Fluid Strata: Butterfly Effect / MLA Landscape Architecture / Bartlett, UCL

Studio 01:

“Deep Ground // Back Ground”: Tutors: A.Abram & M.Plemenitas

“FLUID STRATA”: BUTTERFLY EFFECT Dafni Filippa MLA Y1 / 2020-21

Studio 01: “Deep Ground // Back Ground”

“FLUID STRATA”: BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Module BARC0118:

Landscape Design 03

Dafni Filippa MLA Y1

Student Number: 20147678

Landscape Architecture MLA, 2020-21 The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL London, UK

Directors: Laura Allen Mark Smout

Design Tutors: Ana Abram Maj Plemenitas

“Project Manifesto” At 9:47 am (GMT), on January 16th of the year 2100, the hydrological overflows, accumulated due to the global sea-level-rise, bring London’s primary flood defence system, the “Thames Barrier” out of operation.

As a result, London faces a series of catastrophic events directly linked to saltwater intrusion and urban flooding in most central regions. In order to ensure the city’s survival, the project deploys the existence of London’s Hidden Rivers as core agents of a responsive flood defence organism.

The generated landscape fluctuates in reverse into the city, responding to the adjacent water pressure changes, salinity levels, and formations as it gradually swells to increase its mass, depth and elasticity. This fabric of a new self-organised system establishes a cross-scalar behaviour with London’s Strata and the human scale. Through a series of membranous tissues, valves and deep channelling systems, the hydrological overflows meander between the strata’s layers before they fuse to be exhausted into the Deep Ground.

The proposed landscape exists in a reciprocal relationship with the human and non-human territories changing its shape according to water’s kinetic.

Similarly to a butterfly effect, a small change above insinuates a series of performances under.” The introduced tectonic is based on an experimental state of hybrid materiality focusing on responsive behaviour above and below ground. The emerging material attributes fuse the borders of the human and non-human territories creating awareness to its visitors of the Deeper Ground’s performance and hidden processes. According to the tidal Thames, the landscape operates in phases, submerging parts of its main body to lift up others which work as the main circulation for vegetation and the human experience.

Performing in each tidal cycle, the landscape swells, submerges and channels the incoming water flow to protect the district of Westminster and the existing underground infrastructure. Over the years, and under substantial sea-level rise, the hidden river Tyburn which operates as the main organ of the overall landscape, gradually resurfaces in reverse into the city to accommodate the needed hydrological capacity.

Contents

/ “Project Background”

/ “Analytical Part”

/ “Generative Part”

6 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

“Aquatic Context”

p.10

“Global Climate Change”

p.12

“In-Situ Infrastructure”

p.14

“ Territorial Flood Risk”

p.16

“London’s Hidden Waterways”

p.18

“Site Context”

p.24

“Mapping”

p.28

“ Landscape Choreography”

p.34

“Deep Ground Network”

p.36

“Material Studies”

p.42

“Physical Experiments”

p.48

“Site Conditions”

p.56

“Tidal Cycle in 2025 vs 2100”

p.60

“Systematic Prototype Modelling”

p.62

“Deep Ground Infrastructure”

p.64

“Adaptive Tissue Development”

p.66

“Adaptive Landscape Prototypes”

p.72

“Landscape Formation”

p.74

“Landscape Performance”

p.76

“Landscape Phasing”

p.82

“Tidal Adaptation in Urban Scale”

p.86

“Vegetation Strategy”

p.88

“Human Experience”

p.90

“Existing Urban Infrastructure”

p.96

“Construction Phasing”

p.100

“Physical Experiments”

p.104

“Butterfly Effect”

p.106

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 7

01. / Project Background

“Aquatic Context”

p.10

“Global Climate Change”

p.12

“In-Situ Infrastructure”

p.14

“ Territorial Flood Risk”

p.16

“London’s Hidden Waterways”

p.18

“Site Context”

p.24

01. Project Background / Aquatic Context

D ITE

OM

GD

KIN

UN

/ Key: 51.49o N, 0.17oW 245o @ 17km/h 5µg/m3 Data: Currents and Particulate Matter < 2.5µm Date: 2021-02-28 14:00 Local UTC Data Source: CAMS / Copernicus / European Comission ECMWF Overlay: PM2.5

10 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

The immense global hydrosphere constructs the framework of any human and non-human territory. The project views these aquatic bodies as a dynamic medium of forces and flows ordered through tidal cycles which manifest the balance of all landscapes along their trajectory.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 11

01. Project Background / Global Climate Change Over the past decade human impact on earth has caused severe climatic instabilities affecting vital regions of our planet. While the global temperature especially how documented in the arctic zones is getting warmer, the predictions reveal alarming rates of sea-level rise to be encountered by 2100 in urban territories. There have been many indicators of these changes in small and large scale not only in annual statistic data but also in daily life scenarios.

