Amazonia Pier: Manufacturing an Architecture of Pleasure

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Julien Nolin // Thesis Program *** Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture Architecture & Extreme Environments The Institute of Architecture and Technology. Thesis Tutor: Jakob Knudsen

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Course Description 04-05 Introduction 06-09 The Rubber Boom 12-17 The Free Trade Zone 18-25 Pleasure Piers 28-33 Evolving Notions of Pleasure 34-39 Pleasure Piers Today 40-41 Proposal Site 44-49 Methodology 50-51 Themes 52-53 Appendices 60-69

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ARCHITECTURE AND EXREME ENVIRONEMNTS This Master programme pursues to explore the intersection between architecture, technology, culture and environment. Through a sitespecific approach, we aim to respond to present and future global challenges through research by design and direct on-site involvement in the form of active expeditions to remote world locations. In close collaboration with local communities, science and manufacturers, this Master programme engages with architectural performance and the cultural impact of technology in our world. We mediate our presence in our environment via technology, often disregarding the environmental and cultural impact. It is our intention to investigate the design potential in working with technology not only as a performance orientated design parameter, but also as a process charged with aesthetic potential and cultural implications. Architecture today often abandons site-specific knowledge and local design traditions that have allowed for sustainable and resilient environments. Parallel to this reality, science and technology have a larger vocabulary of approaches and solutions than what is currently applied to building design and construction.

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Programme Description

require participation from beginning to end.

The programme offers future architects platforms of collaboration with scientific and technological fields of knowledge as an active part of design, to enrich architecture’s spatial vocabulary and to broaden its performance in today’s challenging realities.

During the first semester, research and study on the proposed theme/ site, generates areas of interest to be explored through 1:1 prototypes, survey devices and simulations. These constructs and devices are transported to the regions in question, and tested during the expedition, which allows for collaboration with the local community and institutions, where students develop an architectural brief. Students should note that the expeditions take us to remote world sites, both fascinating and challenging in their scope.

There is a strong focus on sitespecific design, achieving this through direct engagement and travel to environments, which are out of balance. These exceptional scenarios, be it flooding, extreme cold or heat, high pollution and health risk zones, to name a few, are used as test beds for an architectural design, where, given the extreme context, specificity is unavoidable. This allows for a real- scenario, on-site research, through a design process that spans from prototypes to building design, in collaboration with local culture, the scientific and technological community and the world of practice, both local and global.

During the second semester, the brief is developed in detail as an architectural proposal, in collaboration with the network acquired during the site visit, and with in house and international experts. There is a strong focus on manufacture and representation methods, welcoming all types of media and formats to communicate the projects in the clearest and most effective way possible.

Through this programme, students acquire, not only a site-specific design methodology that allows for an architecture fully informed by local conditions, to but also knowledge and solutions, which can be applied to many contemporary contexts, both home and abroad.

The year is scheduled around weekly group design discussion, one to one tutorials, and frequent reviews, often attended by external collaborators and researchers. Studio culture, high production standards and daily presence are imperative to enhance a culture of collective knowledge, sharing, and cohesive collaboration between researchers, tutors and students at the school.

Course Content The programme is structured as a twosemester continuum, where the tasks and projects are linked in sequence and

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INTRODUCTION

Located in the heart of the Amazon region at the confluence of the Rio Negro and Solimões - forming the Amazon river lies the city of Manaus. As capital of Amazonas, Brazil’s largest state, it is home to 1.9 million of the state’s 3.4 million inhabitants. From the prosperity of a rubber boom in the late 19th century to the creation of the free trade zone in the 1960s, it has seen its population grow from some 220,000 at the start of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) to close to 2 million today, subjected to an infrastructure mostly dating from 1910.1 The city now relies on the free trade zone’s industrial belt which provide economical and political benefits, but at what cost to its inhabitants? *** Amazonia Pier takes a fantastical approach to a critique of Manaus’s industrial presence in the Amazon. It intends to theoretically relocate the FTZ’s industrial sector by recomposing it functioning elements at the city’s main harbor, reimagine it through the typology of the English and American pleasure pier (amusement parks on piers) juxtaposing themes of consumerism, manufacturing, tourism and pleasure, or the lack there of, in Manaus. The program presents a theoretical architecture with the intent of speculatively grafting the industrial zone onto the city’s limit, as an artificial appendage, reinterpreting the various mechanical manufacturing processes of industry in parallel with mechanics of traditional amusement park rides. *** In its fantastical critique of the bizarre emporium that is Manaus and its free trade zone, Amazonia Pier proposes a speculative reinterpretation of the zone’s industrial belt to a pier of pleasure, forming a new industrial park, in the city’s harbor.

