land_scrapers

land_SCRAPERs Vivian Stasi

Desing Thinking _ SP 2013 Washington University in St.Louis_ Sam Fox School instructor_ Elena Canovas TA_ Lauren Field

Premise

5

Concepts

8

groundscapes

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landscrapers labyrinth

fluidity of matter

architecture on a “new� ground

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figure & ground

architecture on the expanded field

20 Site Conditions

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bluff canyon canal banks dunes cave

Site Documentation

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Fred Weber south quarry in Oakville

Program Proposal

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cultural and recreational center of performing arts_ the land of dancing water

Bibliography

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LAND_SCRAPERS

groundscapes : [noun]

continuous and interactive field where landscape and architecture negotiate their relationship. landscRapers : [noun]

"horizontal skyscrapers" that "unfold the land" in order to "explore the nature of our connection" to it.

figure & ground : [noun]

blur their boundaries suggesting an ambiguity between architecture represented by a figure- and its surroundings - represented by the background.

PREMISE

Premise My interest stems from design gestures I have been using, deliberately or not, throughout my design projects and which I aspire to consolidate through this research.

Ground is the area where landscape and architecture negotiate their relationship.

Whereas in modern architecture ground is a disregarded field and structure flies over it, as like it escapes gravity, groundscapes treat the ground plane as an active, fluctuating field trying to reintroduce the relationship between envelope and ground or space and land.

When architecture and topography merge together, they can create form.

Landscrapers unfold the land and strategically activate conditions such as spatial coherence, surface unity, continuous circulation and intense surface topology. And when land unfolds, water laying under the rocks, explodes and ascends to the surface in order to shape the aesthetics of landscape and breathe life into structure. Water is inherent to the land - its presence generates spatial effects when it drops its shadow or when it becomes a mirror of surroundings.

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Concepts

8

LAND_SCRAPERS

Groundscapes What does the Between Land produce ?

negotiation and

Arch

ARCH

... levitates

... skyscraping

LAND

... autonomous

... flattened

Ground negotiation is the key element for both landscape and architecture. Depending on which way we choose to manipulate the ground, various spatial conditions are activated.

Ground manipulation cannot only be restricted in a flattened, inactive terrain, but it can also expand on topographic variations that intensify the landform.

Architecture can exist with the sky, however it cannot exist without ground.

CONCEPTS

... half-hidden

... emerging from the ground

... sculpted

... unfolds

... camouflaged

... becomes the skin of architecture

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LAND_SCRAPERS

unfold

down indeterminacy up

CONCEPTS

Landscrapers unfold the land

horizon

Upside Down_ reversed landscape

Given the idea of a ground that has a more active role, if we consider it as multiple layers folded together, then landscrapers are those structures that unfold the land, reveal the up and down side of these layers and create a condition where both up and down can be experienced simultaneously.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Fluidity of Matter “...Matter tends to spill over in space, to be reconciled with fluidity at the same time fluids themselves are divided into masses.”1 The fluidity of matter is a Deleuzian concept - “a fundamental notion”2 - that ascribes to matter the properties of fluid, a fluid that undulates continuously and divides into new shapes that spread and enclose different spaces.

Matter moves continuously, it starts from the outside and folds infinitely to create the inside.

1 Gilles Deleuze, “The Fold - Leibniz and the Baroque: The Pleats of Matter”, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1993.

2 Gilles Deleuze, “The Fold - Leibniz and the Baroque: The Pleats of Matter”, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1993, p.4

CONCEPTS

“The outside is not a fixed limit but a moving matter animated by peristaltic movements, folds and foldings that together make up an inside: they are not something other than the outside, but precisely the inside of the outside.”

-Gilles Deleuze, Foucault, 1988.

“ The edge between architecture and landscape can be porous”.

-Diana Balmori, A Landscape Manifesto, 2010.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Labyrinth “A labyrinth is said, etymologically, to be multiple because it contains many folds.

The multiple is not only what has many parts but also what is folded in many ways. A labyrinth corresponds exactly to each level: the continuous labyrinth in matter and its parts, the labyrinth of freedom in the soul and its predicates. If Descartes did not know how to get through the labyrinth, it was because he sought its secret of continuity in rectilinear tracks, and the secret of liberty in a rectitude of the soul.”1 Deleuze introduces the labyrinth within the concept of fold as an architectural structure, comprised of an infinite amount of folds.