London’s main waterway the river “Thames” is naturally connected to the North Sea through the Thames Estuary. The city has been able to regulate the water level of the river avoiding the generation of floodplains in Greater London from high tides or storm surges through a retractable Barrier. As climate emergency is rising London is in need of resilient flood defence systems which can ensure the city’s survival under extreme circumstances which exceed the Barrier’s operational capacity.

United Kingdom

Tidal

Tidal/FLuvial

/ The number of Thames Barrier closures for flood defence purposes per year. (Source: TE2100 Gov UK)

/ Satellite data on global sea-level rise since 1993 (Data Source: NASA Goddard Flight Center)

/ Sea-level rise monitored in estuarian regions of the UK. (Source: TE2100 Gov UK)

/ The Thames Barrier in “underspill position” against flooding. (Source: National Police Air Service)

/ Subway stations in high risk of tidal flooding (Data Source: Guardian, LUCRFR)

12 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ The Thames river. (Source:GOV UK Aerial)

/ London report of future sea-level rise.

(Source: UKCP18 Marine Report Palmer et al.)

/ Increased storm activity over the UK. (Source: MET Office)

400350-

250200150-

% of Average

300-

100 500-

/ February 2020 rainfall surges % of 1981 to 2010 average. (Source: MET Office, Crown)

-1C

/ Annual UK temperature changes.

(Source: @ED_Hawkins)

-0.5C

+0.5C

0

+1C

Cooler or warmer than the 20th century average / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 13

01. Project Background / In-Situ Infrastructure London’s urban fabric and underground infrastructure has been in the centre of increased tidal activity long before the Barrier was set in operation. In 1928 severe damages occured along the Westminster embankment after the river Thames overflowed into the city for several hours bringing both the terrestial and subterranean infrastructure (e.g transportation, sewer subway systems) in danger. Despite the current presence of highly engineered flood defence infrastructure such as the Thames Barrier, the city should start establishing resilient tools to respond to the unpredicted weather events and tidal surges of the near and far future.

Open Position

Underspill Position

++

+

Closed Position

Maintenance Position

+

Hydraulic System

Surge Tide

River Flow

+/ Technical layout of Westminster Station.

+ +/ The Thames Barrier in “underspill position”.

Sill Foundation

(Source: TFL)

(Source: National Police Air Service)

/ Pavement damage along the Thames Embankment, 1928. (Source: GETTY)

/ Breach of the Westminster embankment, 1928. (Source: GETTY)

/ A train on flooded tracks at Stratford, east London, 1928. (Source: GETTY)

/ The river Thames overflowing into Westminster, 1928. (Source: GETTY)

14 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

+

/ Flood prone underground infrastructure. ( Edited Source: LUCRFR) / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 15

01. Project Background / Territorial Flood Risk

Central London (Westminster)

0

2.5km

5km

10km

Specific regions of London face higher risk of flooding due to the high permeability of their superficial deposits. Using simulations as a methodology the most affected territories were investigated in various predicted and speculative exetreme scenarios of (nm) rise.

30m Scenario

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20m Scenario

13m Scenario

Thames Estuary

9m Scenario

4m Scenario

1m Scenario

T+6

/High Tide Values under -sea level rise of nm. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 17

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/Subterranean aquatic bodies. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 19

01. Project Background / London’s Hidden Waterways

Tyburn

Westminster Bridge Thorney Island Lambeth Bridge

Vauxhall Bridge

One particular hidden waterway, the river Tyburn, used to form a deltaic lobe in the prehistoric Londinium before it met the Thames in central Westminster. The continuously evolving landscape around the Tyburn has left traces of the river’s former presence as geological deposits of permeable soil properties which span across Westminster.

Prehistoric RIver Tyburn and River Thames confluence, south of Thorney Island.

/ Cross section across London’s stratigraphy form Westminster to Vauxhall Bridge.

(Edited Source:https://www.hiddenhydrology.org/geoarchaeology-and-lost-rivers/)

/ Westminster, London.

(Source: author’s own.)