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MANAUS

MAP OF BRAZIL

MAP OF BRAZIL 07


MAIN HARBOR

MINOR INDUSTRIAL PORT

MAP OF M

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INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

PORTO DA CEASA

MANAUS

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A socioeconomic Heritage

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THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, Amazonia with its is 4.9better million square “Although known and kilometers, constitutes percent of its the better understood today 60 than ever in total area of Brazil. The vast relatively past, its full developmental potential and basin, was remains only officially itsuninhabited economic integration that of a recognizedfrontier as part region.” of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came - Leo A. Despres, Manaus about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These square attempts Amazonia, with its 4.9 million continued sporadically thethe present, kilometers, constitutesinto 60% of total and area have of left a markThe on the region’s Brazil. vastAmazon relatively social structure and cultural formations uninhabited basin was only officially 1 that persist today. recognized as part still of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came Theabout first nearly major period to deeply affect the a century after Portugal social economic efforts. relationsThese of the region initialand colonizing attempts was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the continued sporadically into the present, risehave of the automobile, cameAmazon a massive need and left a mark on the region’s for rubber for the and production automobile social structure culturalofformations 2 2 tires ,that which was persist naturally produced in still today. areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were of transformed The first major period the last almost into centers decadeovernight and a half to bustling deeply affect theof commerce, with Manaus becoming opulent socioeconomic structure of the the region was 3 heart Boom of the the Rubber of rubber the endtrade. of the 19th century(1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of the vehicles’ tires3, which was produced from latex trees in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns, were transformed, almost overnight, into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.4

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

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THE RUBBER BOOM

The rubber boom in Manaus made it one of the most prosperous cities in the world because of its key position in the Amazon. It was the first city in South America to be powered by an electricity grid, complete with street cars, street lamps and a telephone system. Profiting immensely from the boom,the rubber barons quickly adopted European ideals of a lavish life, culturally and architecturally. Their drive for a desire for international recognition resulted in the construction of the ‘Teatro Amazonas’, the opera house, today a symbol of prosperity of a different time. Yet, its construction, as with the majority of other activities of the period, relied on slave labor and were structured around a dependence on foreign capital, forming ongoing patterns of deep social and cultural heterogeneity.5 The Rubber Boom also saw great population growth caused by an influx in immigration from surrounding areas. Between the years of 1870 and 1910, the population of the Brazilian Amazon Basin grew from 330,000 to 800,000, climbing to 1.1 million by 1920.6 The increase further deepening the cultural divide in Manaus, between locals and migrants, between urban and rural dwellers, and between different classes. 13


THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s ‘Panoramic View’ of Urban Manaus social structure and cultural formations that persist still today.1 The first major period to deeply affect the social and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of automobile tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed almost overnight into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.3

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005.City 778. Print. Manaus Public Garden 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

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The Working Class of Manaus, 19th Century

The period’s economic structure solidified the beginnings of reliance on foreign aviadores (import-export firms). At the time, control was mainly held by English and Portuguese, the former having undertaken the construction of Manaus’s port facilities, electrical plant and the implementation of steam powered ships; and the latter having created the major import-export establishments and necessary the warehouses. Restricting the local, or Manauaras, to lesser status in the city.7 On the whole, given the regional origin of Manaus’ current population, the cultural structure associated with the extractive economy of the Rubber Boom and the reliance on foreign powers to drive the economy forward, a glimpse of the period’s history provides the rationale behind Manaus’s then, and current, sociocultural heterogeneity.8 This cultural heritage is crucial to a better understanding of the reasons behind the structure of the Zona Franca at its beginnings and where its stands toady.

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THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s social structure and cultural formations 1 Workers Living instill Floating Homes that persist today. The first major period to deeply affect the social and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of automobile tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed almost overnight into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.3

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

Agglomeration of Floating Houses in the City

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Manaus City Plan 1906

“Manaus it now a city of the past. The slump in rubber is acting more slowly but as surely as the ashes of Vesuvius in Pompeii” -The Washington Post, 1914 After the fall of the Rubber Boom in the 1920s, when the rubber market shifted to South East Asia, the city of Manaus and the rest of the Amazon region saw a quick reversion to its previous state of quasicomplete inactivity within the national economy. Yet, the influx of population from the interior did not cease, as the lack of work drove inhabitants into the city in desperate search of employment, which more than doubled Manaus’ population between 1900 and 19409. All the while the economy stagnated, only to be revived in the 1960s by the creation of a free trade zone.

