B.Arch Thesis - Toxic Enigmas

TOXIC

ENIGMAS

/ / AN AIR PURIFYING INFRASTRUCTURE

Valentina Corallo Studio 400 Architectural Thesis 2017 / / 2018

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

dedicated to my parents, sister, studio 400 peers, and advisor Karen Lange / /

research / /

table of contents

toxic agents p. 3 - 12 harmful effects p. 13 - 20

new typologies p. 21 - 32 site / / beijing p. 33 - 40 experimentation / / semi transparencia p. 41 - 48

abstract show p. 49 - 50 thesis / / toxic enigmas p. 51 - 126 limbo / / book show p. 127 - 132

toxic agencies

beijing

beijing

smog ridden beijing skyline

Air pollution has taken a massive toll on Chinese cities through ultimately taking over the Chinese landscape, and shrouding it in a thickening layer of smog. Outside, the air has become smoke induced, and the sky “a sunless thick grey yellow.” 1.01 Dust has swollen up the cities major freeways, covering most vehicles and surfaces, and permeating through citizens’ face masks. The extent of pollution has forced citizens’ to stay indoors, have multiple air purifiers at home, refrain from exercise, and has also caused the closure of main industries, which caused occasional halts in production, which continues to negatively affect the Chinese economy.

China is in an extremely unfavorable situation; air pollution has become such a self-perpetuating cycle that it will be hard, or even virtually impossible to break.

China has attemped to regulate air pollution and switch to alternative means of energy in the past decade, but have yet to completely remediate the issue. Efforts to prioritize research have been made through an increase in transparency in the process by reporting real time PM concentrations, and through strict regulation of vehicle emissions. An attempt to frame new environmental standards as a response to discovery of new hazardous substances, and efforts to regulate air quality in workspaces through eliminating airborne lead dust, have also been made. These efforts, however, have not been enough, and it will take Beijing, one of China’s major metropolises and urbanized centers, eighteen years to reach international standards for PM concentrations. 1.02 Air pollution has surpassed governmental control and is a communal problem, which affects all citizens alike.

COAL COAL COAL_01 fig 1.03

Even though the Chinese government has invested over 277 billion dollars in environmental protection efforts, their national plan has, nevertheless, yet to be implemented. 1.03 Sentiments of fear and parental guilt have overcome the Chinese population due to the unavoidable, or uncontrollable nature of this largely complex environmental issue. Consequently, public awareness on the issue has steeply risen, and a need to cope with this new, contaminated landscape has become public priority.

However, citizens of Beijing and other major Chinese cities, must not lose hope. Contaminated environments are still largely occupied by people across the globe, such as Chernobyl’ s radioactively charged landscape. Humans have shown an incredible sense of resiliency when it comes to environmental adaptability.

Humans could potentially occupy these toxic spaces in Chinese cities through: implementation of new technologies such as detection of toxins, endocrine disruptors, tracing chemicals found in air, larger scale purifiers, and an adoption of bio-monitoring data. 1.04 A regional grid construction and network of sustainable energy linkages could be adopted, and alternative transit systems could reduce emissions through serving multifunctional uses. New technologies could help inform life at a molecular level, and help ensure citizens’ safety through better understanding of their polluted topography. The implementation of a technological infrastructure could help alleviate air pollution’s many externalities, particularly one’s which harm citizen’s health and overall well being, and could return Chinese citizens’ their ownership on air, which is ultimately a common pool resource, equally owned by all.

The implementation of a technological infrastructure could help alleviate air pollution’s many externalities, particularly one’s which harm citizen’s health and overall well being, and could return Chinese citizens’ their ownership on air, which is ultimately a common pool resource, equally owned by all., and could return Chinese citizens’ their ownership on air, which is ultimately a common pool resource, equally owned by all.

Nerea Cavillo’s IntheAir project, are a series of urban scale experiments, which provide a solution to visualize and comprehend the effects of invisible components in the air, such as nitrogen oxide, pollen, and other toxic particles in the MadridArea.

The first experiment is a public installation in a plaza in the heart of Madrid, which is a “fogcloud” made up of bright tints and water vapors, in order to make microscopic elements in the air visible to the user. The different changing colors in this “fog cloud” act as an index to reveal different particulate content in the air, and reveals to citizens which elements they are breathing in real time. Through the creation of space that reveals air concentrations, it enables the user to “temporarily cohabit with aerial components, to sense them, and make sense of aerial conditions.” 1.05

The second solution is to display an air index on a digital screen, within a public setting. The air landscape displayed would conveyinformationinrealtimeaboutcitizens’actionsandtheiractions effects’ on the immediate environment. This platform showcases a direct relationship between the city, its citizens’actions, and what is being collectively produced in the air. The digital screen would also show citizens navigation through minimal contamination routes.