1,2 Gilles Deleuze, “The Fold - Leibniz and the Baroque: The Pleats of Matter”, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1993.

CONCEPTS

fluidity of matter

“Thus a continuous labyrinth is not a line dissolving into independent points, as flowing sand might dissolve into grains, but resembles a sheet of paper divided into infinite folds or separated into bending movements, each one determined by the consistent or conspiring surroundings... A fold is always folded within a fold, like a cavern in a cavern. The unity of matter, the smallest element of the labyrinth, is the fold, not the point which is never a part, but a simple extremity of the line.”

- Gilles Deleuze, “The Fold - Leibniz and the Baroque: The Pleats of Matter”

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LAND_SCRAPERS

CONCEPTS

labyrinth

Arch on a “NEW” Ground Q: How can architecture be perceived as landscape through the transformation of ground?

fluidity of matter

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Figure and Background

Bill Brandt, Hands on the Beach, 1959

Bill Brandt, Ear on the Beach, 1957

A figure inside a certain framework implies the existence of its complementary form the background or the negative space. In conventional architectural conception, figure is the most important and interesting element, leaving the background behind, fading, almost becoming invisible or absent.

However, the idea of land that unfolds and refolds starts questioning the figure/ ground contextualism. The fold generates an interaction between figure and background, a continuous and reversible dialogue. Built space and landscape are not anymore perceived as opposed fields, they are rather considered as equal and complementary elements.

CONCEPTS

The figure/ground ambiguity is put into evidence with Max Ernst’s painting, the Garden of France.

Here, the superimposition of a topography or map entwined with a female figure highlights the simultaneous intensity of both figure and ground.

Max Ernst, The Garden of France, 1962

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LAND_SCRAPERS

site-construction

landscape

architecture

marked sites

complex

axiomatic structures

not-landscape

not-architecture

sculpture

neuter

*Diagram adapted from Rosalind Krauss’ s diagram in “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”.

CONCEPTS

Landscape & Architecture Expanded Field1

on

the

How can a space of infinite folds and foldings exist beyond theory in the tangible reality?

Artists of Land Art, in the early 70’s or late 60’s, started adopting a strategy of reducing the man-made elements on or inside the land.

Thus, sculpture as a term starts losing its conventional logic and becomes a negative combination of landscape and architecture.

That is what Rosalind Krauss analyzes in “Sculpture in the Expanded Field.” She is introducing the notion of an expanded field, where categories such landscape, architecture and sculpture, find place in a diagram where all possible combinations and dualities create different conditions.

For Krauss, a complex overlap between landscape and architecture becomes a siteconstruction. Transferring this idea to the city of St. Louis, the main question regarding the next step is...

1 Krauss, Rosalind E., “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”. The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. Cambridge : The MIT Press, 1986.

276-290.

Field1

1 Krauss, Rosalind E., “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”. The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. Cambridge : The MIT Press, 1986.

276-290.

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Site Conditions The first step to quest suitable sites for transformations that take place on the complex axis of landscape and architecture is to identify disparate site types and analyze their attributes. The search for different site conditions leads to places where landscape has an intense topographical character, thus posing interesting challenges on how would architecture negotiate with ground on each and every condition. These conditions constitute distinct landscape types which, on a next step, will be identified in the topography of St.Louis.

SITE CONDITIONS

Bluffs, canyons, canals, riverbanks and sand dunes are different landscape types selected for further analysis. This will help the understanding of their potential in terms of the relationship between landscape and architecture through “ground negotiation”. Their unique topographical characteristics, along with the architecture’s reaction to these, is of specific interest in the following study.

bluff

canyon

canal

banks

dunes

cave

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LAND_SCRAPERS

BLUFF

SITE CONDITIONS

Bluff A bluff is a steep cliff, a sharp edge on the ground surface. This edge is a generous cut on the ground that reveals its multiple geological layers. Due to their height and steepness, bluffs form a sublime slice of space into the landscape.

Q: Where would a possible position for architecture be?

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LAND_SCRAPERS

CANYON

SITE CONDITIONS

Canyon Canyon is a deep ravine between pairs of escarpments or cliffs and is most often carved from the landscape by the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. This activity reveals two adjacent sides of the earth, as this spacious slot on the ground is formed.

Q: How can architecture create a spatial experience on the vertical axis?

Q: Would architecture be the passage that bridges the opposing tops of the cliffs?

