architectural counter projects: environmental challenges workshop - Part 2 by Sofia Jassim

Architectural Counter-Projects: Environmental Challenges 4.1 Workshop SOFIA JASSIM 16033704 MArch

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Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

LITERATURE READINGS In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism

Isabelle Stengers Becoming-With - Environmental Humanities Kate Wright

CASE STUDIES

Long-listed Group Projects Other Long-listed Group Projects Personally Short-listed: - Bay Lexicon Exploratorium of San Francisco & Susan Schwartzenberg - Regnum Alba Pinar Yoldas

8 11 14 16

SYMPOSIUM

“Counter-projects in Architecture: Resistance, Struggle, and Recuperation” Tahl Kaminer - “Environmental Triggers & Architectural Determinism circa ‘68”

BIBLIOGRAPHY & IMAGE REFERENCES Group Individual

DESIGN IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

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Introduction & Key Concepts Inspiration Derivation Addressing Environmental Issues The Value of the Pigeon Recalling our Pigeon Pals Initial Experimentation Developed Concept Process of Autonomous System Through the Eye of the Pigeon Bird Delivery Design Elevation Conclusion

26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

BIBLIOGRAPHY & IMAGE REFERENCES

REFLECTION

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...that is where our response to Gaia can be situated, in learning to experiment with the apparatuses that make us capable of surviving these ordeals without sinking into barbarismâ&#x20AC;? Isabelle Stengers 2015

Acknowledgments The final outcome of this assignment is a result of extensive guidance, support, and assistance from many people that I am extremely grateful for. I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my professor and course coordinator, Dr. Isabelle Doucet, lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Manchester for sharing her knowledge and introducing me to the concepts around Architectural Counter-Projects, as well as hosting the MARC series lectures, within which I have been inspired by a variety of influential visiting speakers. I would also like to extend my gratitude to guest lecturers - Tahl Kaminer, Tostern Lange, Caroline Maniaque-Benton and Matthew Thompson for sharing their knowledge, influences and passion on the themes of struggle and recuperation within concrete and conceptual resistant Architecture. I would like to also thank my fellow peers for sharing their opinions and conceptual ideas in class discussions of environmental challenges within the Anthropocene, as well as their combined efforts in producing a pending website of our case studies and design projects. A final token of gratitude must be given to the University of Manchester for allowing the inclusion of copyrighted images as part of this assignment.

Literature Reviews In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism Isabelle Stengers, 2015

[ch1] Between two Histories pp.17-25 [Open Humanities Press] This is a socialist piece dealing with the unsustainable nature of capitalist, or ‘barbaric’ growth and the effect this has on the environment. Basing arguments for environmental activist writing and actions on comparisons between the aftermath of the financial crash of 2008 and a foreseen ‘environmental crash’, it is compared to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, on a global scale. Stengers sets out her argument by identifying 2 ‘histories’ surrounding the financial crash, essentially before the crash and when the crash occurred. The first, within which the mechanisms of capitalism drive us forward to the economic consequence, blindly, we have already witnessed. The second, within which we are now, is after the financial crash, marking the end of the first History, and on the lead up to a second, now foreseen ‘crash’, this time environmental. This second ‘crash’ is seen as being intrinsically linked to the financial attitudes that come with capitalism, or as directly quoted by Stengers as ‘barbarism’ from Luxemburg, as opposed to socialism.

“amplified by the crisis, more and more numerous voices could be heard, explaining with great clarity its mechanisms, the fundamental instability of the arrangements of finance, and the intrinsic danger of what investors had put their trust in.”

The mind-sets associated with the two histories, lack of awareness of the consequences versus the awareness of the reality, are then directly applied to the way we currently think about the environmental situation. Stengers implores us not to forget the situation in the aftermath of 2008. “Whilst struggling against those who are making the evidences of the first history reign, however, it is a matter of learning to inhabit what henceforth we know, of learning what that which is in the process of happening to us obliges us to.” This new mindset introduced at the end of the first History will enable us to better tackle the imposed attitudes of capitalist society and ‘[betray] the role of confident consumer’, before the environmental ‘crash’. There is a sense of foresight in the current zeitgeist that the first history was without. Stengers underlines her conviction that the capitalist growth model will not encourage this change of direction: “Tomorrow, like yesterday, we will be called on to accept the sacrifices required by the mobilization of everyone for this growth”. The fact that the first History was not aimed towards the well-being of people, rather economic growth or capitalism (Barbarism), highlights that the second History needs to be of a socialist nature to subvert or reduce the environmental crisis, which is being exacerbated by the current capitalist model.

“Every measure that would fetter the free dynamics of the market, that is to say, the unalienable right of multinational oil companies and financial speculators to transform every situation, whatever it may be, into a source of profit, will be condemned as ‘unrealistic’.” - Preface, p7

Stengers here finds a direct cause and effect link between the capitalist attitude and the environmental crisis. She also

points to the illogical idea that continuing within the same economic model will achieve a different outcome.

“That this life [not contributing to growth] might be active, producing joy, cooperation, or solidarity, matters very little, or must even be denounced.”

“The idea that this type of development, which has growth as its motor, could repair what it has itself contributed to creating is not dead but has lost all obviousness.” The system described by Stengers is designed to pull people in and discriminate against those who opt out, which creates a self-perpetuating machine: “Public enemy number one is the “cheat,” who has succeeded in fabricating a life in the interstices…The unemployed person who is neither ashamed nor desperate must seek to pass unnoticed because they set a bad example, that of demobilization and desertion.” Stengers identifies migrants as direct victims of the financial crisis, pointing to the ‘growth’ in their countries as creating divides which makes a transatlantic journey to lesser economically deprived countries seem the only option: “One thinks of those who have drowned in the Mediterranean, who preferred a probable death to the life that they would lead in their country, ‘behind in the race for growth…’” However the aforementioned groups are part of the wider picture, which involves all of ‘us’ if it is to be resisted: ‘Economic war, this war whose victims have no right to be honoured but are called on to find every means of returning to the front, requires all of us.’ p21-22 As the title suggests in “Resisting the Coming Barbarism”, Stengers is stating that the Barbarism, specifically the gap between classes, is only going to worsen as the environmental crisis worsens, as the two are interlinked.

“…wind power and solar panels for the rich, who will perhaps be able to continue to use their cars thanks to biofuels, but as for the others…”

Stengers then goes on to categorise the masses as wilfully naïve, passive, or activist in the face of the capitalist model of economic growth as it affects the environment. She draws on fairly typical socialist ideas of the non-consumer leading the most desirable and environmentally conscious lifestyle, and is careful in her turn of phrase not to advocate a regression or devolution within her left leaning political stance. Progression and experimentation phraseology is used instead. Finally she identifies herself within the spectrum as a quasi-activist due to her writing and drawing attention to the subject. This is a contentious point and feels as though she is excusing herself from the cause she advocates slightly, however this could be considered typical of socialist attitudes that are often reactionary by their very nature. Nevertheless, Stengers clearly puts forward an argument that it will take more people with a radical attitude to enforce change and evolve to combat the difficulties that the ‘second History’ presents us with. Stengers believes that if we all collectively acknowledge and address the situation of our current time it will be possible to escape a Barbaric future, whilst innovating new methods to strive towards economic and environmental victory for all. 3

