INFRASTRUCTURE
Tibaldo Rancier Middlesex University MA Interiors
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CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
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CHAPTER 1
10
FIELD BOOK
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PITCH 10
24
REVIEW
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CHAPTER 2
28
PITCH 20
36
SURVEILANCE
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BUILDING
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STREET
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ROOM
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CHAPTER 3
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PRECEDENTS
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THERMODYNAMICS
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DEVELOPMENT
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ESSAY
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In-Betweenness “A person or thing that is between two extremes, two contrasting conditions” [1] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ in-betweenness
The space in between the hidden details of structures and the facade, infrastructure. Spaces not meant for humans re-imagined for our existence in them. This was my initial idea, to design space in a similar way the infrastructure is worked. it is Inspiring the design from the piping and cable management that i find in these specific places, such as the Kings Cross Light Tunnel.
Thisness “A term from medieval scholastic philosophy, first coined by Duns Scotus,Which denotes the discrete qualities, properties or characteristics of a thing, which make it a particular thing.” [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haecceity The things that constitute a space becomes the space itself in a way. I wanted to deconstruct the space and identify the pieces that were part of the infrastructure and create spaces with them.
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King’s Cross Light Tunnel: Details and Infrastructure What was it about? Details and Infrastructure was about what is underneath or hidden in plain sight of the facade of spaces. In a way, what make the space works, be it structure, infrastructure, and the details hidden. Those last two being the focus of this project.This project was about taking the literal sense of details and use it as inspiration to create spaces for humans activities, based on the little and hidden details of different places here in London. This concept changed throughout the course, looking for relevancy, purpose and functionality. It evolved from just taking the morphology of the components that formed the infrastructure of building to create a new network that connects the existing infrastructure and provides commodities to the people.
INTRODUCTION
Building “1- A relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows and often more than one level, used for any of a wide variety of activities, as living, entertaining, or manufacturing. 2- Anything built or constructed.” [3] https://www.dictionary. com/browse/building
The building will be the sace that encompasses the room and the street.
Street “ A public way or thoroughfare in a city or town, usually with a sidewalk or sidewalks.” [4] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/
street
TThe street will be the road where people walk through. Its a space dedicated to the movement.
Westminster Underground Station: Infrastructurex What is it about? This project is about looking at and studying the language of the infrastructure of underground stations, in this case, the Westminster underground station, and using that same language to create a network between the station and the street. The network man focus is to transfer the heat from generators, the friction of the train tracks and body heat from the commuters inside the station to the urban furniture on the surface on a street level. I am connecting the Public places and furniture with the infrastructure of the station. Using the heat and energy generated inside to warm the benches, counter and bus station on the surface. In a sense creating a circulatory system to provide more for the commuter inside and outside the station.
Room “ Space that can be occupied or where something can be done.” [5] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/room The room will be the space that I will intervene it will not be a traditional room but in this project would the space that will change.
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CHAPTER 1: WANDER
• FIELD BOOK • PITCH 10 • REVIEW
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Serpentine Pavilion On our first field trip, we went to see different places to observed them write about it and sketch it. The point of this trip was to capture our first impression in a fast way by rapid writing and sketches. the site we visited was the Serpentine Pavilion By Frida Escobedo, the Victori and Albert Museum, the Victorian era underground tunnel below the Victoria and Albert Museum and last the King’s Cross - St. Pancras Light Tunnel. My rapid writing for the Serpentine Pavilion: “First thing that comes to mind is the series of tiles arranged in a way that bricks are installed. It reminds me of the red roof tiles, but dark grey and instead of covering ceilings they are used to limit the space, but the spacing between them let you see through. However, as much as it lets, you see each layer covers more of your view.The structure that holds the tiles blends quite well, the rust of the metal does not seem to pop out. The floor is in stark contrast to the ceiling piece which looks like a sizeable polished plane wing in a jet black colour while the floor is a dark polished concrete and matte. The whole instalment seems like a cage in the middle of the green grass of the park. It reminds me of an industrial place. There’s a part of the floor that is a water mirror, on a calm day it seems like a reflective glass floor. By far what I like the most about it. From the outside, the pavilion looks boxy and square, but on the inside, the inner walls are in a different angle and create a few pathways for the people explore. From the inside of the pavilion, you have good visibility of the outside but not the other way around. Also, the structure is more visible from the outside. The tiles have a “w” shaped profile.”
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From these rapid writing and sketches I got a few words and concepts that would shape most of the work from then on: Illusion - Opposites - Contrast - Reflection
FIELD BOOK
Illusion & Reflection
Opposites & Contrast
Details of the tiles
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Interior view of the pavilion where we could see most of the words or thisness of this site. Illusion and reflection with the ceiling, opposites and contrast between the gloss of the ceiling the matte of the floor and the texture from the tiles.
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This image presents the contrast of the space inside and space outside. The space in between can either let the people see through or entirely block the view depending on the angle people look through them.