The project was intended to incentive or motivate a environmental political action through activation of public spaces, data transparency, and public interaction with their contaminated environments. The project’s main goal is to prioritize prevention over profit at a governmental level.

“It enables the user to temporarily cohabit with aerial components, to sense them, and make sense of aerial conditions.” 1.05

data analysis / /

fig 1.05 fig 1.06

fig 1.07

“Nuage Vert” / / He-He Helsinki, Finland

fig 1.08

nuage vert

he he

Nuage Vert is a public art installation in Helsinki, produced by architectural firm HeHe in collaboration with Helsinki Energy. The installation was composed of a green colored projection onto a vapor cloud emitted from the city’s main power plant. The project aimed to communicate local environmental efforts by residents and businesses in the Ruoholahti district of Helsinki. The installation became interactive through encouraging neighbors of Ruoholahti to unplug their electrical devices for a one hour time slot, between 7 and 8 pm. As less energy was used in this time frame, the green vapor cloud grew bigger and more apparent in the Helsinki night skyline. This encouraged public participation since there was a direct relationship among public interaction and the magnitude and installation’s overall success. It allowed the users’ to have ownership to the effect of the project, as if their energy conservation efforts where feeding Nuage Vert, the idea being that the energy conserved was transferred to the cloud. The project encouraged a collective effort and created a visible air quality index to raise awareness on environmental degradation.

The cultural impact of the installation was to incentivize art forms as political statements, and embedded these within the local Finnish culture. The installation was capable of holding significance to the public sphere, industry, the local residents, and by doing so achieved a sociopolitical status and relevance. Socially, the project activated the community and incentivized collaboration through decreased energy use. Public action was essential to the success of the project — which gave the public a sense of environmental control and air ownership rights. Nuage Vert was also successful in a technical sense — it decreased energy used in the area significantly during a 1 hr timeframe, which involved 30,000 people from the surrounding area, 5 large companies, and the 4,000 residents of Ruoholahti. 1.06

harmful effects

"I felt so sad. The life of our generation is drawing to a close. But what will we leave for the next generation? If the smog gets worse, their basic right to live can't be guaranteed."

Kong Ning

/ 02face masks galoresmog ridden beijing skyline

Addressing air pollution should be China’s main priority, due to the harmful psychological and physical effects it may have on its citizens. Long term exposure to high PM concentrations are associated with a wide array of diseases: such as ischaemic heart diseases, stroke, lung cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and myocardial infarction. 1.07 Exposure to fine particulate matter through childhood or pregnancy could also lead to premature births, intrauterine growth restrictions, and faulty lung development. 1.08 Air pollution was also identified as a carcinogenic element in 2013. 1.09 The physical effects of air pollution can already be seen in the Chinese population in the last decade, with “1-2 million premature deaths and 25 million disability adjust life years annually in China being attributed to air pollution.” 1.10

Chronic psychosocial stresses and adverse psychological effects are now also steadily increasing due to exposure to air pollution. Substantial evidence has been found on the direct correlation between PM concentrations and psychological distress or illness such as — anxiety, depression, and even increased risk of suicidal tendencies. 1.11 These illnesses worsen due to lack of outdoor activity — which tend to reduce exposure to sunlight, exercise, and lack of contact with nature or other green spaces, such as parks.

fig 1.10

Social stressors, such as poverty and social status, are also said to directly relate to highly toxic environments — and therefore has increased the population’s susceptibility and increased a need for environmental coping mechanisms. 1.12 Social hierarchy is highly embedded in Chinese culture, as the disparity between work migrant and traditional urban citizen is growing more stark, as the rural population is becoming urbanized. The number of people living in cities, which is currently 690 million, has finally surpassed those of the rural population, which has simultaneously pulled millions out of poverty, but also increased emissions in cities. 1.13 Densification of cities is also responsible for an enormous economic gap, where areas of the city are incredibly segregated, which allows for air to become a luxury, and traded in a global market, which only the wealthy few can afford.

This creates a larger disparity between rich and poor, since air pollution affects underprivileged groups more due to lower accessibility to privatized, and commercialized goods such as air purifiers, high tech air masks, and safe, nurturing indoor facilities, which do not pose psychological threat due to their faulty conditions. Within the national market, the creation of a “fake goods market” has also risen, and “over 120,000 counterfeit masks were seized in December 2015”, 1.14 where masks offered no air purification and created public concern over authenticity of air quality products in the market.”

