A change of plan(s)

After last weeks Crit I've been trying to get back to my initial incubator tectonics. Reincorporating the modular from the prototype and the elevated style of the 'lolly-pop' models I did.

I started as I did with the initial prototype design, by cutting up and modelling from wooden blocks in a loose and unrestrained way. I then clustered the activities and created a hierarchy using varying heights. My thoughts were following the idea of islands within a void and also a continuation of the trees to the south in a built form. These 'tree-house' types and elevate the private admin spaces to the top, offering views and security. I envisaged trees and hard landscaping incorporated within a through-way, as though the spaces and growth were one, enabling the ground floor plan to be freed up. This means the high spaces can be closed at night but don't disrupt activities during the evening. The possibility for the external market occupying the rest of the site on certain days could then spill into the ground floor of the Institute, this is also applicable to festivals or special events hosted by the Institute. The image of differently shaped boxes high up within a void, opening different views into varing activity's will produce a positive visual aid towards the workings of the Institute.

I'm at a fairly early stage still with this new development, but hopefully I can get some plans and sections drawn in time for Monday. I've never felt this unprepared for a final crit but the things I've learnt and the way the project has developed over the many weeks has been a very positive experience. I do tend to get carried away during projects and have trouble keeping things simple . I believe my inquisitive nature makes me want to investigate every possible route of intrigue and this has let me down on preparing this final building. If I was to take something from the experience it would be to focus more on simplifying the task for myself and to explain to others - I try and cram in too much.

I updated the blog tonight with these images because I came across a similar project in Finland that caught my eye. I was researching 'traditional Finnish smoke houses' on Google images and came across this picture:

Architectonic landscape installation realized in Savonlinna, Finland - 1999 - Recalling the little barns that pepper the traditional Finnish landscape, the architectural installation is designed as a protest against the desertification of the countryside. Three of these abandoned barns have broken free from their moorings to rise majestically 10 meters from the ground.

iK|Land(e)scape,1999. Awesome!

"Three abandoned barnhouses lifted on wooden legs to be able to follow their farmers to the cities. Barns were set on fire during a traditional slaughter carnival by dancer Reijo Kela.
The work was commenting on the desertification process of the Finnish countryside, fastest in the EU." (Sami Rintala)

 

This ties back to the my initial thought that kick started the the incubator - collaboration between the urban environment and sustainability. The reconnection between the countryside and the urban dwelling. To reeducated the urban masses by reintroducing LIFE backing to the urban death. The prototype was meant to visually show how through living fish and the growth of plant, LIFE CYCLES and symbiotic relationships are necessary for progress.    

On further research I also came across this project in Helsinki from 2004:

PUBLIC ATTIC

A Public Attic for Helsinki facing the Parliament of Finland.

Attic is the memory of a house. In attic time is different. Attic is not routine, attic don´t have stress. All the objects are tied to stories. Attic is a narrative space. Also a city can have an attic. A public attic to reflect the collective subconscious.

People were bringing objects to our Public Attic and exchanging them for free. This became a small spontaneous community centre. Improvised architecture.

Some problems I still need to solve for Monday include a canopy for the building. I mentioned that these 'islands' will be elevated into a void, however I'm currently unsure as to how, what and where to shelter. I'm thinking about tensile lightweight canopies because they create a sense of bringing the outside-in. However I'm not sure if these are transparent or will block the views to the surrounding spaces. The second thought follows my earlier design work of using a lightweight grid shell that would support ETFE cushions. The transparent nature and thermal efficiency will offer enclose and also allow natural light for the library and other spaces.

Reusing the Oil Silos

It occurred to me how beautiful and sculptural the old oil silos on the site are. They are even illuminated at night on Pipewellgate. I therefore want to fully integrate these structures into my design (fully decontaminated first). This reuse ties in with sustainability and cleaning the site. To reuse is always an option that can save money and keep within the historic nature of a site and within an urban grain. My intention is to use some of them (there are eight in all) to act as structural cores within the building. Additional possibilities include: use for the distilleries, lift and stair shafts, using them to secure the roof (inverted cone structures), rainwater collection, stack ventilation system, or maybe they could be re-clad for a greater sculptural appearance or like Tom suggested about the warehouse facades - keep the old aesthetic. I want to also used them internally to grow plants down, integrating the Aquaponic process using their structures. They could also be used externally and act as viewing towers on the landscape or support food producing green walls. This is a strong idea that could link the landscape into the building and something that is going to feature greatly in my design process over Easter. These industrial process structures will vertical connect with the natural canopy of the Botanical garden above, again coming back to this symbiotic relationship and the architectural language of ‘outside meeting inside’ and the cleansing/ connections within the design scheme.




Precedents:  

• Abandoned Industrial Silo Becomes Beautiful Residences in Denmark

• annie MG schmidt house designed by arons en gelauff architecten, is the winner of the adaptive reuse design competition for two former sewage treatment silos in amsterdam's zeeburg district. the design which is named after holland's most famous author of children's books, annie MG schmidt (1911-1995), is a multi-functional cultural center that will house a range of facilities including a media centre, movie theatre, tower room and shops. this project gives new life to the silos, transforming them into places of activity and leisure. one of the silo's rooftops will house an open playground, with restaurant praq op 't daq built on the other. 

