[Introduction]
This thesis explores the formation of architectural responses to environmental questions by proposing a response to a historical arc of environmental, technological, and social imagination in architecture.
Through the development of an architectural system for new housing, this thesis explores the integration of responses to environmental factors and climate change into the built environment, based on contemporary methods of representing and interacting with our environment, especially our study of climate change and projections of its global ramifications. It questions established relationships between technology, systems of enclosure, distribution of resources, and housing spaces when mediating between large scale environmental systems and the individual housing unit.
[Historical Arc]
The project began by constructing a historical arc of environmental questions and architectural responses to these questions over time. It identified two more categories that informed and contextualized architectural thinking throughout the last century; technological innovations, and global events/demands.
Because technological innovation has historically been seen as a tool for societal improvement, architecture has consistently turned to both scientific and use-based innovations when proposing solutions to climate mediation.
Political and social global events have also created demands that pushed architectural imagination in specific directions; world wars, housing shortages, climate crises, have created urgencies that demanded new ways of constructing the built environment.
In parallel and in relation to these arcs, throughout the emergence of the environmental movement in the 20th century, our understanding of “environment” “sustainability” has constantly been redefined depending on methods of studying and representing these concepts, as well as technological and social episodes. For example, the 60s experienced some of the first readings of c02 in our atmosphere. It was the decade of the space race. During this time, the first photos of earth from space emerged. This led to a period of increased awareness of the precarious nature of our environment. As the 70s were marked by the beginning of scientific opinion on global warming, the 1973 oil crisis, and the increasing widespread availability of the solar panel, sustainability in architecture focused on the use of alternative energy sources and solar architecture. The 90s were defined by increasingly refined building technology implemented in architecture. Eco Tech in this decade focused on efficiency in construction and operation to decrease environmental impacts, leaning into emerging methods of quantifying our interactions with the environment through metrics such as energy expenditure. This carried through to the 2000s, as our understanding of global environment and sustainability prompted by accelerated globalization and climate disasters worldwide informed polyscalar definitions of sustainability in relation to systems of energy, material flows, transportation, etc.
[Case Studies]
Seven architecture case study projects were explored both within their temporal context and according to today’s metrics of sustainability to identify how these different technological innovations, global events, and representations of the environment impacted architectural language and strategies over time.
Some examples are the Packaged House designed in 1947 by Wachsmann and Gropius, which was a closed component system that tapped into new mass production and prefab opportunities and provided a kit-of-parts that could be packaged, shipped, and assembled in a variety of configurations based on user needs. However, its system-specific panels became very expensive, and the kit-of-parts operated in a closed material system, meaning that no standardized materials could replace any components, and the project was unsuccessful in the housing market. Frei Otto’s Arctic City responded to fears of the dangers of environmental detriment in the 70s by tapping into nuclear energy and plastics as construction materials to envision new possibilities for community systems to thrive in protected, artificial environments. Today, this project is interpreted as a dystopia due to its motivation by the race for raw materials at the time, and its depiction of pristine sites (oceans, outer space, the arctic) as sites for colonization and exploitation. The Heliotrope developed and constructed between 1994 to 1995 by Rolf Disch fused architectural form with environment by optimizing the architecture to the function of the solar panel, with the house turning during the day to maximize natural resources. This project raised questions about the economies of renewable energy and the implications of decentralized microgrids on architectural form.
These projects were synthesized into architectural categories as strategies applied to the mediation between user and environment: these categories included energy distribution systems, bioclimatic design, controlled climates, open component systems, design for disassembly, and technology as infrastructure.
[Technology]
The relationship between technology and architecture was another arc which informed the proposal. Throughout the late 20th century, technological imagination and innovation was developed in parallel with its implications of living and society. The shift towards more technocratic representations of technology has hindered the representation of its social implications. Data and specification driven representations of technological systems eclipse the social relations implied by the use of technology, especially in housing.
[Scales, Sites]
With this toolkit and considerations in mind, the project aimed to apply these strategies through an architectural system which would formally reflect both the lessons learned from the case studies, and today’s understanding and studies of the environment. In order to create a contemporary representation of environment, I studied multiple scales of climate research and projections of these metrics into the future.