Fig. 01

Becoming-With Kate Wright, 2014 Vol. 5, pp.277-281 [environmentalhumanities.org] Wright believes there is a critical need for humans to connect with other species in order to combat the Anthropocene, and describes mankind’s disconnection and disassociation from the rest of the world as ‘madness’. This self-imposed solipsism is deemed to make mankind vulnerable and ultimately doomed to detachment from “Earth’s ecological communities”, a separation from a natural connection with our surroundings. Wright explains that everything is connected and that we must become aware again, and re-attune ourselves to being able to recognise our surroundings attempt to communicate with us. This is exemplified by the idea of ionised air signalling a lightning strike. These two young boys (left) are naively laughing whilst the ionised air surrounds them, causing their hair to become static. Shortly after lighting strikes and fortunately they survive, but get badly burnt. Wright highlights this mad ‘irrationality’ between the way our bodies respond and the way we psychologically perceive these responses. The young men were unaware of the unforeseen strike, but their natural surrounding was accommodating it. Kirkby (2011) describes the communication between earthly components as “the shuttering chatter between ground and sky”, which demonstrates nature becoming-with itself whilst excluding the exceptional human. This is due to the irrational delusion of human supremacy and isolation from our surroundings, and our fixation on subjectivity, which will ultimately aim to separate us from the rest of the world. In the event of a thunderstorm Wright further explains how different species interpreting the event respond differently, due to a greater willingness to read the conversation between the ground and the sky, “induc[ing] a becoming-with in multiple species simultaneously”. There is a “narcissism that blinds us to a multiplicity of becoming-withs”; we are excluding ourselves, but life on Earth in the human Umwelt “relies on interspecies connectivities”. Wright states that we have to become-with non-humans, but it is the human that has to initiate action. An argument is made that failing to recognise that damaging the environment and ignoring or losing other species to extinction will result in losing a way of interpreting, experiencing and relating to the world we live in. Becoming-with nonhumans is argued to better enable us to respond to mankind-threatening environmental threats, examples being superstorms, acidifying oceans, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Case Studies LONG-LISTED GROUP PROJECTS Architecture in the Anthropocene Etienne Turpin 2013

Inverted Telescopic Magnifier & Tracker, 2012 Emily Cheng Wind Rose De-Abstractuator, 2012 Emily Cheng Micro-seismic / Micro-tremor Periscoping Amplifier, 2012 Emily Cheng Zone of Intermittent Saturation Registrator, 2012 Emily Cheng Amplitude Modulation, 2011 Meghan Archert Radical Meteorology, 2013 Nabil Ahmed Tar Creek Supergrid, 2012 Amy Norris & Clinton Langevin AnthroPark, 2012 Michael CC Lin Bay Lexicon, 2012 (short-listed) Exploratorium of San Francisco & Susan Schwartzenberg

Inverted Telescopic Magnifier & Tracker, 2012 Emily Cheng

Zone of Intermittent Saturation Registrator, 2012 Emily Cheng

This project is an imagery of movements within the cosmos through the melting of candle wax. The wax is melted by solar rays being magnified through an inverted observatory telescope within a disused observatory in Ottawa.

Here, circulatory spaces made of undulating, shrinking and expanding sponge surfaces within an inverted copper dome, funnelling rain. The sponges are reacting to surrounding water saturation levels. The project is set in a disused observatory in Ottawa.

Fig. 02 Wind Rose De-Abstractuator, 2012 Emily Cheng A staircase in a disused observatory in Ottawa, using a windrose diagram of the area as a basis of the form, with leather straps hung under each step, trailing onto the user beneath.

Fig. 05 This is a comment on the importance of experiencing technology for all the above projects by Cheng. Rather than just using it for itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s functional roles, it is also a comment on the relationship between experiencing nature, and merely representing nature through technology. Amplitude Modulation, 2011 Meghan Archert

Fig. 03 Micro-seismic / Micro-tremor Periscoping Amplifier, 2012 Emily Cheng

Graduate project commenting on the contemporary condition of resource extraction within the Appalachian Mountains, a major source of coal in America, by examining the human narrative in the villages affected by the mining process and then identifying the geological narrative. The project seeks to apply friction to the current process of and develop new tactics of extraction by opening various dialogues.

Geophones are used in a disused observatory in Ottawa to register micro-seisms and micro-tremors to vibrate springmounted mirrors.

Fig. 04

Fig. 06

Radical Meteorology, 2013 Nabil Ahmed

AnthroPark, 2012 Michael CC Lin

Radical meteorology refers to the brutal impact the earth’s natural disasters have on human’s systems. Using the tropical cyclone of Bhola as an example, this design project emphasises “the entanglement between natural and political violence”. The Pakistani government was severely criticised for delaying the handle of the relief operations following the deadly storm.

The AnthroPark is an exhibition aiming to expose the tragic and comedic nature of humans’ pursuit for pleasure through displaying by-products from the anthropocenic epoch that were created for enjoyment. Through bringing together a unique collection of attractions the AnthroPark displays and explores “the epoch of telemorphic implications”. It aims to provide an interactive experience that provokes contemplation of our current political ideology.

Fig. 07 Tar Creek Supergrid, 2012 Amy Norris & Clinton Langevin Picher, Oklahoma, Tar Creek is an area extensively mined, with 45% of lead and zinc used in WW1 by the US mined here. The systems in place to clear water from the underground shafts lead to overflows with water carrying zinc, cadmium and arsenic, causing infection. This proposal involves a solar energy generating plant with research hubs devoted to clean energy acting as the financial catalyst.

Fig. 08

Fig. 09

OTHER LONG-LISTED GROUP PROJECTS Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Cthulucene Donna Haraway 2016

PigeonBlog, 2006 Beatriz da Costa The Madagascar Ako Project, 2005 Alison Jolly Never Alone, 2016 Upper One Games/ Cook Inlet Tribal Council/ E -Line Media Black Mountain Water Cooperative, ongoing BMWC OTHER SOURCED CASE STUDIES: The following case studies were found through a general search on ‘architecture and anthropocene’ within RIBA library catalogue, JSTOR, and the university libraries. Amphibious House, 2014 Baca Architects Dongtan Eco-City, 2010 Arup Old Fishery Experimental Station, 1997 Ai-Shokubutsu Landscape Old Nidda Meadow Airfield, 2003 GTL Landscape Architects Islands, 2013 Akeel Bilgrami & Ursula K. Heise Regnum Alba, 2016 (short-listed) Pinar Yoldas

Staying with the Trouble

Donna Haraway

PigeonBlog, 2006 Beatriz da Costa

Black Mountain Water Cooperative, ongoing BMWC

An art project, working with pigeons in southern California to measure pollution levels in heavily polluted residential areas and stream live feeds to locals.

Black Mesa or Big Mountain is home to the Dine and Hopi people, of whom the Navajo are a part. The area was a Pleistocene lake, leaving sedimentary deposits of coal throughout the region, leading to it becoming the largest strip mine operation in North America. Livestock drinking from the ponds and humans from the groundwater would be likely to die. The BMWC campaigns to have the mines and oil pipelines shut down.

Fig. 10 The Madagascar Ako Project, 2005 Alison Jolly A collaboration project led by renowned primatologist Dr Alison Jolly. The project consists of a series of illustrated children’s books looking at Madagascan lemurs in their environment with an aim of educating local children and improving interest in the Madagascan forests.

Fig. 12 Never Alone, 2016 Upper One Games/ Cook Inlet Tribal Council/ E -Line Media A game based in the Arctic, played as a young inhuit child and her arctic fox companion. The narrative emphasises the importance of knowledge imparted through oral storytelling within the inhuit culture. The plot involves the collection of the stories of the elders, the spirits, the community and critters in the Inhuit girl’s life in an attempt to find the source of a terrible blizzard which threatens to wipe out the young protagonist’s tribe.