•  Abandoned Silos Transformed Into a Climbing Gym

Proposed by NL Architects involves taking two of the towers and extending their roofs up 18 meters to the maxium height the towers could support. Inside tower A is a 40 meter high climbing atrium that looks like an inverted funnel with various cantelivers, wall facets, and overhangs to challenge climbers. Below the climbing atrium is a cafe and bouldering room while above is a hotel and training facility. Tower B houses a rooftop restaurant, office space, a salon, music studio, and a movie theater. The two towers are connected via a footbridge at the original rooftop height of the silos.







Off topic for this post but a relevant precedent for my botanical garden and cafe connection can be seen at Restaurant De Kas in Amsterdam. A project that grows all its own food for the restaurant with the guests dining in an actual glass green house environment.






or maybe using the fish for the Aquaponic system and create a very different atmosphere... why not?


Ithaa Underwater Restaurant:
For a truly sublime experience, try getting a table at the Ithaa Underwater Restaurant.

  

amber material - detail tee sap - precedent etc hermitage room - ties nature to a liquid form

Fungi, sustainability, thoughts and feelings...

Taking the idea of architectural modular components from my incubator task and applying them to the main build. My basis for a component approach was down to the Aquaponics system comprising of different parts i.e. feeding, the fish, water pumps, water released, water filtration using gravity, plants taking in nutrients through exposed root systems, clean water returned to fish - process starts again. This is the closed loop process. My idea to have different components that could be moved to accommodate different uses / growth of different plant heights was aimed towards a flexible and adaptable 'Herbal Tea Stall'. This idea of adaptability within the scheme could be developed within the Botanical Farm approach.

Ideas of connection and multiplicity.

My approach is one of sustainability, by using existing feature on the site to their full advantage. Using the ideas of connections and symbiotic relationships, I firstly wanted to establish a link between the Finnish Institute and the adjoined activity. From researching the history of Finland I found much of the Finnish population see themselves as countryside orientated. They have a historic connection with the Forest, wanting to live in and around the edge of the trees. Due to rapid industrialisation Finland urbanised and a void was created between the vernacular idea of nature and home and the concrete jungle of the city. Many cities, including Newcastle have fallen victim to environments that don’t integrate nature, growing and floras life cycles, Recently efforts are being made to fully incorporate urban farms and nature back into urban life. An effort based around sustainability i.e. cutting transport and fuel emissions, fresher produce, towards an integrated zero carbon closed loop city model. On a deeper note the connection and influence nature can have on the human psychology is evident within many farming orientated communities, social allotments, mass housing developments such as Byker Wall in Newcastle is clear to see.

Therefore the idea Pipewellgate was a former Oil and lubrication factory was a key reason why I chose the site. (Others include its close relationship with the river and trees). My scheme is about highlighting a sustainable future, through reuse and systems such as Biogas production, a process that uses the plant waste and rubbish from local restaurants to be digested into methane gas, that can then be used to power and heat the building. On a higher agenda, I want to highlight architecturally how Oil is not a finite resource, and show visually how an Urban Farm could function, how relationships and understanding back to nature will ultimately guide us into a sustainable future. Through the ideas of biomimicry and study of processes that have taken 3.8 billion years of development to become the most efficient structures, much can leant about how our society can function on many different levels. It is to this end, the ideas and research behind Fungi started to influence my project, both on an architectural level, landscaping and how a networking organisation like the Finnish Institute could function.

Fungi are incredible organisms:

· Believed to have enabled plant to come from the oceans and live on the land billions of years ago. Through their symbiotic relationships, Fungi were able to keep these plants alive on the surface whilst root systems and aerobic functions adapted and evolved. I like this idea because it ties in well with Aquaponics. A system that isn't reliant on the land, because it is purely a combined process using the fish and the plants in a soilless environment. It is a process that happens naturally under the sea through organisms like plankton. This system can be seen historically used in river ways on 'floating islands' and rafts, essentially doing the same thing. Today through research and development, the systems have become efficient and are economically viable within the urban farming environment.

· Fungi live and feed using other organisms, specifically for me - trees. The tree gives the Fungi energy through photosynthesis and the Fungi gives the tree nutrients and food. They can also filter out contaminated soils and attach themselves onto root systems to increase surface area and nutrient intake. Therefore a symbiotic relationship,  between two independent organisms that mutually benefit one another. This relates very strongly to the relationship the Finnish Institute will have with the Botanical Farm part of the scheme. My ideas behind how they both relate to one another are similar to the Fungi and the Tree because they will share economical benefits and food produce. The Botanical Farm will be elevated on top of the processes and Finnish Institute below, 1 - to indicate that the Aquaponics Farm process is a disconnection with the ground and land - making it perfect for Urban sites. 2. To acquire plenty of sunlight for the plants to grow. 3. To ensure the plants and 'green house' on top will be in the hottest part of the building. 4. The plants will act as a natural filtration system for the spaces below, reacting seasonally i.e in summer giving lots of shade and in winter allowing lots of light.