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LAND_SCRAPERS

CANAL

SITE CONDITIONS

Canal Type of an artificial waterway, where human intervention, sculpts the land and reveals the water laying underneath. Canals can be described as slots in the ground, intended primarily to serve as navigable channels.

However, the intense sectional quality of a canal, poses a great challenge for architecture.

Q: How would architecture react to the horizontal and vertical qualities of such a space?

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LAND_SCRAPERS

RIVERBANKS

SITE CONDITIONS

Riverbanks A bank refers to the land alonside a waterbody.

The continuous water flow of a river erodes the banks and continuously transforms the riverbed.

Q: What is architecture’s reaction to the presence of those two powerful earth elements: soil and water?

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LAND_SCRAPERS

DUNES

DUNES

SITE CONDITIONS

Dunes Dune is a hill of sand built either by wind or water flow. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water. Sand’s composition enables a “fluid” ground, a transformable hilly landscape by the forces of wind or water.

Q: How could architecture become an integral part of an ever-changing landscape?

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LAND_SCRAPERS

CAVE

SITE CONDITIONS

Cave Cave is a void-empty space hidden underground, below the ground surface. Caves are formed by various geologic processes, with usually rich ground formations being developed underneath the surface. The strip of land between interior and exterior space, poses interesting challenges for the transition from the outside to the inside.

Q: How could architecture occupy the void?

Q: How one can create a passage from the exterior world to the interior?

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banks canyon canal the Gateway Arch

budweiser brewery

river de peres

oakville_quarries

meramec river

38 LAND_SCRAPERS

cave

dunes banks canyon alton bluffs

quarry misouri river

mississipi river

sand sediments

SITE CONDITIONS

banks bluff

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N

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LAND_SCRAPERS

SITE CONDITIONS

Bluffs_Water Erosion The widespread layers of rock that underlie the visible landforms form a stack of blankets, eternally exposed to the forces of wind and water. An anticline is a feature where beds are folded convexly upward. In a syncline, the fold is downward, with the beds dipping in toward the axis. Anticlines and synclines commonly occur together in areas where the crust has been broadly compressed.

Throughout the course of time, water erosion removes soil and rocks from the anticline, thus gradually revealing beds laying underneath.

The water glaciation period which started about 75,000 years ago and ended about 12,000 years ago released tremendous amounts of water.1 The floodplain of the Missisipi River in St.Louis is surrounded by an extensive bluffline formed by erosion due to water flow.

anticline

syncline

anticline

water glaciation

syncline

1 http://greatriver.com/Ice_Age/glacier.htm

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dolomite limestone

crystalline limestone

st. louis formation

Mississipian System

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SITE CONDITIONS

Alton_Bluffs along the Mississipi River Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois. It is famous for its limestone bluffs along the river north of the city.

The St. Louis limestone is one of the primary limestone beds appearing in the St.Louis metropolitan area. The slightly different appearance of multiple beds exposed in the Alton bluff is due to composition. The lower bed consists of dolomitic limestone, whereas the upper one, consists of crystalline limestone.

Both types of limestones belong to the St. Louis formation of the Mississipian age in Missouri.

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SITE CONDITIONS

on the

Percent of Annual Suspended Sediment Discharge in Each Year

Millions of Metric Tons per Year

Suspended Sediment Discharge Missisipi river

200

100

15

10

1990

1980

1970

1960

5

J F M A M J J A S O N D *source: Setting: Geology, Hydrology, Sediments, and Engineering of the Mississippi River by Robert H. Meade, http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1133/ geosetting.html

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SITE CONDITIONS

Sand Sediments on the Mississipi River The Mississippi River discharges an average of about 200 million metric tons of suspended sediment per year. Temporal variation of suspended-sediment discharge in the Mississippi River cause the appearance of “sand islands” in the middle or the banks od the river.

Depending on the seasonal water levels of the Mississipi river, the size of these “islands” varies accordingly. During the low water records, sand sediments get fully exposed.

However, during the historical crests (‘93 flood), sand sediments disappear below the water.

Possible interventions in such parts of land would be greatly challenged by flooding and continuous transformation of the landform.

JAN 1940: -6 ft

Average: 15 ft

AUG 1993: 49 ft

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SITE CONDITIONS

River Des Peres The River des Peres is a 9.3-mile-long (15.0 km) metropolitan river in south St. Louis. The urban growth of St. Louis made the previously pleasant and meandering River Des Peres become a flood-prone sewer. On Aug. 19, 1915, remnants of a hurricane reached St. Louis from Texas, and heavy rain dumped 7.4 inches across the area.

