given by unit current in milliammeter coil // proportional to potential on grid per unit deviation of y // less force of spring, or gravitation, tending to restore needle, per unit deviation // m: mass of needle & coil, or inertial equivalent // p,q : potentials at the ends of the trough // y: position of the needle int n; float h, j, p, q, y, z; boolean[] u; float[] a; // r: enable relay, t: trigger next step boolean r = true, t=false; // n is number of inputs including self public Homeostat(int n, float h, float j, float p, float q) { this.n = n; this.h = h; this.j = j; this.p = p; this.q = q; u = new boolean[n]; for (int i=0; i<n; i++) { u[i] = true; a = new float[n]; // randomize weights subject to the uniselector void randomize(float min, float max) { for (int i=0; i<n; i++) { if (u[i]) { a[i] = random(max - min) +min; void setWeight(int i, float w) { a[i] = w; u[i] = false; void unset(int i, float min, float max) { u[i] = true; a[i] = random(max - min) +min; // reverse the commutator on input i void reverse(int i) { a[i] = -a[i]; u[i] = false; // set relay to false to 'short' the relay, preventing it from activating the uniselectors void setRelay(boolean relay) { r = relay; void setTrigger(boolean trigger) { t = trigger; // solve for y,z using Euler's method and return y float solve(float[] x, float dt) { float ax = 0; for (int i=0; i<n; i++) { ax += a[i]*x[i]; float dy = z, dz = h*ax - j*z; y += dy*dt; z += dz*dt; // velocity becomes zero when the essential variable goes out of bounds y = saturation(y); return y; float saturation(float y) { return min(p, max(q, y));

// check the inputs to the relay // if the needle setting y is outside the bounds [q,p] then the relay boolean step() { if (t || (r && (y<=q || y>=p))) { t = false; for (int i=0; i<n; i++) { if (u[i]) { a[i] = random(p - q) +q; // [-1,+1] y = z = 0; return true; else return false; /*** light source ***/ class Source extends Thing { float F = 0.01; Source(String filename, int d, float x, float y) { super(filename, d, d, x, y); void solve(PVector v) { angle = (angle + F) % TAU; abstract class Thing { PImage img; PVector position; float angle, TAU = 2*PI; int w, l; Thing(String filename, int w, int l, float x, float y) { img = loadImage(filename); position = new PVector(x,y); angle = random(TAU); this.w = w; this.l = l; float distance(PVector a, PVector b) { return sqrt(pow(a.x-b.x,2)+pow(a.y-b.y,2)); float angleBetweenPoints(PVector a, PVector b) { float dx = b.x - a.x; float dy = b.y - a.y; return atan2(dy, dx); void draw() { pushMatrix(); translate(position.x,position.y); // rotate the coordinate frame in the opposite direction rotate(-angle); image(img,0,0,l,w); popMatrix(); void trace() { void solve(PVector v) { void setPosition(int x, int y) { position = new PVector(x,y); void addPosition(float x, float y) { position.add(x,y,0); void setAngle(float a) { angle = a; class Vehicle extends Thing { int PATH_LENGTH=1000; int MARGIN = 50; int pathIndex; PVector[] path = new PVector[PATH_LENGTH]; color pathColour = 0; Vehicle(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l, random(width), random(height)); void clearPath() { path = new PVector[PATH_LENGTH]; void setPathColour(color c) { pathColour = c; void trace() { // add current position to path path[pathIndex] = new PVector(position.x,position.y); pathIndex = (pathIndex+1)%PATH_LENGTH; for (int i=0; i<PATH_LENGTH-1; i++) { PVector p1 = path[(pathIndex+i)%PATH_LENGTH]; stroke(pathColour); fill(pathColour); if (p1!=null) ellipse(p1.x,p1.y,2,2); void borders() { // keep the vehicle on-screen if (position.x+MARGIN<0 || position.x-MARGIN>width || position.y+MARGIN<0 || position.y-MARGIN>height) { clearPath(); position.x = (position.x + 3*MARGIN +width) % (width + 2*MARGIN) -MARGIN; position.y = (position.y + 3*MARGIN +height) % (height + 2*MARGIN) -MARGIN; void event(int x, int y) { clearPath(); setPosition(x,y); class Vehicle1 extends Vehicle { int F = 100, A=360; Vehicle1(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l); /* differential steering based on http://rossum.sourceforge. net/papers/DiffSteer/ */ void solve(PVector src) { // calculate inverse distance from light source float d = (width/2)/distance(position,src); // motor velocity proportional to input // vehicle 1 is activated by light float s = d*F; // change in orientation over time float dt = 1.0/RATE; float da = radians(random(A)-A/2); angle = (angle + da*dt) % TAU; // change in position over time float dx = s*cos(-angle); float dy = s*sin(-angle); addPosition(dx*dt,dy*dt); class Vehicle2a extends Vehicle { int F = 600, DISPARITY = 45; float left, right; Vehicle2a(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l); left = radians(DISPARITY); right = -left; void solve(PVector src) { // calculate angle to light source float a = (TAU - angleBetweenPoints(position,src)) % TAU ; // cosine distance shifted into the range [0,1] float l = cos(a-angle-left)/2 +0.5; float r = cos(a-angle-right)/2 +0.5; // motor velocity proportional to input // vehicle 2b runs away from the light float vl = l*F, vr = r*F; // change in orientation over time float dt = 1.0/RATE; float da = (vr-vl)/(2*w); // overall velocity is average of the 2 wheels float s = (vr+vl)/2; angle = (angle + da*dt) % TAU; // change in position over time float dx = s*cos(-angle); float dy = s*sin(-angle); addPosition(dx*dt,dy*dt); class Vehicle2b extends Vehicle { int F = 300, DISPARITY = 45;