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THE FREE TRADE ZONE

It was under Brazil’s military dictatorship that ‘Operation Amazonia’, an effort towards a fully developed and nationally integrated Amazon Basin, established the Decree Law 228 in February of 1967, establishing the Free Trade Zone of Manaus, or Zona Franca de Manaus (ZFM) and its supervising organization, the Superintendency of The Free Trade Zone of Manaus or SUFRAMA. The law intended to create a development hub for the Amazon Basin by placing its industrial, agricultural and commercial center in Manaus. Through fiscal incentives, it exempted firms located within the zone from import and export duties, as well as from the federal manufacturer’s sales tax, the ‘lmposto sobre Produtos lndustrializados’.10 The incentives also affected the rest of the Brazilian population. At the height of the free trade economy in the 1980s, Brazilians flocked to Manaus, through improved, subsidized air flight, and the city saw a shift towards mass consumerism. The economy eventually fell back in the 1990s and has been improving since then. The ZFM has delineated an industrial belt predominated by the consumer electronics industry which relies on duty-free imported components to be assembled there. Though providing around 500,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Amazon region, these assembly plants use relatively unskilled labor and contribute little to the creation of a solid economic base.11

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THE INDUSTRIAL BELT

Served by all the necessary public utilities, the industrial belt serves as an industrial park, included with hotel facilities and an industrial exposition for the commercial and educational display of industrial products by firms located in the ZFM. It now involves a involves a diversified complex of over 600 industrial companies. Home to about a hundred corporate plants, with 35% foreign, including Honda, Yamaha, Sony, Coca-Cola,Pepsi, Philips, Samsung, and LG 13, the industrial park continues to feed the city’s and the state’s dependency on foreign capital.

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Some of the world’s largest corporations have manufacturing plants in the industrial belt, from Coca-cola, to Yamaha, to Bic and Harley Davidson, they mostly consist of the industries of plastics [red], transport (2-wheeled sector)[green], metal, processed foods and plastics [purple], paper, oil/ mineral [orange], and most predominantly by the electronics industry [grey].

HONDA

MOTORBIKE MANUFACTURING

SONY MUSIC

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

BIC

MANUFACTURES OF PENS LIGHTER AND SHAVERS

FUJIMA

MANUFATURES CAMERAS

PANASONIC

SHARP

MANUFACTURES ELECTRONICS

E

OP

PHARMACEUTICALS

I

HITAMITSU

N IG E R SThe first major period to deeply affect the FO TRIEsocial and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the US rise of the automobile, came a massive need D N for rubber for the production of automobile

MANUFACTURES ELECTRONICS

MANUFACTURES ELECTRONICS

SMARTRAC

MICROCHIP PRINTING FOR CARDS & TAGS

SEMP - TOSHIBA

WÄRTSILÄ

ENGINES AND SERVICES FOR SHIPS

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s social structure and cultural formations that persist still today.1

LG

THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed Nalmost overnight into bustling centers of A P A with Manaus becoming the opulent JAREcommerce, heart of the rubber trade.3

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R ME

SOLDERING MATERIAL MANUFACTURE

KO

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COOKSON ELECTRONICS

R EU

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

INDUSTR

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SEIMENS SONY

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

IND BA US IRR TR O IAL

PEPSI

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NCR AUTOMATED MACHINES

BOTTLES SOFT DRINKS

BOTTLES SOFT DRINKS

RECOFARMA

RAZOR BLADES

GILLETTE

MANUFACTURES MOTOR BIKES

SHOWA

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

SHARP

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

SAMSUNG

MOTORBIKE MANUFACTURING

YAMAHA

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

IND B US AIRR TR O IAL II

I

RY MAP

PO

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THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s social structure and cultural formations that persist still today.1 Industrial Port in Manaus

The first major period to deeply affect the social and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of automobile tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed almost overnight into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.3

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

Industry-Controlled River Edge

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ATLANTIC OCEAN manaus

“The choice of Manaus for this project was clearly more political than economic. The city is remotely located in the western Amazon where it is connected mainly by expensive air and fluvial transportation systems to the centers of finance and population that provide the most important capital and product markets in Brazil.”14 -Despres, Social Life in Manaus In many ways Manaus is far removed from the logics of ease of access, with most imports and exports of goods. Most are done by ship along the Amazon river, having to travel over 1300 km to reach the city from the ocean to feed industries which bear absolutely no relationship to the natural resources of the region.15 Locational logics, having been ignored, result in high costs in importing the necessary goods for manufacturing and exporting the finished product, making it impossible to function properly without heavy government subsidies. The low use of the local or even regional materials, reinforces Despres’ differentiation between the political and economic motives of the ZFM, further questioning the validity of the Free Trade Zone’s location in the heart of the Amazon.

