ATMOSPHERIC ARCHITECTURE OF ACCELERATIONISM
An Evolutionary System as a Designer of Future Environments
“…deterritorialization has already been realized in the future and what we experience at the moment are, in the words of Nick Land, ‘tendril[s] of tomorrow … burrowing back’ (Land 2013): drugs, biotech, electronic music, cyberpunk fiction, and so on. This temporal model is predicated on a spatial modelling of the future that is infiltrating our present.”, Benjamin Noys.
The idea behind the thesis “A+A+A: An Evolutionary System as a Designer of Future Environments” is to study Global Warming in the condition of “Hyperobject” in order to understand its behaviour and use it as a design tool.
During the first period, a series of machines were analyzed, considering its importance as thermodynamic systems.
For the analysis of Global Warming as a hyperobject, various studies were developed concluding that global warming is an irreversible process and there has to be a shift of paradigm. In order to achieve a post-global warming period, there has to be a post-industrialization/ post-capitalism lead by forces of accelerationism.
The project also exhibits as a critique to the banality with which ecological projects are being developed. They are “doo-goodism”(1) projects without any aesthetic value.
(1) actions of a well-intentioned but naive and often inefficient social or political person.
The Site is defined according to several parameters:
- Original Use (Thermal Power Station)
- Location: Proximity to the City
- Scale of Project = Monumentality
- Activity Ceased 2011: Didn´t comply with environmental measures
The Machine incorporates different elements that work as a Thermodynamic system based on a Rankine Cycle. It´s performance is optimized through a variety of design strategies, and its power is obtained by the use of coal as the power source; the machine collapses when the resources of coal deplete as well.
It introduces as a “thermodynamic machine” that explores new ways of inhabiting the planet, by understanding the inminent acceleration of Global Warming, and therefore incorporates an active system which recreates future scenarios in order to define new ways of inhabitation.
A Wind Analysis is completed to obtain the number of hours per year that the wind blows from specific directions. These measurements are taken into consideration when defining the oriantation and power of the radial steam turbines.
In order to obtain the optimized system, multiple strategies are formalized:
- Create a three-dimensional grid that maximizes surface area.
- Optimization of grid for Maximum Ideal Fluid Performance.
- Selection of points according to needs in different areas.
- Incorporation of radial steam engines with different diameters according to specific performances.
The system incorporates both formal and functional intentions. The entire machine, including the chimneys, displays mirrored shells to dissolve the limits between the project and the environment; there is an idea of distorting and twisting the environment.
The steam plays another fundamental role in the project. In terms of function, it modifies the levels of pressure, temperature, and humidity in the site, altering its ecosystem and shaping new scenarios for future inhabitation.
In a formal language, the steam creates an architecture of atmospheres. Steam resulting from man-made force blurs both visual and acoustic properties, and dissovles the boundaries of the morphology.