/ The Thames in the prehistoric era.

20 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ London’s Hidden river network.

(Source: author’s own.)

/ Tyburn’s exit in the Thames.

(Source: author’s own.)

/Medieval expansion of Saxon London (5th-11th century) showing the former Thorney Island and the river Tyburn. (Source: MOLA, ArcGIS)

/London’s Hidden fluidity as concentrated in Westminster.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 21

01. Project Background / London’s Hidden Waterways

/Subterranean Course

Victoria Tower Gardens” is located in the former rivermouth of London’s hidden river Tyburn to the Thames. The site is currently a public park, one of the final green stripes along the densely built riverbank of the Thames, but still faces a high risk of potential floodplains due to storm or increased tidal surges.

Regent’s Canal Regent’s Park Boating Lane

Marylebone Lane

Oxfrod Street

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

/River Tyburn.

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Westminster

Westminster

/Hidden River Tyburn’s course through Westminster.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 23

01. Project Background / Site Context In the present day, the site is operating completely separated from its former fluvial and geological natural processes. Over the years of the Garden’s evolution until its final state, the soil has been converted into a palimpsest of construction and elements that have been buried and forgotten beneath its layers. There are still some evidences on site of the river’s existence as paths or ground patches have been degraded along the change of soil texture of the Tyburn’s subterranean course. The tidal fluctuation of the Thames without the Barrier’s operation in place, is setting the site in risk of high tidal surges which overcome the raised embankment currently in place. As a result, the site, lacking any resilient sponge mechanism to absorb, manage and redirect the incoming flow of water, will become the centre of every tidal cycle in the near future.

/Victoria Tower Gardens in April 1928. (Source: Aerofilms Collection)

/ The site.

/ Front path.

(Towards north)

(Towards north)

/ Aerial shot from Victoria Tower.

/ Millbank.

(Towards south)

(Towards south)

Great Peter Str. Building (7 storeys)

Millbank

Ofgem

Building

)

(7 storeys

reys)

g (9 sto

Buildin

/ Tyburn’s current exit.

(Thames embankment)

/ Low tide soil texture.

(Thames embankment)

/ Low tide.

(Thames embankment)

/ The embankment.

(Thames embankment)

24 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

Victoria Tower (14 storeys)

Westminster Palace

Thames

0

125m

250m

500m

/ High tide surge footprint and floodrisk areas around the site. ( Original Source: Port of London Authority) / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 25

02. / Analytical Part

26 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

“Mapping”

p.28

“ Landscape Choreography”

p.34

“Deep Ground Network”

p.36

“Material Studies”

p.42

“Physical Experiments”

p.48

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 27

02. Analytical Part / Mapping The potential of providing resilient urban landscapes which endure (un)predicted climatic events, lies in their inherent connection with Deep Ground and Hydrological natural processes. The hidden fluidity of London’s Lost Rivers conveys the ability of reactivating their lost capacity to fluctuate freely in balance with their adjacent environmental changes, the human scale and the North Sea.

/Activation of hidden natural systems

/London Westminster

28 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Future sea-level rise > 5m

/ Concept mapping to activate London’s Hidden River Tyburn as a flood defence agent.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 29

02. Analytical Part / Mapping The proposed landscape configuration recognises processes of succession in the urban environment, near adjacent Blue-Green infrastructures, such as existing parks which can be linked and inform the overall performance above and below ground.

BGI (Ham

BGI

BGI (Hyde Park)

0

1km

2km

30 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

4km

mpstead Heath) Phase-shift

Phase-shift

I (Regent’s Park)

Course fluctuation

/ Current urban taxonomy. (BGIs)

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 31

02. Analytical Part / Mapping People’s movement in central Westminster informed the landscape’s character as a psychogeographical source of urban and social fluidity.

0

1km

2km

32 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

4km

Main Distributary Network

Secondary Distributary Network

Human layer of the In-Situ kinetic

Complexity Build up

/ Current urban fluidity.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 33

02. Analytical Part / Landscape Choreography By fluctuating along cross-scalar domains the landscape is building the appropriate complexity to be able and respond accordingly to increased tidal accumulations that arrive on the site of Victoria Tower Gardens.

34 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

Main Distributary Network

Secondary Distributary Network

Complexity Build up

/ Responsive motion.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 35

02. Analytical Part / Deep Ground Network

36 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

In a choreography of landscape elements the Strata is enabled in the vertical direction to divert the excess water into the Deeper Ground. Through digital simulations, the morphology of landscape channels was investigated to examine the performative attributes of each variation as well as their systematic accumulation over time.

