Toxic Heritage - Annie An - UG Thesis

ANNIE AN

U N D E R G R A D U AT E THESIS OVERVIEW

2021-2022

Toxic Heritage: A Pilgrimage Witnessing the Evidence of Man

“If we view ourselves from a great height, it is frightening to realize how little we know about our species, our purpose and our end,” - W.G. Sebald in Rings of Saturn.

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Thesis Research completed at the University of Toronto John H.Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, 2021-2022 in support of the completion of the Undergraduate Design Thesis.

Advisor: Simon Rabyniuk

Table of Contents

Introduction

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Technofossils

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Object to Place

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Gorrondaxte Beach

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Cultural Landscapes

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- Frantz Fanon

By reinviting human activities to abandoned toxic sites, this project is about redefining the scope of cultural heritage by envisioning sites with signs of human industrial presence as an essential heritage of human legacy.

Heritage is a program used to populate a place of underrepresentation.

Heritage validates the representation of a particular culture and its value to human progression. The chosen cultures are often embedded with a positive connotation, those we wish to pass on to future generations. But the dark side of human creations -- the byproducts of our joint effort that we desperately hide away -- will be forced upon the future to inherit as well. This project hopes to expand cultural imagination on the topic of heritage, waste and the hidden frameworks both preserving and threatening human lives.

If a piece of us from the past is erased or neglected, what becomes of our present and future? A grand tour of the toxic land hopes to create a fuller representation of the human epoch. If heritage is always a selection, what can we add to this representation to pain a wholesome narrative of our time on the planet. The interaction can create subjective interpretations from the people, but it in general aids them to position themselves and humanity in these landscapes. Recognition as heritage is first an acceptance of its definitive characteristic to human progress.By bringing people to the immediacy of the issue, can this vehicle be used to aid our recognition of environmental problems? It is hidden but never gone.

Toxic Heritage

“I am heir of all human effort, I claim all as my identity.”

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Technofossils

Remains of the Anthropocene

Unlike regular fossils, which are derived from living things, technofossils have been created by or as a result of human acitivity.

A mineral formed by melted plastic washed up on beaches, radioactive uranium glass created by the first atomic bomb test -- these are the objects that will be left to tell our history when we’re no longer here to do it ourselves.

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NUCLEAR 01

Desert of New Mexico July 16th, 1945 Nuclear Bomb Test

TRINITITE

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MINING 02

Broken Hill, Australia 1800s Mining Fire

MINIUM 12

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GARBAGE 03

Shorelines of Kamilo Beach, Hawaii Campfire on beach (molten plastic and sand)

PLASTIGLOMERATE 14

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Object to Place

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Represent a masterpiece of human creative genius

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Exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

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Bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

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An outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

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An outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

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UNESCO SELEC

Heritage” can be de and UNESCO splits sit cultural significance, envir combination of both. Satis critierias makes the s

CTION CRITIERIA

efined in a lot of ways, tes into three categories: ronmental significance, or a sfying any ONE of these TEN site qualified as heritage.

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Directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

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Contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

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Outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

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Outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

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Contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

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01

Represent a masterpiece of human creative genius

02

Exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

03

Bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

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An outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

05

An outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

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UNESCO SELEC

Heritage” can be de and UNESCO splits sit cultural significance, envir combination of both. Satis critierias makes the s

CTION CRITIERIA

efined in a lot of ways, tes into three categories: ronmental significance, or a sfying any ONE of these TEN site qualified as heritage.

06

Directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

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Contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

08

Outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

09

Outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

10

Contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

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01

Represent a masterpiece of human creative genius

02

Exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

03

Bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

04

An outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

05

An outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

26

UNESCO SELEC

Heritage” can be de and UNESCO splits sit cultural significance, envir combination of both. Satis critierias makes the s

CTION CRITIERIA

efined in a lot of ways, tes into three categories: ronmental significance, or a sfying any ONE of these TEN site qualified as heritage.

06

Directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

07

Contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

08

Outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

09

Outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

10

Contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

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Gorrondatxe-Tunelboca Beach, Bilbao, Spain 28

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CANTABRIAN SEA BILBAO, SPAIN

Cantabrian Sea

Estuary of Bilbao

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CONTEXT PLAN

GORRONDATXE-TUNELBOCA BEACH

Cantabrian Sea

SITE PLAN

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Interacting with Cultural Landscapes

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Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan

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Kii Mountain Range, Japan

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Toxic Heritage

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Pilgrimage Route

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