The government plays a similar role in producing and publishing fallacious air pollution data in order to calm its citizens, and relies on coal as its main energy source. Government would declare air as being good when the opposite was true, and people have been shut out of the issue completely, and taken away their air ownership. China also relies heavily on coal for electricity generation, industrialization, and home heating mechanisms. Not only does the Chinese government continue to implement these largely polluting mechanisms in their infrastructure, but it subsidizes, and massively supports the production of coal, which in turn makes it an attractive and economically viable energy source. Government privatization of air and increased use of coal in industry is generating a social disadvantage, where people are not in minimal control of their air quality. Consequently, “Industrial pollution has come to symbolize a tradeoff between social welfare and economic development.” 1.15

High Density Apartment Complex / / Hong Kong, China fig 1.11

marry the blue sky / / kong ning

Marry the Blue Sky is a public exhibition in the streets of Beijing created by artist Kong Ning. This public demonstration took place due to the city’s pollution levels hitting a 13-month high. 1.16 The artist’s demonstration purpose was to attract passersby and encourage them to opt for public transportation instead of driving, since vehicle emissions are the main cause of air pollution in Beijing.

Kong Ning created and wore a wedding dress decorated with 999 3M N95 face masks, which is the most commonly used face mask in Beijing. 1.17 The wedding dress symbolizes the artist’s deeply rooted care for the environment, and her desire to care for it indefinitely. Through her use of a wedding dress, the artist personifies the blue sky and wants to marry it. The face masks represent her utopian view of a Beijing where masks are mere decorative elements, or can be a criticism or satire towards face masks, in this case being used for a pure , moral purpose rather than for toxic prevention. Kong Ning attempts to raise public awareness on the issue in order to eventually stir governmental action, and successfully decrease CO2 emissions in Beijing.

“I want to take all the PM2.5 away with me and let the vast sky swallow us. I want to marry the sky and let the blue sky be with me all the time.” 1.18

Kong Ning

fig 1.12

999M Face Mask Wedding Dress / / Beijing, China

fig 1.13 fig 1.14alcohol infused bar / / London, United Kindgom

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

alcoholic architecture / / bompass & parr

Alcoholic architecture transformed an ancient monastery into a walk-in cloud of breathable cocktails in Borough Market, London. The installation introduced an alcoholic weather system for your taste buds — where “meteorology mixed with mixology.” 1.20 The alcoholic environment was fully immersive due to the space becoming a man-made cloud composed of alcohol and mixers in a 1 to 3 ratio, which was then dispersed using powerful humidifiers. The humidity was set at 140% to heighten the alcohol’s flavor perception. 1.21 The visitors interacted with the environment through the use of a protective suit, which only left their face exposed, where they could then inhale alcohol through their lungs, and even eyes. Inhaling alcohol allowed for the user to feel inebriated with 40% less alcohol than during regular, oral consumption. Safety regulations, however, only permitted users to stay within the space 50 minutes at a time, which according to the artists’, was the equivalent of sipping one mixed drink. 1.22

This breathable cocktail cloud introduces air’s potential to act as both a diffuser and carrier of psychologically altering elements. 1.23 Our immediate environments, especially in densified cities, are ridden with a plethora of toxic elements existing in air, which pose a negative effect on our bodies.

“Alcoholic architecture transformed an ancient monastery into a walk-in cloud of breathable cocktails” 1.19

new typologies

Our current cities are a hybrid of the natural and cultural. Urbanist networks now provide its population with all resources needed for human sustenance — such as water, food, clothing, housing, and even air. 1.24 Air, however, has been commodified and privatized, resulting in complete deprivation and mismanagement of the resource. Technological progress was also prioritized over all other societal values, during the Industrial Revolution, and thereafter, which created a myriad of environmental externalities. Mastering and taming nature came as a result of the Industrial Era, and became a symbol of progress. An extensive connection of highways to one’s home became a capitalist dream, and created a whole new terrain of power struggles and socio-economic segregation. Through this massive wave of industrialization in the last couple of centuries, air has become a “toxic sublime”, resulting in the transformation of the landscape into a breathable, toxic cocktail of air. 1.25 This gave way to the rise of the “modern dystopia”, converting cities into extremely polluted urbanscapes, segregated and oppressed communities, which are lacking in sanitary conditions and deteriorating working quality. 1.26 The “modern dystopia” created a greater socio-economic gap as well as led to a more totalitarian governmental control. This project will aim to return the city and give back ownership rights to its people — through an infrastructural network, adaptable to current climatic conditions, that will satisfy industrial, commercial, public, and individual needs.