· Fungi as connectors and networks ties in well with what the Institute does. Fungal mats underground enable much of our ecosystem to build and maintain health. These 'mats' might connect one trees root system to another to enable mutual benefits. One of the tree might be producing lots of photosynthesised energy whilst the other will have access to lots of water intake. The two could then live in a win-win situation through the connection the Fungi produces. This is essentially what the institute does, it brings different talents, organisations, ideas together to create collaborations. Whilst in the tutorial on Monday with David, he advised that I lose the 'ramp' and instead look to connect the building with the natural incline of the hill to the south and the sculpture park. This makes perfect sense and links back to the idea of the fungal mat. Linking different activities for mutual beneficial outcomes. This direct link between the Sculpture Park and botanical indoor Farm will enable first floor access and link the activities.

10 min 35 secs in, is the relevant section about Fungi influence within a design and organisational framework

12 mins 35 secs in - refers to the 'Fungal mat' and creating connections

A relevant section was, how they used the Fungi’s relationships to create a new organisation model - ‘What if the head office was more like the Fungus, about distributing nutrient information to the chapters rather than trying to direct it, and so creating an information network than a hierarchy'. So by looking not only at the structure but at the organism’s orderings, relationships and rules, the organisation of the Finnish Institute and how it networks itself could be influenced.

· One of my early ideas was to create a distillery, this came from a conversation about what I wanted the Farm to produce. Because of its small scale I wanted something worthwhile, a produce that would be financially lucrative and enable growth and income for the Finnish Institute (A financial symbiotic relationship where my Urban Farm activity would help fund and develop the Finnish Institutes socially benefitting ideas - again a lot like the Fungus and Tree bond). A botanical distillery, specifically Gin came to mind, a drink that was infused with not only Juniper berries but Nordic berries (the types that could be foraged in the Finnish Forests.) This would not only create a viable business whose profits would go back into the community but would (with Newcastle Brown Ale in mind) give the Pipewellgate a local vernacular identity - Fin_Gin (A logo that both connects both to the Finnish element and 'Fins' of the fish used in the Aquaponics of the farm to grow the infusion berries) . The idea that a local product that could be sold in bars around Newcastle would be specifically link to the Fin_Farm scheme. This is all just idealistic however, the deeper note I want people to take from this is, growing foods and producing food themselves, that the incorporation of nature within the city will have economical benefits, it will, as mentioned, cut transport cost, stop foods from being flown thousands of miles and ultimately making cities and countries less reliant on imported goods. I want the botanical Farm to include a cafe, drinks bars etc but also a workshop area where people can come and create different foods using ingredients from the site. As stated in crits - What does the building want to be? First and foremost an educational tool that shows people new ways cities and communities could grow and live in the future. Its a scheme that will open up minds to new perspectives. To change people minds-sets away from the disposable and inexhaustible ideas many have about resources to allowing the building to educate and act as a mediator to make people understand that through considered design and understanding, things can be reused, often in a more beneficial and economic way.
o    Back to the relationship between Fungi and Distilling. Since ancient times Yeast (a type of Fungi) has been used to ferment Alcohol, a fitting connection that helps link the scheme. It is also used to flavour and preserve foods such as Blue cheese and Camembert. So many things fall back to the influence and effects of nature.

· Fungi and Biomimicry, helped influence by architectural idea about pulling the roof canopy down into the building. Structures that would act as water collectors, Access to the outside on the roof, ventilation, and light penetration. To Support these structures 'Steel columns' be used - these will be the existing steel oil cylos that will be decontaminated and reused. They will act as core anchors within the structure and relate back to my incubator about different component that interrelate and mutually benefit one another. Now that I am linking and bridging into the Sculpture Park, I am looking to my roof as a natural canopy that will have my plants growing. I want the plants to grow down the inverted cones and down the steel cylinders visually linking the fish tanks and growth of the plant to show visitors their connection. A precedent I’ve looked at is the Media Technique by Toyo Ito, similarly connecting and stabilising the different levels through vertical structures. David has told me to start planning spaces on levels and around the vertical structures, to create different and interesting interior and exterior spaces.

· Some types of Fungi are 'Bio Illuminators' meaning they light up at night. This idea helped me envision the building as a beacon, with the transparent 'green house' on the first/second floors attracting attention to the site, this will help to draw people at night and during the day to the fairly remote site, it will inject new life into the area through visual stimulation. One down side to the Sculpture Park is its hidden and unexposed character, something that local residents I've spoken to have refered to as a dangerous place to go at night. However it is pleasant and interesting to discover the different sculpture by day, with the trees adding to the sense of adventure. This idea about using the building to illuminate, could help make the park less threatening at night. By lighting up the trees and hillside from within the 'Green house' and by creating a literal bridge across into the hill, I think the Sculpture Park would be enhanced in a positive way.