Growth simulation

/ Flood responsive channeling systems.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 37

02. Analytical Part / Deep Ground Network

38 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ How do we experience subterranean processes? / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 39

02. Analytical Part / Deep Ground Network

40 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ How does a landscape coexist between the human and non-human scale? / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 41

02. Analytical Part / Material Studies The human scale coexists in a reciprocal relationship with the emerging consistency of the landscape. A series of augmented realities is investigated through experiments which simulate the material properties of landscape membranous tissues. These inform the Strata of the landscape in relation to water, volume and the ability to adapt in unpredicted environmental contexts. By using mixtures of wax in cold water, the first phase of physical experiments informed the digital simulations on the hybrid nature of the material and its ability to shift between rigid and elastic nature when in contact with water.

/experimental/

/ Hybrid state of materiality.

42 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Human-Non-Human. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 43

+

++

+

+ +

++ ++

+ +

+ +

++ ++

+ +

+44 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

++

+

+

++

+

+ +

++ ++

+ +

+ +

++ ++

+ +

+

++

+

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 45

03. Generative Part / Material Studies

46 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Subterranean taxonomy of contingency. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 47

02. Analytical Part / Physical Experiments The second phase of the material experiments focused on the physical relationship between the strata and the Deep Ground channels. The focus was to establish the most efficient route and degree through the different properties of the strata towards the Deep Ground. For that reason, variations of dense and porous soil textures were chosen and laid out to construct permeable and impermeable layers similarly to the site’s stratigraphy. Using permeable blue sand, channels were initiated on the top layer with hybrid directionality which were able to transport the water through the impermeable layers all the way in the botton of the sample ground model.

48 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

Sample a’

Sample b’

Sample c’

Sample d’

Sample e’

Sample f’

/ Metabolic Strata relationship.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 49

03. Landscape Realisation / Physical Experiments

50 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Creation of permeable streams.

/ Saturation of the stratigraphy is phases.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 51

03. Generative Part / Physical Experiments In casted prototypes, the relationship between the channels and the membranous tissues was woven into one network to increase the resolution of the landscape attributes with regard to the human and non-human inhabitation. The Deep Ground is reimagined as an extended territory where processes of succession blend the relationship of soft and hard landscape systems. The subterranean infrastructure coexists with the soft textures of the landscape membranes, which expand to protect the interstitial regions of the Strata from flooding. / Top view of the casted prototype.

/ Preliminery prototype morphology.

90o

45o

/ Preliminery prototype tectonic language.

90o

45o

52 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 53

03. / Generative Part

54 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

“Site Conditions”

p.56

“Tidal Cycle in 2025 vs 2100”

p.60

“Systematic Prototype Modelling”

p.62

“Deep Ground Infrastructure”

p.64

“Adaptive Tissue Development”

p.66

“Adaptive Landscape Prototypes”

p.72

“Landscape Formation”

p.74

“Landscape Performance”

p.76

“Landscape Phasing”

p.82

“Tidal Adaptation in Urban Scale”

p.86

“Vegetation Strategy”

p.88

“Human Experience”

p.90

“Existing Urban Infrastructure”

p.96

“Construction Phasing”

p.100

“Physical Experiments”

p.104

“Butterfly Effect”

p.106

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 55

03. Generative Part / Site Conditions

56 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

Underneath London’s dense infrastructure, the site has a rich history of elements which were gradually integrated into the Garden’s stratigraphy throughout history.

Construction debris, medieval ruins and additional embankment structures form a palimpsest vertical landscape which extends the site’s boundaries into the Deep Ground.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 57

03. Generative Part / Site Conditions

Made Ground Sands

Alluvial Deposits

Gravel Formations

Clay and Silt deposits

Clay

Chalk

0

2m

4m

8m

58 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

+

+

+ /Overturning of the parapet. + + +

+ +

/Burried infrastructure.

+ +

Detail “a”

+

Plane Tree Roots Tyburn

/Foundation sliding.

+

Detail “b” Construction Debris Tidal Thames

Detail “c”

/ Palimpsest landscape, problematic conditions. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 59

03. Generative Part / Tidal Cycle in 2025 vs 2100 2025: Low Tide In the current site conditions of the landscape, in 2025 and under low tide, the hidden river Tyburn is mainly operating as a storm surge exit into the Thames. The raised parapet which marks a clear border between the site and the Thames is not facing an immediate threat from tidal flooding other than weathering of its foundation due to erosion of the riverbank. All layers of the site, both human and non-human have separate performances from the natural fluvial systems which would normally cohere in an non-urban environment.