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SOCIOECONOMIC LEGACY “While the wealth generated by this economy created for a time a splash of European culture in Manaus, except for a few foreigners, this was little more than an operatic production on the part of suddenly rich men to cover their rural origins and status identities by ludicrously displaying a highly polished veneer of cosmopolitan values and manners.”16 - Despres, Social Life in Manaus The artificiality of the elite’s promoted image to the world reflected a lack of introspective awareness and recognition of local values the leaders of the boom operated within. In today’s context, this “highly polished veneer” could be understood as the ZFM, and its role in Manaus. The government rooted as it is in structures that are most responsive to and even dependent on external forces, firms and enterprises control the state of the social and cultural lives of various segments of this working-class population. Together, these factors helped create a city where 20% of the population doesn’t have access to sewage, where a quarter of inhabitants live in extreme poverty and a third of the population is without clean water, whilst living by the largest river by volume in the world.17

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The Theater and its Square

The conflicting realities in Manaus lie within the omnipresent duality of the city’s contrasting conditions. One is embodied by the anachronism of the Amazonas Theatre and its surrounding square; a synthetic symbol of the city’s opulent past. The other is the reality of the quiet working class, which have continuously lived in the shadows of the city’s and country’s economic ventures.

Housing Along the Rio Negro 25


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PIers of pleasure

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WATER FRONT AMUSEMENT PARKS

Though not typically Brazilian, through their social and cultural impact, pleasure piers provide a critical lens through which to better understand – and re-imagine – the ZFM and its industrial belt. “[Piers] allowed the vacationer to experience the ocean without going into the ocean.”18 - Jennifer Krintz, 2009 Piers emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, around the same time Manaus was seeing the social and cultural values shaken by the Rubber Boom. Beach amusement parks and piers can trace their conception back to the idea of a resort. The Victorian era offered a time of great leisure and free time for many citizens, and with growing technology and an expanding middle class, resorts began to take shape on beaches and parks.19 They first appeared in Great Britain during the 18th century, along the English seaside, and quickly became places of leisure for the upper echelons of society. Yet, as the railroad and steam liner developed into accessible modes of transport, beaches became a popular destination for all classes as they flocked to the sea side in search of leisure and pleasure seking.20

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PLEASURE PIERS 29


THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s Bournemouth Pier, 19th Century social structure andLate cultural formations that persist still today.1 By early 19th century, steam affect liners the had Thethe first major period to deeply become and the economic main moderelations of transportation for social of the region people goods to (1880-1910). across great After distance was the and Rubber Boom the withof relative ease and came timeliness, making rise the automobile, a massive need intercontinental transport more accessible for rubber for the production of automobile and economical. However, because of their 2 tires , which was naturally produced in increasing andAmazon. the varying seabed areas focused size in the Consequently, depth, the steam ships were forced to small river towns were transformed dock at great distance from the shore,of almost overnight into bustling centers with passengers occasionally braving commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent the walk to shore the shallow heart of thein rubber trade.3 water. Consequently piers were constructed as long ‘landing stages’, easing the ship-to-shore transport.21 Capitalizing on the extended walk to shore, piers saw the addition of various amenities from benches to small shops along the platform. The first piers were simple wooden structure cheaply made with little to no ornamentation, yet as the piers’ appeal grew with the innovation of new constructions, an increasing number of people were drawn to them for recreational 1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and purposes. Eventually were seen as a Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: Statepiers U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 place of Hempstead, Colin, and22 William Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thpromenade, as E.it was an exciting century Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. experience to walk over the water. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

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Blackmouth Pier, Late 19th Century