· An interesting part of my landscaping and architectual strategy is based around 'cleaning the polluted site'. De-contaminating the brown field site so that the land can be regenerated into usable and fertile ground. I have in mind a landscaping idea that will firstly cleanse the site and then in legacy form, allow for communal allotments to grow food. I see my scheme as something that is inital and will change and develop as the site is cleaned, with new landscaping attraction further down the line i.e. added river front sculptures to tie in with the Park, Muscle farm?, communal green space and also the development of the produce market that could connect to the Sunday Quayside market in Newcastle. I have been researching into the use of plants and their properties in decontaminating land, looking at finding from Teesside and Durham University. I am also interested in how the plants could clean the land and also be used as Biomass for the building. A viable plant to use would be 'Reed Canarygrass' because it grows well on poor soils and contaminated industrial sites, and researchers at Teesside University's Contaminated Land & Water Centre have suggested it as the ideal candidate for phytoremediation in improving soil quality and biodiversity at Brownfield sites. Once the grass reaches maturity, a process that takes two years, it is harvested and baled up before its conversion into bricks and pellets.
(http://cordis.europa.eu/fetchCALLER=NEWSLINK_EN_C&RCN=31824&ACTION=D)
'The test burnings have shown that reed canary grass produces a good, clean fuel without picking up contamination from the soil,' Dr Lord pointed out. 'Reed canary grass has great potential because it offers a suitable use for unsightly Brownfield sites while producing an excellent fuel at a time when the world is crying out for new ways of producing green energy,' he went on to say. Our research also suggests that the end product is improved soil quality and biodiversity at the greened-up sites. Experts say crops burnt specifically for fuel falls under the 'renewable energy' category. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere when the biomass is burnt. When crops are re-grown, the same amount of CO2 is removed from the atmosphere. Bio-fuels are considered carbon neutral because they have no impact on the CO2 levels in the atmosphere.'

o    So from this info, the excess land on Pipewellgate could be used to create this decontaminating, power crop?

o    Other Sustainable ideas apart from the Biogas digester include rainwater collection for grey water treatment of toilets. A reed bed to deal with toilet waste. Wind generated is also a very viable possibilty for the site becuase of the strong westernly winds down the Tyne. These could fit into the Landscaping strategy.  

· To tie this idea of rejuvenating the soil and land from the Brett Oil refineries use, again I looked to Fungi to investigate what they can do. It turns out Fungi are used when oil spills happen all over the world. Bioengineered species can be created to deal with different strains of Brownfield waste and contaminates (See video below). Fungi break down carbon and can turn poluted soil into reusable ecosystems using a process called Mycoremediation.

Ecuador: Oil-Eating Mushrooms

Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation in which fungi are used to decontaminate the area. The term mycoremediation refers specifically to the use of fungal mycelia in bioremediation.


One of the primary roles of fungi in the ecosystem is decomposition, which is performed by the mycelium. The mycelium secretes extracellular enzymes and acids that break down lignin and cellulose, the two main building blocks of plant fiber. These are organic compounds composed of long chains of carbon and hydrogen, structurally similar to many organic pollutants. The key to mycoremediation is determining the right fungal species to target a specific pollutant. Certain strains have been reported to successfully degrade the nerve gases VX and sarin.


In one conducted experiment, a plot of soil contaminated with diesel oil was inoculated with mycelia of oyster mushrooms; traditional bioremediation techniques (bacteria) were used on control plots. After four weeks, more than 95% of many of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) had been reduced to non-toxic components in the mycelial-inoculated plots. It appears that the natural microbial community participates with the fungi to break down contaminants, eventually into carbon dioxide and water. Wood-degrading fungi are particularly effective in breaking down aromatic pollutants (toxic components of petroleum), as well as chlorinated compounds (certain persistent pesticides; Battelle, 2000).

A site photo showing a Petroleum Container was used at Brett Oils. This then backs
up the use of Fungi to cleanse the site.

Green Walls

I have considered using Green Wall because of their beauty and to tie into the concept of cleaning the site - the idea that plants are going to reverse the effects of the Brett Oil company and help decontaminate the site. I was planning to have a green facade coving the warehouse elevations, because I liked the visual link between the river water and the plant life. This will be a visual aid for the use of Aquaponics within the building. However during the Interim crit Tom said it would be a stronger idea to retain the original paint rendered facade - with its white with primary coloured striped and the 'Lubricant' logo. In some way I agree because it will show how it used to be the old oil site and will give out a strong message about how it could be regenerated and brought back to life sustainably. I like the link between the origin of oil being created millions of years ago from plant life and vegetation under the sea, that has undergone lots of heat and pressure (like the distillery/ biogas process) to become oil for out use. To then use plants again in the cycle to clean the oil contaminated site shows a clear life cycle and the power of nature in our everyday lives. Maybe a compromise between keeping the out facade and incorporating section of green wall could be designed?

"The plant wall has a real future for the well-being of people living in cities. The horizontal is finished - it's for us, but the vertical is still free, said patrick blanc, who, fascinated by plants that flourish without soil and in low light, went on to study this phenomenon at pierre & marie curie university in Paris and traveled to malaysia and thailand to observe how plants managed to grow on rocks or in forest underbrush. The research he has carried on at the french national center for scientific research is central to his work with plant walls, which thrive indoors using artificial lighting. A plant wall begins as a surface like a painting and as the plants grow it develops volume. It does not need to be trimmed and the density of the planting prevents weeds from sprouting. A wall he designed at the cartier foundation for contemporary art in paris has never been pruned. The use of artificial materials enables longevity. a wall in the living room of his house is 25 years old. Blanc never copies himself and has been careful to copyright his walls, like works of art. He prefers leaves to flowers and avoids plants with trailing vines. "I look at the architecture of leaves. I use plants with curves. When i am invited into museums to create permanent works, i am treated like an artist," he said, "meaning capable of choosing the plant sequences that will function together in the long run.
http://classics.understars.org/jargon.de.jour/

