yuelinliu_portfolio_ year2_term1

BARC0116: Landscape Design 1

Tutors: Laurence Blackwell Thale & Pete Davies

Tidal Museum

-DECAY AS A TESTIMONY

Yuelin Liu

MLA Year 2

Student Number: 21087780

The foreshore appears at the junction of land and water, which are extremely unstable. With the tidal surge, water daily takes away fragments, leaving behind new undissolved waste. The muddy foreshore and debris have been continually exposed to sunlight, moisture, and salt, suffering from eroding and decaying. The history of foreshores seems to be the confrontation between man and ecology. The structures are constantly being built to limit the threat from nature, trying to avoid the intrusion and decomposition of nature.

The decay is usually seen in a negative vein: the subtraction of physical integrity often comes with a loss of information and function. However, we observe and define nature and culture not in a stasis state but in the search for cultural continuity and traces in the ongoing natural cycles. Decay cannot erase cultural traces. Decay is disembodied, completing the whole landscape through absence. In this way, The decay process put the landscape back into the ecological cycle and timeline, continually developing and redescribing the cultural and natural history.

This project concerns how we can respond to the landscape's multiplicity and ambiguity through tracking and interventions into the Bankside foreshore, acting decay as a testimony of natural and cultural heritage. It seeks to show nature and culture traces through materials' dynamic decay process, bringing the ecological cycle into the cultural narration and the visitors' experience.

CHAPTER 1 / TIDAL MUSEUM : DECAY AS A TESTIMONY RESEARCH

The site is located on the bankside forshore which is in the front of Tate Museum. Bankside area has undergone an extraordinary transformation over the centuries, from marshland to fields, then to industrial land.

After the relocation and closure of industries such as the Bankside power station, the Bankside foreshore was left as remains with the removal of industrial machinery and a number of buildings. The landscape continues to be exposed to sunlight, moisture, and salt.

After the closure of the Bankside power station, some remains were left on the foreshore.

The landscape and debris continues to be exposed to sunlight, moisture, and salt.

The Founder's Arms

QUADRAT SQUARE

Stone Sand

Brick

Wood

Algae, Fungi and Mosses

Surrounding Industry and pier history

Timber Decay Process

QUADRAT SQUARE

The main force of the decay is tides, making the site dynamic. Each day the site is affected by two tides because the Thames is connected to the North Sea.

SEASONAL TIDES

Sand&Gravel Mud Clay

Peat Old Clay Chalk Group

Tide Area in 2022 & 1895

Low Tide Line in 2022

Low Tide Line in 1895

High Tide Line in 2022

NATURAL BOUNDARY

NATURAL BOUNDARY

High Tide Line in 2022

Low Tide Line in 2022

High Tide Line in 1895

Low Tide Line in 1895

ARTIFICIAL BOUNDARY

High Tide Line in 1895

ARTIFICIAL BOUNDARY

TIDAL LAMPLITUDE

Over the years, the embankment building and rising have significantly increased the tidal amplitude. (6.6M)

Historical Tides Data

Tide

This map shows how the artificial and natural boundary has changed from 1895 to 2022, as River Thames has been transformed into a deep, narrow tidal canal flowing between solid artificial walls.

Old map of London, 1893 - 1895

Table (M) 3M

EMBANKMENT HISTORY

Bankside Foreshore has undergone an extraordinary transformation over the centuries, from marshland to fields, then to industrial land.

The tidal limit in Roman times was further down the river.

Land Sinking

Peat

Old Clay

New Clay

River Thames

Land surface flooded

Sealing of peat bed

Formation of new clay

Land reclamation process: riverside marshland was enclosed and drained by farmers.

The Thames used to be a wide, shallow river through marshes, which was transformed into a deep, narrow tidal canal in response to the need for navigation and land use.

Sand

Mud

Clay

River Thames

The Victoria Embankment were built in 1861.

The power station on the shore was closed in 1959 and converted into a museum. At the same time, new river banks were built.

Sand

Mud

Clay

River Thames

The tidal Thames today is virtually a canal —about 250 meters wide — flowing between solid artificial walls.

Roman Era Medieval

Victorian Era

Section Through The Victoria Embankment, 1867

Traditional Thames wall made by 'inning' adjoinging marshland, 1884

Bankside Embankment,

New Clay

INNED MARSH Inning SALT MARSH

The embankment continues to extend into the river.