machina speculatrix fig

Chronophotographic stills created from the script written, to describe the motion of a robot in pursuit of a stable range of light. Throughout the process it ventures to both extremes of illumination, going too close & too far from the light source. It learns from such endeavours into the extreme, constantly resetting itself, slowly learning how to maintain a dynamic stable sense of self as a result of its 'failures' of becoming unstable whilst in the extreme. The moment when the robot reaches ultrastability can be seen from still 41 onwards. 94

float left, right; Vehicle2b(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l); left = radians(DISPARITY); right = -left; void solve(PVector src) { // calculate angle to light source float a = (TAU - angleBetweenPoints(position,src)) % TAU ; // cosine distance shifted into the range [0,1] float l = cos(a-angle-left)/2 +0.5; float r = cos(a-angle-right)/2 +0.5; // motor velocity proportional to input // vehicle 2b runs towards the light float vl = r*F, vr = l*F; // change in orientation over time float dt = 1.0/RATE; float da = (vr-vl)/(2*w); // overall velocity is average of the 2 wheels float s = (vr+vl)/2; angle = (angle + da*dt) % TAU; // change in position over time float dx = s*cos(-angle); float dy = s*sin(-angle); position.add(dx*dt,dy*dt,0); class Vehicle2c extends Vehicle { int F = 200, A = 360, DISPARITY = 45; float left, right; Vehicle2c(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l); left = radians(DISPARITY); right = -left; void solve(PVector src) { // calculate angle to light source float a = (TAU - angleBetweenPoints(position,src)) % TAU ; // cosine distance shifted into the range [0,1] float l = cos(a-angle-left)/2 +0.5; float r = cos(a-angle-right)/2 +0.5; // motor velocity proportional to input // vehicle 2b runs towards the light float vl = (l+r)*F, vr = (l+r)*F; // change in orientation over time float dt = 1.0/RATE; float da = (vr-vl)/(2*w); // add 'Brownian' motion da += radians(random(A)-A/2); // overall velocity is average of the 2 wheels float s = (vr+vl)/2; angle = (angle + da*dt) % TAU; // change in position over time float dx = s*cos(-angle); float dy = s*sin(-angle); addPosition(dx*dt,dy*dt); class Vehicle6a extends Vehicle { int F = 300; float G = 0.5; int MAX_TRIALS = 20, MAX_RESULTS = 100; float left, right; float INTERVAL = 1.0/3.0f; // check relays once every three seconds float dt = 1.0/RATE; int stable, trials, result; int[] results; // two homeostatic units: left motor, right motor // three parameters: left eye, right eye, inverse speed, proximity int N=4, P=3; Homeostat[] h = new Homeostat[N]; float[] x, y; // unit output int COUNT = int(RATE/INTERVAL), count = COUNT; Vehicle6a(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l); // eyes project from centre through front corners left = radians(45); right = -left; // configure homeostat units N with additional input parameters P for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { h[i] = new Homeostat(N+P,1f,1f,1f,-1f); h[i].setWeight(i,-0.5f); // recurrent connection -1 h[i].setWeight(N+2,1); // essential variable : distance h[i].randomize(-1f,1f); // randomize remaining weights x = new float[N+P]; y = new float[N+P]; results = new int[MAX_RESULTS]; void solve(PVector src) { // calculate angle to light source float a = (TAU - angleBetweenPoints(position,src)) % TAU ; // cosine distance float l = cos(a-angle-left); float r = cos(a-angle-right); // calculate distance from light source float ds = distance(position,src)/(width/2); x[N] = l; x[N+1] = r; x[N+2] = ds>1 ? 