AECOM + BIG Unveil Plans to Revamp Chicago’s Navy Pier with a Vertical Farm and Roof Gardens

 

AQUAPONIC FARM PRECEDENT - BJARKE INGELS

The entire presentation on the Navy Pier redevelopment

(THE AQUAPONICS BIT IS ABOUT 11:55 INTO IT):

Inside what is now the Crystal Gardens, the AECOM/BIG team plans to develop a vertical urban farm and juice bar that would provide food for the restaurants on the pier. Fruits and veggies would be grown in tall, sculptural pillars, which could be viewed from aerial boardwalks.

Symbiotic Relationships

 

Two important symbioses involve fungi: the mycorrhizae that occur on the roots of almost all vascular plants and the lichens that have evolved entirely different body forms from those of their symbionts.

Mycorrhizae

Fungi and the roots of almost all vascular plants form mutualistic associations called mycorrhizae (singular, mycorrhiza). The fungus gets its energy from the plant, and the plant acquires an efficient nutrient absorbing mechanism—the actively growing hyphae that penetrate regions of the soil untapped by root hairs. Phosphate uptake especially is increased when mycorrhizae are present.
Two general types of mycorrhizae occur, differentiated by whether the hyphae live within the cortical cells of the roots or remain outside the cells: endomycorrhizae (endo = within; myco = fungus; rhizae = roots) and ectomycorrhizae (ecto = outside). Zygomycete taxa are components of most endomycorrhizae while basidiomycetes and a few ascomycetes form ectomycorrhizae.

Lichens

The symbiotic relationship of fungi with either algae or cyanobacteria produces a body—a lichen—so distinctly different from either of its symbionts that it is treated as a separate organism. The fungal hyphae give the lichen thallus its characteristic shape, and the cells of its photosynthetic partner are dispersed among them. While the algal or cyanobacterial member can live independently, the fungus cannot, so the fungus in essence is a parasite on the photosynthesizer in the lichen thallus. The fungus, however, provides a “home” for the photosynthetic cells as well as absorbing water and nutrients that the photobiont uses. This makes the symbiosis mutualistic as much as parasitic in the view of some biologists.
Life is becoming precarious for lichens in many urban environments today. Many lichens are intolerant of air pollutants. They have no means of getting rid of the elements, toxic or useful, which they absorb. Sulfur is particularly toxic to many, and sulfur dioxide released from burning coal has eliminated many susceptible species from cities. Lichens can be used as biomonitors—and warnings—of the quality of the air we breathe.

A Kingdom Separate from Plants

The fungi (singular,fungus) once were considered to be plants because they grow out of the soil and have rigid cell walls. Now they are placed independently in their own kingdom of equal rank with the animals and plants and, in fact, are more closely related to animals than to plants. Like the animals, they have chitin in their cell walls and store reserve food as glycogen. (Chitin is the polysaccharide that gives hardness to the external skeletons of lobsters and insects.) They lack chlorophyll and are heterotrophic. Familiar representatives include the edible mushrooms, molds, mildews, yeasts, and the plant pathogens, smuts and rusts.

Fossil record

Evidence of fungi growing within the cells of 400-million-year-old Silurian-Age vascular plants suggests an early origin for the fungi. The first fungi developing from very early eukaryotes undoubtedly were unicellular; coenocytic filamentous forms were a later development.
An interesting proposal postulates that a symbiosis between early fungi and early plants permitted the plants to establish themselves on land before they had evolved roots with which to absorb vital water and minerals from the soil. The fungi could do this for them and already were associated with some plants, hence the start of the mycorrhizal association. 

Secrets Of Cooperation Between Trees And Fungi Revealed

ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2008) — Plants gained their ancestral toehold on dry land with considerable help from their fungal friends. Now, millennia later, that partnership is being exploited as a strategy to bolster biomass production for next generation biofuels. The genetic mechanism of this kind of symbiosis, which contributes to the delicate ecological balance in healthy forests, also provides insights into plant health that may enable more efficient carbon sequestration and enhanced phytoremediation, using plants to clean up environmental contaminants.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080305144228.htm


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Materials Used by Organisms Are Recycled

The Earth is essentially a closed chemical system through which the elements necessary for life are reused and move from abiotic reservoirs to the biota and back in global biogeochemical cycles. Some elements are held as gases in the atmosphere, others are components of the lithosphere (rocks and soil of the Earth's crust), many move through the hydrosphere (marine and freshwaters) before or after their sojourn in the biosphere (the living components).