Fig. 11

Fig. 13

JSTOR/RIBA catalogue Old Fishery Experimental Station, 1997 Ai-Shokubutsu Landscape The Old Fisheries Experiment Station, covering 9.5 hectares, was built after World War II to conduct research on freshwater fish farming and contained many rectangular concrete basins. In 1997, the research facility was moved to another ward in Tokyo and the land became part of Mizumoto Park. Nature conservation was the main programmatic goal of the client for the transformation of the Old Fisheries Experiment Station. There is a rich interplay between water, plants, animals, and humans with this project; the designers created diverse situations that allow for different degrees of biodiversity, emotional contact, or open space use.

Old Nidda Meadow Airfield, 2003 GTL Landscape Architects The Old Nidda Meadow Airfield (a former U.S. military airport on the northern fringe of Frankfurt) was transformed into a park by GTL landscape architects who were was able to avoid a mono-functional opposition of nature conservation areas without humans and open spaces for people without ecological significance.

Fig. 16 Dongtan Eco-City, 2010 Arup

Fig. 14 Islands, 2013 Akeel Bilgrami & Ursula K. Heise This is island landscape organised around five thematic perspectives, times, gardens oikos, and techné registers in an effort to facilitate encounters between the past and the future, humans and things, mankind and nature. Together, they spread out into a fluid space, with distances between each unknown and the relationship between them poetic.

As a master plan and sustainability guideline of Dongtan, this was supposed to be able to accommodate 50,000 people. Arup ensured that it will protect and enhance the wetlands adjacent to Dongtan in several ways, by returning agricultural land to a wetland state, creating a wide ‘buffer zone’ (3.5km across at its narrowest point) between the city and mudflats. Subsequently building on less than 40% of the Dongtan site and by preventing pollutants (light, sound, emissions and water discharges) from reaching the wetlands.

Fig. 17 Amphibious House, 2014 Baca Architects An amphibious house is a building that rests on the ground on fixed foundations but, whenever a flood occurs, the entire building rises up in its dock and floats there, buoyed by the flood water.

Fig. 15

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PERSONALLY SELECTED PROJECTS Bay Lexicon 2012 Exploratorium of San Francisco & Susan Schwartzenberg

Long description: Bay Lexicon is a project selected from Etienne Turpin’s ‘Architecture in the Anthropocene’ because it is a minimal, creative, and elegant translating the complex landscape system of San Francisco into comprehensible human form still used today. The Exploratorium, San Francisco boasts a gallery displaying the landscape and ecology of the city of San Francisco and is home to the Bay Lexicon project. This public learning laboratory is a venue of interaction between artists, scientists, and the public that investigates the intersection of science, art, and human perception. Frank Oppenheimer was a physicist and interactive science teacher who founded the Exploratorium in an attempt to transform science education. A senior artist and curator at the Exploratorium, Susan Schwartzenberg leads the development of the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery, an entry point for investigations of the history, geography and ecology of the region. Schwartzenberg collaborated with the Exploratorium on this project, which was fully established after five years of collecting and representing pedagogical research.

Fig. 19

Bay Lexicon is an illustrated field guide to San Francisco’s shoreline. The flash cards aim to encourage observation and enquiry about the natural world and its relation to culture, which in turn builds upon the principles of Oppenheimer; he believed that citizens being informed about science was the best defence against the threat of nuclear warfare. This is implemented in the Bay Lexicon in a similar defence against immediate and long-term ecological disaster, as the environmental catastrophes are a shock to the general public, but not to the informed landscape scholars and ecologists. Jane Wolff, the design project artist began her career as a landscape and urban designer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Wolff (2013) stated: “we cannot recognise what we cannot name” to justify the need for an environmentally userfriendly representation like Bay Lexicon. She leads walking tours using Bay Lexicon as a tool-kit highlighting the natural and engineered systems along the bay. Subsequently, Wolff creates “a nuanced, place-based vocabulary that makes the hybrid circumstances of San Francisco Bay apparent and

Fig. 20

legible to a range of audiences concerned with the future of this postnatural landscape” (Turpin, 2013, p. 9). Every card of this visual dictionary is an invitation to look closely at the landscape and analyse the relationship between natural topography and human intervention due to the coastal issues concerning a city lived on maritime commerce. The cards include a map of San Francisco’s dynamic shoreline and drawings of the views from the gallery so that viewers can identify the flash cards’ locations in the landscape. Of the 48 flash cards, half focuses on the landscape that is visible from the Bay Observatory’s Window whilst the other half describes places and phenomena along the shoreline between Fort Point (North border of San Francisco) and Hunters Point (West border). However, it has been argued that the crisis within San Francisco was more than purely physical, and that the restructuring of the fractured metropolis may have caused a greater crisis widening the social division within the city “leaving some places thiriving and others struggling with foreclosure, which leads to…the deep uncertainty of the current American metropolis” (Schafran, 2013). The modernist planning of the 1970s in San Francisco appeared to have formed a new geographical disjoint “defined by a racialized urban/suburban dichotomy” (Schafran, 2013). This makes me question whether becoming-with at the time lead to forgetting the human societal needs. Nevertheless, the simplicity of the cards enables their message to be communicated clearly with the recipients, providing an environmental awareness whilst educating the visitors of the Exploratorium. Turpin (2013) believes “language is the first tool for perception” (p. 86) which is reiterated by Stengers (2015) who states: “My trade is words, and words have a power. They can … make one think, produce new connections, shake up habits” (p. 24). This demonstrates the effect of the human language within the wider context. The physical cards are a visual representation of the city; an example of successful kinship, whereby the public are able to understand the importance of looking after each other: human and environment, “mak[ing] kin, not babies!” (Haraway, 2015, p. 161). This is crucial within the Anthropocene as it addresses the failures with

the current disassociation of the human from the rest of the world: “Becoming-with offers a metaphysics grounded in connection, challenging delusions of separation” (Wright, 2014, p. 278) and enforcing the need to reconfigure our relation with our surroundings. Using this pedagogical project in architecture we can learn more about how human implication can benefit the natural environment, to design through understanding and becoming-with our environment. Bay Lexicon can be reproduced in any city enabling architects to use these observations to inform decisions, question existing hybrid landscapes and encourage designing of the built environment to be integrated and positively responsive to its natural environment, whilst still considering the social aspect of human needs.

