The Tea Party | Term One

term one Camila E . S o t o m a y o r Tutor . S h a u n M u r r a y

Masters in Architecture c.sotomayor@ucl.ac.uk

|TABLE OF CONTENTS | ///\\\Table for Nine///\\\ .................................................................................................... 3 ///\\\THE SWAMP///\\\....................................................................................................................... 5 ///\\\THE FOREST///\\\...................................................................................................................... 7 ///\\\THE CLIFF///\\\.......................................................................................................................... 9 ///\\\THE SWAMP | take two///\\\..................................................................................................... 11 ///\\\THE FOREST | take two///\\\.................................................................................................... 13 ///\\\THE CLIFF | take two///\\\........................................................................................................ 15 ///\\\THE ORGANISM | agent of change///\\\................................................................................... 16 ///\\\THE SWAMP | Keeper - Instigator///\\\..................................................................................... 22 ///\\\THE FOREST | Keeper - Instigator///\\\.................................................................................... 23 ///\\\THE CLIFF | Keeper - Instigator///\\\......................................................................................... 24 ///\\\BIBLIOGRAPHY///\\\................................................................................................................ 25

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Table for Nine

curiosities within Architectural practice...

I. The opportunity to combine dissonant principles. ie. Politics, Economics, Social theories, Technology...

II. To walk the line between what exists in our immediate reality and what might be possible with a sprinkle of fiction.

III. Within a project to reuse - recycle concepts that feed back into a project to either strengthen or provide innovative solutions.

IV. To think locally instead of globally, although collectives are important.

V. Parallels between Cuisine and Architecture.

VI. The “Marxist� thought: ie. the where? & why? of things rather than accepting pure face-value.

VII. Translation between emotions or the ethereal into reality - the grounding.

VIII. Experimenting with reuse - recycle of materials, waste and existing conditions.

IX. Multiplicity

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\\\The Swamp///

+ Idea of above/below --> Florida swampland where only the ghost orchid grows versus danger of

alligators pikes and snakes. + mire/stuck/heat/floating/heiarchy + The Swamp was the end result of Hurricane Katrina breaking levees: Military Hydrology + Cult movie: The Swamp Thing . 1982

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\\\The Forest///

+ Environmental canopy - shade + Ground dwellers - live in roots on forest floor often without sunlight + Canopy dwellers - rotate from tree to tree oftentimes not even going to the ground at all + Large net where several scientists live for months documenting the Amazon or in Madagascar + Hierarchy within the verticality similar to cliff + A collection - repitition forms the whole

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\\\The Cliff///

+ The ecology of the cliff as seen in the Antartic. Alaska, with melting glaciers. + Reality of the Inuit having to relocate due to their environment melting and becoming unstable. + Like a domino effect the melting of the Polar Ice caps leads to effects elsewhere --> coastal zones (California, Florida & seasides) will slip underwater. + With the cliff itself the sheer sides can provide a dwelling. Ie: rapelling and hanging pads. + Challenging the verticality of a cliff in a perpendicular manner like the Anasazi who live inside the cliff.

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\\\The Swamp | take two///

The important aspect was to show the above & below of the swamp environment. The two point perspective allows a magnification which is offset by the large Banyan trees these in turn stress a vertical growth towards their roots. Banyan trees as organisms are fascinating, they double back and shoot roots to the ground, there is great potential for manipulation as shelter.

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\\\The Forest | take two///

Splicing the view of the forest into canopy and roots. The canopy is a mode of filtration and shelter. A heirarchy exists between a macro and micro scale. The leaf is a cyclic filtration at the micro scale while the trees form a collective macro filtration system. Using the Fibbonacci sequence which is found in nature, are the growth of trees truly random or is there a pattern governed by reason.

With the opposite view the roots and bark offer a layering of systems. From the tree’s own bark as a layering over time to the idea of tree rot. A diseased tree will expose its innards while leaving the bark caseing. The Human Pappilo Virus may present itself as a growth of roots on a human’s hands and feet. The virus hijacks the immune system and orders skin to grow gnarly and root like.

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\\\The Cliff | take two///

A redrawing of the first cliff idea. Continuing with the focus on verticality and sheer drop of the ice floes [inuit relocating to cliff faces bypassing the melting glaciers], playing with the possibility of either hanging structures or actually interfering withthe volume of the cliff by digging perpendicularly.