A structural adaptability to increased pollution is an essential component in order for the modern dystopia to sustain itself. This new highway infrastructure should adapt to the public’s needs to cope with air quality — in a physical and psychological manner. The infrastructure should become a highly publicized element embedded within the Chinese landscape, in an attempt to decentralize systems of power, which are currently commodifying and controlling common pool resources, resources that should be owned by all and for the use of all. The infrastructure would also attempt to break architectural classism, and become an urban renewable energy source. Since humans have altered air fundamentally, even to the point of irreversibility, the structure should prioritize adaptability to this new contaminated landscape through an array of unconventional strategies with high public engagement. New, more publicized programmatic conditions that adapt to local societal, political and economical events could arise, such as spaces geared towards climate refugee housing, the carbon-removal industry, renewable energy gas stations, and public transportation connecting to the current Beijing transit system, as well as an air cleansing infrastructure to cope with the densifying nature of the city. Other spaces could be more phenomenological — and adapt to Chinese society’s current psychological and physiological needs. Spaces could have a cleansing and detoxifying nature, and become baths, saunas, and other therapeutic spaces. There is a lot of space for growth in terms of programmatic needs of a Chinese dystopian society, where the infrastructural quality of spaces could be implemented in a wide variety of forms.

Large scale, whimsical strategies could be implemented through new technological practices that introduce air as a major design element. Air quality should remain visible, in order to remain as a political statement towards air degradation, and should serve as a public index to increase awareness on current environmental conditions. Thus, this new “air” infrastructure, could come in a wide array of forms — such as pneumatic structures, blow up structures, or densified fog structures.

BUBBLE BATH_03

1 / PNEUMATIC STRUCTURES

[Pneumatare reliant on both air and human labor, and suggest transportation through air pressurized systems. 1.27 These modes of transportation can suggest use for both goods and people. A pneumatic structure could materialize the “medium”, which in this case is air, and could allow the user to understand the connective quality of air, as well as increase transparency on an air cleansing process. This could allow the government to rectify itself in the eyes of its citizens, since their air data index has always been faulty and unreliable. Different pneumatic tubes, or pipelines, could showcase different “mediums”, or different stages of the air cleansing process, either through scale, color, or location in the new infrastructure. Pneumatic tubes could help the population visualize air quality in a dynamic and technological way.

2 / BLOW UP STRUCTURES

have the potential to create monumental, powerful spaces. These structures take on the form of a “bubble”, with virtually no physical properties. 1.28 It is an air-filled shape, which houses a voidspace that can be modified to fit any programmatic need. The “bubblelike” nature of a blow up structure creates a sensation in which the “sky is free and belongs to everyone.” 1.29 This could help introduces new experiences through the introduction of a new, virtual environment with a completely new micro-climate, greatly differing from the immediate context. Through their large scale, overarching form, they also offer protective spaces which could potentially preserve ecosystems from the toxic nature of air pollution. It could envelop an entire society, and provide refuge to marginalizedcommunities.

3 / FOG STRUCTURES

would utilize the densification of air and different air qualities to inform spaces, and create physical boundaries between them. Fog condensation could be used in different ranges, take on various scales or forms, or become the center mass of the structure, introducing the cleansing quality of the project to its users. This type of structure would intend to manipulate air quality itself, and through this alteration, simultaneously manipulate users’ psychology and perception of space. Condensed air, or fog, could respond to atmospheric conditions, and could inform the cleansing process through its ever-changing nature. This new structure could allow air to become a monolithic unit, and the singular materiality, instead of being manifested into a secondary structure. This could become the purest form of an “air space” or air as architecture.

fig 1.19

fig 1.18

Valentina Corallo

Architectural Thesis

fig 1.21 fig 1.22

“Blur Pavilion” / / Diller Scofidio Lake Neuchaten, Switzerland fig 1.21

The Blur Pavilion is an “architecture of atmosphere.” / / Diller Scofidio & Renfro 1.30

Valentina Corallo

blur

The Blur Pavilion is an “architecture of atmosphere.” 1.30 The pavilion is fully enveloped by a fog mass made up of both natural and manmade forces, which is created through the pumping, filtering, and shooting of water as fine mist through thousands of high pressure nozzles. The smart system is able to read the site’s shifting climatic conditions, such as temperature, wind speed and direction, and humidity, in order to regulate water pressure accordingly.