The cycles through the lithosphere are said to be sedimentary cycles (from the sedimentary rocks in which the elements reside) and are of such long duration that the elements are essentially removed from further cycling until tectonic (mountain building) or volcanic eruptions expose the rock layers to new weathering. Elements have shorter residence times in the air in the atmospheric cycles and generally the least of all in the biota. A surprisingly small amount of the world's matter is held in living organisms at any time; the reservoirs for the elements of concern to life are almost entirely abiotic ones.
Plants are more than merely users of the chemicals of the Earth; through their metabolic processes they exert a considerable influence on the cycling of the major chemicals. Plants have been indispensable through deep (geologic) time in maintaining the steady-state condition of most of the biogeochemical cycles. All of the ecologically significant chemical elements have both an abiotic and a biotic component. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen enter plants from the air and from the decomposition of organic matter, but the other 14 essential nutrients are taken from the soil, as are the miscellaneous other elements used in small amounts by a variety of organisms. Nutrients released from weathered rocks enter the soil solution and move by diffusion and mass flow to the sites of biological activity. Rock weathering is a long-term process that adds small quantities of minerals slowly, over time to the ecosystem. Plants and other organisms, therefore, obtain most of the minerals they need by recycling existing organic matter.

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Materials-Used-by-Organisms-Are-Recycled.topicArticleId-23791,articleId-23782.html










A dynamic movement of a colonist and its host move along a continuum between antagonism and cooperation. A pathogen may live with us but not cause disease most of the time, like herpes simplex viruses (that cause fever blisters.) The pathogen occasionally causes serious illness. The movement along the continuum is dynamic and changing.

The bacteria that live in our large intestines can also move along the continuum. Most of the time they are mutualists, benefitting us and being benefitted by living inside us, but can you guess when they might instantly shift to the pathogenic end of the continuum? Answer: If your appendix ruptures, or if you get a gunshot wound to the abdomen, those very same bacteria move into other compartments of your body and become serious pathogens.

Natural selection is the pervasive explanatory paradigm throughout all of these odysseys into the coexistence of hosts and colonists. Both evolve together, or co-evolve. We have two new terms here: coevolution and symbiosis. Coevolution is nothing more than two or more organisms evolving in response to each other, with natural selection working independently on both. Symbiosis is just what the word is constructed to mean: living together. Symbiosis includes the entire continuum between antagonism and cooperation, with commensalism in the middle (in which one organism benefits and the other is more or less unaffected.)

http://www.barbican.org.uk/radical_nature

Vids

Some more videos showing the Public Farm One Precedent - I think this idea of modules is very strong and ties in with my incubator concept of components that visually show a process.

An interesting sculpture that could work at Pipewellgate. (Might get a bit noisy and irritating after a while though...)

Fungi - an inspiration on so many levels.

(An artical by Alan Rayner - a Doctor in Biological developement and understanding. I have added bits about how things relate - the videos are very interesting)

What does it really mean to be a healthy tree? And what is a diseased tree? And what do fungi have to do with these questions? And how might our answers depend on the environmental context in which we are considering them? This paper outlines the huge variety of ways in which trees and fungi enter into and influence one another's lives as dynamic embodiments of natural energy flow, and what this means for them both individually and collectively in the ecosystems they help to co-create.

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way. Some see nature as all ridicule and deformity…and some scarce see nature at all. But by the eyes of a man of imagination, nature is imagination itself”

- William Blake

Seeing the top botanical garden as a canopy - a vortec, geodesic, fruitful canopy, a continuation of the surrounding trees, brought down and controlled to a human scale.

'Fountains of the Forest'.

What is a Fungus?

“a sickly autumn shone upon the land. Wet and rotten leaves reeked and festered under the foul haze. The fields were spotted with monstrous fungi of a size and colour never matched before – scarlet and mauve and liver and black – it was as though the sick earth had burst into foul pustules. Mildew and lichen mottled the walls and with that filthy crop, death sprang from the watersoaked earth” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As with trees, it is all too easy to allow objective vision to take a one-sided view of fungi, which alienates them from their natural neighbourhood. But for fungi this view can all too readily miscast them in the mould of execrable underclass, the destroyers and takers of life. Attention then focuses selectively on how to prevent or remove their appearance, instead of appreciating their significance as the natural world’s great communicators and recyclers, whose role in life’s endings is vital to life’s openings.

If, on the other hand, we come to view fungi as relay channels for energy flow between underworld and outer-world, a much deeper understanding of their role in natural processes of growth, death and decomposition may be possible. Instead of estranging them as some class of lowlife that subsists at the expense or, at best, by courtesy of the trickle down economy of the grandiose, we understand them as riverine channels, veins and arteries delivering and returning lifeblood through the body to and from the hearts of natural ecosystems.

By perceiving the flow-forms of fungi in this way, as energetic configurations of figure in ground and ground in figure that connect within, to and from those energetic configurations of figure in ground and ground in figure that comprise the flow-forms of trees, we may be better placed to question their role in the health and disease of those they include within their natural neighbourhood.

A Question of Health and Disease: How Do Trees and Fungi Relate?