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King’s Cross - St. Pancras Light Tunnel Pitch 10 - Details And Infrastructure Why? It is fascinating how technology has advanced so much that we can create wonderful, beautiful things, but yet we usually cover the inner workings of them. So it would be interesting to instead of just showing the inner workings, design the space inspired by it. So the objective is to expose those little aspects, be it their shape, the space in between them, their profile section and with the imagery and concept of them create spaces.
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PITCH 10
After seeing the tunnel, I did a few sketches of it trying to grasp its nature and form, after a few sketches I was trying to draw the inner workings of the tunnel and came up with these images.
These drawings fueled my interest in this characteristic of focusing on the micro.
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Non-places as inspiration Marc Auge said in his text Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity “If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place.�. Therefore the spaces created in the infrastructure of spaces filled with details can be considered nonplaces, and that is the source of inspiration for these new spaces which in time will be considered places. Making non-spaces inspiring real spaces, and it could be a way to enhance the reality of the space.
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Creating spaces from their characteristics In Landscape, memory and contemporary design, Panita Karamanea say that “Landscape identity has two aspects: one has to do with the physical features of a site that give it a special spatial character, and the other refers to the relationship of human beings to a specific landscape and what it means to them.”. So, the first part of the project is to take the physical details of a place and create a new space from it, and compelled the people to interact in the space with it and with each other. Interactive Supermodernity Marc Auge points out in his text NonPlaces, how this non-place and supermodernity created the “average man” by treating everyone inside them the same, receiving the same messages simultaneously, indiscriminately and regardless of who they are, subjecting the individual to a new way of solitude. So creating an interactive space where people can have shared activities with each other could change the whole supermodernity experience.
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Kings Cross/St. Pancras Station >>>
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St. Pancras Square >>>
To understand how the hidden things work on the tunnel I photographed all of the access to the passage behind the facade. This passage is too narrow for a technician to move through, so each grill is a door with their hinges and lock. At the beginning of the tunnel on the first access, we can see the main electrical box with their switches. On all the other access we can follow the electrical cables going along the tunnel but hidden from sight.
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Methodology To explore this concept, the scale of things have to be in the background, and the proportions as the main focus have to step forward. Looking through a camera lens to see some of the details, and searching for the nook and crannies of spaces to draw out new spaces and taking a closer look at the things in space, getting the camera lenses in some spaces where the eyes cannot see. The primary research method is Photography as our central resource of details and imagery to produce spaces. As a secondary research method, the study of architectonical details through books will be of importance to understand the inner working of the infrastructure of spaces. Also, to get some detailed sections and profiles of the things, where cameras cannot see. The third research method is going to focus on how humans interact with their surroundings, through surveys, observations and studies. I also took to look for Details that I could extrude and create spaces like corridors with them. I began with the Light tunnel at King’s Cross - St. Pancras Station and then went on to Canary Wharf Station and the Railroad Rooftop Garden.
Crossrail Place Roof Garden
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Infrastructure Corridor
Tunnel Side
To take these images, I inserted my smartphone which is thin enough to go through the top of the access gates and film the exterior and interior of the space hidden behind the facade.
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My first pitch was to use the cable management of the infrastructure hidden behind the sleek and clean facade of the tunnel in order to design spaces. In a way blowing up the size of these spaces and working them in a way people could inhabit them.
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SELF-REFLECTIVE & PEER REVIEW “Details and Infrastructure” Self Reflective My “Details and infrastructure” pitch had a good idea but no aim or meaning to work out. In the presentation, I had issues explaining my thoughts and the reason behind them. There was a discrepancy between the pages and what I was saying and that detracted a lot from my pitch. The integration of Mies van der Rohe phrase, “God is in the details” on my cover was too pretentious now that I think about it and as my instructor said could make the people not interested in it. My diagrammatic organisation of the pages looked way too simple, and it needed work to make it more interesting. I relied too much on the images to make it look good, but in some pages, the photos were not supporting the text. The lack of a page break or a better diagram confused the readers about the number of pages in it. My oral presentation was all over the place, with a lot of unwarranted pauses and repeating. It made me look unprepared and unsure of my pitch. The use of stock images detracted a lot from my presentation. I lacked some of the references from our reading. Moreover, the most important thing about my performance was missing, the reason why I wanted to work on it, why I wish to do it and what problems can I resolve with the research and design for it. I need to look for an issue or a reason to design spaces from the details and infrastructure of the places.