For much of the 19th Century, the River Des Peres remained a pleasant country stream.

But by 1900, urban growth had made it into a flood-prone sewer. Here is a scene in University City some time before the 1915 flood.

1923: City voters adopted an $87 million bond issue that included $11 million to tame the River Des Peres.

Steady work with steam shovels, horse teams and men swinging picks continued for more than a decade.

They ran the river underground through the park and into a nine-mile-long open channel to the Mississippi.

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SITE CONDITIONS

East Fork of River des Peres In the early 1930s, following high demand for preventive safety measures brought on by a series of fatal floods, the river was channelized, with its upper sections redirected underground in large sewage pipes. The lower banks of the river, most notably along Willmore Park and the River des Peres Greenway, were lined with quarried limestone, producing a distinct landmark for decades to come.

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SITE CONDITIONS

dolomite

Salem Formation

dolomitic limestone

Warsaw Formation

limestone

Meramecian Series

This diagram shows the formally recognized stratigraphic units of the Mississipian age in Missouri, in the east-central geographical region, where St. Louis is also located.

The geographical column consists of three formations: the St. Louis Formation, the Salem Formation and the Warsaw Formation.

Various rock types belonging to these formations, such as limestone, dolomitic limestone and dolomite are revealed and extracted during the mining process in the St. Louis quarries.

St. Louis Formation

Quarries_Rock Types

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LAND_SCRAPERS

SITE CONDITIONS

Quarry in Oakville Land exploitation through man-made forces reveals different ground levels.

excavation phase 4

phase 2 phase 3

phase 1

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Site Documentation

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LAND_SCRAPERS

SITE: Fred Weber South Quarry in Oakville This quarry is a landscape of intense topographical characteristics. Throughout the years, the mining process has created an extensive scar on a land of natural beauty.

This scar evokes a sense of brutality, as it has been formed with no gentle interventions.

Continuous carving and land exploitation have been changing the landscape drastically, thus shaping an artificial, man-made canyon. The site already acquires those characteristics of a carved ground, with its inner layers revealed and exposed to the surface. However, industrial activities accompanying mining have been polluting the air, water and soil, causing negative impact on the health of nearby residents.

SITE DOCUMENTATION

NATURAL Landscape

intervention

INDUSTRIAL Landscape

The ground surface revealed by the mining process exposes the geological features of the area , along with the life cycle of NATURE. Superimposed on this natural cycle is a MANMADE cycle of industrial activities.

Thus, the quarry exists as a landscape of intensities due to its natural elements coexisting with traces of human industrial activity.

This place now calls for a new intervention that needs to react to these existing conditions.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Oakville, MO The site is located in Oakville.

Oakville is part of south St.Louis County, located south of the city of St.Louis and borders the Mississipi and Meramec rivers.

Area1 • Total 17.73 sq mi (45.92 km2) • Land 15.93 sq mi (41.26 km2) • Water 1.80 sq mi (4.66 km2) Population2 (2010 census) • Total 36,143 people • Density 2,268.9/sq mi (876.0/km2)

MO

St. Louis County

1,2 Missouri

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakville,_

SITE DOCUMENTATION

I5

5

Oakville Township

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Cr e ek

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Mattes

e

SITE DOCUMENTATION

Site Analysis_ Topography The intense accumulation of contour lines around the site reveals that the quarry’s location has been strategically chosen on a hilly area of Oakville. Meramec river forms a natural barrier on the west side of the site. Mattese Creek is a stream that springs from Meramec river and signifies the north boundary of the quarry.

The radical change on the array of contour lines in the quarry displays the vast effect of the manmade excavations on the natural landform. The artificial character of the land is fully revealed as scar of a wound that has never been healed.

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um ga rtn er

Ba

Telegraph rd

Ne w

rd

64 LAND_SCRAPERS

He in zt rd

SITE DOCUMENTATION

Site Analysis_ Streets and Railways North of the site runs New Baumgartner road, which serves as current entry access to the quarry. The site’s west boundaries are framed

by Heinzt road, which later intersects with Telegraph road, the main artery that crosses Oakville from north to south and gathers all the commercial activities.

railways main artery

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LAND_SCRAPERS

SITE DOCUMENTATION

Site Analysis_ Building Footprints The map of the building footprints around the site reveal a sparsely populated area, with its most massive buildings being located across its main commercial artery.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

SITE DOCUMENTATION

Site Analysis_ Land Use The greatest part of land around the site forms a residential area with sparse housing. An extensive area north of the site is designated as flood-plain non urban, thus no building footprints are found there. Commercial zone is spread along the main road artery and most industrial activities are developed in close proximity to the site.