1 : 0; // solve for y for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { y[i] = h[i].solve(x,dt); for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { x[i] = y[i]; // end of epoch: enable step function if (count-- == 0) { trials++; stable++; if (step()) { stable = 0; // reposition setPosition(int(random(width)),int(random(height))); setAngle(random(TAU)); clearPath(); // euthenize the robot after being stable for MAX EPOCHS if (stable>=MAX_TRIALS) { if (result<MAX_RESULTS) { results[result++] = trials - stable; printResults(); for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { h[i].setTrigger(true); step(); // ensure independence between trials setPosition(int(random(width)),int(random(height))); setAngle(random(TAU)); trials = 0; stable=0; clearPath(); count = COUNT; // restart the count // motor velocity float vl = F*x[0], vr = F*x[1]; // change in orientation over time

float dt = 1.0/RATE; float da = (vr-vl)/(2*w); // overall velocity is average of the 2 wheels float v = (vr+vl)/2; angle = (angle + da*dt) % TAU; // change in position over time float dx = v*cos(-angle); float dy = v*sin(-angle); position.add(dx*dt,dy*dt,0); boolean step() { boolean s = false; for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { if (h[i].step()) { x[i] = 0; s = true; return s; void event(int x, int y) { for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { h[i].setTrigger(true); setPosition(x,y); angle = random(TAU); step(); void printResults() { println(); print(result); println(" RESULTS:"); for (int i=0; i<result; i++) { println(results[i]); class Vehicle6b extends Vehicle { // javascipt scoping differs int RATE=25; int F = 300; float G = 0.5; int MAX_TRIALS = 20, MAX_RESULTS=100; boolean crossed = false; float left, right; float INTERVAL = 1.0/3.0f; // check relays once every three seconds float dt = 1.0f/RATE; int stable, trials, result; int[] results; // two homeostatic units: left motor, right motor // three parameters: left eye, right eye, distance int N=2, P=3; Homeostat[] h = new Homeostat[N]; float[] x, y; // unit output int COUNT = int(RATE/INTERVAL), count = COUNT; Vehicle6b(String filename, int w, int l) { super(filename, w, l); // eyes project forwards at 90 degrees from each other left = radians(45); right = -left; // configure homeostat units N with additional input parameters P for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { h[i] = new Homeostat(N+P,1f,1f,1f,-1f); h[i].setWeight(i,-0.5f); // recurrent connection h[i].setWeight(N+2,1); // essential variable h[i].randomize(-1f,1f); // randomize remaining weights // sever links between units h[0].setWeight(1,0); h[1].setWeight(0,0); x = new float[N+P]; y = new float[N+P]; results = new int[MAX_RESULTS]; void solve(PVector src) { // calculate angle to light source float a = (TAU - angleBetweenPoints(position,src)) % TAU ; // cosine distance float l = cos(a-angle-left); float r = cos(a-angle-right); // calculate distance from light source float ds = distance(position,src)/(width/2); if (crossed) { x[N] = r; x[N+1] = l; else { x[N] = l; x[N+1] = r; x[N+2] = ds>1 ? 1 : 0; // solve for y for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { y[i] = h[i].solve(x,dt); for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { x[i] = y[i]; // step function at end of trial if (count-- == 0) { trials++; stable++; if (step()) { stable = 0; setPathColour(crossed?color(255,0,0):0); // reposition if too far out if (ds>1) { setPosition(int(random(width)),int(random(height))); setAngle(random(TAU)); clearPath(); // euthenize the robot after being stable for MAX TRIALS if (stable>=MAX_TRIALS) { setPathColour(color(0,255,0)); // if (result<MAX_RESULTS) { // results[result++] = trials - stable; // } // printResults(); // for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { // h[i].setTrigger(true); // } // step(); // // ensure independence between trials // setPosition(int(random(width)),int(random(height))); // setAngle(random(TAU)); // trials = 0; // stable=0; // clearPath(); count = COUNT; // restart the count // motor velocity float vl = F*x[0], vr = F*x[1]; float da = (vr-vl)/(2*w); // overall velocity is average of the 2 wheels float v = (vr+vl)/2;