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Detail and infrastructure “God is in the Details” -Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-
REVIEW
Peer’s Review “Tibaldo’s presentation is focus about detail and infrastructure, this topic is very much related with the theme he was researching on his previous work. On the presentation, he explains that the detail and infrastructure are about what’s underneath or hidden in plain sight. He says that with this day and age technology there are so many resources we can use in our design to create, but the question is why we are hiding, and cover all this. It’s also mentioned the interest in how people interact with their soundings and with each other and the concern with identity. And he’s also Interested in spaces that are not created for human interaction. So, what I got from his presentation is that the purpose of his research would be to expose and celebrate what we can’t see. Regarding the layout and design of the presentation he was missing a few pages to complete what was asked on the brief, and even though he has a clean layout, the presentation is missing clarity. Even though he’s continuing with the previous research I believe there’s still missing a specific topic. What could be helpful to continue with this research is to narrow down the ideas to a few in other to get something more specific. Questions that you may consider for further research; how can I turn a space that is not created for human interaction into a habitable space? what type of space could this be? how is the interaction with space and with people going to be? And what’s the purpose of this space? “
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CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTION • PITCH 20 • SURVEILLANCE • BULDING • STREET • ROOM
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Westminster Underground Station INFRASTRUCTURE Infrastructure is an integral part of society as a whole and in the function of various buildings for our work and living needs. It is something that has integrated so thick in our life that without it society will inevitably fall into chaos. Its the means to provide essential services to maintain and improve our lifestyle. In a sense Infrastructure, it is about transport. It is about the Transportation of people, goods, services, resources and disposals — the movement of someone or something from place to place. As an Example, in the city, we have the streets, the energy grid, the aqueduct and the sewage. In a building, we have plumbing, electricity, heating. It is a network that combines different means services and resources to provide to society. Usually, the infrastructure gets covered by the materials that constitute the buildings or by a facade to make space or place more appealing to the users. Because it is essential for society, the selection of this topic means that the design and research need to align with the definition and provide a service to the users. The focus of this project is to use the language of infrastructure and make it part of the aesthetics of the place and use them as a guide for the users to traverse around the underground stations, connecting the underground with the surface. Providing Guidance, lightning and heat and connecting to various public types of furniture like benches, counter, bus stations, the emergency exits and types of equipment.
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PITCH 20
SITE Initially, the old Westminster station served only the Circle and District underground Lines in London. So the project team at Hopkins Architecture, constituted by Andrew Barnett, Patrick Nee and David Selby worked on the extension of the much deeper Jubilee line and the Portcullis House, to serve the parliament, above the old station. The project was complicated, to handle the depth of the station extension, the old lines and the support for the building, in the proximity of the Big Ben Tower and the Thames river, needless to say, it was a challenging project. The fact that the old lines cut across the site in a 45 degree influenced the design of the plan and structure of the station. This existing structure in return made the designers use the diagonal and orthogonal axes of the old lines and the building above, respectively, to plan the boundaries of the station. The Portcullis House architecture plays with the parliament building in front so that the landscape of the surrounding area does not get broken with it. Having these historical buildings surrounding it, we can understand the reasoning behind the design. As in Panita Karamanea text, its a way of maintaining the landscape and history. [6] https://www.hopkins.co.uk/ projects/15/109/
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MY PERCEPTION The Westminster Underground station is a place of transition, and not meant for people to stay inside. However, the chambers inside of it create a few different rooms meant to cross through them. Deep underground we have a three-story chamber constituted of 6 semicircular rooms divided by the gap on the two top levels, and by the structure and escalators on the bottom one. Each of this rooms connects to the Jubilee Line from different points, excepting the top two rooms, one of them connect to the Circle and district lines on top of them and the other one to subsurface level. All these rooms follow an Orthogonal Grid. The Circle and District line platform follows a diagonal grid. This platform is cut into two rooms by the train tracks and in order to cross to the other side, one must either go below or above a level. Moreover, on top of all these rooms, there’s the subsurface ticket station that connects to both the old and the new underground lines and also to the streets in 6 different points. One is in front of the Big Ben tower from the Portcullis house. [6] https://www. hopkins.co.uk/projects/15/109/
By Marc Auge Definition this underground station is a non-place, but the design and ingenuity of this structure is something to look. It may not foment human interaction, but then again it is not meant for that.
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ACCESS AND EXITS
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Circle Line District Line
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We could say that this station has 3 Streets, which would be The Circle Line “St.” The District Line “St.” and the Jubilee Line “St.”. The first one circling the Center of London, the second one going crossing the centre Southwest and northeast, and the last one from northwest to south-east and lastly northeast. These are the streets inside the station, but it also connects to the streets on the surface. It connects to Bridge St., Parliament St. and Victoria Embankment. This Station seems to work on rule of 3. Three levels: Underground, Subsurface and Surface. Three underground streets: Circle, District and Jubilee line. Moreover, the three surface streets. The design of this underground station is detached from British history. The style is so industrial, technological and global that it aesthetic appeal its neutral, it could be placed in any metropolis in the world and not be out of place — something that Earl Tai Realize by analysing Hu Yang Shanghai house photos, the rise in the Globalization in Cities, the universal language that encompasses the metropolis of the world.