0

4m

8m

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

16m

2025: High Tide Under high tide, and especially when the Thames Barrier is not in operation, the site‘s main flood defence barrier (the concrete embankment) reaches its limited capacity to buffer the incoming tidal surge. In addition, the river Tyburn functions as a sewer channeling additional water into the Thames. The rising pressure caused from the Thame’s tidal activity begins to gradually fracture regions of the parapet which are essential for its structural stability. There is a clear tension which builds up between the above-and underground policies of the site.

0

4m

8m

16m

60 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

2100: Low Tide Under the current rates of the predicted sea-level rise due to climate change the site will be prone to tidal flooding by 2100. The constant pressure on the parapet in every tidal cycle brings it to collapse and the site is flooding even in low tidal rates.

The water is ingressed into the first layers of the strata and in potential subterranean urban infrastructures leads to multiple hazards above and below ground. The river Tyburn becomes an unused element of a flooded landscape.

0

4m

8m

16m

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

2100: High Tide In high tide most of the adjacent areas of the site will flood leaving Victoria Tower Gardens as a submerged landscape isolated from the urban life no longer reachable in daily life. The policies of the site are lost, as well as any wildlife biodiversity of the former park. The hidden river Tyburn is vanished beneath the strata of London, flooded and fused into the tidal cycle of the Thames. A no man’s land.

0

4m

8m

16m

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 61

62 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect / 62 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

+

+ +

+

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 63 / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 63

03. Generative Part / Deep Ground Infrastructure

64 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

The resilient phasing of the landscape in every tidal cycle is established by the successive performance of the landscape membranes in the Deeper Ground. By positioning adaptive landscape membranes in between the soil layers the current rigid state of the landscape is manipulated to handle potential hydrological overflows and protect the subterranean infrastructure from salt water intrusion and flooding.

/ Flood responsive Strata manipulation. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 65

03. Generative Part / Adaptive Tissue Development The physical properties of the landscape membranes are based on experimental material formations of “Polymer Hydrogels”. These are synthesized by chemical cross-linking of acrylamide monomers and can absorb up to 3000 times their weight in water. To enhance their mechanical properties scientific experiments have shown that the self-cross-linking ability of N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAA) is essential. As soon as these polymers come in contact with water, the hydrogel is formed due to interchain covalent bonds between the growing linear polymer chains. Similar techniques have been already used in agriculture and horticulture to optimise water conditions in drought seasons, induce faster growth of plants and prolong the survival of plants under water stress. Depending on the cross-linking ratio the Super Absorbent Polymers (SAPs) the membranes can mitigate effects of salinity and restore degraded layers of the strata from increased tidal activity.

Cross-links between polymer chains

/ Self experiment using Sodium Polyacrylate, soil, gravela and vegetation patches.

Hydrophilic chains with carboxylate groups

pH Chemical water reaction of hydrogels Pressure

Ionic Strength

Temperature Electric Field Magnetic Field

Sodium counterions

Solvent Composition

Molecular Species

Water absorption Time/Fluid Exposure

/SEM micrograph of a hydrogel before and after the chemical reaction. (Source: Rahman M.S et.al, 2019)

66 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Self experiments of tissue formations (wax in water).

Hydrogel cycle in stratigraphy

/Water is ingressed in the unsaturated polymer which activates the chemical reaction of cross-linking while it swells in size.

/Between the strata the membranes form complex links in cross scalar domains transporting debris of one layer to the next.

/The footpath structure is based on an experimental mixture of a hybrid concrete with SAPs. These allow the material to bend accordingly and stay resilient as a “self-healing” mechanism.

+

+

+

+

/Depending on the exact method of crosslinking, the hydrogels swell and absorb water in various states while being able torelease moisture and restore their orginal position after the tidal cycle.

/Experiment using Sodium Polyacrylate.

5cm

/Original state of the resting membrane.

/Initiation of chemical reaction.

/Swollen polymers lift up the strata.