1.31 The fog mass creates a “white-out” zone, where visual and auditory senses are heightened, and all other senses are masked. The fog “blob” allows for an unregulated movement to occur within it, since it takes on an amorphous shape. Air as a carrier of water is the primary material, and is the element which alters the site’s phenomenological qualities.

The pavilion is a large, open public space which the user approaches through a ramped bridge. The 400 m long ramp deposits the user in the center of the fog mass and onto an open air platform. The “fog cloud” allows serves a nightly function, in which it turns into a dynamic, and thick video screen to display artwork or films; it serves as a living billboard.

A “fog cloud” could be, conversely, applied to air, and allow for the fog to become smog. There could be an archi tectural human interaction with different densities of smog, in order to compare each spaces phenomenological nature and sensory qualities. The spaces could serve to analyze the effects of smog space on the human psychology. A profile reader could even be implemented in order to gather personality data on the user and individually alleviate their illnesses caused by smog.

dusty relief / / b_mu

An environmentally conscious design for a contemporary art museum in Bangkok, Thailand, was created by architects R&Sie(n). The museum’s skin would be a random relief calculated by particles and pixelation of air under the grey sky of Bangkok. The museum would be enveloped by an aluminum electromagnetic, and electrostatic skin, which would allow collection of dust and carbon monoxide particles coming from Bangkok’s highly polluted environment. The skin would be contrasted by white, euclidean interior gallery spaces. 1.32 Bangkok is characterized as being a very gray, luminous, and polluted city. The skin accounts for Bangkok’s environmental qualities and helps capture CO2 residue in the air and standardize and regulate Bangkok highly luminous skies.

“B_Mu Museum” / / R&Sie(n) Bangkok, Thailand

1.23

fig 1.24 fig 1.25

electromagnetic skin studies / / Bangkok, Thailand

Valentina

beijing, china

smog ridden beijing skyline

Beijing is one of the largest metropolises in the world. The city has a population of over 21M people, and occupies an extensive area of 6,490 mi2, which is roughly ten times the size of Tokyo. 2.01 Beijing has experienced increasing urban development since the last decades of the 20th century — with new high rises scattering and residential districts spreading far out. Urbanized areas have grown more than 10 times over only during the past fifty years — due to million of migrant workers from rural areas settling in Beijing to seek for better job opportunities. 2.02 Large economic growth has propelled Beijing’s fast-growing urbanization and densification, has led to 50% of Chinese citizens to now live in cities — as opposed to rural areas. 2.03

High densification caused an increase in CO2 emissions due to more demand for coal-powered products, and an increase in vehicle traffic, which is responsible for 1/3 of Beijing’s smog. 2.04 An agenda to shift to electric vehicles is being pushed, in order to alleviate impact of direct emissions. Older vehicles will also be retrofitted to reach environmental standards. Due to Beijing’s massive scale, an multi-functional infrastructure will be needed to create a space for older vehicle retrofits, electric cars manufacturing, public transportation, and other sustainable efforts.

3rd ring road highway / / Beijing, China

fig 2.02 fig 2.03

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

Beijing has an extensive highway network, connecting all major urbanized areas to one another. The highways are structured around a series of rings — where four rings connect people to outer suburban areas. Beijing has a unique infrastructure since it possesses ring roads, or beltways, instead of linear highways. The first ring road was built in the 1920s, connecting a 17-km radius to the inner downtown area, and was built to symbolize China’s new willingness to embrace modernization and globalization. 2.05 The second ring road was an expansion, which formed a loop around central Beijing, and touched upon four main districts: Dongcheng, Xicheng, Xuanwu, and Chongwen. The second ring road also runs through the original Beijing Railway Station, and is connected to the airport expressway. The third ring road was built in the 1980s and passes through different financial districts and residential, such as Chaoyang and Dongzhimenwai, connecting the individual with the exterior, social and economic urban structures. 2.06

The site is located in the third ring road due to its strategic location, where large scale meets small scale, and public meets private. The site is meant to create a bridge between personal and urban values — and create a multi purposed center for larger solutions to be tackled, in addition to becoming a safe haven for individual physiological needs.

The site is on a major highway intersection — part of Beijing’s five major ring roads. The highway lies between two principal financial districts, Chaoyang and Dongcheng, which are part of the downtown Beijing area. The downtown Beijing area is the densest out of the Beijing boroughs, and is also in a central position, allowing the most citizens equal access to external neighborhoods, and back to the most vital economic and social areas of the city.

chaoyang park S rd

chaoyang N rd.

chaoyang rd.

jiangou rd. tonghuihe n rd.

guangyu rd

experimentation

semi transparencia

The table design was an attempt to evoke air qualities into a vernacular, practical structure. The sloping quality of the table top suggests a topography -which undergoes a material transformation that conveys solidity and fluidity.