angle = (angle + da*dt) % TAU; // change in position over time float dx = v*cos(-angle); float dy = v*sin(-angle); addPosition(dx*dt,dy*dt); boolean step() { boolean s = false; for (int i=0; i<N; i++) { if (h[i].step()) { x[i] = 0; s = true;

machina speculatrix fig

Chronophotographic overlay of robot's overall movement throughout its journey towards ultrastability 96

gijb oirng iorng oinrg ijrg irjgnorng ihorigoin irhgoihg rgih groig oirhgoirg orighorgn hgoihrg oijrgo oirhg oihgrkj gfgrg j ljg orkn gk gkr gokpnrg

Using the chronophotographic overlay to track the pursuit towards ultrastability through degrees of illumination 97

Project speculatrix fig 5.vii (pg 98) homeostatic headgear with four vanes of external connections, always in pursuit of finding a stable central point pg 5.viii (pg 100-101) - the culmination of the pursuit towards (ultra)stability

shby’s two attempts to define, through practical means, what it means to be stable offer exciting possibilities in the field of architectural design. If the design process actively pursues to place a building within an unstable landscape, we are able to become both the machina sopora and machina speculatrix in our design approach. By taking into account all the extremes on site, we can venture into the extreme, designing for the worst-case scenarios of instability. With the knowledge of the extreme, the stochastic step process can be enacted, creating random configurations between the individual worst case scenarios in the pursuit of an ultrastable system. Learning form the machina sopora, once an envisaged state of stability is achieved, we can design for a direct feedback loop between architecture and site, allowing our creations to be continuously attuned to its fluctuating environment, always in the pursuit to return to its most desirable state of stability. We can formulate design principles based on the concept of ultrastability 1) The pursuit of an architecture of process, not of form 2) A complex system in the pursuit of stability generates complex behaviour 3) Stability is achieved when an architecture’s essential variables are at stable levels

6) The design of intra and interconnected architectural systems, attuned to themselves and their fluctuating environment 7)

Design to accommodate the unstable

8) Design for short and long-term architectural change Our journey into the extreme has thus reached its end… for now at least. We have peaked behind the curtain of the extreme, revealing the instability that lay beneath. Through the medium of dust, we have shown how the new extreme landscapes of subnatures are forever in a state of destructive flux, destabilising zones of habitability – jeopardising our way of life. The dustscape of Johannesburg was used as a case study to reveal how the tailings evolve their potency for chaos through the act of dissolving their material presence. Lastly, the creations of Ashby were interrogated as a means of looking forward – seeing how we can go beyond our pursuit for stability within the extreme, seeking for ultrastability instead. Our journey towards stability within the extreme has become clearer – we are able to see the light of (ultra)stability at the end of the tunnel. However, instability always lurks. To achieve our goal, we need to wade through unstable processes and times, venturing forth – forever evolving.