No construction is more appealing, or more redolent of mortality, than a jetty that sticks out from the shore. It tells men they can walk on water, and suggests they can stroll as far towards infinity as their engineering can take them. Piers symbolize escape from the everyday, from the shore, from work, from life itself.23 - The Economist, 2007 As a result of the development of train travel, increased income and decreasingly demanding work schedules, Victorian England saw an upswing in leisurely activities between the years of 1837-1901. As more people were drawn to the sea-defying appendages, piers also became places of education and self-refinement, where the wealthier class saw it as their duty to educate the less wealthy.24

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Bournemouth Pier, Oriental Theme

Before the turn of the century, pier architecture was academically pleasing with a philosophy evoking beauty, elegance and elite, an embodiment of Victorian ideals. “As they evolved stylistically, pier buildings became possessed with whimsical, pleasurable and engaging architectural design. Flags, towers and turrets adorned many of them. The idea of a pleasure pier was reflected in the architecture of these piers.�25 They featured ornate architectural elements such as classical columns, arcaded entryways, decorative cupolas, towers, medallions, with details ranging from cornice lines and Gothic arched, fenestration lined, castellated parapets and spires; the list goes on. Upon the turn of the century, pleasure piers saw a shift in style to the exotic and fantastical where architectural appropriation became a part of the whimsicality of the experience, evoking the changing mindset of the pleasure pier atmosphere and the adaptation to societal mindsets of evolving notions of pleasure.

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BRIGHTON PIER

“…whether viewed as a national monument or as a novel invention, it is a gratifying evidence of the resources and intellect of our country.” - London Times on Brighton Pier, 182326 Originally called the Chain Pier, it was one of England’s most popular piers and is one of the world’s most iconic. Located in Brighton, England, the pier was one of the first to recognize the potential of piers as more than landing stages, but as a tourist attraction, and to start charging a fee for its use, setting up kiosks and the like eventually transforming it into a pleasure pier.27 As popularity grew, many other examples of piers of this type began to emerge within England and the rest of the United Kingdom, eventually making their way to America, where they took a completely new style of their own. Original intentions for piers may have centered around educational purposes, but in America, they became intended for all levels of one thing: pleasure.

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EVOLVING NOTIONS OF PLEASURE

“In a laughing mirror, image of the seriousness with which the rest of the world is obsessed with progress, Coney Island attacks the problem of pleasure, often with the same technological means.”28 - Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 1994 No American example of theme parks is quite as notable as Coney Island, known simply as ‘Coney’. Throughout the late 19th century, It became a popular destination for the wealthy and poor of New York, with its wide beaches, deviant amusements and its proximity to Manhattan. Though its wicked attractions lured the masses, from brothels, to gambling dens and saloons, they alienated the middle class and degraded Coney’s reputation in these years. As a result this dissuasion, developers created an entirely new brand of attraction on the island: the enclosed amusement park.29 These theme parks became entertainment havens for the public, mainly composed of lower to middle class citizens. The American version of the pleasure pier were not places of enlightenment, but rather home to a more derelict type of pleasure. Coney island quickly became the home of attraction through distraction, swaying crowds with promises of an escape from the everyday banal.

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THEME PARKS 35


CONEY ISLAND

“Coney Island is a fetal Manhattan.�30 -Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 1994 Coney Island saw the birth of the enclosed amusement park. Built in the 1860s, on an island outside of New York City. It established a new form of recreation. With its innovative fun houses and roller coasters, this form of entertaining the masses significantly differentiated American leisure from the rest of the world. In the same way, pleasure piers in America would look different from their European counterparts adopting a pleasure of a more ribald nature.

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LUNA PARK

Luna Park, designed at part of Coney Island’s attractions, differed in that it traded traditional Victorian norms of civility and frugality for an increasingly extravagant and bizarre attractions, adapting to the public’s evolving addiction to pleasure, and creating a new brand of pleasure, one base in consumerism. Luna park had two faces: “Its dominant face was that of enchantment and beauty; light-hearted amusements, fantastic scenery, laughter and happiness. It was a face of light and warmth. The other face was more sinister—dark, brutal, even sadistic. It jeered at Topsy’s death and was exemplified in the daily ritual of Fire and Flames. At Luna Park, these forces coexisted in a single setting. Both were rooted in commercialism and consumerism and equally powerful in the seduction of patrons.”31

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THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s social structure and cultural formations that persist still today.1 The first major period to deeply affect the social and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of automobile tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed almost overnight into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.3

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

AMUSEMENT RIDES 38


Loop Roller Coaster 1904

“The park was in motion. Mechanical rides were spinning, toddling, and bouncing; each adorned with electric lights. The physical effects of these rides were spectacular: they shook, jolted, spun, and bumped patrons in new ways.�32 - Callahan Seltzer, Coney Island The greatest forces of attraction and distraction found in amusement parks were the amusement rides. They found themselves at the core of how the parks themselves operated with a goal of providing a certain level of escape. The rides guaranteed to a certain degree a set and finite experience. They operated in loops of repeated manufactured pleasure, within predetermined limits of danger and amusement. These tools of distraction were the embodiment of the pleasure-seeking escape its patrons desired and drove the amusement parks towards ever-evolving ideas of attraction.