/Part moisture is trapped in the roots of the vegetation species.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 67

03. Generative Part / Adaptive Tissue Development In order to visualise the behaviour of the landscape membranes in digital simulations, the landscape modules were created according to an algorithmic accummulation strategy. The purpose was to examine how their volume could potentially evolve over time creating a fluid state of landscape consistency. With future findings in materials which are based in Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP)

structure it is possible to establish more than one state of linking between the polymer modules. By doing so, the landscape obtains an artificial intelligent behaviour of self deciding which link is appropriate to form in order to protect its habitat. As a result, the built environment responds to the anomalies of the hydrosphere informing its operational agents and systems.

HOLOCENE

/ Cycle of membrane kinetic according to received input.

MADE GROUND // 0-15 (M)

PLEISTOCENE

THAMES ALLUVIUM // 0-1O (M)

FINE SANDS // 10-25 (M)

EOCENE

LONDON CLAY // 0-70 (M)

HARWICH FM // 0-10 (M)

READING & WOOLWICH FMS // 10-20 (M)

CHALK // 200 (M)

UPPER CRETACEOUS

PALAEOCENE

THANET SAND FM // 0-20 (M)

68 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Cross scalar connection between Deep Ground channels and hydromembranes.

/ Digital composite structure of hydromembranes. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 69

70 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

frame n+12

frame n+13

frame n+14

frame n+15

frame n+16

frame n+17

frame n+18

frame n+19

frame n+20

frame n+22

frame n+23

frame n+24

03. Generative Part / Adaptive Tissue Development

/ DIgital evolution of the landscape mebranes.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 71

frame n+5

frame n+6

frame n+7

frame n+8

frame n+9

frame n+9

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frame n+11

frame n+4

frame n+3

frame n+2

frame n+1

03. Generative Part / Adaptive Landscape Prototypes The resillient framework of the flood defence agents, is built by the series of hydromembranes which perform as tissues of the upper strata. The membranes accommodate the human scale level and regulate the incoming water flow which descends into the Deep Ground channels. As soon as water saturates their network, these respond adjacently by swelling and absorbing the moisture of their environment. As a result they increase in size weaving a dense strata relationship with the Deep Ground.

The activation of the membrane-channel system is established either from the subsurface at approximately -4m as soon as the hidden river reaches its maximum capacity, or from aboveground due to storm surges which generate high volumes of urban runoff. In either scenarios the landscape agents communicate to channelise the water in both the horizontal and vertical domains transforming the vertical landscape into a sponge-like network of streams and substreams.

/Low tide T The membranes are in their rest position in the surface and subsurface of the landscape.

/Tidal hour T+3 By infused saturation the membranes are activated and start to swell increasing in size.

/The performance of the landscape hasn’t yet reached the strata layers of the channel network.

/Channels are activated in positions where membranes have almost completed their swelling capacity.

72 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/High tide T+6 The membranes stop to swell and start to redirect the water into the channels of the Deeper Ground.

/In the final phasing of the performance the landscape agents operate simultaneously to mitigate flooding.

/Low tide T

/Tidal hour T+3

/High tide T+6

+

+ +

+ +

+

+ +

+ +

+

+ +

+ +

+

+ +

+ +

+

+

/Axonometric view of the vertical phasing.

+

+

/Elevation of the vertical phasing.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 73

03. Generative Part / Landscape Formation Above ground, the landscape engages with the human scale through a series of weaved paths, ponds and green hills which transform the site into a green-blue infrastructure by the Thames.

Underneath the layers of the formed park, the hybrid membrane-channel network creates a complex relationship between the non-human and human performance.

0

25m

50m

100m

74 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Terrestrial masterplan. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 75

76 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 77

78 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Sectional Sequences of the terrestrial landscape. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 79

80 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 81

03. Generative Part / Landscape Phasing By activating the strata of the site, the landscape is able to perform, adapt and respond in every tidal cycle to maintain the vital balance needed for human scale and vegetation growth. The new hybrid park uses the underground processes which operate during high tidal surges, to inform the aboveground programme and systems. By doing so, the visitors are experiencing a “breathing” landscape which manifests its movement from processes of the Deep Ground. The river Tyburn as an active instigator, choreographs the distortion of the main footpaths into lifted platforms when regions of the landscape are submerging to channelise higher volumes of water.

T+1

Low tide /The landscape membranes rest in position.

T+2

T+3

Tidal Hour /Parts of the membranes begin to saturate from underneath as the river Tyburn starts to fill up lifting up parts of the landscape.

Tidal Hour /The membranes expand and begin to form cross links swelling up to 4m aboveground to lift up the circulation footpaths of the park. .