Fig. 21 15

Regnum Alba 2016 Pinar Yoldas

Fig. 22 Regnum Alba, or the White Kingdom (figure 22) was discovered through reading the article ‘Becoming-With’ (Wright, 2014). This lead me to explore artwork related to Donna Haraway’s concept of ‘naturecultures’ within ‘The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness’ (Haraway, 2013). I have chosen to explore this case because it highlights the shocking disfiguring of nature as a consequence of humans’ imprint on Earth from within the Anthropocene, or more specifically the Chthulucene. (Haraway, 2016). The Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation is a dedication in Berlin to the scientific work of Alfred Ehrhardt (1901-84). A photographer and cultural filmmaker, Ehrhardt was passionate about nature and the cultures of the natural. His son, Dr Jens Ehrhardt founded the foundation in 2002 to preserve his father’s artistic legacy. From 2nd July to 4 September 2016, the Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation hosted an exhibition called NatureCultures, examining the “interwoven fabric of both the human and non-human in the 21st century” (Rapp, 2016). Haraway coined the term ‘naturecultures’, appealing to us to “overcome the unproductive dichotomy between nature and culture” (Yoldas, 2016). The exhibition aimed to explore the impact of human technology on all areas

of the environment, and the way the structure of what we once called ‘nature’ has been changed, through the loss of encounters: “Companion animals comprise only one kind of companion species” (Haraway, 2013, p. 14) The work of three exhibition artists explores the interface between culture and nature, as well as science and art. Pinar Yoldas, one of the aforementioned artists, is also a cross-disciplinary researcher based in Berlin and North Carolina. Her work develops within biological sciences and digital technologies through architectural installations, kinetic sculpture, sound, video, and drawing with a focus on post-humanism, eco-nihilism, Anthropocene, and feminist techno-science. Yoldas’ photographic piece, Regnum Alba depicts various animals born with Leucism, resulting in a lack of pigmentation in skin and in fur. Numerous studies have linked this to human-caused environmental pollution and the consequential climate change. The consequence of Leucism in nature is seen to have disastrous affects on those afflicted; both a lack of identity with the animals of the same species, and a lack of camouflage resulting in an unprotected exposure to the animals’ surroundings. This demonstrates

why we must encounter with other, non-human species during this era of “trouble classification” (Barua, 2015, p. 266). The absence of animal skin pigmentation conveys a loss of natural beauty within the Anthropocene. Yoldas (2016) claims “today, with the future of the planet in doubt, these goals [of scientific and economic progress at the expense of the Earth] are no longer viable; we need integral awareness in every field.” Regnum Alba is a frightening, unsettling visual aiming to raise awareness of the consequences of human actions. An animal kingdom without colour creates an eerie minimalistic alien representation of anthropocenic nature, causing humans to feel uncomfortable. This collage is a reactionary environmental art piece communicating current issues, helping us acknowledge and realize our destructive impact Fig. 23 on the Earth, whilst encouraging movements towards “animals’ geographies” (Barua, 2015, p. 268), where animals and humans are deemed equal. Within architecture, this project can be compared to the proposed Dustyrelief/B_mu (figure 24), which uses electromagnetism within its facade to filter and standardise the polluted city of Bangkok. Unfortunately, this remains a concept that is yet to reach its full potential, however shows promise and may be proven as a viable method of controlling key contributors of the Anthropocene. “…advanced technology anchor[s] and animate[s] many realities we take Fig. 24 for granted” (Davis & Turpin, 2015, p. 15) further explaining why we need to consider using sustainable technologies with minimal pollution output, for example in innovative low-carbon building systems, to create “ecological design” (Van der Ryn, 2013). In addition, we must recognise and reflect on methods implemented the deal with the existing environmental state of the planet; at the same time changing our perception of nature, likening it to a culture that must be nurtured: “The greatest disconnect between nature and our culture’s materialist paradigm is unravelling and burning up the living systems that support our lives” (Van der Ryn, 2013, p. xiii). Architectural counter-projects can lead to systemic rethinking of our approach, how we can become-with our natural environment “address[ing] the systematic pathology of a species disconnected from the conditions of its world” (Wright, 2014, p. 278). Fig. 25

Symposium Counter-projects in Architecture: Resistance, Struggle, and Recuperation This was a workshop event, where guest speakers were invited to express their views and beliefs on the notion of counter-projects. A variety of cases were expressed through their forms of resistance, exploring the success and failures; the struggles and recuperations of resistant architecture. From all of the participants present, I was particularly interested in Tahl Kaminer's discourse and his engagement with architecture having potential agency. (summary on following page assembled and written with a group).

Environmental Triggers & Architectural Determinism circa‘68 Tahl Kaminer This lecture focused on agency, exploring the “positives out of a negative topic” and describing how it is used within architecture to better urban life, though is often taken for granted. “To say that architecture is political is to state a triusm” (Awan & Schneider, 2011). Kaminer believes that architecture within the 1960-70s, was “all about modernism”, therefore initially rebellious against capitalism, its subjugation of society and architecture that lacked humanity. He identifies three key ‘environmental triggers’, which lead radical architecture to its limit as previously described by Bernard Tschumi. 1. Conservative – representing the dominant ideology 2. Critical (‘commentator’) – demystifying the operation of ideology in society 3. Revolutionary – leveraging professional knowledge His lecture looked at how these form of architectural project cause radical intervention. The last two points were the main typologies he explored further. Louis Martin released a poster in this era quoting Tschumi (1977) “to really appreciate architecture, you may even need to commit a murder », which almost encourages transgression by portraying how architecture can be equally defined by the actions it witnesses as well as the walls that assemble it. Subsequently, Kaminer believes that the architect has no agency, but architecture does, which is further supported by Henri Lefebvre (2014), when he stated “Minoritarian practices of the production of space were recognized as sites where the agency of architecture in the reproduction of social relationships can be […] challenged, toward a rethinking of architecture’s manifold possibilities”. The architectural example that Tahl Kaminer gave was the Nanterre University, which was relocated from the centre of Paris to the outskirts. This lead to protests by the students, which Kaminer explained were due to the students feeling geographically excluded. The area they were relocated to was also filled with other groups of people who were excluded from the city: the lower classes, thus creating solidarity between these marginalised groups. Kaminer went on to tell us that the architecture played a part in creating tension. The campus was a group of repetitive buildings that he said represented what was wrong with the government as a whole - consumerism, impersonal and alien. Tschumi points out that in the example of the Nanterre University, the architecture is conservative but the unrest here is revolutionary. Environmental psychology came into being in 1965-66, where the environment was understood as an odd sociology with the belief that building design could have a negative impact on the behaviour of the inhabitants. Kaminer stated the concept was to “stop the idea of the architect being god”. Kaminer used the term ‘architectural determinism’, as coined by Maurice Broady, to describe how architecture shapes society within a one-way process producing egotistical monuments, instead of society shaping the urban fabric by their needs and social patterns. Manfredo Tafuri was a historian who used the past to predict the future in a non-prescriptive manner. He was a strong socialist who encouraged full-scale revolutions against capitalism through a utopian architecture. He believed social democracy was required within a city where “coincidence of political and intellectual authority served only as pure mediation between structures and suprastructures” (Tafuri, 2011) and this was crucial within “counter hegemonic architecture”. Tafuri believed in the full-scale mobilization of socialism against capitalism to produce architectures for the people – an idea rooted in hope. “Architecture is simply formed by society.”

Tahl Kaminer

The lecture then went on to look at the formation of a city, in particular the city created around the grid. The grid is all about property, about capital. Tafuri says that the grid created a fragmented city acting as a decoupling system between urbanism and society. Buildings within cities that are constructed within a grid serve no relation to the rest of the city and stand in isolation. Tafuri says these cities are fragmented in their plan, society and politics. With the introduction of industrialisation and Fordisms, there was a need for a new architectural typology, accommodation/ housing for the working class. The example spoken about in the lecture was the housing complex, Red Vienna taking modernist elements from the German Architect Ludwig Hilberseimer – in particular efficient mass production of modular system building. Kaminer spoke of the positives of this building; a symbolic representation of the working class, private space in to public space: the scheme was city infill not city expansion, new mode of inhabitation, community and the negotiation with the existing: city structure/urban form. Kaminer’s criticism of Fordism was that of design that has come since; that spontaneity in society and urban form has been lost. 19

