Big Data Architecture: Materialising the Virtual Research Cluster 14
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14.3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2016
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Figs. 14.1 – 14.5 Recycled Island The project speculates on the use of plastic found in the river Thames as construction material for new public spaces for people and local fauna. Without a clear distinction between natural and artificial phenomena, a series of plastic islands slowly form by collecting debris, which is then deposited along the edges of the river acting as both flood defence barriers and local parks. Fig. 14.1 Digital simulation showing the relationship between water flow and the morphology of the proposed landscape. Figs. 14.2 – 14.3 The physical site model shows the Thames as a volumetric, dynamic system with which the proposal co-evolves. There is no longer a distinction between land, water and architecture. The proposal stretched inland to connect to existing roads and housing developments.
Fig. 14.4 The group developed a computational model relating to three different aspects of the proposed landscape: birds habitats, plastic collection and morphology. By disposing plastic over a long period of time, the proposal can be seen as an artificial geology, which is co-produced by both robots depositing plastic and the tidal movement of the Thames. Fig. 14.5 The project presented here should be understood as a snapshot through a very long and continuous process: like forests and glaciers, the plastic landscape will grow, feeding off the very materials polluting the river. The integration of computational tools has been central in exploring what aesthetic and programmatic qualities such process could have.
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