4) Knowledge of the unstable informs the stable

Four Vanes of a Headgear Homeostat, Attuned to an Extreme Environment of Flux 98

An Ultrastable State Within an Extreme Environment of Flux

5) The design process aims for ultrastability through a stochastic step function, rearranging knowledge sets of the unstable by randomly cycling though parameters connecting its various parts 99

our pursuit thus far

The Extreme as a Product of Instability 100

The Pursuit of Inner Stability Milieu Interieur

Direct Feedback Loop Between Life & Surrounding Instability

Venturing to the Extreme in the Desire to Return to Stable State

The Pursuit of Ultrastability through Stochastic Reprogramming 101

references Preface; The Pursuit Begins; Pretext

Terra Fluxus

19| Ibid.

1| Quoted in Baloyannis, Stavros J. 2013. "The philosophy of Heraclitus today." Encephalos 50: 1-21. 2| Baloyannis, "The philosophy of Heraclitus today."

20| Girot, Christophe. 2006. "Vision in Motion: Representing Landscape in Time." In The Landscape Urbanism Reader, by Charles Waldheim. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

3| MacIver, R M. 1963. The Challenge of the Passing Years. New York: Pocket Books.

21| Gissen, David. 2009. Subnature. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

10| Ibid.

4| Quoted in Muessig, Raymond H. 1969. "Change the Only Constant." Educational Leadership 543-546.

22| Quoted in Girot, "Vision in Motion: Representing Landscape in Time.â&#x20AC;?

11| Piantadosi, Claude A. 2003. The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments. New York: Oxford University Press.

5| Popper, Karl R. 1963. "Kirk on Heraclitus, and on Fire as the Cause of Balance." Mind, New Series 287: 386-392.

23| Girot, "Vision in Motion: Representing Landscape in Time.â&#x20AC;?

5| Corner, James. 2006. "Terra Fluxus." In The Landscape Urbanism Reader, by Charles Waldheim. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

12| Gissen, Subnature.

6| Ibid.

13| Ibid.

7| Ibid.

6| Girot, Christophe. 2006. "Vision in Motion: Representing Landscape in Time." In The Landscape Urbanism Reader, by Charles Waldheim. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

14| Ibid.

8| Quoted in | Popper, "Kirk on Heraclitus, and on Fire as the Cause of Balance."

1| Quoted in The New York Times. 1923. "Climbing Mount Everest is Work for Supermen." The New York Times, March 18. 2| Popper, Karl R. 1963. "Kirk on Heraclitus, and on Fire as the Cause of Balance." Mind, New Series 287: 386-392. 3| Oldani, Andrea. 2014. "Designing Unstable Landscapes." 2nd ICAUD International Conference in Architecture and Urban Design Epoka University. 196. 4| Gissen, David. 2009. Subnature. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

7| Quoted in Piantadosi, Claude A. 2003. The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments. New York: Oxford University Press.

Terra Extremus 1| Duxbury, N S. 2006. "Time machine: Ancient life on Earth and in the cosmos." American Geophysical Union 87 (39): 401-406. 2| Oarga, Andreea. 2009. "Life in extreme environments." Revista de Biologia e Ciencias da Terra 9 (1): 1-10. 3| Drake, Nadia. n.d. We saw Earth rise over the moon in 1968. It changed everything. https://www. nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/12/earthriseapollo-8-photo-at-50-how-it-changed-the-world/. 4| Gissen, David. 2009. Subnature. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 5| Bannova, Olga. 2016. "Designing for Extremes: A methodological approach to planning in Arctic regions." Department of Architecture, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg.