Flood Plain Non-Urban Residence Flood Plain Residence Industrial zone Commercial zone Park and Scenic

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Historical Evolution / Change Throughout this timeline, we observe the evolution of the quarry’s landscape as a result of the mining process taking place in the area.

START

1954

1992

1996

SITE DOCUMENTATION

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

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LAND_SCRAPERS

This evolution evokes some primary thoughts about an intervention that would take place on the site: 1. Intervention will take place as a continuation of the man-made cycle.

2. Intervention will incorporate the idea of a space that evolves and changes since evolution as an idea, is inherent to the concept of unfolding the land.

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

SITE DOCUMENTATION

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Perspective Section

Abandoned Quarry Excavations on this part of the quarry began in 1954 and continued for approximately 30 years. Then quarrying operations in this area ceased and the it was naturally filled with water, forming a lake that created a natural habitat for aquatic animals. The lake’s water is often pumped to the adjacent active quarrying area and used for dust control.

SITE DOCUMENTATION

Active Quarry Quarrying operations here, began in 1980 and caused a much more extensive scar. The current boundaries of the quarry are clearly illustrated by a deep bluff, which counts 100 ft in its highest point.

Meramec River The river forms a natural boundary on the southwest part of the quarry.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Perspective Section

SITE DOCUMENTATION

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Long Section

Deepest quarry excavation area This area is dug 160 ft below the initial level and forms the deepest area of the active part of the quarry which forms a small artificial lake. Water is essential to the quarrying operations as it serves for dust control.

SITE DOCUMENTATION

The 3120 ft long scar shows the extent of the excanvation.

South boundary The southest boundary of the quarry is a 100 ft high and steep bluff.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Sequence of the Quarrying Process In Site Resource Development

Quarrying Operations

3.

Planning

Along with the removal of overburden, development stage also involves developing the processing and other construction facility near the quarry. The main role of the processing facility is to cut and polish the rock. Large amount of wastes are generated in processing, so it is required to plan for some storage/dump space for the cuttings.

Depending upon the quality and fineness of the material desired, the drilling and blasting requirements are set. The more uniformity is required in the rock excavated, the more drilling and controlled blasting will be required. Light gunpowder is used as explosive to avoid any shattering effect which can bring a significant destruction of the stone shape and quality.

2.

Assessment The following properties of the rock are studied in the prospecting programs: physical & mineralogical properties, color and appearance, uniformity, strength, flaws, cracks, etc.

Haul Road width

St.Louis Formation Salem Formation Warsaw Formation

1.

Exploration

hammer drill truck (drilling operations)

4.

Drill and Blast

Road Edge Barrier

5.

Load and Haul

front end loader wheel loader (auxiliary equipment for material transportation)

SITE DOCUMENTATION

6.

Process

crusher

hoppers

conveyors

7.

Stockpile and Load out

wheel loader

dumps

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LAND_SCRAPERS

1.

Access

2.

Views

SITE DOCUMENTATION

Intervention Site Area Focusing on the area occupied by the quarry, a specific part of it is selected as the site of intervention. The site occupies the upper platform on the west side of the quarry, a long stripe framed on both sides by the quarry’s bluffs.

3.

Boundaries

The bluff that forms the west boundary of the site is a 100 ft high cliff, a scenic spot that offers a panoramic view of the whole area occupied by the quarry.

45,000 m2 [484,000 sq.ft or 11 acres]

The current shape of this bluff is a very interesting one as it is formed by two adjacent curved cliffs that offer amphitheatric views on the site.

The site is also located close to the residential area and is surrounded by a road artery that could serve as an access to the specific intervention that will take place there.

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Program Proposal

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LAND_SCRAPERS

Making the Case for a

Oakville Community

Quarry St. Louis City

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

INDUSTRIAL Economy

CULTURAL Economy

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LAND_SCRAPERS

site

performance venues aquatic centers recreational (community) centers

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

Proposed Programmatic Functions A shift from the quarry’s industrial economy to a cultural one is one of the main strategies that rules the programmatic proposal for the site.

The site is also designated to attract visitors of the local community of Oakville to engage with recreational activities.