Bibliography Group

Baldacchino, G. (2005) Islands: Objects of Representation, Geografiska Annaler B, Vol. 87, No. 4. pp. 247-251. Baldacchino, G. (2007a) Introducing a World of Islands in G. Baldacchino (ed.) A World of Islands: An Island Studies Reader, Charlottetown, Canada and Luqa, Malta, Institute of Island Studies and Agenda, pp. 1-29. Baldacchino, G. (2007b) Upside Down Decolonization: The Strategic Permanence of Colonialism in Sub-National Island Jurisdictions, paper presented at Conference on Postcolonial Islands, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Queen’s University, September Baldacchino, G. (2008) Studying islands: On whose terms? Some Epistemological and methodological challenges to the pursuit of island studies, Island Studies Journal, 3(1), pp. 37–56. Baldacchino, G. (ed.) (2007c) Bridging Islands: The Impact of Fixed Links, Charlottetown, Canada, Acorn Press. Beatriz da Costa (no date) PigeonBlog 2008 – 08 [online] Available at: <http://nideffer.net/shaniweb/pigeonblog.php> [Accessed: 13 November 2016]. Berque, A. (1997) Japan. Nature, Artifice and Japanese Culture (Yelvertoft Manor: Pilkington Press) Berque, A. (2004) Offspring of Watsuji ́s theory of milieu (fudo), GeoJournal 60: 389–396 Boissevain, J. (1968) The Place of Non-groups in the Social Sciences, Man, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 542-556. caowrites (2012) The Ako project [online] Available at: <https://lemurconservationfoundation.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/the-akoproject/> [Accessed: 27 November 2016]. content, legacy (2002) Pigeons to set up a smog blog. [online] Available at: <https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18925376000-pigeons-to-set-up-a-smog-blog/> [Accessed: 26 November 2016]. Corner, J. (1997) Ecology and Landscape as agents of creativity, in G. Thompson and F. Steiner (eds.), Ecological Design and Planning (New York: Wiley), 81–108 Deleuze, G. and Taormina, M. (2004) Desert islands: And other texts, 1953-1974. Edited by David Lapoujade. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotexte/Smart Art. Diederichsen, D. and Franke, A. (2013) The whole earth - California and the disappearance of the outside. Berlin: Sternberg Press. Donate (2016) Lemurs [online] Available at: <http://www.lemurreserve.org/about-lcf/the-ako-project/> [Accessed: 27 November 2016]. Finkel, J. (2006) At ZeroOne, paintings are so last century. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/arts/design/atzeroone-paintings-are-so-last-century.html [Accessed: 26 November 2016]. Fischer-Barnicol, D. and Ryogi, O. (1992) Einleitung der Übersetzer, in T. Watsuji, Fudo. Wind und Erde — Über den Zusammenhang zwischen Klima und Kultur (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1992), VII–XIX. Flanagan, C.J. (2014) Launching the Ako Project U.S. Curriculum for Lemur Conservation Education, Canopy, Journal of the MSc in Primate Conservation, 15(1), pp. 22–24. Goodbun, J., Till, J. and Iossifova, D. (2012) ‘Themes of scarcity’, Architectural Design, 82(4), pp. 8–15. doi: 10.1002/ad.1421. Haraway, D. (2016) Playing String Figures with Companion Species, In Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Cthulucene. Edited by Michael Fischer and Joseph Dumit. First Edition edn. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Haraway, D. (2016) Sympoiesis and the Lively Arts of Staying with the Trouble. In Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Cthulucene. Edited by Michael Fischer and Joseph Dumit. First Edition edn. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Ickert, J. (2016) Textures of the Anthropocene: Grain vapor ray textures of the Anthropocene: Grain vapor ray edited by Katrin Klingan, Ashkan Sepahvand, Christoph Rosol and Bernd M. Scherer. MIT press, Cambridge, MA, 2015. 1008 pp. Paper. ISBN: 9780262527415’, Leonardo, 49(2), pp. 179–180. doi: 10.1162/leon_r_01207. Prominski, M. (2014) Andscapes: Concepts of nature and culture for landscape architecture in the “Anthropocene”, Journal of Landscape Architecture, 9(1), pp. 6–19. doi: 10.1080/18626033.2014.898819. The Berenty Website (no date) Ako project [online] Available at: <http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~fdolins/berenty/ako/> [Accessed: 27 November 2016]. Turpin, Etienne (ed.) (2013) Architecture in the Anthropocene. University of Michigan Library: Open Humanities Press Watsuji, T. (1988) Climate and Culture, tr. G. Bownas (Westport: Greenwood Press) Watsuji, T. (1992) Fudo, Wind und Erde – Über den Zusammenhang zwischen Klima und Kultur, tr. D. Fischer-Barnicol and O. Ryogi (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) Zalasiewicz, J. et al. (2010) The New World of the ‘Anthropocene’’, Environmental Science & Technology 44: 2228–2231

Image References Group

FIGURE 01: Wright, K. (2014) Becoming-With, digital image, viewed 17 November 2016, <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/ vol5/5.15.pdf> FIGURE 02: Turpin, E. (2013) Inquiries and Interpretations Concerning the Observations and Findings from Atmosphere- Investigating, Landscape- Exploring, Universe- Tracking Instruments, their Experiments, Studies, etc. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich. edu/o/ohp/images/12527215.0001.001-00000034.jpg> FIGURE 03: Turpin, E. (2013) Inquiries and Interpretations Concerning the Observations and Findings from Atmosphere- Investigating, Landscape- Exploring, Universe- Tracking Instruments, their Experiments, Studies, etc. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich. edu/o/ohp/images/12527215.0001.001-00000032.jpg> FIGURE 04: Turpin, E. (2013) Inquiries and Interpretations Concerning the Observations and Findings from Atmosphere- Investigating, Landscape- Exploring, Universe- Tracking Instruments, their Experiments, Studies, etc. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich. edu/o/ohp/images/12527215.0001.001-00000035.jpg> FIGURE 05: Turpin, E. (2013) Inquiries and Interpretations Concerning the Observations and Findings from Atmosphere- Investigating, Landscape- Exploring, Universe- Tracking Instruments, their Experiments, Studies, etc. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich. edu/o/ohp/images/12527215.0001.001-00000036.jpg> FIGURE 06: Turpin, E. (2013) Amplitude Modulation. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 15 November 2016 <https://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/ images/12527215.0001.001-00000089.jpg> FIGURE 07: Turpin, E. (2013) Radical Meteorology. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 9 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/images/12527215.0001.001-00000011. jpg> FIGURE 08: Turpin, E. (2013) Tar Creek Supergrid. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 8 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/images/12527215.0001.001-00000095. jpg> FIGURE 09: Turpin, E. (2013) Anthropark. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 7 November 2016 <http://payload455.cargocollective.com/1/21/683924/11405379/AP_ poster_1400.png> FIGURE 10: Costa, B. (no date) PigeonBlog 2006 - 08, digital image, viewed 25 November 2016 <http://nideffer.net/shaniweb/ images/projectimages/pigeon/pigeon1.jpg>. FIGURE 11: Reuter, K (2015) Lemur conservation foundation, digital image, viewed 15 November 2016 <http:// lemurconservationnetwork.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ako-Collage-450x643.jpg> FIGURE 12: Navajo-Churro sheep association (no date) Navajo-Churro Sheep, digital image, viewed 3 December 2016 <http://www. navajo-churrosheep.com/pictures/photos/IndexGuide4horn.jpg> FIGURE 13: E-Line Media (2016) Never Alone, digital image, viewed 2 December 2016 <http://neveralonegame.com/wpcontent/ uploads/2014/11/image_gallery_41.jpg> FIGURE 14: Ai-Shokubutsu Landscape Planning office (no date) Old Fishery Experimental Station, viewed 2 December 2016 <http:// www.ai-shokubutsu.co.jp/files/pages/mizumoto/img20110930.jpg> FIGURE 15: HKW (2013) Islands, viewed 5 December 2016 <https://www.hkw.de/media/bilder/2013_3/anthropozaen_eine_ eroeffnung/inseln_c_b_rugar.jpg> FIGURE 16: Prominski, M (2014) Andscapes: Concepts of nature and culture for landscape architecture in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anthropoceneâ&#x20AC;?, viewed 10 December 2016 <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18626033.2014.898819?scroll=top&needAccess=true. jpg> FIGURE 17: designbuild-network (no date) Dongtan Eco-City, China, viewed 9 December 2016 <http://www.designbuild-network. com/projects/dongtan-eco-city/dongtan-eco-city3.html> FIGURE 18: dezeen (2014) UK's "first amphibious house" can float on floodwater like a boat in a dock, viewed 6 December 2016 <https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Formosa_The_Amphibious_House_by_Baca_dezeen_0_1000.gif> 21