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\\\The Organism |agent of change///

Within an operational sense how the organism works was a big question: thinking thoroughly how it disperses within an environment, how it collects surfaces [shedding, suction cups, bio mimicry]. So far it is an “it�. Where does it come from, a thistle as a generator. The energy comes from the seed. Will the seed bring forth an animal or a hybrid? [looking into robot prosthetics to model the mixture of mechanics with a living tissue as part of an animal; if a starfish could regenerate a bionic arm instead of skin and bones]

Setting the form aside, the naked idea is an organism that can live in three basic environments, born out of the concept of hierarchy. This structure inherent everywhere becomes the all-consuming drive of the organism; to collect, compile an addendum of surroundings, a DNA database [remember Peter Postlethwaite in Aeon Flux, a guardian of a library in the sky that held the living memory and of every human being]. This organism would be the lab assistant of Carl

Linnaeus or Ernst Haeckel. Without any database the organism is limited to its seed volume. Only through the acquisition of DNA from others does it have a method of defense, feeding or survival. Within its own system, the hierarchy of information would determine what form it would take in any given situation.

The survival skills of a shark would take precedence over that of a seal. The organism is in constant flux to suit its environment, it is a hybrid of a hybrid of a hybrid... The organism is now a Keeper. It becomes the guardian of life itself, storing elemental data in preparation for nature’s eventual obsolescence.

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Transmittance would occur with touch. Through a two-way osmosis, the Keeper releases nano particles into the organism as a tracking device, this link serving to transmit new skills the organism would be constantly acquiring. In return the Keeper collects both a DNA sample and a steady stream of data referencing the organism’s fight for survival. Information is stored closest to the seed within. Layers of DNA are fused in thin films of mother of pearl [twice as strong as any high tech ceramic]. A product of self-assembly, the shells around the seed are formed in a sac of sea water.

Surrounding the sac of water is the malleable body of the Keeper, shedding and appropriating the various forms found within the surrounding environment.

As part of any environment, the Keeper cannot simply exist without a consequence upon its context. Like Cerebrus, the two headed guardian of Hades, the Keeper communicates with the Instigator. The Instigator operates on a nano-scale by accelerating evolution. It does so by injecting a mutation within an organism’s DNA, thus constantly altering the environment.

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Through a two-way osmosis, the Keeper releases nano particles into the organism as a tracking device, this link serving to transmit new skills the organism would be constantly acquiring. In return the Keeper collects both a DNA sample and a steady stream of data referencing the organism’s fight for survival. Information is stored closest to the seed within. Layers of DNA are fused in thin films of mother of pearl [twice as strong as any high tech ceramic]. A product of self-assembly, the shells around the seed are formed in a sac of sea water. Surrounding the sac of water is the malleable body of the Keeper, shedding and appropriating the various forms found within the surrounding environment. Its tentacles allow for efficient travel on both land and water. A hierarchy of exterior shells is shed or appropriated in definition to each enviromnet. A wet swamp will preclude a fin extrusion, etc.

As part of any environment, the Keeper cannot simply exist without a consequence upon its context.

Like Cerebrus, the two headed guardian of Hades, the Keeper communicates with the Instigator. The Instigator operates on a nano-scale by accelerating evolution. It does so by injecting a mutation within an organism’s DNA, thus constantly altering the environment. The same method of transmittance is used by the Keeper. By brushing up against or touch, mutations are disseminated into the expecting organism altering its genetic code. The Instigator reads the same stored data as the Keeper, the end result to modify the data and modify the organism. The environment is altered positively or negatively. Trees grow knobbly brances, Lily pads turn flourescent, Banyans grapple with each other to extremes.

The organism is in constant flux to suit its environment, it is a hybrid of a hybrid of a hybrid... Hence the shape has been a sticking point. I always imagined it form-less. The everything and nothing of Universality.

However for the purpose now, the above form is how the Keeper and the Instigator are conjoined; sharing a unit of data, reading the seed differently.

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\\\The Swamp | Keeper - Instigator/// Environmental

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Consequence

\\\The Forest | Keeper - Instigator/// Environmental

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Consequence

\\\The Cliff | Keeper - Instigator/// Environmental

Consequence

///\\\BIBLIOGRAPHY///\\\ Sotomayor, Camila E,. 2008-2009. Mirror Mirror. <http://vasavoircamille-theteaparty.blogspot.com/>

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