From the foregoing, it is clear that we can address and hence answer this question in different ways. The answer that predominates, to this day, under the influence of positivist science and Darwinian evolutionary theory is ‘as self-centred objects’. This is the answer that comes from our rationalistic predilection to impose definitive limits between subjects and objects as independent figures of ‘one thing or another’, regardless of the common ground of receptive space that both include and are included by as dynamic flow-forms. It is the answer that comes from dividing nature between ‘one’ as a ‘whole’ and ‘many’ as ‘parts’, and so sees life as a competition or ‘power struggle’ for ‘superiority’ over ‘others’. But deep in the heart of this division lies profound inconsistency and paradox, rooted most fundamentally in the groundless supposition that material ‘form’ can be isolated from the immaterial ‘space’ that gives it size and shape. With this supposition comes an attitude of mind predisposed to conflict by making an enemy of ‘other’, out of the context of the limitless openness that pools all dynamically together as flow-form. And so it can be that fungi become represented either as ‘foes’, against trees, or as ‘friends’, with trees in their relentless struggle for life regardless of circumstances. At best, this representation is simplistic – the product of a crude mental removal of what is vital to life, which sacrifices ‘truth’ for the sake of ‘convenience’. At worst it leads to abusive mismanagement and damage.

The answer seldom heard – as yet – comes from what has been called the inclusional understanding of natural energy flow as the dynamic inclusion of infinite receptive space in local form and local form in infinite space. According to this understanding, trees and fungi relate as natural neighbourhoods, with each as a dynamic inclusion of the other’s influence. This understanding transforms the competitive representation of evolutionary processes on the basis of selective advantage, into a co-creative flow of all through all in receptive spatial context – what has been called natural inclusion.

This notion 'to clean the city by reintroducing nature' is essentially similar to re-understanding the Fungi's relationship to the Tree. The relationship is mutually beneficial but in some cases parasitic. The Fungi is key to tieing the project - its biological make -up and structure, its metaphorical lessons, symbiotic connections and uses through fementation in yeast and convergence of contaminated elements pulls all areas together.

Trees as Host Space For Fungi: Embodied Water Flows From Roots to Branch and Back

“A tree is a solar powered fountain, its sprays supplied through wood-lined conduits and sealed in by bark until their final outburst in leaves…Within and upon its branching, enfolding, water-containing surfaces, and reaching out from there into air and soil are branching, enfolding, water-containing surfaces of finer scale, the mycelial networks of fungi…which provide a communications interface for energy transfer from neighbour to neighbour, from living to dead, and from dead to living” – Alan Rayner, Presidential Address, British Mycological Society, December 1998

Underground Connections – Sources of ‘Fellowship’ and ‘Parental Care’

It has only been appreciated relatively recently that the mycelium of mycorrhizal fungi that links roots to soil can also form communication channels between roots of one plant and another plant, bringing scope for flow between them. Depending on the relative specificity of association between fungus and plant, the resulting connections can join plants of the same species or different species, and younger plants with older plants in a common underground network that sustains each in communion with the other as sources and sinks. So, what appear to be separate entities above ground are joined together below ground, in much the same way that what appear to be ‘islands’ above sea level may only be the peaks of a submerged mountain range.

I like the idea, Fungi are connectors, like the Finnish Institute they network between different plants and organisms to create benefitial relationships. Similarly the internet or 'web' reminds me of this Fungi underground network - a digital Fungal network - not seen but understood and results in connection.

Alan Rayner gives a lecture backing up the content above, about how the relationships between Fungi and Trees could help influence our society in profound new ways:

 

AECOM + BIG Unveil Plans to Revamp Chicago’s Navy Pier with a Vertical Farm and Roof Gardens

Yest

The entire presentation on the Navy Pier redevelopment

(THE AQUAPONICS BIT IS ABOUT 11:55 INTO IT):

Inside what is now the Crystal Gardens, the AECOM/BIG team plans to develop a vertical urban farm and juice bar that would provide food for the restaurants on the pier. Fruits and veggies would be grown in tall, sculptural pillars, which could be viewed from aerial boardwalks.

amber material - detail tee sap - precedent etc hermitage room - ties nature to a liquid form

"the plant wall has a real future for the well-being of people living in cities. the horizontal is finished - it's for us. but the vertical is still free, said patrick blanc, who, fascinated by plants that flourish without soil and in low light, went on to study this phenomenon at pierre & marie curie university in paris and traveled to malaysia and thailand to observe how plants managed to grow on rocks or in forest underbrush. the research he has carried on at the french national center for scientific research is central to his work with plant walls, which thrive indoors using artificial lighting. a plant wall begins as a surface like a painting and as the plants grow it develops volume. it does not need to be trimmed and the density of the planting prevents weeds from sprouting. a wall he designed at the cartier foundation for contemporary art in paris has never been pruned. the use of artificial materials enables longevity. a wall in the living room of his house is 25 years old. blanc never copies himself and has been careful to copyright his walls, like works of art. he prefers leaves to flowers and avoids plants with trailing vines. "i look at the architecture of leaves. i use plants with curves. when i am invited into museums to create permanent workds, i am treated like an artist," he said, "meaning capable of choosing the plant sequences that will function together in the long run. construction for the walls, which blanc leaves to gardeners, costs around $700 per sq-m, plus labor. nyt 5.3.07 "all his rooms are living rooms"

http://classics.understars.org/jargon.de.jour/

Botanical Gardens in Finland



The Botanical Gardens of
the University of Oulu



Helsinki University Botanic garden

 
A unique tropical garden, Gardenia, was opened in April 2001. It is a limited joint stock company co-owned by the City of Helsinki and the University of Helsinki. The luxuriant garden, covered by glass, is a beautiful and refreshing place to visit all year round.