39


PLEASURE PIERS TODAY

In their inherently temporary nature, came their ultimate demise, as the piers and parks fell victim to fires, bugs, storms, faulty engineering, yet most notably, to an inability to accommodate to the accelerating pleasure seeking needs of their patrons. *** Pleasure piers today are reminiscent of a older era. Where they gained massive popularity alongside larger societal tensions such as industrialisation, immigration and rapid urbanisation, piers and parks of pleasure accommodated a rising demand for leisure, for escape. With the advent of the American adaptations of the pier, notions of the amusement park shifted towards a ‘device of wonder’, a term art historian Barbara Stafford describes as “machines that not only constrain what is possible to see but also determine what can be thought.”33 Their spectacular attractions dazzled onlookers with their bright lights, bewildering patrons into new era of mass consumerism. They’re ultimate demise came about as their novelty ran out with time, the veil lifted over their implied sense of pleasure, and the gimmick was revealed. Today, an understanding of these amusement parks as a cheap thrill prevails, and provide the lens of subversion through which the industrial park of Manaus is to be exhibited. Jutting out from the edge of the city with sardonic pride, the pier stands over the Rio Negro, reacquainting the city with its dismissed artery. On an unfamiliar landing stage, to which length will the ‘city in the jungle’ venture to dazzle its patrons in the bizarre spectacle of a manufacturing of pleasure?

40


DAZZLE 41


42


THE MATTERS AT HAND

43


PROPOSAL SITE

The proposal site is located next to the Port of Manaus, in the harbor area, adjacent to the hundreds of passenger ships. The site is completely transformed by the fluctuating tides, exposing debris and shored boats when the river is low and an impenetrable ship-filled harbor when it is high. Though the city of Manaus deals with its river edge conditions in many ways, the site’s specific portion is overrun by passengers ships and their makeshift docks. The market area of Manaus is cluttered with narrow streets swarming with people due to small shops selling the plethora of manufactured goods of the ZFM, the proximity to the port, and to several important bus stops, Manauaras mostly relying on buses as means of transportation. Understood as an urban ‘cul-de-sac’, this is the limit of a city which has turned its back to the river, pushing development into the forest. The project’s location on the periphery of the city suggests the passage of arrival and departure from the city centre, the frontier between the urban and the ‘natural’. It is, in many ways, the door to the city for the vast majority of travelers.

44


VIT%%211RIAR%%201GIA

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25

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396526.4780 60°01'52.5"W

397684.3190 60°01'15.0"W

The site shows a rotated plan from the rest of the city. The red arrows show two major arteries of the area, their shift, their access to the water front limited by the market. However, two smaller streets do provide linear access perpendicular to the river (yellow). Blue arrows show the transient flow of ships and passengers.

46

398842.1590 60°00'37.5"W

25

25.9

NA 23.8


Harbor and Site at Low Tide

“Understood as an urban ‘cul-de-sac’, this is the limit of a city which has turned its back to the river, pushing development into the forest.” The site is an area of neglect, made clearer by the major avenue that cuts pedestrian ease of access to the waterfront. Its mostly utilitarian purpose has limited and disjointed the city’s connection to the river most bustling river font area. Located at the confluence of the majority of civilian marine travel, the preferred method of travel in the area, Its highly dynamic flux of flows and its centrality lending to the potential for a pleasure pier.

47


At High Tide - July 2015

At Low Tide - November 2011

48


RIVER EDGE CONDITIONS

The site is subject to a highly fluctuating Rio Negro, an average of 9 meters – or a three storey building – every year., The low tides reveal the aforementioned sense of neglect by the expanding state capital. Industries have taken control of this edge, amplifying its utilitarian essence. The majority, if not all, of Manaus’s industries, engage with the water from the river during their manufacturing processes in some form or another, yet little consternation is attributed to the river and its edge’s conditions. Ideas of re-acquaintance with the water both in relation to industries and the city’s inhabitants become apparent with the industrial belt’s relocation over the water.