The table design attempts to disappear in “fog” -- through the topographic nature of the design changing to a translucent material, with openings which reveal the interior geometry and structure of the piece.

Elements can be embedded onto the landscape through curved undulations and cut out voids into the table top.

The table touches the ground gently at four angled points, creating more emphasis on the table landscape., and continuing the axis established by the leg cap components.

deconstructed plan / / 1” - 1’-0”

a. steel frame

b. leg caps

c. sloped table top

fig 3.05

Valentina Corallo

Valentina Corallo

fig

fig

Toxic landscapes was intended to be a critique towards our modern societies’ largely consumerist tendencies, which lead to disposal of toxic content that harms our earth indefinitely. The disposable packaging that comes along with everyday products we love - such as coffee and soda, come with an environmental burden, due to the energy intensive process and the toxic fumes emitted through the creation of the plastic cup.

This abstract piece was supposed to encourage the user to scavenge through toxic versions of their favorite products, and find a manifesto advocating for an environmental agenda to be pushed. The manifesto imagined our world in 2100 - a world different from our comfortable lives now, in which air pollution choked all cities, and in which global environmental damage was so great it was unable to be remedied.

toxic enigmas

Beijing currently faces the worst air pollution on the planet. Toxic Enigmas aims to provide a new air-centric infrastructural typology in order to cleanse the smog-ridden air, and provide refuge with detoxification facilities for the public. Situated over a ring highway, the structure is a filtering wall facing the highest population density while funneling the smog from this high density/high polluting metropolitan area before it reaches the less densified urban areas.

Toxic Enigmas is a smog filter, which also offers an enclosed public passageway, or “air lock” designed to avoid exterior conditions for when particulate matter in the air exceed safety standards. This new infrastructure allows public interest and ownership of the common resource, air. Attached to the major component of the building, the smog filter, is a smog brick factory intended to produce revenue for the building and compensate for costs of construction. The building is meant to be entirely self sufficient, powered through renewable energy sources such as wind. A greenhouse component is also included in order to naturally purify the air.

The structure also provides transparency and public accessibility to environmental data,displaying real time particulate concentration matter in the air on a digital screen, since currently environmental issues are entirely governmentally controlled.

4.02

Valentina Corallo

form finding / density studies

05a. / Density study fig 4.03

Density studies immensely enrich environmental studies and their architectural capacity. In order to come up with an approriate form for a new infrastructural typology in such a densified city, I first explored contextual densities surrounding the highway. The highway is surrounded by several malls, office units, and even smaller garden plots. Following these typologies, I started developing a massing study with a vertical and horizontal component; the vertical would become the filtration system, which funneled air adjacent to the highway, and pumped it out into beijing’s atmosphere, and the horizontal would become a more public / industrial component, which would delineate the highway and provide refuge from the immediate context.

The horizontal component of the massing study would intersect the streetscape and ground, creating interesting interstitial spaces, in which public program punctures through the highway. This formal quality allows users to engage with the highway in a more personal way. This allows users to understand the cause of air pollution intimately, since vehicular emissions are the primary cause of this environmental issue.

3RD RING RD / / BEIJING

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

05a. / Massing density study fig 4.04

infrastructural program

AIR OBSERVATORY

CHARGING STATION

ENERGY CORE

SMOG BRICK FACTORY

THE BUBBLE transit hub and experiental detox spaces

STRIP MALL

05b. / Initial Program Studies

4.05

SMOG TOWER

SEMI - PRIVATE

sectional studies

The section allows us to not only understand the vertical air filtration system components, but also understand the spatial relationships between the horizontal programmatic elements and the air filter; or in other words, how the public interacts with both the air purifying structure (vertical) and the highway (horizontal).

The air purifying structure sits on top of a greenhouse, which acts as the primary purifier, as well as provides the public a green space, as refuge from the concrete, smog ridden jungle that is the city of Beijing.

The greenhouse structure is the first space where the users can interact with the air filter. It also sits next to the highway, which allows the users to interact with another infrastructure. This formal move decreases the scale of the highway relative to the user - it makes it more approachable.