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NEED “Over the past 100 years, the clay surrounding London’s Underground has warmed and is no longer able to absorb the trapped waste heat, causing the Underground temperature to increase to over 30°C. Excess body heat from passengers and heat generated by trainsgets trapped underground, and by installing a ventilation system the waste heat can be channeled, stored, and distributed to tackle fuel poverty. The largest consumer of fuel used in energy production is waste heat. In 1971, an estimated 68.5% of the fuel used to produce electricity in the United States was lost as waste heat. Like the heat in London’s Underground, energy that is being transported is continuously letting off energy in the form of heat, delivering a fraction of what was created at the plant. To effectively double or triple the efficiency of energy production, no additional fuel is needed other than what is currently being used. In place of more fuel, an effective waste heatrecovery system can use the design of cities to make urban areas the most energy efficient and greenest areas on earth.” [7] https://www.groundsure.com/blogs/heat-underground
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IDEA With the rechanneling of the heat, we could harness it to generate more power for the station and its surrounding. Also, It would regulate the temperature in the underground especially in the summer, where it gets above 30°C. Moreover, in winter it could help on creating hot spots on the sidewalk and Bus station for the commuters on the surface. By creating a network or infrastructure on underground stations, we can gather the heat waste of the trains and passengers. By using the existing infrastructure, we can implement a kind of parasitic structure wrapping and connecting the tube, providing a new image and furniture. To achieve this implementation, we will need to use different types of heat exchange mechanics and thermal generation. That has been already studied and proven to be effective even though the initial investment would be significant.
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Bus Stop
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ANALISIS These images show some of the spaces inside and right outside the station. We are focusing on the spaces that I would like to work on. On these images, we can see the sidewalk in front of the Portcullis House. On the sidewalk, we can observe the Bus station without furniture to accommodate commuters and a Gift Shop on the side. We can also see that this place is heavily transited mostly by tourist sightseeing the parliament, The Big Ben Tower, The River Thames and The London Eye from across the river. There’s no urban furniture on the sidewalk, but on the covered part of the sidewalk, we can see stores and vents near the ceiling and floor. We could connect these assets unto the network to provide more heated spots on the sidewalk.
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SURVEILANCE
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Here we can see the escalator chamber where we have the atrium that goes through 3 levels, on the sides are the escalators, on the bottom we got a column that goes through the whole station. Moreover, in the centre, we see the powerful lamps that shine from the ceiling.
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On this image, we can see the ceiling of the subsurface ticket level. The concrete beams are connected in a hexagonal and square grid but with rounded corners, giving it a smooth aspect. We can perceive the cable trays on the ceiling going through the beams and connecting the circular lamps.
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These images focus on the infrastructure of the Station, specifically the lightning, Speakers and signs. The Infrastructure of the first image shows two boxy trays covering the cable management and the lights and speakers on the gap between them.
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The second image shows the Jubilee line with a similar structure but with a more streamlined style. The infrastructure on these lines also carries CCTV cameras, signs and screens. The fact that these underground stations are like other stations opens this project to work on more places.
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On the underground, we can observe how these two line platforms behave and how commuters interact with the furniture. In peak hours the movement is constant, and usually, all the benches are used, and on low hours there’s, not a lot of movement, but the benches are still used. If we increase the number of benches and encourage the use of them, we could harness the body heat of the commuters in the underground and transfer it to the surface.
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This image shows a backlit panel mostly that works as a long sign that goes form both extremes of the platform.
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We could use this language and connect the furniture to the infrastructure and channel the excess heat of the stations through them.
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Jubilee Platform
“1- A relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows and often more than one level, used for any of a wide variety of activities, as living, entertaining, or manufacturing. 2- Anything built or constructed.� [3] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/building The whole platform is my building, the space that encompasses the room and the street.
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Building + Street + Room
“ A public way or thoroughfare in a city or town, usually with a sidewalk or sidewalks.” [4] https:// www.thefreedictionary.com/street
The street will be the road where people walk through. Its a space dedicated to the movement. The floor and train gates are my street, the sole purpose of them is the movement of people and access to the trains.
“ Space that can be occupied or where something can be done.” [5] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/
definition/room
The room will be the space that I will intervene it will not be a traditional room but in this project will be the space that will change. The walls of the tunnel are my room. Where the heat extractors would be. Covering the wall like a membrane connecting the existing infrastructure and the train tracks. Enveloping the whole tube and replacing the furniture.
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CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPMENT • PRECEDENTS • THERMODYNAMICS • DEVELOPMENT • ESSAY
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Proposals ‘In November 2013, London’s Mayor Boris Johnson announced a new initiative to channel this waste heat from the Underground tunnels and an electrical substation to provide heat to 500 homes, thereby cutting winter energy costs.Excess body heat from passengers and heat generated by trains gets trapped underground,and by installing a ventilation system the waste heat can be channeled, stored, and distributed to tackle fuel poverty.This project was generated as part of Mayor Johnson’s target to produce 25% of London’s energy from local sources by 2025. Reporters who maintain that the project will be unable to supply London with enough energy to meet the impending increase in energy demand have justly criticized it. In conclusion Waste heat represents the largest area for improvement in energy production and gives us insight to the future of urban morphology. To accommodate for this new system of energy conservation, cities will need to develop new forms of waste heat recovery as a foundation for urban development. New cities should be built based on the idea of capturing waste heat and utilizing the natural reserves of energy that cities have the unique advantage to obtain.