Bibliography Individual

Admin (2016) NatureCultures: Interview with Pinar Yoldas [online] Available at: <http://talkingaboutart.de/nature-culturesinterview-with-pinar-yoldes/> [Accessed: 1 December 2016]. Art Berlin (no date) Ecosystem of excess or why is there plastic in the freaking ocean? [online] Available at: <http://www.artberlin. de/why-is-there-plastic-in-the-freaking-ocean/> [Accessed: 28 October 2016]. Awan, N., Schneider, T. and Till, J. (2013) Spatial agency: Other ways of doing architecture. [online] Available at: <https://books. google.co.uk/ooks?id=7ZXcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT50&lpg=PT50&dq=schneider+awan+truism&source=bl&ots=vtCADULUxP&sig=yns PCvPt3yuNpi2eA1rsvU9OtR8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjB7N7hg9bQAhXBnRoKHRiRAgUQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false> [Accessed: 2 December 2016]. Barua, M. (2015) Encounter, Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 7(1), pp. 265-270. Available through: Environmental Humanities webite <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol7/7.19.pdf> [Accessed: 12 November 2016]. Davis, H. & Turpin, E. (ed.) (2015) Art in the Anthropocene. Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environments and Epistemologies. Michigan: Open Humanities Press designed, W.F.W. (2008) [online] Available at: <http://www.we-find-wildness.com/2010/12/bernard-tschumi-advertisements-forarchitecture/> [Accessed: 2 December 2016]. Exploratorium (2016) The museum of science, art and human perception. [online] Available at: <https://www.exploratorium. edu/> [Accessed: 7 November 2016]. Haraway, D (2015) Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin. Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 6(1) pp. 159-165. Available through: Environmental Humanities website <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol6/6.7.pdf> [Accessed: 30 October 2016]. Haraway, D. (2013) The Companion Species Manifesto. Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. [pdf] Available at: <https:// nihilsentimentalgia09.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/haraway_companion_species_manifesto.pdf> [Accessed: 15 November 2016]. Haraway, D. (2016) Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press Lefebvre, H., Stanek, Ł. and Bononno, R. (2014) Toward an architecture of enjoyment [online] Available at: <https://muse.jhu. edu/book/34309> [Accessed: 2 December 2016]. New Territories (2002) Dustyrelief / B_mu [online] Available at: <http://www.new-territories.com/roche2002bis.htm> [Accessed: 9 November 2016]. Pinar Yoldas (2015) Pinar Yoldas [online] Available at: < http://www.pinaryoldas.info/PINAR-YOLDAS> [Accessed: 7 November 2016]. Pinar Yoldas (2015) Regnum Alba, 2015 [online] Available at: <http://pinaryoldas.info/Regnum-Alba-2015> [Accessed: 9 November 2016]. Regents, U. (2014) LEAP lecture series: LAEP lecture: Jane Wolff: Bay Lexicon: Dictionary as manifesto. [Online] Available at: <http:// ced.berkeley.edu/events-media/events/laep-lecture-jane-wolff-bay-lexicon-dictionary-as-manifesto> [Accessed: 2 December 16]. SAIC (2015) Pinar Yoldas [online] Available at: <http://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/aiado/events/pinar-yoldas-0> [Accessed: 17 November 2016]. Schafran, A. (2013) Origins of an urban crisis: The restructuring of the San Francisco Bay area and the geography of foreclosure. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research [e-journal] 37(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2012.01150.x Stengers, I. (2015) In Catastrophic Times Resisting the Coming Barbarism [e-book] Open Humanties Press. Available through: Open Humanities Press website <http://openhumanitiespress.org/books/download/Stengers_2015_In-Catastrophic-Times.pdf> [Accessed: 2 November 16]. Tafuri, M., Luigia, B. and Penta, L. (1976) Architecture and utopia design and capitalist development. [pdf] Available at: <https:// modernistarchitecture.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/manfredo-tafuri-architecture-and-utopia-design-and-capitalist-development. pdf> [Accessed: 2 December 2016]. Turpin, E. (2013) Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy. Michigan: Open Humanities Press Van der Ryn, S. (2013) Culture, architecture and nature: an ecological design retrospective. Oxon: Routledge Wright, K. (2014) Becoming-With. Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 5(1), pp. 277–281. Available through: Environmental Humanities website <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol5/5.15.pdf> [Accessed: 30 November 2016].

Image References Individual

FIGURE 19: Turpin, E. (2013) Landscapes of San Francisco Bay: Plates from Bay Lexicon. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/ images/12527215.0001.001-00000037.jpg> FIGURE 20: Turpin, E. (2013) Landscapes of San Francisco Bay: Plates from Bay Lexicon. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/ images/12527215.0001.001-00000038.jpg> FIGURE 21: Turpin, E. (2013) Landscapes of San Francisco Bay: Plates from Bay Lexicon. In: Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters among design, deep time, science and philosophy, digital image, viewed 10 November 2016 <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/ images/12527215.0001.001-00000039.jpg> FIGURE 22: Cargo Collective (2016) Regnum Alba, 2015, digital image, viewed 8 November 2016, <http://payload407.cargocollective. com/1/0/10589/10440751/yoldas_RGNMLB_00.jpg> FIGURE 23: Cargo Collective (2016) Regnum Alba, 2015, digital image, viewed 8 November 2016, <http://payload407.cargocollective. com/1/0/10589/10440751/F3gMqN8E05o4oGX-Wjz-obDeUIFI_u4QNT_2DRqqM-k_1250.jpeg> FIGURE 24: New Territories (2002) Dustyrelief / B_mu, digital image, viewed 21 November 2016 <http://www.new-territories.com/ images/poussiere.jpg> FIGURE 25: SAIC (2015) Pinar Yoldas, digital image, viewed 18 November 2016 <http://www.saic.edu/sites/default/files/styles/ adaptive_style/adaptiveimage/public/regnum_1410091256.png?itok=ZeTfNrPQ>

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Design in the Anthropocene BirdBrain Introduction When contemplating how to approach this design exercise, I considered what would be a simple feasible intervention and where would it be required. As the urban environment is considered to be the largest contributor to the Anthropocene epoch, I wanted to design something that could be applied and adapted to any city on Earth.