The culture of St. Louis includes a variety of attractions, such as performing arts and music venues. The majority of performance venues in St.Louis is located in the central metropolitan area and consists of theatres, operas and music halls.

The majority of residential townships around St.Louis city host recreational centers that offer sports activities, fitness rooms and playgrounds to local residents.

Many recreation departments operate pools for acquatic recreational activities that take place on warm seasons.

The main intention for the intervention in Oakville’s quarry is a creative combination of the aforementioned cultural and recreational activities spread across St.Louis county. The current inaccessible and polluted landscape of the quarry will be transformed into a new suburban landmark, attracting visitors to experience its natural landscape and its new cultural proposal.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

theater

Theatre has been an important part of the human culture for over 2,500 years with great impact, both as an educational and recreational practice. The complex aims to incorporate this sort of practice to its programmatic activities. Theatre, in its broader definition, will include performances that combine dance, gymnastics artistry and high-performance artistry. People interested in the art of theatre would be welcome to study it in the complex’s drama studios.

water dance Dance is performed in many cultures as a form of emotional expression, social interaction, or exercise. It is a form of art that involves a rythmic movement of body. Dance will be incorporated in the complex’s educational program, as part of the training activities. In terms of performance, a creative combination of dance with water would make a unique proposal for a water-based show.

gymnastics artistry Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, power, agility, coordination, grace and balance.

Seeking the artistic character of gymnastics, the complex aims to incorporate it, as part of its training and performing program.

Gymnastics artistry would push the physical boundaries of human performance in spectacular shows.

diving Diving is an activity that involves swimming and exploring underwater, as well as falling into water from a platform, usually performing acrobatics.

The complex will incorporate both sorts of activities. The first one would serve as a recreational pastime for people interested in exploring the quarry’s rock formations underwater. The second one will be part of the training program for performers who wish to practice and present diving acrobatics on stage shows.

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

Cultural & Recreational Center of Water-Based Performing Arts

training

recreation

rehearsal

performance

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LAND_SCRAPERS

“My ambition is to contribute to the emergence of a new kind of show, which isn’t a circus, or opera, or a musical, but a little of all of them. A form of theater that mixes the most cutting-edge modern elements with baroque elements, a bringing together of moments of drama, tenderness and humor, just like life, told in a way and at a rhythm that cuts the spectator off from his everyday life, makes him lose all sense of time, and opens him up to different levels of interpretation. That is what I call visual theater. And The House of Dancing Water is the manifestation of that vision.”

Franco Dragone

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

Programmatic Precedent_ The House of Dancing Water The House of Dancing Water is a water-based stage production written and directed by famous director Franco Dragone. The show runs for 90 minutes, and features acrobatic elements and original acts, with a stage that transforms into different sets. It is a spectacular show featuring a dazzling display of watery image with stateof-the-art effects and a choreography that combines theater, dance, gymnastic artistry and high-performance diving.

The theatre’s main stage is a 26 ft deep pool.

The Architecture The House of Dancing Water Theater was designed by world-renowned architects Pei Partnership and scenic designer Michel Crete.

Unique in its kind, The House of Dancing Water Theater special design create a climate of intimacy between the audience and the performers.

The Pool This purpose-built theater contains one of the most spectacular commercial pools in the world, it is 26 feet deep and holding upto approximately 3.7 million gallons of water which is more than FIVE Olympic-sized swimming pools, and is one of the largest water-based theaters in the world.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

Programmatic Precedent_ Fuerza Bruta Fuerza Bruta is a postmodern theatre show that originated in Buenos Aires in 2005 and was created by Diqui James. It is a very energetic spectacle under the motto “Brute Force” and involves interaction between the performers and the public. The show is a mid-air collision of synchronized swimming, circus and modern ballet.

The show has been running since 2007 and has since travelled over the world. Theatres that host the show undergo specific spatial transformations in order to respond to its performance requirements.

The pool Audience and performers are joined by the elemental force of water. A giant plastic pool hovers over the spectator’s heads and it lowers until the audience is inches away. Men and women writhe and splash around, within this giant pool and not long after they finish splashing in it, spectators are drenched by an indoor rainstorm.

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LAND_SCRAPERS

training

rehearsal performance

recreation

mo rn i

nig Performance takes place at night in the grand amphitheatre’s stage.