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PRECEDENTS
This can already be seen through the work of architects, whose designs distinguish between the passive and active areas in buildings, where an active area uses the design of the building to maintain its energy needs and a passive area must find its energy elsewhere.For the most part, the design for a more energy efficient future is already in place. Because of their dense populations, tall buildings, and infrastructure (all things which have traditionally been causes of greenhouse emissions), cities are already built to develop channels for waste heat and more efficient energy distribution. In the end, it is the urban areas that will be the most energy efficient. New styles of cities and urban development that will incorporate the capture and distribution of waste heat in its founding are on the horizon and will be forever intertwined with city planning and urban morphology.� [8] https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1565&context=sdlp
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The Science Heat transfer is a process function (or path function), as opposed to functions of state; therefore, the amount of heat transferred in a thermodynamic process that changes the state of a system depends on how that process occurs, not only the net difference between the initial and final states of the process. Mechanisms The fundamental modes of heat transfer are:
Advection Advection is the transport mechanism of a fluid from one location to another and is dependent on the motion and momentum of that fluid.
Conduction or diffusion The transfer of energy between objects that are in physical contact. Thermal conductivity is the property of a material to conduct heat and evaluated primarily in terms of Fourier’s Law for heat conduction.
Convection The transfer of energy between an object and its environment, due to fluid motion. The average temperature is a reference for evaluating properties related to convective heat transfer.
Radiation The transfer of energy by the emission of electromagnetic radiation. -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer#cite_note-Geankoplis-1
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THERMODYNAMICS
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Sketches
By drawing the existing on my site, I started to experiment how this network of heat exchange will connect to the different places on the station.
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DEVELOPMENT
I tried to recreate the shape of the ceiling in order to create the membrane which will stick on the surface of the tube. This will connect to the furniture and the existing infrastructure of the tube.
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With the amount of energy that Underground Stations loss in heat we could recoup energy from it, regulate the temperature in the station and provide heated spaces on the surface above the station for winter season. By creating an infrastructure with the sole purpose of extracting and channeling the wasted heat we could lower the energy consumption, and at the same time having conditioned temperature especially for summer.
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Heat Extractors hidden behind the existing light fixtures
Heat Extractors on the benches
Connection to the rails to extract heat from the trains 58 | page
Back
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Prototypes
These First models helped me understand how the Station looks and works underground, and with that, I could see how a network could link the different places to gather heat and transfer it to the parts where it would be needed.
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3D Print model This part of the model was 3D printed in resin for its size and fragile parts, and it also has a better finish from the other materials.
Laser-cut Layout The pieces are designed to fit each other like a puzzle for more stability, rigidity and ease of assembling.
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I worked the model on clear acrylic, given the underground nature of the project. This way I could show how the Infrastructure would work and connect to the different components that are in the station and on the surface. To give more clarity to the model, I engrave information on it so the viewers would know what the infrastructure is for.
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Places as a reservoir of memories and history
On this three-part essay, we will talk about the works of Marc Auge, Panita Karamanea and Michel de Certeau’s essays. We are starting with Auge’s text about Non-places and super modernity and how some of its thoughts does not work. Then we will move on to Karamanea’s article about Landscape, memory and contemporary design and how to use landscape planning in different cases and scales. Finally, we will talk about Certeau’s essay on walking in the city and how we experience spaces by traversing. All of this will conclude in a way to design, and how it intertwines with the infrastructure of society. Marc Auge is a French anthropologist who in his essay, Non-place: an Introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity, talks about the places who are concerned with temporality and constant transition. On this text, Auge explains how the technology and supermodernity have turn spaces into non-places. A place which is not memorable or has an identity and doesn’t relate to the individuals that inhabit them. Presenting various authors and different ideas to support his, he sets some examples to show what are these non-places. It seems that Auge is Criticizing the way cities are developing and how it affects the individuals in them. [1]
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Essay
Westminster station Jubilee line platform, as to show an example of non-place [1] To understand what a non-place is we first must understand what a place is. By Auge’s Definition, a place is defined by having a rational connection to its surroundings, having a history, and have a connection to the identity of the place and people surrounding it. By this definition, he concludes that space or place devoid of those characteristics is a non-place. A place like a bus or a train station, a supermarket and airports are few of the examples that the author gives to present a non-place. Also, he explains how a historical place can become a non-place by being treated as something to look at and not be interacted. All of these, cases he blames the supermodernity that society has getting accustomed with it. If we follow this definition strictly, every new thing that gets built would be a non-place.
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One of the things that apports to the creation of non-places are travellers. The vast majority of travellers do not perceive places as they should. Instead, they experience those places as an attraction. For a traveller a historical place is just something to pass by, look at and check out from their list. By traversing a place, the traveller turns the place into a non-place, not interacting with it just traversing through it or passing by it. By this measure Auge, says that Historical places lose their meaning and connection to its identity and history, and becomes just a landmark to be perceived in the distance or as a backdrop. Also, the creation of spaces for travellers to go through has become the norm, and as Auge says these are all non-places.