4.07a

05c. Iteration 1 fig 4.07b

05c. Iteration 2 fig 4.08

05c. / Iteration 4 / Integrated fig 4.09b

OFFICES

NValentina Corallo Studio

SMOG BRICK FACTORY

AIR FUNNEL

Eresearch dirtiest air condensed into smog bricks for profit smog use maximized through a series released at top

maximized / purified series of filters until

SPA / SAUNA

heated by wind turbines purified air

WIND TURBINES / PLAYSCAPE

GREENHOUSE

S

wind turbines propel air into purifier plants help air purification process public access to greenery amidst smogscape

W

05f. / Thermal Relationships fig 4.11

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

05g. / Elevation W fig 4.12

SMOG

Valentina Corallo

juomaord

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

SMOG BRICK FACTORYVII.

FOG PLAZA

public plaza

enjoy air’s

second major

FILTER

THERMAL BATHS

TURBINE GRID / OFFICES / LAB

air filter

The high-rise Toxic Enigmas structure is composed of an air filter and adjacent private and public spaces for both research and leisure. The air filter is a void - sitting in between these programmatic sequences, which funnels smog from the highway, directly from the vehicle emissions, into the structure. The smog travels through a series of filters, each with its own cleansing and purifying capacity. The filters are the following: a fine mesh pre-filter, which “keep the main filter more efficient for trapping smaller, more harmful particles and also keep the filter lasting longer and the unit running more smoothly,”3.01, a true HEPA filter, which captures up to 99% particles such as dust, pollen, and mold, a UV catalytic filter, which removes bacteria and viruses, and finally a negative ion purification filter, which removes the remaining 1% of micro-particles in the air. The last filter leads up to the major air exhaust, located at the top. The major exhaust expels the now clean air into the city of Beijing, and runs constantly, with exception to emergency maintenance, and monthly maintenance days.

The filter can be accessed through the office and lab spaces, as well as a series of catwalks which connect it to the main renewable wind turbine energy grid. The filter is clad in fritted glass panels, and hence can also be viewed from the thermal baths. This transparency in the air filtration system allows the public anywhere in Beijing overlooking the tower to understand the magnitude of this environmental issue.

WESTWARD WINDS

AIR INTAKE

AIR EXHAUST / 2

AIR EXHAUST / 1

thermal baths

Thermal baths have been considered to have healing and restorative properties throught ancient history. Egyptians and Ancient Greeks considered water to be the “essence of life”, and held water to be have beneficial disease protecting, cosmetological, and physical relief effects. 3.02 Water vapours cause sweating, which causes the body to release toxins and “eliminate all heavy metals and toxic chemicals.” Studies also show that most toxins can be released through the skin, which “regenerates a person’s health and energy” 3.03 The act of sweating secrets toxic chemicals from the endocrine, nervous, and immune system. 3.04

Adjacent to the major air filter infrastructure, and placed directly above the wind turbines, the thermal baths receive heat transfer in an efficient manner. The thermal baths are heated by the wind turbine renewable energy generation, in which the energy is transferred to steam generators, which trickles into the baths. The baths are also directly accessible from the greenhouse, the major enclosed public space, through various elevator shafts which pass next to the air filter. This allows the users to experience air purification, prior to experiencing physical and psychological purification and detoxification, through using the bath facilities.

The thermal baths are composed of a series of enclosed individual sauna rooms and large pools for collective enjoyment. Facilities are provided in order for citizens of Beijing to undergo detoxification from their immediate environment, which is smog-ridden,

5.05

fig 5.06

fig 5.07

sauna pools pools

steam generators

pools

Thermal Baths / Sauna / Pools

wind turbine / offices / lab

Beijings’s detrimental smog issue stems from its position relative to China’s wind patterns. Wind patterns “sweep air pollution back to the eastern coast line, right where Beijing is positioned.” 3.05 Other cities such as London and Los Angeles, where able to successfully mitigate urban smog by moving their production centers to more sparse, rural areas. This strategy, however, does not work in China, since wind patterns, regardless, carry smog back to the Eastern Coast, an area which most metropolitan cities lie in. 3.06 In order to mitigate this issue, Toxic Enigmas implementes a wind turbine infrastructure along with an air filter facing East in order to sweep wind into the structure for energy generation, and purify air simultaneously.

The wind turbine grid system has a system of catwalks, which bridge the air filtration system, in order to provide maintenance, either repair or replace air filters that might be damaged in time, or be obsolete due to new technologies arising.The wind turbines are also facing west, which is the prevailing and strongest wind direction in Beijing, as to suck the air into with as much force as possible, in order to maximize energy efficiency. The offices are adjacent to the main filter, and also have direct access to the system in order to conduct research and witness the filtration system working in real time. The lab is embedded into the filter, and can be accessed from the offices. The lab is intended for experimentation of new purification technologies, and testing them on

fig 5.10 fig 5.11

Beijing is one of the world’s largest and most dense urban areas, at “61,000 people / square mile”. 3.07 Through the implementation of ring roads, Beijing has been densifying and suburbanizing over time, as more and more ring roads are added to the metropolitan area. This high densification is eliminating green space in the city, leaving its population with no direct access to a natural environment for physical activity or therapeutic needs.