6| Rothschild, Lynn J, and Rocco L Mancinelli. 2001. "Life in extreme environments." Nature 409: 1092-1101. 7| Ibid. 8| Meerson, Felix Z. 1987. "Human adaptation to extreme conditions." The Courier 9: 4-34. 9| Ibid.

15| Picon, Antoine. 2000. "Anxious Landscapes: From the Ruin to Rust." Grey Room (Canadian Centre of Architecture) 64-83. 16| Ibid. 17| Rothschild, Lynn J, and Rocco L Mancinelli. "Life in extreme environments." 18| Ibid. 19| Meerson, "Human adaptation to extreme conditions." 20| Ibid 21| Piantadosi, The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments. 22| Macelroy, R D. 1974. "Some comments on the evolution of extremophiles." Biosystems 6: 74-75. 23| Rothschild, Lynn J, and Rocco L Mancinelli. "Life in extreme environments." 24| Seki, K, and M Toyoshima. 1998. "Preserving tardigrades under pressure." Nature 395: 853-854.

9| Phippen, Weston J. 2016. The Man Who Captured Time. July 24. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/ archive/2016/07/eadweard-muybridge/483381/. 10| Muybridge, Eadweard. 1888. Animals in Motion. London: Chapman & Hall.

24| Ibid. 25| Quoted in Desimoni, Victoria. 2017. "The Search for Stability and the Inevitability of Change in the Writings and Life of Hermann Hesse." Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Duke University. 26| Desimoni, "The Search for Stability and the Inevitability of Change in the Writings and Life of Hermann Hesse." 27| Richet, C. 1900. Dictionnaire de Physiologie. Paris.

11| Phippen, The Man Who Captured Time.

28| Quoted in Mukerjee, Radhakamal. 1966. "Homeostasis, Society, and Values." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 27 (1): 74-79.

12| Quoted in Hoffer, Eric. 1963. The Ordeal of Change. New York: Harper & Row.

29| Bernard, Claude. 1865. An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine. London: Macmillan & Co.

13| Popper, "Kirk on Heraclitus, and on Fire as the Cause of Balance."

30| Cannon, Walter B. 1929. "Organization for Physiological Homeostasis." Physiological Reviews 9 (3): 399-431.

14| Keane, Bridget Ursula. 2016. "Instability and Landscape." School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University.

31| Ibid.

15| Oldani, Andrea. 2014. "Designing Unstable Landscapes." 2nd ICAUD International Conference in Architecture and Urban Design Epoka University. 196.

32| Ibid. 33| Henry, Jules. 1955. "Homeostasis, Society, and Evolution: A Critique." The Scientific Monthly 81 (6): 300-309.

16| Ibid. 17| Corner, James. 2006. "Terra Fluxus." In The Landscape Urbanism Reader, by Charles Waldheim. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 18| Ibid.

102

103

references Terra Pulvis

Particulate Matter." ProQuest.

1| Stoppani, Teresa. 2007. "Dust revolutions. Dust. informe. architecture (notes for a reading of Dust in Bataille)." Journal of Architecture 12 (4): 437-447.

19| Ibid.

2| Ibid. 3| Gissen, David. 2009. Subnature. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 4| Bataille, George. 1995. "Architecture." In Encyclopaedia Acephalica, by George Bataille, M Leiris, M Griaule and R Desnos. London: Atlas Press.

Terra Aurum 1| Trangos, Guy, and Kerry Bobbins. 2018. Mining Landscapes of the GCR. Research Report, Johannesburg: Gauteng City-Region Observatory. 2| Ibid.

5| Gissen, Subnature.

3| Angelucci, Valentina Flora. 2019. "Art and Literature of Johannesburg: The Telling of Tailings." Masters, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University.

6| Ruskin, John. 1877. The Ethics of the Dust. London: Merrill and Baker.

4| Vick, Steven G. 1996. "Hydraulic Tailings." In Landslides: Investigation and Mitigation, by A K Turner.

7| Gissen, Subnature.

5| Angelucci, "Art and Literature of Johannesburg: The Telling of Tailings."