Schiphol Airport, a space made for travellers [2] Other reason contributing to the creation of non-places, is the use of the words, messages and text. By Auge’s account, he feels that the use of pamphlets with the name of a place can bring the idea of a place and severed the historical and relational connection to its surrounding making them more of an attraction than a real place. He also points out the way messages are used in stations to deliver the same message to everyone indiscriminately, and in return creating a non-place and the average man. He also gives an example of how the regular commuter enjoys the anonymity and freedom when traversing a non-place because they partake in a roleplaying experience when they can forget all their worries and chores, and that is something that its hard to believe anyone actively doing.
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Underground tube cabin, showing the lack of interaction with the commuters [3] There’s a significant undertone in Auge’s text that the lack of human interaction is part of what makes a place or a non-place. In a way, his interpretations show how the technology and the modernity that is taking place in the globe is stripping places of meaning and reducing human interaction. This view is a pessimist outlook on how technology has integrated into our lives. Having these so-called non-places, like supermarkets, motorways airports, has connected us more than ever. It is true that usually, people tend to not interact that much because of all the info being put out. However, those places do get to create histories, and memories in the collective mind of the people that traverse there. They serve as meeting points, chance encounters, and in a sense, it is like an edge habitat. Like in Basia Sliwinska article “Transnational Embodied Belonging within Edge habitats”, she talks about these in-between spaces that encompass a lot of different people without alienating them. [2] Furthermore, these places have become integral to the Infrastructure of our societies. The stations for bus and trains, the airports and motorways serve for the movement of people connecting us. The presence of supermarkets, delis, convenience stores supplies lively goods for the people around them. Hotels provide temporary housing for visitors accommodating them without alienation. Neither of these places outright eliminate human interaction, most of them are not full history and the concern for identity it is more globally focused given the increasing mixture of people and cultures. Auge’s view in these non-places seems more concern about the history, or lack of it that they have, and a romanticised way of getting information by asking and interacting with another person. He is not focusing on the collective memories and histories that individuals have on those kinds of places. The collective experience the people have in a place gives it history as time goes on. Just because a is a transitional and temporary space does not necessarily make it a non-place. Moreover, if one looks upon it as a part of a collective, it cannot be a non-place. Marc Auge’s definition of places and non-places are vague; we could use his definition of non-place to call almost anything that has one function, or something new. A new house or flat would be a non-place because it does not have a history yet, it serves as a living unit, and its concerned with the global apparel to encompass more potential buyers.
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Panita Karamanea is a Greek Landscape architect born in Athens. She studied in the Architecture school of Athens and did her master and PhD in landscape architecture in Barcelona. Since then she has been teaching Landscape architecture and has participated and won in international architecture competitions. A Leading consultant in big scale projects and interdisciplinary teams, and participated in research programs. With her background, she is more than qualified to talk about landscape architecture. [3] In her Thesis, “Landscape, memory and Contemporary design”, she talks about the genius loci of a place how the landscape is a reservoir of memories from the collective mind of the people that live in that place, giving them the sense of identity. [4] Moreover, she also talks about the approach architects have taken to reintegrate and or enhance the landscape to maintain those memories and the meaning of these places. In Karamanea’s introduction of the text, she considers Landscape architecture as a tool or means to understand the site or place and be knowledgeable enough to work on them and enrich the meanings they have.
London skyline, representing the silhouette of the city of London [4] Her thesis splits into two parts, the first one explaining the concepts of place, identity and memory, and how they connect with the landscape. Also, in the second parts, she focuses on different ways to work on landscapes by reviewing three different places and the different proposal each place got. Taking from different literary sources, she backs her definitions and explains how they connect. Starting with the definition of landscape architecture, she states that it is a big interdisciplinary field that addresses the connection between the natural and the human-made environment. It is concerned about the sustainability of the natural state and the culture and identity of the same. The landscape is an ever-changing place and its created from the human interaction with the natural site. By siting Simon Bell in “Elements of Visual Design in the landscape”, she states that Humans interact with nature in three ways: we understand nature then we symbolised our understanding of it, and finally we create, solidifying and creating our understanding of nature. [5] That last part explains the beginning of landscape architecture, how humanity started creating the landscapes that we identify ourselves.