As ramifications of the climate crisis are exponentially increasing, extreme weather events will only continue to occur more frequently. However, while climate change will occur across multiple regions, studies have shown that vulnerable communities will be disproportionately affected.
For example, the mixed arid climate zone in the Southwest is projected to have the largest increase in energy expenditure necessary to mitigate climate change threats. These qualities prompted me to design with this larger scale in mind, researching climate threats and responses on the scale of an entire state. I selected one of the most affected areas, New Mexico, as the site to test my architectural system.
By several environmental conditions across the state, I identified technological responses at this scale, environmental infrastructure, water projects, renewable energy projects, etc. I also looked at their relationship with housing.
[Infrastructure]
Energy generating infrastructure, for example, is isolated from housing development, or applied as a formal afterthought without reflecting the relations which this technology can create (for example, a microgrid which creates an independent, local system of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources). Developing a formal integration of housing with technology was key for this project.
These are other examples of infrastructural technology which informed the project.
When applying architectural strategies, designing a poly-scalar system required resolving between types of architectural categories. For example, applying a design prefabricated and meant for disassembly at a larger scale would imply applying the same component system to a range of environmental conditions and needs. However, a site-specific design would limit the scope of such a system.
[Infrastructural Spine]
Hence, the proposed architectural system is broken up into two components, essentially separating the roles of housing to creating livable space and to respond to larger scale environmental systems. The two parts of the system are an infrastructural spine and the housing units.
The infrastructural spine is highly site specific, intended for long term use (beyond the life cycle of a single house) and can be integrated into large scale environmental mediation systems such as the ones identified in this map. It spatializes a type of infrastructure and creates structure, insulation, and utility access for new housing units to be plugged into it. The housing units are prefabricated, modular, and designed to be assembled around the interface of the infrastructure, used for one occupation cycle, and then disassembled for reuse.
Because the infrastructural spine provides structure, utilities, openings, and responds to site specific climate conditions through shading, wind protection, drainage in case of flooding, etc. the housing units themselves can be adjusted to the inhabitant’s spatial requirements, to local supplies of materials, and less intensive methods of manufacturing.
The infrastructural spine allows the house to access the environmental resources of the site and provides a more ecologically integrated housing model. It creates community design by establishing infrastructure for housing construction and tapping into the spatial complexities and opportunities of these technologies to incorporate public spaces, such as spaces for gathering, spaces for community use, green corridors, and spaces for research and remediation of the site.
[Manifestations]
The infrastructural spine reimagines the formation of housing to activate social imagination through technology and utility in its design, and through its relationship to existing and new housing. This is presented in 6 manifestations of the infrastructure system for different environmental needs and conditions across New Mexico. Again, each instance shows a different manifestation of the infrastructure system which is site specific, and the recurring organization of the interface and new housing on the other side. The sites were selected to address urgent climate needs as mapped here. For example, as Albuquerque is experiencing a period of drought interrupted by scarce heavy rain, the 1st intervention at that site harvests rainwater and stabilizes water supply for new and existing housing.
[John B Rober Dam Plan]
As part of the exploration and testing of this system, the designed infrastructure types are also combined and adapted to one selected location. This is the John B Robert Dam in Albuquerque which was constructed for storm water management to prevent flooding in the 70s.
The site is a smaller section of suburban fabric to articulate the system’s synergies and function on the community planning scale by creating new suburban spaces and connecting the existing urban fabric on both sides of the dam. As the infrastructure is aggregated as a “spine,” the interventions create street-like ribbons of infrastructure next to suburban spaces which are populated with public gardens, gathering spaces, public spaces, areas of soil remediation, and green corridors. It demonstrates how the system addresses demand for new housing, while densifying suburban space and responding to environmental loads.
[Conclusion]
This proposed architectural system allows individual dwellings to adjust independently of others and according to personal needs and preferences while integrated cohesively with larger scale environmental systems. It integrates social organization into existing technology that operates at these larger scales to offset energy expenditures and mitigate climate risks. Lastly, it allows the two different parts of the system to simultaneously embody different architectural categories identified in the research phase.