The amphitheatre’s functions are accompanied by dressing rooms and storage areas, as well as a foyer space for spectators’ reception.

nigh t

g

nigh t

Rehearsal would take place afternoon until late night. The dance and drama halls, studios as well as a rehearsal room can be used for this purpose. The natural stage of the amphitheatre can be also used for final general rehearsals.

even in

eve nin

even in

g

nigh t

The complex would provide training courses on gymnastics, drama, dance and diving from early morning to late evening.

These courses will take place on dance and drama halls, as well as gymnastics and dance studios.

A diving pool would serve for practicing water acrobatics.

ht

ng

ng

mo rn i

g

96

Recreational activities take place from morning until night.

A small diving center would host visitors who wish to explore underwater rocks on an artificial lake. Outdoor spaces can also be used by visitors who want to experience the natural landscape of the site.

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

administration box office: staff offices: tutors offices:

10 m2 45 m2 150 m2

[10 tutors x 15 m2 / office]

30 m2

souvenir shop:

dance hall:

200m2

drama hall:

50m2

gymnastics studio:

60m2

mini studios (x2):

30m

children’s studio: changing rooms:

100m2 120m2

diving pool:

414m

lecture room: library:

100m2 60m2

[capacity: 50]

[capacity: 30]

[capacity:20-30]

diving center:

“exploration” lake lounge: 60m2

changing rooms: 120m2

warm-up area: 60m2

2

rehearsal room: 230m2

[capacity: 100]

[1 to 1 lessons]

2

[l=18m, w=23m, h>3.5m]

amphitheatre:

main stage: 450m2

natural stage: 20m2 backstage: 60m2 foyer bistro: 150m2 dressing rooms: 60m2 restrooms: 40m2 storage: 100m2

outdoor spaces Total Gross Area: 2,719 m2 (29,267 sq ft)

foyer park gardens parking area

[200 lots]

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Target Use Groups This diagram relates activities with target use groups. The main goups of people attracted by the activities taking place in the quarry would be performers, students, regular visitors, staff and the audience.

- Students attending training courses on gymnastics, drama, dance, diving, form a group of amateur performers, that would rehearse and prepare to perform a water-based show towards the end of the academic year.

- Professional performers, usually coming from abroad, would rehearse and perform seasonal shows on a weekly basis.

- A show in the quarry’s theater would attract an audience of various interests, whether it is a visual theater lover coming from abroad to enjoy a water-based performance, or a local watching the annual performance of amateur dancers studying in the quarry’s performing arts academy.

- Local visitors are residents of Oakville or the broader St.Louis area, engaging with waterbased activities (scuba-diving, quarry tours and exploration) taking place in the quarry.

- Staff working in the quarry is formed by the school’s and theater’s officers, tutors teaching dance, drama, gymnastics and (scuba-)diving.

- Production staff, such as technicians and professional scuba divers from around the world would accompany the seasonal professional performers’ shows.

performers

audience

visitors

staff

administration

local visitors

foreign audience

local audience

professional performers

performing arts’ students

production staff

school and theatre officers

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

90% St.Louis residents 90% foreign visitors

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100

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Use Groups in Numbers The proposed square footage for the programmatic spaces relates to different use groups’ population.

The school’s programmatic spaces correspond to a capacity of 100 students, that form a medium-sized school.

Coachers, tutors and choreographers would constitute a group of 10 people, as teaching staff, with almost equal amounts needed as officers and maintenance staff.

According the programmatic precedents of the “House of Dancing Water” and “Fuerza Bruta”, a professional group of performers would consist of approximately 80 gymnasts, circus artists, dancers, divers and actors. The performers would work alongside 160 production staff, technicians and professional scuba divers from around the world.

The amphitheatre seats 500 spectators. This size is analogous to the site’ s location in terms of attendance anticipation.

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

100 30

school’s capacity is 100 students

80 a professional team would consist of approx. 80 performers

10 tutors 10 officers 10 additional staff

500

amphitheatre seats 500 people

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Students of Performing Arts Students attend daily training courses, fully occupying all activities’ spaces from Monday to Friday, while performing in stage shows on weekend evenings.

Professional Performers Professional performers rehearse daily to get prepared for shows that take place on friday and weekend evenings.

Audience Audience fills the stage during Friday and weekend evening or night shows.

Local Community Members Local community members participate daily in activities, with greater intensity during weekends, when they have more free time.

Staff Staff works daily on school’s posts. During weekends additional staff is needed for the theater’s operation.

Intensity of Occupation

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

Mon

Tue

Wen

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

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“These landscrapers give us back the land and architecture. By making us aware of the ground we inhabit, we can regain a sense of the reality of place in a culture that is more and more dependent on the abstraction engendered by the mass production of real and virtual spaces, instant communication, and digital manipulation�.