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Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, England, a Landscape full of history and vegetation [5] Genius loci are the characteristic that makes a place different from others, the spirit, the things that make it unique. By being in these places and experience them we begin to have a relationship with it, creating new memories and history in time. These memories in return make us identify ourselves with these places and creating the identity of the people in it, giving us a sense of belonging. Using Marc Auge’s definition of place and non-place she reinforces her notion of landscape as being charged with identity and it is an identity builder. [6] She advocates for more research into places where people interact and creates common feelings of belonging, something that Basia Sliwinska in her Text “transnational embodied Belonging within “Edge Habitats” would undoubtedly agree to give the rate of immigrants that are moving to different places would benefit. [7] With Memory, shes uses the claim from Neuropsychiatrist and Nobel-prize winner Eric Kandel, that Memory is the centre of gravity of our identity. It is the link to the past that makes us experience the present with the context of what we have been. It is essential for the continuity of our identities and societies identity through time. How memory relates to the topos or site, is the memory and history it carries over time, it is the physical manifestation of memory preservation. [8] A well-preserved Landscape links ourselves to nature and history, giving us and the place an identity. In “On collective memory” sociologist Maurice Halbwachs states that the memories of people gain significance when contextualised with the collective memory, this mutual memory is the one that concerns us all. [9] Karamanea then goes to explain why it is crucial to maintaining these landscapes with a quote from French historian Pierre Nora. Nora observes the shift from the collective memory that occurs naturally to a conscious way of preserving memory. For the modern city, having the memory as a spectacle might lead to a new way of losing memory. Karamanea sees two things from that observation, the first one is the importance of designing and creating memory spaces and the second one is that the memory that occurs naturally is not happening. Having places that give us continuity and memory is of importance given the lack of naturally occurring memory sites. These landscapes of memory are not necessarily working places; they are more concerned with meaning and ideas. [10]
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In her conclusion, Karamanea quotes Architect Juhani Pallasmaa saying how humans give memory or rather remember through their bodies while walking and exploring places. This way of experiencing places give life to these landscapes, and it is very similar to Michel de Certeau essay, Walking in the city. The way human interacts with their surroundings by walking, exploring, encountering different routes or people is how we give meaning to a place, how we create memories and through time all the memories of the individuals become a collective and give meaning and identity to the place and people. [11] She also talks on how to work on Landscape Architecture, how to expose the genius loci of a place. The process of subtraction is about stripping the places from different things that covers the most active elements of the place, exposing them and maintaining the identity or the lost memory of it. It is not the same procedure in each site, and it is not an extreme change it is about exposing the inherent characteristics that connect to the past within a framework. Furthermore, it depends on the context and need of each site, the history and the surroundings, and we have to take in mind that a landscape is an ever-changing entity. The landscape is a reservoir of memories, history, ecology and its present both physically and in the minds of everyone. It is inherent for the sustainability of our societies and ecological environment, in a way is like an infrastructure that provides meaning and identity to the people around them.
Restoration of Roman Colosseum, showing a way of preserving Historical Landmarks [6] In a Way, Panita Karamanea’s essay on landscapes overlaps in various themes with Michel de Certeau work in “Walking in the City�, specifically in how the act of experiencing a place by walking through it creates memories. Michel Jean Emmanuel de la Barge Or Michel de Certeau was a French Jesuit with various academic studies under him. Born in 1925 in Chambery, Savoie, his education was varied. His work encompasses fields of history, philosophy, psychoanalysis and social sciences. After getting degrees in Classics and Philosophy at the University of Grenoble, he studied the work of Pierre Favre, the first Jesuit priest and theologian. That study introduced him to the Jesuit order in hopes to do missionary work in China. Having this broad background of knowledge and influences, he wrote about the way we perceive the city and how it changes from the different point of views. [12]
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Certeau wrote his essay “Walking in the City” on the theory of the ideal city in contrast to the rigid ideas the urban planners use in their designs. Poetically he starts by describing the city of new york from the 110th floor of the world trade center, comparing the city as a texture on contrasting extremes. Experiencing the city from that point makes us a voyeur, a spectator, looking at the city as an open book. This view let us see almost everything in the city but cutting ourselves from the experience of being in it. In contrast, by walking in the city, we found ourselves blindingly going through it, finding new routes encountering people and interacting with different peoples and places. By having that experience, we give meaning to the spaces we traverse in and disregarding the idea of the urban designers. Certeau explains how the religious paintings of Renaissance artist that depicted views of places that nobody could see to the ways we design cities nowadays. Going further with the urban planning, he talks about how urban practices transform the concept of the city. The city is the answer on how to manage the growth of human settlements and population. To design a city one has to think on how is it going to grow and articulate it in a way that is feasible. Now, as an operational concept, the city founded in a utopian view that follows three steps. First is the creation of a place that restraint the physical, and the socio-political aspect that constitutes it. Second, replacing the unpredictable timing of events with one of the traditional restraints. Moreover, third is the exclusion of anything that they can’t dealt, measure or predicted, to create a universal and interconnected city.
Painting of St. Peter’s Basilica, Representing an overview of the basilica that people usually don’t have [7] Having this utopic view of the city, Certau, calls out to acknowledge that the city in this concept is unreal and that the urban life gives way to the elements that the planners excluded. It is impossible to design a city where everything gets accounted for, and that is something that this way of planning did not take account. As the concept-city is fading away, he asks if the problems plaguing cities are also fading away, and points out that usually, the theories that don’t work become theories of failure and that the issues remain. Certeau proposes another way of practising urban planning. Instead of just rejecting the things that did not work why not focus on the individual and singular practices. Rather than looking to design a city from a macro scale, focus on the micro.