Roman Era

Middle Ages

1891

Peat Formation

Maritime Trade Port

Rising

Embankments

Erosion

Decomposition

Cavities-Porous

inning riverside marshland Clay, brushwood, rushes Natural flood defence Building Embankments

Shipping High Tide

Low Tide Bankside Power Station were closed

PAST FUTURE ENTANGLEMENT OF CULTURAL AND NATURAL HISTORIES / CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH TIDAL MUSEUM: DECAY AS A TESTIMONY

“It is only in our minds that they can be transported from soulless museum cases back to their original settings.”

- Ivor Noel Hume, Treasure in the Thames,1956

Brick wall Remain Brick Foundation Wooden trestle Dock Foundation And Well For Hydraulic Crane Metal pipes

Concrete Solidation

Livelihood waste & Natural souvenir

Bankside Foreshore

Embankment

Nature and culture are observed and defined not in a stasis state but in the ongoing natural cycles. The decay process of materials continually redescribes the history of the site.

Siltstone

Mudstone

Limestone Clay pipes

Shell

Concrete

Concrete Solidation

Old London bricks Gravel Ceramic Tablets

Metal Pipes

Metal Embankment

Wood Sand Mud Clay

Decayed Timber

Brick

Sandstone

Brick

1960

2022

Stage 2 - Power station closed in 1959

1960

The huge machinery was removed and the building was stripped.

Remind us of the industrial history of the site and age value.

The tides continue to erode the remaining structures.

Stage 3 - Remain: Foundation and Well

Stage 1 - Hydraulic Crane

OF DOCK

TRESTLE DECAY PROCESS

1900s

2000s Present

TIMBER DECAY PROCESS

ENZYMES

As the tide continues to wash over the stumps, parts of them are eroded and cracked, bending in the direction of the tide.

SPORE GERMINATING

Nitrogen Phosphorus Carbon

FUNGUS & AQUATIC MICROORGANISMS

Intact Wood

Parasitic Wood

Decayed Wood

BRICK WALL DECAY PROCESS

Water ingress is a direct contributor to brick decay and spalling.

The distribution of broken bricks suggests that a brick wall once existed here.

The brick wall is continually pounded by the tide.

EROSION

WATER SOLUBLE SALTS & FROST

MOSSES & LICHENS

CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE

Oxalic

PHYSICAL ABRASION

Contraction Gravel

Gravel

Oval Brick Fragment Expansion

acid

Crack

-Siltstone

-Mudstone -Limestone -Clay pipes -Shell -Ceramic Tablets

-Brick

-Sandstone

Usage Period

Wet rot is a fungus that attacks timbers, causing a porous interior of wet wood.

25 Years

Metals are easy to corrode when exposed to water due to the dissolved salts in the water.

30 Years

The clay expands as it gets wet and shrinks as it dries.

40 Years

Brick is porous and it has a tendency to absorb water or moisture. Water enters cracks, freezes, and expands the cracks.

75 Years

If water permeates, the carbonic acid present in water corrodes the steel, and steel swells and causes concrete cracking.

75 Years

MATERIALS ON THE FORESHORE

Peat

Wood

Sand Metal

Stone Porcelain

Defoliation Waste

Mud Concrete

Clay Brick

ABSTRACT MATERIAL MODEL

MATERIAL ON THE FORESHORE

MATERIAL COMBINATIONS ON THE FORESHORE

Material histories can reveal nature and culture history

Peat

Concrete Brick

Sand

Mud

Wood

The decay process of different materials can inspire visitors to look back in time across the earlier structures' traces and histories.

OVERLAYING CULTURAL TRACE

The bankside power station were closed in 1959.

Victorian Era

Land Sinking

Old Clay

Land surface flooded

Old Clay

Sealing of peat bed

Formation of new clay

Old Clay

Formation of new clay

New Clay INNED MARSH

Old Clay Old Clay

Fungi

Wood

Nature Human Stone Sand Gravel Clay Brick Concrete Mud Peat Household Waste

SALT MARSH

RIVER THAMES

GEOMETRIZING TRACES

Transforming the historical traces and natural textures into regular geometric forms, revealing the history, and enhancing erosion visibility.