8| Ibid. 9| Kok, Jasper, Eric Parteli, Timothy Michaels, and Diana Bou Karam. 2012. "The physics of wind-blown sand and dust." Rep. Prog. Phys 75. 10| World Health Organisation. 1999. "Chapter 1 Dust: Definitions and Concepts." Hazard Prevention and Control in the Work Environment: Airborne Dust. 11| Li, Aigen. 2008. "Optical Properties of Dust." Lecture Notes in Physics 758. 12| Ibid. 13| 3M. n.d. "3M Reusable Respirators." 3M. https:// multimedia.3m.com/mws/media /815734O/3mreusable-respirators-product-catalog.pdf.

6| Bench Marks Foundation. 2017. Waiting to Inhale: A survey of household health in four mine-affected communities. Research Report (Policy Gap 12), Johannesburg: Bench Marks Foundation. 7| News24. 2018. Joburg suffocates in the shadow of mine dumps. January 3. https://www.news24.com/ news24/southafrica/news/joburg-suffocates-in-theshadow-of-mine-dumps-20180103. 8| Quoted in Leatherbarrow, David. 1999. "Levelling the Land." In Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory, by James Corner. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

15| Ball, Peter. 2015. Mining Headgears- Pure Functionality Ruling Over Beauty. October 30. http:// www.theheritageportal.co.za /a rticle/miningheadgears-pure-functionality-ruling-over-beauty.

Terra Stasis 1| Battle, Steve. 2014. "Ashby's Mobile Homeostat." Bristol. 2| Pickering, Andrew. 2002. "Cybernetics and the Mangle: Ashby, Beer and Pask." Social Studies of Science 32 (3): 413-437. 3| Franchi, Stefano. 2013. "Homeostats for the 21st Century ? Simulating Ashby Simulating the Brain." Constructivist Foundations 9 (1): 93-124. 4| Ashby, Ross W. 1962. "Principles of the selforganizing system." Principles of Self-Organization: Transactions of the University of Illinois Symposium. London: Pergamon Press. 255-278. 5| Ashby, Ross W. 1950. "Ashby journals." February. 2747. 6| Williams, Hywel Thomas Parker. 2006. "Homeostatic Adaptive Networks." Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, School of Computing, University of Leeds. 7| Ashby, Ross W. "Principles of the self-organizing system." 8| Franchi, Stefano. "Homeostats for the 21st Century ? Simulating Ashby Simulating the Brain."

9| Angelucci, "Art and Literature of Johannesburg: The Telling of Tailings."

9| Ashby, Ross W. 1950. "Ashby journals." February. 2747.

14| Kallipoliti, Lydia, and Alexandros Tsamis. 2003. "Vacuum Wall." In Architecture in Formation: On the Nature of Information in Digital Architecture, by Pablo Lorenzo-Eirao and Aaron Sprecher. New York: Routledge.

10| Ibid.

10| Battle, Steve. 2014. "Ashby's Mobile Homeostat." Bristol.

15| Ibid. 16| Bethea, R M. 1978. Air Pollution Control Technology. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

13| Lambert, M, B A Leven, and R M Green. 2003. New Methods of Cleaning Up Heavy Metal in Soils and Water. Environmental Science and Technology Briefs for Citizens, Hazardous Substance Research Centers.

17| Ibid.

14| Ibid.

11| Ibid. 12| Ibid.

11| Ibid.

18| Farnoud, A. 2008. "Electrostatic Removal of Diesel 104

105

list of figures Preface; The Pursuit Begins; Pretext

Terra Pulvis

Terra Aurum

fig 5.vi | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 0.i | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 3.i | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 4.i | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 5.vii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 0.ii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 3.ii | n.d. Harvard Art Museums. https://www. harvardartmuseums.org/art/237593.

fig 4.ii | Adapted from. Balch, Oliver. 2015. Radioactive city: how Johannesburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s townships are paying for its mining past. July 6. https://www.theguardian. com/cities/2015/jul/06/radioactive-city-howjoha nnesburgs-townships-a re-paying-for-itsmining-past.