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As in Karamanea’s essay, Certeau gives an example of how some places in the city lose and gains new meaning throughout time. By having the people walk through the city, experiencing life and with each encounter event, the places gain new meaning and memories. These actions change the way we live the city contrary to the designer’s idea. It seems as this essay is Certeau criticism of the urban planning that’s been taking place in much of the biggest cities. He asks questions about how should a city be planned and gives light to different ways on urban design. In a way, this way to see the city is an interesting one, but it is in a way a utopian view. The human experience is something one cannot plan but rather let it happen, a city open to the possibility of a vast number of experiences would be fascinating.
Couple walking in New York, Representing the interactions one has with the city and with others [8] All of these works have in common the human experience. The act of interacting with space is what constitutes a place. It is by walking in a space that we give meaning to it, each interaction with each other and with space is creating a memory. In time, events will occur, we start gathering, doing activities together creating a collective memory stored in that space, therefore creating a space. From Auge’s point of view, one crucial fact of the creation of a place is the human interaction with each other, and that is why he thinks places without it are non-places. In Karamanea’s work, she says how landscapes are an archive of identity and ecology and give the people meaning and continuity of self and time. [13] Moreover, Certeau explains how the experience of traversing in the city gives meaning to it regardless of the desired plan. Human experience is the framework from which we get and give meaning to spaces. It is with these statements that we can understand how our surroundings, our cities and landscapes are the histories of society and how we identified ourselves in the context of them. So with this knowledge, we should strive to maintain these places and create new ones. Because every day that passes is full of new stories and in time those stories will be the history for future generations.
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“The Urban Memory Project encourages city residents to explore the vital relationship between their personal histories and the history of their city.� [9]
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References 1- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Aug%C3%A9 , (February 8, 2018), accessed december 21, 2018. 2- Sliwinska, Basia (2016) Transnational embodied belonging within ‘edge habitats’. Third Text, 29 (45). pp. 287-309. 3- https://www.arch.tuc.gr/en/staff/faculty-staff/faculty/karamanea-panagiota/, 2016, Accessed December 21, 2018. 4- James L. Jr Wescoat, Douglas M. Johnston, (2007) Political Economies of Landscape Change: Places of Integrative Power, P. 44 5- Simon Bell, (2004) Elements of visual design in the landscape. 6- Marc Auge, (1995), Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity, p77-78. 7- Eric R. Kandel, W. W. Norton & Company, 17 Mar 2007, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, pp.10. 8- Maurice Halbwachs University of Chicago Press, (1992), On Collective Memory. 9- Pierre Nora Représentations, No. 26, (Spring, 1989) Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory., pp. 7-24. 10- Juhani Pallasmaa, John Wiley & Sons, (14 May 2012), The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, pp. 44. 11- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Certeau, (June 26, 2018), Accessed December 22, 2019. 12- Panita Karamanea, Craft Plus Design Enquiry, (2015), Landscape, memory and contemporary design, Issue 7, p113-134. 22p.
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Image References 1- Westminster station Jubilee line platform, as to show an example of non-place Photo Taken by Tibaldo Rancier 2- Schiphol Airport, a space made for travellers https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QMsvFekkHNHvETbikAQ3UhJY5_8=/0x0:6016x4016/1200x800/ filters:focal(2527x1527:3489x2489)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57679715/224_ Masterplan_Schiphol_N16_a3.0.jpg (Accessed January 10, 2019) 3- Underground tube cabin, showing the lack of interaction with the commuters https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_1280,f_auto,q_auto,fl_lossy/wp-cms/ uploads/2016/10/3064686-poster-p-1-a-new-city-metric-measures-how-many-people-live-close-topublic-transport.jpg , (Accessed january 10, 2019) 4- London skyline, representing the silhouette of the city of London https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2145/0063/files/Sky-London580-SLideshow.jpg?v=1508229603 (Accessed january 10, 2019) 5- Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, England, a Landscape full of history and vegetation https://www.naturettl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/top-10-landscapes-uk-ross-hoddinott-9. jpg (Accessed January 10, 2019) 6- Restoration of Roman Colosseum, showing a way of preserving Historical Landmarks https://www.lifeinitaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/3162c49b4fbc30ac6b6e5853968b3544. jpg (Accessed January 10, 2019) 7- Painting of St. Peter’s Basilica, Representing an overview of the basilica that people usually don’t have http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29800000/Painting-of-St-Peter-s-Basilica-romancatholic-church-29888275-781-550.jpg (Accessed january 10, 2019) 8- Couple walking in New York, Representing the interactions one has with the city and with others. http://www.luxavision.com/pad/photos//2013/06/Couple-walking-in-New-York-800x533.jpg (Accessed january 10, 2019) 9- “The Urban Memory Project encourages city residents to explore the vital relationship between their personal histories and the history of their city.” (http://www.urbanmemoryproject.org/ , (2012) (Accessed january 10, 2019) https://i2.wp.com/newyork.thecityatlas.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files/2012/03/les_ mb1200_50qual_br2.jpg?resize=704%2C459 (Accessed january 10, 2019)
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