49


METHODOLOGY

This speculative proposal intends to relocate the entire body of the industrial belt of the city, not as its direct copy, but through a recomposition of its limbs through the spectacle of the park’s attractions. It is within this juxtaposition that the proposal will be explored to coherently define the specificities of their functioning. The proposal will be explored and presented through multiple scales, including: 1:1000 To explore the urban scope of Manaus, investigating public accessibility and visual connectivity from the city and from the water. The program will assess opportunities to activate the waterfront and shoreline of the city’s edge. 1:200/50 The design process will majority alternate between representational scales of 1:200 and 1:50, focusing on the spatial speculations of the industry-attractions hybridizations. Isometric View The program is also likely to engage with the attractions in a more mechanical representation that the isometric view can provide. The project’s development and overall body of work will be documented in the form of a process book, along with the research and data collection.

50


Concurrent with the understanding of pleasure piers as places of learning turned places of consumerism, Amazonia Pier is concerned with implications of manufacturing of goods in the context of the artificiality of the theme park model. The proposal intends to develop an integrated model between the patrons of the park and the industrial process, where the former potentially becomes an essential part of the manufacturing process while riding the attractions of the park. The program’s trajectory towards a speculative proposal concerning the two typologies of the pleasure pier or amusement park, and that of manufacturing plants, will be investigated through an understanding of the mechanical forces essential to their functioning, with the goal of generating a hybrid typology from their interweaving. 51


THEMES

Through historical, mechanical and fantastical investigations, the proposal intends to unravel the complex relationships between the world of pleasure, consumption and manufacturing, within the context and history of the city of Manaus, within its industrial past, present and future. This architectural speculation will attempt to develop a coherent understanding of the interrelations between processes of manufacturing, and pleasure; explored through by not limited to three main themes: *** Manufactured Pleasure Synthetic Tourism Impermanence ***

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MANUFACTURED PLEASURE “The inordinate number of people assembling on the inadequate acreage, ostensibly seeking confrontation with the reality of the elements (sun, wind, sand, water) demands the systematic conversion of nature into a technical service.�34 - Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York From amusement parks to pleasure piers, a tendency of implied pleasure underlies their agenda of attraction and consumption. How can one begin to understand pleasure as being manufactured, designed within a repeating loop, within ideas of mechanized stimulation by simulation? And how can ideas of mechanization be interrelated to both industrial process and a process of pleasure?

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SYNTHETIC TOURISM

“The City, magic and fantastic from afar, now appears an absurd jungle of straight lines of wood, a cheap, hastily constructed toy house for the amusement of children.”35 - Maxim Gorky, Boredom, 1906.” “The Metropolis leads to reality shortage: Coney’s multiple synthetic realities offer a replacement.”36 - Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York Where does tourism stand today,and how it is understood in Manaus and the Amazon, within the context of ‘eco’ tourism, where the notion of a pristine nature is understood as a deceptive one, relying on misdirection and disillusion to avoid or look over certain contrasting realities.

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IMPERMANENCE

“The incipient urbanism of the fantastic was extremely unstable - facilities were modified and replaced continuously to respond to new demands and latest technological developments.�37 - Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York The Free Trade Zone was designed with an end in sight, initially supposed to end in 1997, but has been extended twice, in 1988 until 2013, in 2003 until 2023, and now is now planned on extension until 2073. When a storm comes, a pier is simply swept away. How could the city of Manaus cope with the potential demise of its industrial park?

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“Come experience the Amazon, without ‘going into’ the Amazon!”

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Coming June 2016 Coming June 2016

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APPENDICES

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FIELD WORK IN MANAUS

During the month of December 2015, I spent two weeks in Manaus along with 15 other students as part of an expedition focused on the testing of individually designed architectural devices. Prior to leaving, initial research of the city of Manaus revealed various hyper-specificities with their associated problematics. The research was focus on the issue of flooding, or more broadly, on the extreme shifts in water level that affect the city, as well as on the condition of the city’s favelas, their sporadic access to electricity, and they’re relationship to the increasingly fluctuating waters. Manaus is located along the Rio Negro, where it famously meets the Rio Solimões to become the Amazon River, having impressive water level variations between seasons of up to 12 meters. The device, named ‘Palafittes Energia’ was designed as an attachment to the wooden pillars of the typical ‘palafittes’ homes on stilts found in Manaus. It serves both a flotation purpose, floating homes above floods, and a power generating one, producing electricity from wave power, the latter function due to the high naval activity surrounding the ports of the city. The city’s intimate relationship to this phenomenon has been accentuated since being named a free trade zone, with a shift in the city’s focus towards port activity and industrial development along the water. With the spotlight on the market-driven economy, its inhabitants have been seen varying levels of neglect, a quarter of them living in extreme poverty.