fig 5.viii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 0.iii | Gottlich, Errol. 2003. Photograph. fig 0.iv | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

Terra Extremus fig 1.i | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 1.ii | Anders, William. 1968. From Drake, Nadia. n.d. We saw Earth rise over the moon in 1968. It changed everything. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/ science/2018/12/earthrise-apollo-8-photo-at-50how-it-changed-the-world/. fig 1.iii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 1.iv | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 1.v | Author. 2020. Photograph. fig 1.vi | Rothschild, Lynn J, and Rocco L Mancinelli. 2001. "Life in extreme environments." Nature 409: 1092-1101.

Terra Fluxus fig 2.i | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 3.iii | Kurgan. Laura. 2001. In Gissen, David. 2009. Subnature. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. fig 3.iv | Medscape. n.d. What to Look for on a Chest X-Ray: Slideshow. https://reference.medscape.com/ features/slideshow/chest-x-ray. fig 3.v | Smithuis, Robin. n.d. Chest X-Ray - Lung Disease: Four-Pattern Approach. https://radiologyassistant.nl/ chest/chest-x-ray-lung-disease fig 3.vi | rocketequalslove. n.d. Flickr. https://www. flickr.com/photos/rocketequalslove/4065498194/ in/faves-pixel_palace/. fig 3.vii | Adapted from. 3M. n.d. "3M Reusable Respirators." 3M. https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/ media/815734O/3m-reusable-respirators-productcatalog.pdf. fig 3.viii | Ibid. fig 3.ix | Adapted from. Kallipoliti, Lydia, and Alexandros Tsamis. 2003. "Vacuum Wall." In Architecture in Formation: On the Nature of Information in Digital Architecture, by Pablo Lorenzo-Eirao and Aaron Sprecher. New York: Routledge.

fig 2.ii | Tummers, M J, E H van Veen, N George, R Rodink, and K Hanjalic. 2004. "Measurement of velocity-temperature correlations in a turbulent diffusion flame." Experiments in Fluid 37: 364-374.

fig 3.x | Kallipoliti, Lydia, and Alexandros Tsamis. 2003. Vacuum Wall.

fig 2.iii | Muybridge, Eadweard. 1888. Animals in Motion. London: Chapman & Hall.

fig 3.xii | Adapted from. Sly Inc. n.d. Venturi Wet Scrubber.https://www.slyinc.com/products/ wet-scrubbers/venturi-wet-scrubber/.

fig 2.iv | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Stills. Computer Visualisation.

fig 3.xiii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 2.v | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Overlay. Computer Visualisation.

fig 3.xi | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 3.xiv | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 2.vi | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Stills. Computer Visualisation.

fig 3.xv | Adapted from. Farnoud, A. 2008. "Electrostatic Removal of Diesel Particulate Matter." ProQuest.

fig 2.vii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 3.xvi | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

fig 2.viii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. 106

fig 4.iii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 4.iv | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 4.v | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Stills. Computer Visualisation. fig 4.vi | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Overlay. Computer Visualisation. fig 4.vii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 4.viii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 4.vix | Adapted from. Lambert, M, B A Leven, and R M Green. 2003. New Methods of Cleaning Up Heavy Metal in Soils and Water. Environmental Science and Technology Briefs for Citizens, Hazardous Substance Research Centers. fig 4.x | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 4.xi | flickr. n.d. Johannesburg Gold Mine Headgear (1956). https://www.flickr.com/photos/ hilton-t/3906602663. fig 4.xii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration.

Terra Stasis fig 5.i | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 5.ii | Adapted from. Franchi, Stefano. 2013. "Homeostats for the 21st Century? Simulating Ashby Simulating the Brain." Constructivist Foundations 9 (1): 93-124. fig 5.iii | Author. 2020. Graphic Illustration. fig 5.iv | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Stills. Computer Visualisation. fig 5.v | Author. 2020. Chronophotographic Overlay. Computer Visualisation. 107