Aaron Betsky. Landscrapers.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography Aaron Betsky, “Landscrapers: Building with the Land”, Thames & Hudson, 2006.

Diana Balmori, “A Landscape Manifesto”, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2010.

Manuel Gaza, “The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture: City, Technology and Society in the Information Age”, Actar, 2003.

Gilles Deleuze, “Foucault”, University of Minnesota Press, 1988.

Gilles Deleuze, “The Fold - Leibniz and the Baroque: The Pleats of Matter”, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1993.

Rosalind E. Krauss, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”,”The Originality of the Avant-garde and Other Modernist Myths”, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1986.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, “Operative Topographies”, “Reformulating the Ground”, Quaderns d’ Architectura i Urbanisme Operative Topographies 220, Barcelona: Association of Catalan Architects, 1998.

Manuel Guasa, “Lands in Lands”, Quaderns d’ Architectura i Urbanisme Operative Topographies 220, Barcelona: Association of Catalan Architects, 1998.

Zaha Hadid, “Landscape as Plan”, Interview by Moshen Mostafavi, Ed. F. Marquez and R. Levene, El Croquis 1983-95, 2001.

Charles G. Spencer, “Roadside Geology of Missouri”, Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana, 2011.

A. G. Unklesbay and Jerry D. Vineyard, “Missouri Geology; Three Billion Years of Volcanoes, Seas, Sediments and Erosion”, University of Missouri Press, Columbia and London, 1992.

Web Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/ http://jaspinallphotography.blogspot.com/2012/12/field-of-view-bill-brandt.html http://www.hse.gov.uk/quarries/hardtarget/tips.htm http://technology.infomine.com/reviews/pitsandquarries/welcome.asp?view=full http://www.callnewspapers.com/Articles-i-2009-08-12-237308.112112_Tracing_Oakvilles_roots.html http://www.asla.org/2012awards/139.html http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/news/multimedia/river-des-peres/collection_bfb5a1a8-d4fb-11e1aecb-0019bb30f31a.html#0 http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1133/geosetting.html http://www.ptarmiganintegration.com/?v=projects&l=en&id=2 http://www.stoneproject.org/2-extracting-the-stone.html

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Web Sources http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/the-vision/ http://www.city-data.com/city/Oakville-Missouri.html http://www.stlouisco.com/parksandrecreation

Images Sources Cover Page: ArtWork by oostenbroek/

Rik

Oostenbroek,

http://www.tutorart.com/index.php/awesome-works-by-rik-

Page 6: http://todaycreate.com/2011/10/29/line-topography-update http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/marble-caves-of-chile-chico http://www.pinterest.com/pin/54465476716013771/ Page 9: http://jaspinallphotography.blogspot.com/2012/12/field-of-view-bill-brandt.html Page 13: http://living24fps.wordpress.com/ Page 14: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_dynamics Page 16: http://wallpoper.com/wallpaper/labyrinth-computer-161646 Page 21: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/54465476716013771/ Page 25: http://freethoughtblogs.com/entequilaesverdad/2011/10/27/and-that-kids-is-why-you-shouldntbuild-on-a-bluff/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Canyon_of_the_Colorado http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/creative/corinth-canal-stock-photos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hurley http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghost_River_section_of_the_Wolf_River_La_Grange_ TN_01-2012_003.jpg

BIBLIOGRAPHY

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune Page 51: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/654675 http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/news/multimedia/river-des-peres/collection_bfb5a1a8-d4fb11e1-aecb-0019bb30f31a.html#0 Page 52: http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/news/multimedia/river-des-peres/collection_bfb5a1a8-d4fb11e1-aecb-0019bb30f31a.html#0 Page 55: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texture_(geology) http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-dolomitic-limestone.htm http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dolomite_rock01.jpg Page 89: personal photo file Page 92: http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/the-vision/ http://www.ebay.com/bhp/cirque-du-soleil-poster www.ikiondiving.gr/ Page 94: http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/the-vision/ Page 96: http://www.elculture.gr/theater/fuerza-bruta-254867 Page 98: www.patrasdanceacademy.gr http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/thehttp://www.elculture.gr/theater/fuerza-bruta-254867 http://www.flickr.com/photos/maurizio_mwg/3093400881/ All other visual material presented in the book is produced by the author.

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