Plastic Currents_Technical Report

ARC 504 SPRING 2020 Yidian Liu Instructor: Alejandro Zaera Polo

PLASTIC CURRENTS

RECYCLING WATER-BORN PLASTICS IN BALLONA CREEK, L.A.

For hundreds of years, the ocean was seen as a site for resource extraction. In the prevailing oceanic industries like fishing, oil extraction and transportation etc, the ocean was severely exploited with no remediative measures. Furthermore, as one of consequences of industrialized society, the pervasive use of plastic poses the greatest threat to ocean ecologies. Due to the difficulty of recycling plastic and failures in global waste management, millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean every year via water systems and end up floating on the ocean surfaces and foming massive plastic patches. This project proposes an ocean future by looking into the marine environment with

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a sense of preservation rather than extraction.

Los Angeles has few of the most polluted rivers in the US. By focusing on the site of Ballona Creek in LA, this project aims to remove plastic debris before they enter the ocean. The proposed architecture is divided into 2 parts, a private recycling center where ocean plastics are collected and sorted; and a public foot bridge made of recycled plastic panels, where the public can observe the entire recycling process. By integrating the two parts, the architecture intends to reverse the damage imposed by anthropogenic activities and raise greater awareness for ocean plastic pollution.

OCEAN PLASTIC POLLUTION

OCEAN PLASTIC SOURCE MAIN SOURCE OF OCEAN PLASTIC

SUBTROPICAL GYRES

GLOBAL CURRENT MAP (WINTER)

GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH Estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers Method: fleet of 30 boats, 652 surface nets and two flights over the patch to gather aerial imagery of the debris.

Estimated mass of plastic to be approximately 80,000 tonnes

PLASTIC ROUTE TO THE OCEAN

LAND-BASED PLASTIC CONTRIBUTES 80% OF PLASTIC IN OCEAN

RIVER POLLUTION

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SITE CONDITIONS BALLONA CREEK

WATER BODY POLLUTION

BALLONA CREEK, LA

CURRENT DRAINAGE SYSTEM

CURRENT DRAINAGE SYSTEM

LACK OF SUFFICIENT TREATMENTS

FIRST BARRIER SOLID

SECOND BARRIER FILTERING

BOOM SYSTEM

FIRST BARRIER SOLID

SECOND BARRIER FILTERING

BOOM FLOATER+ SCREEN

BOOM SYSTEM

(Source: Scientific Reports volume 8, Article number: 4666,2018)

FLOATER

3M

TENSION CABLE SCREEN BALLAST WEIGHT

INTERCEPTOR: 50,000 KG/DAY 25800 KG / 50,000 KG/DAY = 12 HOURS

RIVER BASED PROTOTYPE

OCEAN CLEANUP MODEL

SECOND BARRIER: MICROPLASTIC

MEGAPLASTICS

MACROPLASTICS

MESO PLASTICS

MICRO PLASTICS

H:hard plastic, plastic sheet and film N: encompasses plastic lines, ropes and fishing nets P:pre-production plastic pellets F:pieces made of foamed plastics.

(Source: Scientific Reports volume 8, Article number: 4666,2018)

RIVER DISCHARGE

(Source: Reconsideration of Certain Technical Matters of the Ballona Creek Estuary Toxics TMDL and Ballona Creek Metals TMDL, 2013)

MICROPLASTIC PERCENTAGE

(Source: K. Enders et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin (2015), 7)

(Source: Lattin et al. I Marine Pollution Bulletin 49 (2004), 291-294)

DIVERSION POOL FOR SURFACE WATER

DIVERSION POOL

ARCHIMEDES’ SCREW

PLASTIC COMPOSITION

(Source: Bight’13 (2011-2013) )

(Source: Bight’13 (2011-2013) )

BEDFORD TECHNOLOGIES

PLASTIC LUMBER

PLASTIC LUMBER WALKWAY

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RECYCLING FACILITY FOR OCEAN PLASTIC

SIMS MUNICIPAL RECYCLING

THE ROUTES

CONCEPT SKETCH

PLAN

ETFE

ETFE APPLICATION

MAIN STRUCTURE

MAIN STRUCTURE

COLLISION OF 2 SYSTEMS

UNLOADING THE PLASTICS

THE SORTING SYSTEM

INTERIOR VIEWS

DISTRIBUTING SORTED PLASTICS

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A PLASTIC WALK FOR THE PUBLIC

PLASTIC LUMBER BRIDGE

PLASTIC LUMBER BRIDGE

PLASTIC WALK FOR VISITORS

THE DIVERSION POOL

ARC 504 SPRING 2020 Yidian Liu