Botanical Gardens in Finland



The Botanical Gardens of
the University of Oulu



Helsinki University Botanic garden

 
A unique tropical garden, Gardenia, was opened in April 2001. It is a limited joint stock company co-owned by the City of Helsinki and the University of Helsinki. The luxuriant garden, covered by glass, is a beautiful and refreshing place to visit all year round.

Making Connections...

Last weekend I went to Prague on a four day visit, an experience that let me take a step back from all my work. Its amazing how even when not writing and drawing ideas, you are still subconscious switched on in the mind as to how your surrounding i.e Prague's buildings, their relationships to the river and the use of boats and transport. Interesting graphic, slogans, the aerial views from the plane, textures, tiles and the cityscape captured my imagination as to how my design could be influenced.

The image to the right, was in a magazine I was reading on the flight, it caught my eye because of the way the boats docked inside the sheds - inside a covered habitat of a space. This led me to consider whether this 'boat room space' that is created, could be applied to the Pipewellgate site? It would be part of the Institute but could 'detach', more like a moving room than a ship. A connecting space that moves and helps network the urban farm ideology and the Finnish Institutes initiatives. This would be an interesting feature to the building and would being back life to the dead river. A reminiscent idea to the Tuxedo Princess ship that used to be on the river, an icon that brought nightlife and a new experience to Newcastle - it gave the Gateshead riverside an identity. This 'floating room' barge would input and output from the main building, completing the 'process' within. It would be an educational space, growing food, collecting waste and produce from allotments down the river banks. It could become a floating stall at the Sunday Market on Newcastle Quayside, selling produce and more importantly 'Fin-Gin'! It could act as a river taxi and reconnect remote villages and communities up and down the river. New experiences such as sailing under the famous bridges of Newcastle and enjoying a new form of transport. Sailing and shipbuilding is within Newcastle's historic urban grain, Pipewellgate and all the factories on the river banks of the 19/20th century were established around ship deliveries, I think this would be a good activity to bring back, both on a cultural and practical level.

Shot taken from plane coming back to
Newcastle showing the mouth of the Tyne.

   



Tuxedo Princess night club on the Tyne

FIN_GIN Mixing the English love of Gin & Tonic
with a some Finnish Botanical Hedgerow fruits. 

As mentioned in tutorials, the desired small scale urban farm and botanical aspects need to produce something worthwhile financially, its not a commercial farm, its an educational tool and a place for the public and the Finnish Institute staff to enjoy. Therefore the idea of growing and creating a product that is specific to the Institute would be worthwhile. A product that would help being identity back to the locality. Examples of this include Newcastle Brown Ale (which isn't actually manufactured in Newcastle anymore), Wensleydale cheese, Cumberland sausage, Mowbray porkpies, the Cornish pastie and the relevant example Jack Cain's Gin (seen below). My flatmate (who is a chemical eng student) had this bottle. On further study and chatting to him, I discovered the base ingredients to Gin is a mixture of neutral alcoholic spirit with the flavour of Juniper berries. This addition of a botanical element is what caught my eye, and led into further research into what variation were available. Saffron, Elderflower, lemon, orange, herbs, spices and many others are also on the market. However I want to make this specific to the Finnish side of things as Gin (and tonic) is quite an English tradition, and so I looked at 'Hedgerow Botanicals' and came across a reference to a fruit called the 'Cloudberry'. Used 'in Nordic countries traditionally for liqueurs such as Lakkalikööri (a Finnish liqueur). It has a strong taste and a high sugar content. (Another bit of info I found) In addition to cultivated berries, there are about 50 species of wild berries growing in Finland, of which 37 are edible. Sixteen of these are picked for consumption, most importantly lingonberries, bilberries, cloudberries, raspberries, cranberries and arctic brambles. Also important are wild strawberries, bog whortleberries, mountain crowberries, buckthorn berries and rowanberries, among others. Maybe then a Gin could be created and sold to generate funds and identity to the Pipewellgate Finnish Institute (Fin_Farm + Fin_Gin branding). Sloe Gin is also another specific option and there is a receipt for a Finnish Version called 'Sima'. 'To make sloe gin, the sloe berries must be ripe. They are traditionally picked in late October or early November after the first frost of winter. A wide necked jar that can be sealed is needed. Prick each berry and half fill the wide necked jar with the pricked berries. Folklore has it that when making sloe gin, you shouldn't prick the berries with a metal fork, unless it is made of silver, thus conventional wisdom is to use a wooden tooth pick or similar'. The connection with Folklore has connection with Finnish beliefs with the Forrest, and brings to my mind the Shakespeare play 'Midsummer Nights Dream'.

Traditional Finnish Sima

4 quarts of water

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 lemons, thinly sliced

1/8 tsp active dry yeast

4 raisins

1/8 cup sugar for carbonating

The new Roseisle Distillery by Austin-Smith:Lord Architects in Scotland.
David told me to looks for 'process building' precedents and this is a
great example of how beautiful the process equipment can be.
Form follows function in this building.

A table in a bar that mixed
copper and wood, thus 
reminding me of barrels and the
 pressurised equipments
alcohol is brewed in.



A small scale brewery in a bar in Prague