APOMECHANES MaetaDesign New York & University of Pennsylvania Athens, Greece, May-June 2019 45-min Multimedia Performance of Modern Dance, Light Show and Hologram Cooperated with Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company Project Manager / Danielle Willems, Ezio Blasetti Responsibile for Project Mapping Installation and Content Production Team: Castillo Merrick, Xinyi Chen, Zhenqin Dong, Jessica Greene, Baoqi Ji, Katherine Lanski, Hanning Liu, Kalob Morris, Yu Qiao,
The title apomechanes is derived from “από μηχανής”, literally “from the machine”, and refers to the machinic nature of the studio in an abstract/diagrammatic sense. Apomechanes is a calque from Greek meaning “god from the machine”. Apomechanes is organizing a media installation at the entrance of dexameni, and in the small cistern which marks the end of the Hadrian aqueduct. The installation will be part of a performance - open rehearsal of urbandigproject.org. Dates are the 18th, 19th & 20th of June, 2019. The workshop will seek ways to create a more permanent installtion in collaboration with urbandig with the guidance of eydap. This program exposes students to the ancient and contemporary of Greek culture, archeology, city planning and architecture foundation. These spaces, architectural and archeological sites in Greece hold vast value to contemporary designers and are an essential part of educating the next generation of Designers. We will cover the following topics in this program (1) Ancient Athens, Theater and City Planning. (2) The Generative & the Geologic: Contemporary Athens & the Hadrian Aqueduct (3) The Archipelagos, Maping & Aerial Photo-grammetry.
HADRIAN'S AQUEDUCT / Hadrian’s aqueduct is an underground tunnel that starts in the foothills of Parnitha Mt. and ends with a reservoir on Lycabettus hill. It has over 234 different sections of varying size and slope. Developed in Roman Era, it became the prime source of water for Athens for the next 1800 years! There are over 366 shafts, ranging from 10 – 40 m deep, at an average distance of 35 m apart.The aqueduct carried approximately 2.8 million m3 of water per year to Athens. The Romans learned from the Greeks engineers and quickly improved existing water works. They found new sources of water, developed cement mortar that made reservoirs and aqueducts water - tight. They also developed arched aqueducts that could bridge valleys and bring water from far distance as well as lead pipes and advanced indoor plumbing.
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ATHENS UNDERGROUND WATER SYSTEM / The main underground axis was about 20 km long. Two surface channels carried the water of Parnitha at Dimogli (Olympic Village today), where an inclined gallery had to direct the total quantity into the tunnel, at a depth of 30 m. The carved underground tunnel (coated or uncoated) has an average section of 0.50 m wide and 1.20 m high; however, the height can locally reach 2 m or even more. Artificial roof support consists usually of prefabricated terracotta pieces, either of orthogonal plates or of curved bricks. Some impressive construction details are (a) collecting water from the walls, the mounting of the roof, and (b) the flow rate control through local level depression or small shaft incurvation. The tunnel was constructed by wells opened at a fixed distance of about 35-40 m. It is noted that 316 wells are depicted along the tunnel in older sections, with the following depths: 21 wells (6.7%) are shallower than 10 m, 118 (37.3%) range between 10 m and 20 m, 113 (35.8%) between 20 m and 30 m, and 64 wells (20.2%) are deeper than 30 m, with the deepest one being 41.4 m deep.
Drawings by 2018 Apochanes Team
The most prolific section of the aqueduct is the northern, at the lower part of a talus cone, covering impermeable layers of clayey sediments. Despite the present disconnection from springs, the HAA supplies water, which at shaft no. 275 was measured at 0.086 m3/s. The continuous infiltration of groundwater flowing from the wells and the tunnel walls is presently obvious; it is locally associated with incrustation of calcite, particularly in the roofed sections of loose sediments. ►
STORY BOARDS / The lighting installation combined with the modern dance performance locates at the ground-level facades of the Hadrian's Aqueduct. Three appentures within the arches are used to generate smoke screens for hologram. The facades around the arches are the backdrop for projection map as story-telling boards. The organic and dynamic combination of changing projection map, dramatic dancing and glimmering mist-like silhouette produce an truly immersive setting in night-time to present mysterious as well as futuristic story about Hadrian's Aqueduct. Story boards co-worked with Merrick Castill
PROJECTOR SYSTEM / The projector team measures the context of Hadrian's Aqueduct courtyard and tests several projectors of difference length and throw as well as the projection media. Based on the story boards and the action script on the stage, I develope an interactive systems for three groups of projectors in four different installation position.
DATA MINING AND HOLOGRAM / The Data Mining group is responsible for the coordination and technology of data collection. This includes: 3d scanning, Kinnect & Photogrammetry, Audiovisual recording. The Fabrication group is responsible for the research, prototype and coordination of manifacture of a holographic diy projection screen. Soft/ Hard Tech used: Rhino/Python/Grasshopper, Lasefcutter, 3dPrinting, Vapor Machine, High Lumens Projector. All drawings produced by DM and FBC Group