Toxic Enigmas accommodates an enclosed greenhouse into its facilities for citizens in need of a natural respite or refuge from the immediate, densified urban environemnt. The greenhouse also provides fresh, clean air, and has a filter directly embedded in order to act as a pre filter, before the smog enters the main air filter infrastructure. Citizens walk directly from either the street, or subway entrance into the greenhouse. The greenhouse sits directly level to the freeway, shifting citizens perspective and perceving the highway proportional to the human scale.

The greenhouse is composed of a series of modulated pods which sit directly on the greenhouse wall, maximizing natural daylighting and open public space.

fig

fig

v.fog plaza

The fog plaza is situated adjacent to the second air exhaust, which includes a series of nozzle mistifiers that convert air into fog in order for the public to have an experiental and phenomenological connection to this newly purified air. The fog plaza has a system of mistifiers arrayed on a grid, which create a system of walkways for public leisure and family entertainment.

This particular program is inspired by the Blur Pavilion in Lake Neuachten in Swizterland, by firm Diller Scofidio and Renfro, completed in 2002. The pavilion mistifies water from the surrounding lake, while the Toxic Enigmas’fog plaza mistifies clean air.

fig 5.17

fig 5.18

fig 5.19 fig 5.20

fog plaza

Fog

exhaust

public entrance

The structure can be accessed by an enclosed, “air-locked” public entrance, which provides refuge from the immediate environment, especially when particles per matter in the air exceed WHO standards. A healthy, acceptable PPM WHO standard is 20 ppm, and Beijing has had PPM readings well above 500, making it a necessity to provide a enclosed public entrance for citizens overall health and well being. 3.08

The air locked tube intersects both the streetscape and Guomao subway station, which lies directly below the 3rd ring road highway intersection. The structure is clad with glass fritted panels which gradiate into a darker blue hue the higher the PPM levels are on a given day. This allows user to visually understand their environmental situation in real time, without having to directly experience it.

fig 5.22

fig 5.23

fig 5.24 fig 5.25

subway entrance

brick production line loading dock

street entrance

smog brick factory

Smog bricks are a new, rising technology started by Chinese artist Brother Nut, in which he used an industrial-vacuum outside the streets of Beijing for a total of 100 days in order to funnel smog, and eventually condense the dust and mold particles into a brick. Dust particles he found were often even“30 times as large as a human hair strand.” 3.09 Through introduction of a smog brick factory in the Toxic Enigmas’ program, smog can be re purposed to serve an architectural use, and become a new construction material.

The factory funnels smog remnants from the main air purifying infrastructure into smog furnaces which condense the particles into bricks. The bricks are then cut to shape on the brick production line, where they’re then set on tracks leading up to a series of three loading docks, which can be picked up for commercial use. Some bricks can also be used to keep building onto the air purifying infrastructure, and accommodate more surging programmatic needs.

fig

brick production

loading dock

production line

smog furnaces

street entrance

Smog Brick Factory

5.31

5.32

fig 5.35

fig 5.36

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

3rdringrd

limbo

thesis book show installationsmog ridden beijing skyline

Limbo is a thesis book show installation designed by prof. karen lange’s fifth year architecture studio, comprised of 19 architecture students. The concept, “limbo”, proposed a surrealist room, that was meant to be an in-between space between different realities. The show showcased the students’ fall quarter thesis research books. The installa tion comprised of a surrealtable meant to be used as both a catwalk and a dinining table. The user entered the room through the dining table, and then proceeded to sit down at a chair, where a singular thesis book was placed on a plate in order for the user to sit down and read.

The space changed realities through the use of projections of different landscapes, providing different lighting, and changing the overall mood of the space. The dining table was also decorated with varied white paraphernalia , in order to add to the surrealist effect.

My team was in charge of the creation of the dark room, which we completed by creating a steel frame, attaching it to the roof’s existing structure, and attaching white curtains in order to have a seamless projection space.

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

White Projection 01 fig 6.03

Architectural Thesis

2018

White projection 02 fig 6.04

White Projection 03 fig 6.05

Valentina Corallo Studio 400

Western Projection 01 fig 6.06

Architectural Thesis

/ 2018

Western projection 02 fig 6.07

Western projection 03 fig 6.08

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