Historical Embankment Boundary

Present Embankment Boundary

Ships

The

Range Of Force Arms Of Hydraulic Cranes

The Remains of dock

Inning Wall

Brick Wall

broad concrete solidation: a point of embankation

DESIGN ITERATIONS: SKETCH

DESIGN ITERATIONS: ABSTRACT MODEL

DESIGN ITERATIONS: DRAFT MODEL

DESIGN ITERATIONS: DRAFT MODEL

The combination and erosion of different materials allow people to experience the hidden cultural and natural history through a journey.

DESIGN ITERATIONS: DRAFT MODEL

CHAPTER 2

PROGRAMME

/ TIDAL MUSEUM : DECAY AS A TESTIMONY

TIDAL MUSEUMN

-DECAY AS A TESTIMONY

SITE

Bankside Foreshore, London

AIMS

- Showing history, culture, and nature traces

-Evocating the viewer's perception of pastness through an experiential journey

- Allowing nature to record the site through the decay process

WHO IS IT FOR City Resident Tourists / Visitors

School / Education

Dog Walkers

FORMATION OF GEOMETRIC TRACES

Range Of Force Arms Of Hydraulic Cranes

The Remains of dock

Daily Change Of Shadow Simulate Force Arm

Foundation And Well For Hydraulic Crane

Shipping history illusion

Inning: a land reclamation process

Riverside marshland was enclosed and drained

3 Historical Embankment Material

Embankment boundary in 2022

Embankment boundary in 2022

Embankment boundary in 1896

Wooden trestle for pedestrian access

Geological Sample

The broad concrete solidation might used to be a point of embankation for ferries taking people and livestock.

Geological Sample

Embankment boundary in 1896

Brick Wall

A sluice for draining surface runoff water at low tide

Traditionally, embankments in the Thames were made from clay dug out from the marsh.

Acoustic Mirror

Embankment boundary in 1896

The form of design is the superimposition and geometrization of historical traces.

Mudlarking Debris

Tide & Emabnkment

Geology

Agriculture

Shipping Industry

Historical traces are redescribes through the material.

Low Tide Line

River Thames

Bankside Foreshore

Bankside Area

River Thames

TIDAL MUSEUM

The tidal museum reveals and reconstructs all of the cultural traces. These materials testify to the existence of the former histories and their more or less invasive intervention in the natural environment of the foreshore.

Tide

Climate

N Brick Concrete Wood

Mud & Peat Clay Metal

High Tide

Low Tide

Summer

Autumn

Spring

Winter

After 10 years

This project will be a temporary museum: everything will fall and return to earth, becoming a part of the culture and ecological cycle. As the tides wash in twice a day, different materials are eroded at different stages, forming dynamic experiences and cultural illusion.

Mud & Peat Clay Wood Brick Concrete Metal

Tate Modern Museum

Bankside Pier

Bankside Gallery

Blackfriars Bridge

The route that people take will change over time. when the material starts to collapse, the former route becomes blocked and diverted to a new route.

NODE5: GROUNDED COURTYARD

Grounded Courtyard reveals the hidden geological history by stepping into the sunken space. Shaping the geological materials into geometric blocks. The layers, texture, and smell of the mud, clay, and peat can be perceptible to visitors. The decay process and view intertwine to form a series of experiences.

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Clay, Peat and Mud Concrete Brick

Tidal erosion

A smell of decaying algae.

Tide brings new debris.

Clay, Peat and Mud

Concrete

Stone

Brick

Compared with sand and pebbles, the more fertile blocks can be the base of tiny habitats through eroding.

The concrete will shape the space in the final stages, providing a fractured aesthetic and pastness.

The collapse of the brick wall will block the old paths, but it will also create new paths and spatial sequences.

NODE8: HYDRAULIC CRANE REMAINS

Shaping a circular geometry to imply the range of motion and volume of the crane, awakening the resonance of industrial history.

The sunken space gives visitors the opportunity to observe the spatial relationships of the ruins from another perspective, and the platform allows them to observe the tides closer.

Concrete Wood

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Foundation And Well For Hydraulic Crane

The Remains of dock

A relic of industrial history.

There used to be a pier.

Clay, Peat and Mud

Concrete

Brick

Wood

Wood

Showing the original form of the broken wooden stumps, evoking the imagination of the visitors.

These materials have different rates of decay. when one material is eroded and other are revealed.

The protective structures will slow down the erosion of the significant remains for a period of time.

The sunken space is gradually covered as sediment builds up from the tides.