INFECTION

s From the five forms of resistance/engagement my workshop class have explored (from the Living Lexicon for the Environmental Humanities, 2014), I will be focussing on three in more detail:

BECOMING-WITH

1. Becoming-With I believe this is crucial element for within the Anthropocene, therefore I aim to readdress mankindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disconnection and disassociation from the rest of the world. 2. Encounter Through encounter, I plan to promote interspecies relationships, creating a moment where human and nonhuman cross paths. 3. Care As creatures of this Earth, it is our responsibility to care and engage with other species that make up the Earth if we want to survive on this depleting planet.

ENCOUNTER CARE

HOPE

Key Concepts

NATURECULTURES

SPATIAL AGENCY

Using Donna Haraway’s term for the continuous change in relationship between the natural and cultural, and the necessary entanglement of the two. I wish to oppose the contemporary modernist perception of nature, within which a distinct deficiency in relation exists, and re-evaluate and reenforce nature as part of human culture.

Following Buckminster Fuller’s idea of spatial agency and Tahl Kaminer’s expression of architecture as having an agency on our Symposium Day, I have been positively influenced to create something that presents a new way at looking at space; recognising the opportunities specifically in urban contexts whilst acknowledging human impact with natural resources. 27

Fig. 01

Inspiration Derivation Case studies explored by my workshop peers that have inspired the concept behind BirdBrain, these include PigeonBlog and the New Alchemy Institute. 1. PigeonBlog Within this project, pigeons are used to detect air pollution through the use of their homing senses and a device attached to their skin (figure 02). Although designed to not endanger the bird, questions the hierarchical role of each collaborator: "who renders whom capable of what, and at what price, borne to whom?” (Haraway, 2016) 2. New Alchemy Institute This is an architect project where human and non-human are supposedly integrated to produce food and recycle waste within a closed loop system (figure 03). The multispecies encounter is lost here, as it lacks “‘trans-actions’ exchanges that are meaningful to nonhumans as well” (Haraway cd. in Barua, 2015).

Fig. 02 Pigeon with ‘communication-backpacks’

Within both projects there is a misunderstanding, or misinterpretation of what the embodiment of encounter and becoming-with the environment means, and the application of these forms to produce revolutionary methods of combating the Anthropocene is missing. Therefore within my project, I will be acknowledging and addressing the efforts of non-humans to construct a mutual respect and state of equilibrium positioned from humans to non-humans. Within the city, it would appear that humans no longer have time for nature and have forgotten the importance of other species that collectively make up our planet, and so my project will be a favour returned to other urban species.

Fig. 03 Interior view of PEI Ark Greenhouse

“Two central tasks for ‘ecological humanities’ ... are to resituate the human within the environment, and to resituate nonhumans within cultural and ethical domains” Plumwood, 2003

Fig. 04 Monsieur & Madame Monet, Venice

Addressing Environmental Issues BirdBrain confronts two key issues within the urban environment: 1. The Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population is increasing and with it comes rapid escalation in urbanisation, which amplifies food waste; most of which is not reused or recycled. 2. Urban animals have had to adjust their habitats to accommodate for the industrialised setting, as long as food is present these species will remain within the city. Re-addressing humans' wasteful attitude I aim to utilise our food waste to allow the pigeon population to thrive. We live amongst predominant capitalist attitudes, where there is no consideration of what we dispose of or how it can be used. I propose a system that makes the human aware of his actions and how they effect other species, re-investing the trust in humans to regain non-human respect.

20%

of UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CO2 emissions comes from food and drink waste

1/4-1-3 of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted

URBAN

“The practices and actors in the dog worlds, human and non-human alike, ought to be central concerns of technoscience studies”

N WILDLIFE

Haraway, 2003

CITY FOOD WASTE

Intelligence

Bird brains are so small that they have been regarded as incapable but it has been proven that they can reason on par with small children. Pigeons specifically are considered one of the most intelligent bird species

Company & Companions Many elderly people turn to pigeons for company, due to their loyal and affectionate characteristics

Stress Relief

Feeding pigeons is known to provide a good means of relaxation

Messenger Service

Since 5th Century BC, this bird has provided valuable messenger services in remote areas

The Value of the Pigeon

Religious Significance Created by Erika Carter from the Noun Project

Most city pigeons are known as European Rock Doves and are the biblical dove of love and peace

Deliver Medication Created by Karthik Aathis from the Noun Project

Pigeons have been delivering lifesaving medicine for almost 40 years

Created by Snpr Cartman from the Noun Project

Human Waste Consumer Pigeons clean up after humans, by ingesting the waste we thoughtlessly drop on the ground

Benign Residents

Contrary to popular belief, most pigeons do not carry diseases and do not compete with indigenous animals for food or shelter

...to name a few birdy benefits

Recalling our Pigeon Pals Pigeons should not be considered as minor, irrelevant creatures as they bring life to otherwise bleak, urban environments. They provide ambiance in popular city locations so should not be discouraged or dismissed. However, in some places like Trafalgar Square, the connection of humans to birds have been obliterated due to relatively new laws that prohibit people to feed the pigeons. This has encouraged me to pursue an idea where the human and the bird do not come into literal â&#x20AC;&#x153;contact zonesâ&#x20AC;? (Haraway, 2008), but indirectly communicate with each other.

Fig. 05 Trafalgar Square, London

Fig. 06 Piazza San Marco, Venice

Fig. 07 Courtyard of Jama Masjid, New Delhi 35

Initial Experimentation I tested ways whereby the human is, in Haraway’s words,: ‘response-able’; the curious mode of engaging with nonhumans. Firstly, by taking typical city street furniture: park benches, lampposts, etc. and finding ways to interact with them without disrupting their functional requirements. Earlier iterations included having the food provision at human-level, however this raised the issue of the disposal stench and the disruption from other urban species in competing for edible material, therefore I decided to take the supply to bird-level. This presented another obstacle to overcome - how would the food be supplied to these heights? Initially I experimented with how the food could be driven by the local environment; wind and solar gain that could power the system, but this would not be a reliable device as the pigeons’ food supply would depend upon the weather to drive the cycle.

[RE]

SPONSE-ABLE CONSIDER CUPERATE CYCLE PEAT

Developed Concept Through additional testing, I have achieved an adaptable system that in some areas can be environmentally-led, for example windy Chicago, the birds will be able to realise that during turbulent winds there is a higher chance of a desirable edible treat being available. In other cities, I considered how the human could encourage the food flow, however this would include a great deal of effort which, in this era, is unlikely from humans. Therefore, I have come to a decision that the food will be able to manoeuvre itself (see following page). A latch on the food station will allow the birds to open and access food, then close and shelter it from the weather. Pigeons have been tested through trial-and-error proving their capabilities of problem solving and learning to open latches for food quickly and efficiently.

[RE]

SPONSE-ABLE CONSIDER CUPERATE CYCLE PEAT

Process of the Autonomous System Functioning as a more technologically advanced paternoster lift (figure 06), the BirdBrain mechanism is driven by the energy produced from the food waste. This self-sustainable system recycles urban food for pigeons to devour; a token of gratitude from human to non-human. This project interacts with the lamppost, gaining structural support from existing components in the city. The disposed food will be contained within locally sourced plastic tubes only accessible to the birds. This will be made possible through the process of anaerobic digestion, within which the waste will be split with some being used to generate energy to power the food lift, whilst the rest continuing directly to the bird. The remaining energy will be converted to electricity using a Combined Heat and Power system and distributed along the street to provide light for the people. This produces an interspecies and technological encounter between food and machine.