Human scale

Detail 03 Detail 01 Detail 04

Non-Human scale

sensitive vegetation group

burried debris

landscape membranes

Hidden river Tyburn

Detail 02 low tide water level

0

1m

2m

4m

/Technical section of the hybrid membranes in rest under low tide.

82 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

+

++

++

+

+/Detail 1: The landscape splits to + +/Detail 3: The membranes are not + acknowledge burried debris.

+

+/Plan view of a sample footpath area above the river Tyburn.

++

+

+

+ +/Detail 3: A thin membrane enclos-+ +/Detail 4: The hydroactive compos-+ es senstive vegetation species.

+

yet saturated from the Tyburn.

its lie between the strata unlinked.

++

+

+ +

+ +

++

+

/Performance of the unsaturated vertical landscape.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 83

03. Generative Part / Landscape Phasing When a tidal surge approaches, the landscape phases into a higher level of performance above and below ground. The Tyburn is channeling water into the Deep Ground and rising at the same time its level gradually. The resting hydromembranes are absorbing water expanding up to 3000 times their original size while forming cross links with each other. As the human footpaths and selected sensitve vegetation species of the tidal defence zone 4 (see page 88) are lifted up to be protected from the floodplain, the landscape reaches its final volume around T+6 hours. People experience a living organism which responds to the hydrosphere beneath their feet as they observe it protected above.

T+5

T+4

Tidal Hour /The landscape membranes swell further.

T+6

Tidal Hour /The made ground curves accordingly due to the elastic properties of the composite elements.

High tide /The landscape membranes reach their maximum capacity. Any additional saturation from the Tyburn is entering the Deep Ground channels.

Human scale Detail 04

Detail 01

sensitive vegetation group

Detail 02

Detail 03

Non-Human scale

cross links

swelling state

Hidden river Tyburn high tide level

0

1m

2m

4m

/Technical section of the hybrid membranes under swelling.

84 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

+

++

++

+

+/Detail 1: The landscape swells up+ +/Detail 3: Specific vegetation + to 4m.

species are lifted up.

+

+/Plan view of a sample footpath area above the river Tyburn.

++

+ +/Detail 3: Cross links are formed + +/Detail 4: The human footpath + between the membranes.

+

+

+

curves due to its elastic properties.

++

+

+ +

+ +

++

+

/Performance of the saturated vertical landscape.

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 85

03. Generative Part / Tidal Adaptation in Urban Scale Under extreme tidal surges, which are not caught by the Thames Barrier the landscape starts to flood in phases to manage the incoming water flow. On the human scale, the saturation of the ground initiates the swelling of the subsurface membranes which construct the main footpaths of the landscape. As a result the visitors are “lifted” above the flooded ponds to still circulate on site.

At the same time, while the landscape swells, the acummulated water which flows through the hidden Tyburn rises gradually resurfacing the river, as the landscape fluctuates in reverse into the city. All defence agents are enabled producing a different variation in every tidal cycle as the pressure, direction and flow of water is never the same.

1.

3. /While the water flows in reverse into the city, a series of membranous tissues fluctuate between the primary layers of the strata swelling parts of the landscape to lift up the human programme.

2.

/Under severe weather disruptions, caused by climate change, hydrological overflows from the Thames estuary accumulate on the embankment of Victoria Tower Gardens in Westminster.

/The water is led through the first layers of the strata into the main channel of the former river Tyburn, which extends all the way through the city towards regent’s park.

//ALLUVIUM (+0, -5m)

//SANDS (-4, -8m)

//CLAY (-6, -10m)

4. /Through negative pressure generated from the main membrane tissue, the landscape carves a series of channels to penetrate through London clay, and direct the water towards the main aquifer.

5. /As the water enters the layers of chalk, it’s gradually released into the strata towards the deeper ground where it rejoins the natural hydrological cycle.

86 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

//CHALK (-60, -100m)

+

+

Low Tide:

/Peripheral water channeling.

0 50m 100m

200m

+/Activated landscape agents in low tide. +

+ +

Tidal hour:

/Interstitial water management.

0 50m 100m

200m

+/Activated landscape agents in tidal hour T+3. +

+ +

High Tide:

/Cross linked water distribution.

0 50m 100m

200m

+/Activated landscape agents in tidal hour T+6.

+ / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 87

03. Generative Part / Vegetation Strategy The vegetation of the landscape is built according to four main flood defence zones. Between the footpaths which are lifted up by the swelling landscape membranes, the vegetation acts as a secondary buffer of the tidal surges to slow down and concentrate the water. For that purpose species which develop deeper root systems and are able to sustain themselves under stress of currents are placed in the primary defence zone. Similarly, in the following layers the species are layered up according to their tolerance in brackish water and fluvial pressure capacity.

/Taxonomy of vegetation species.

10m 5m 2m

//Trees Platanus x Hispanica (Hybrid Plane)

//Ornamental Grasses

Panicum Amarum (Switchgrass)

Miscanthus Sinensis (Kleine Silberspinne)

Populus (Salicaceae) (Poplar)

Muhlenbergia Capillaris (Pink Muhly Grass)

Imperata Cylindrica (Red Baron) Festuca Glauca (Blue Fescue) Miscanthus Sinensis (Silberfeder)

Alnus Serrulata (Smooth Alder)

//Perennials

Carex Flacca (Blue Sedge)

Brackish water tolerance Fluvial pressure tolerance

Miscanthus Sinensis (Zebra Grass)

Salix Babylonica (Weeping Willow) Spartina Alterniflora (Cordgrass)

/Tidal Defence Zones

Zone 1

88 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

Zone 2

Lobelia Siphilitica (Great Blue Lobelia)

Thalictrum Aquilegifolium (Meadow Rue)

Asplenium Scolopendrium (Hart’s Tongue Fern)

Iris Siberica (Siberian Iris)

Zone 3

Zone 4

/Tidal adaptation of the vegetation species. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 89

03. Generative Part / Human Experience

/Landscape performance during low tide.

90 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Park experience at low tide. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 91

03. Generative Part / Human Experience

/Park performance during tidal hour.

92 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Park experience at intermediate tidal hour. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 93

03. Generative Part / Human Experience

94 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/Park experience during high tide surges. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 95

96 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 97

03. Generative Part / Existing Urban Infrastructure

98 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

The landscape’s organisation around existing subterranean infrastructure is adapted to protect these from salt water intrusion, and flooding. Along the course of the Tyburn multiple subway stations such as Bond Street Station, are enveloped by the landscape membranes to continue their operation under increased fluvial activity. /Underground infrastructure along the landscape performance. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 99

03. Generative Part / Construction Phasing

100 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

Construction vehicles which are normally linked to negative extraction techniques, are modified to assist with “healing” processes of London’s stratigraphy. Punctually with robotic assistance the hydromembranes are locally injected in crucial regions of the city. These fill potential fractures as well as anomalies of the existing strata before they are activated to expand under flood prone infrastructure. / Robotic injection of the membranes / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 101

03. Generative Part / Construction Phasing

102 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Activation around flood prone infrastructures. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 103

03. Generative Part / Physical Experiments

104 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Physical modelling before water simulation. / Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 105

03. Generative Part / Butterfly Effect

/ Subterranean infrastructure under low tide.

106 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 107

03. Generative Part / Butterfly Effect

The landscape extends beyond the terrestrial inhabitation into the deeper ground. Along the course of the hidden river Tyburn, the landscape envelopes the already existing infrastructure of London Underground. By iterating between hydrophilic and hydrophobic modules along th Polymer-based hydromembranes the Strata orders a vertical succession between the human and non-human elements.

The manmade structures of London Underground are fused into a wider spectrum, existing in an sensitive relation with the earth’s stratigraphy and the hydrosphere.

Similarly to a “butterfly effect”, a small change in one resting state of the system, insinuates a large difference in a later state. This timeframe is associated with the element of water, as embodied through tidal and storm surges.

108 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 109

03. Generative Part / Butterfly Effect

/ Subterranean infrastructure in high tide.

110 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 111

03. Generative Part / Butterfly Effect

Under increased hydrological activity, the landscape’s operational agents begin their interaction in sequential manner to mitigate flooding. The Polymer-based hydromembranes which are injected in the stratigraphy, begin to swell, absorbing the generated aquatic overflows. As soon as the primary layers of the landscape reach their full operational capacity, deeper layers are activated and fused into the overall motion.

Crucial flood-prone infrastructure, such as subway stations, tunnels and sewers are protected and encapsuled into the landscape’s systematic performance.

112 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 113

114 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /

/ Studio 1 / MLA Landscape Architecture Y1 / 2020-21 / 115

116 / Deep-Ground // Back-Ground: “Fluid Strata”: Butterfy Effect /