Fig. 08

Anaerobic Digester

CHP

Through the Eye of the Pigeon From the pigeonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective, BirdBrain will provide a continuous, reliable food source. As they can depict colour much better than humans, orange-tinted stations are positioned at the peak of the structures, which the bird will be able to recognise and respond to. Through group training, the pigeons will learn to interact with the system, which will be then repeated with the inclusion of other able birds. This will enable humans to acknowledge the intelligence of the bird.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Skills and knowledge, as outcomes of encounters, are activities of situated practitioners responding to more-than-human ebbs and flowsâ&#x20AC;? Tsing, 2014

Bird feeding

Light production

Food waste input

Waste split

Bird Delivery Design Elevation

Structural support

Energy transfer

GROUND LEVEL

Electricity distribution Refuse recycling

Conclusion BirdBrain shows how it is feasible to care for other species within a densely human environment, and proves how we can indirectly take responsibility architects (in the making) and humans in engaging with the world. Through encounters faith can be restored in a species companionship (Haraway, 2003). This project intervenes with its environment on a microscale, but could prove the lack of knowledge of the human in addition to the intelligence of the pigeon. This could provoke an appreciation for other species leading to further, more complex methods of connecting the human brain to the 'bird brain' within a united community. There is no simple solution to reconcile the imprint humans have made on this planet, which is leading us to the inevitable environmental crash (Stengers 2015). However, with our efforts to design a future within this epoch collectively by becoming-with multi-species we can push boundaries, experiment with ideas, learn from failed attempts, and eventually through architecture become agents of change.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Caring requires more from us than abstract well wishing, it requires that we get involved in some concrete way, that we do something (wherever possible) to take care of anotherâ&#x20AC;? Dooren, 2014

Bibliography Barua, M. (2015) Encounter, Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 7(1), pp. 265-270. Available through: Environmental Humanities website <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol7/7.19.pdf> [Accessed: 12 November 2016]. Bird Rose et al. (2012) Thinking Through the Environment, Unsettling the Humanities, Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 1 (1) pp. 1-5. Available through: Environmental Humanities website <http://environmentalhumanities.dukejournals.org/content/1/1/1.full. pdf+html> [Accessed: 2 November 2016]. Costa, B. (no date) PigeonBlog 2006 – 08 [online] Available at: <http://nideffer.net/shaniweb/pigeonblog.php> [Accessed 25 November]. Deter A Pigeon (2015) 21 Amazing Factrs You Didn’t Know About Pigeons [online] Available at: <https://www.deterapigeon.com/ articles/21-amazing-facts-you-didnt-know-about-pigeons/> [Accessed 15 October 2016]. Dooren, T (2014) Care, Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 5 (1) pp. 291-294. Available through: Environmental Humanities website <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol5/5.18.pdf> [Accessed: 2 November 2016]. Eco-Business (2015) How do you solve a problem like food waste? [online] Available at: <http://www.eco-business.com/news/howdo-you-solve-a-problem-like-food-waste/> [Accessed 5 December 2016]. Elegant WordPress Thames (2014) Living lexicon for the environmental humanities. [online] Available at: <http:// environmentalhumanities.org/lexicon/> [Accessed 20 October 2016]. Haraway, D (2008) When Species Meet. [pdf] Available at: <http://projectlamar.com/media/harrawayspecies.pdf> [Accessed 22 November 2016]. Haraway, D. (2013) The Companion Species Manifesto. Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. [pdf] Available at: <https:// nihilsentimentalgia09.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/haraway_companion_species_manifesto.pdf> [Accessed: 15 November 2016]. Haraway, D. (2016) Playing String Figures with Companion Species, In Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Cthulucene. Edited by Michael Fischer and Joseph Dumit. First Edition edn. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Moore, D. (no date) Spatial Agency: Buckminster Fuller [online] Available at: <http://www.spatialagency.net/database/buckminster. fuller> [Accessed 18 November 2016]. Plumwood, V. (2016) Animals and ecology: Towards a better integration [online] Available at: <https://openresearch-repository.anu. edu.au/handle/1885/41767> [Accessed 22 November 2016]. Roth, D.L. (no date) The Value of Pigeons [online] Available at: <http://www.urbanwildlifesociety.org/pigeons/pijvalu.html> [Accessed 22 November 2016]. Tsing, A. (2014) “More-Than-Human Sociality: A Call for Critical Description” In. Anthropology and Nature, ed. K. Hastrup. Oxford: Routledge Van der Ryn, S (2013) Culture, architecture and nature: an ecological design retrospective. Oxon: Routeledge Wrap (2012) Reports- food waste from all sectors [online] Available at: <http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/all-sectors> [Accessed 5 December 2016]. Wright, K. (2014) Becoming-With. Environmental Humanities [e-journal] 5(1), pp. 277–281. Available through: Environmental Humanities website <http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol5/5.15.pdf> [Accessed: 30 November 2016].

Image References FIGURE 01: Eichelberger, C (2011) Birdlights, digital image, viewed 30 November 2016 <https://www.flickr.com/photos/ codyeichelberger/6513772757/in/photostream> FIGURE 02: Costa, B. (no date) PigeonBlog 2006 - 08, digital image, viewed 25 November 2016 <http://nideffer.net/shaniweb/ images/projectimages/pigeon/pigeon1.jpg> FIGURE 03: PEI Ark Project Team (2015) Planting crops in the greenhouse, viewed 18 November 2016 <http://peiark.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/07/planting-crops-in-the-greenhouse-680x900.jpg> FIGURE 04: alongtimealone (no date) Monsieur & Madame Monet, digital image, viewed 3 December 2016 <http://68.media.tumblr. com/tumblr_mdv500CXyQ1rlbxrio1_500.jpg> FIGURE 05: Animal Photos (no date) Pigeons in our Major Cities Columba livia domestica, digital image, viewed 2 December 2016 <http://www.animalphotos.me/bird/bird-pige5_files/nelsonscolumn.jpg> FIGURE 06: Kessel, D. (2011) piazza san marco with st. markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basilica in the background, venice, italy, 1952, digital image, viewed 15 November 2016 <http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6qi02abxp1qakafjo1_1280.jpg> FIGURE 07: Roudaut, E. (no date) New-delhi, digital image, viewed 7 December 2016 <https://500px.com/photo/5789558/new-delhiby-etienne-roudaut?ctxpage=1&from=gallery&galleryPath=22861925&user_id=17073239> FIGURE 08: FAO (no date) Chinese Liberation Wheel chain and washer pump, digital image, viewed 27 November 2016 <http://www. fao.org/docrep/010/ah810e/AH810E91.gif>

Reflection In three short months this workshop has taught me multiple beneficial lessons in re-evaluating the life I fail to often appreciate, resulting in a greater awareness of human assumptions and obliviousness to intangible (though sometimes tangible) damage to my natural surroundings. This course has revealed the failed attempts towards a sustainable future on Earth due to the capitalist society we live in; however it has also revealed the minority endeavours of achievements that have risen within the Anthropocene. Through group literature studies, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning the theories that arise with environmental challenges, and also discovering the emergence of counter-projects, exploring various forms of resistant architecture of the 1960s and 1970s. Using the environmental humanities suggested forms of resistance I have been able to broaden my knowledge on historic counter-actions and counter-concepts within our environmentally challenged existence. This includes acts of resistance from oppositional activism, or even challenging acting counter as an alternative approach, from a more recent found contemporary architectural optimism by acting from within, which can be argued as equally powerful and disruptive. The group research, discoveries, and discussions have inspired my pursuit of encounter within my design project. Through my process of creating an imaginative, experimental methodology of questioning the current state of the Earth, I have proposed a potential intervention for the Anthropocene, which I believe could benefit current and future environmental challenges.