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1. The palafittes are especially vulnerable to flooding due to their lower positions in the ravines of the city and along the Rio Negro, their static nature unable to adapt to the active environment.

2. The primary function of the device is to float homes above flood level waters, while staying attached to their wooden columns.

3. The secondary function of the device is to generate electricity from wave movement and to store it within a battery connected to the home, providing off the grid power.

PALAFITTES ENERGIA

While the device had clear pragmatic intentions, the device’s secondary role was one of subversion. By attaching such a construct, attention is brought to its host, questioning the need for such a device, shedding light on the bigger issue its reasons that led to the need for such a device. The device, in a way, undermines the structure it attaches to and its static logic, by means of subversion. In this way the palafittes are the embodiment of the problematic way we deal with climate change. Yet it also raises bigger issue of what social and economic conditions remaining unchanging for this solution to still be in effect.

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THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s social structure and cultural formations that persist still today.1 The first major period to deeply affect the social and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of automobile tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed almost overnight into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.3

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

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Upon arriving in Manaus, one could not ignore the effects of its socioeconomic legacy as they were quite apparent. Large parts of the city were strikingly poor living in housing pushing the limits of a physically adequate home, leaving me, and most of the locals I spoke to, with the feeling of a large favela. Homes were built over drainage systems, trash filled the streets, and sewage’s odious smell filled most of the communities that were visited. The city’s socioeconomic problems created through its history are very much present and visible today. The expectation to find the palafittes perched in the flowing amazon river was met with a quite different reality. They stood perched upon hills, over 10 meters above water levels, without a single wooden column coming close to the river. Manaus and the regions surrounding the Amazon Region had been experiencing one of the worst droughts of the last century. The Rio Negro, which feeds into the Amazon River, has seen extremely low water levels leaving some boats stuck on the dry soil. Just a year ago, Manaus was experiencing a flood, which had also been preceded by drought, both part of a pattern of increasingly extreme water level fluctuations.

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THE ‘PARIS OF THE JUNGLE’

Amazonia, with its 4.9 million square kilometers, constitutes 60 percent of the total area of Brazil. The vast relatively uninhabited basin, was only officially recognized as part of Brazil in 1750, with the Treaty of Madrid, which came about nearly a century after Portugal initial colonizing efforts. These attempts continued sporadically into the present, and have left a mark on the Amazon region’s social structure and cultural formations that persist still today.1 The first major period to deeply affect the social and economic relations of the region was the Rubber Boom (1880-1910). After the rise of the automobile, came a massive need for rubber for the production of automobile tires2, which was naturally produced in areas focused in the Amazon. Consequently, small river towns were transformed almost overnight into bustling centers of commerce, with Manaus becoming the opulent heart of the rubber trade.3

1 Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 2 Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20thcentury Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 3 Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print.

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Having hindered my device intentions, the drought incited me to look further into the inhabitants living situations, bringing me to the floating village of Catalao. Here, a small community of 58 families live together away from the bustling of the city, distancing themselves away from what is seen as a filthy and violent city centre. Here I had the chance to meet Edilson who has been living in Catalão for 26 years. All the houses float on the giant trunks of the highly buoyant Assacú tree. While they do not pay any property taxes, access to electricity is sporadic and access to clean water can be an issue, especially at low water levels, which causes a dirtier river. Yet, they seem relatively unaffected by the low water level. Their Overall, my experience in Manaus provided me with a greater understanding of the city’s prevalent social, economic and cultural issues, in large part due to the economic structure the Free Trade Zone promotes, and its direct effect on the landscape, more precisely its river edge conditions.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. “Manaus (Municipality).” Manaus (Municipality, Amazonas, Brazil). N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2016 2. Despres, Leo A. “Cultural Formations and the Zona Franca.” Manaus: Social Life and Work in Brazil’s Free Trade Zone. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print. 3. Hempstead, Colin, and William E. Worthington. Encyclopedia of 20th-century Technology. New York: Routledge, 2005. 778. Print. 4. Weinstein, Barbara. The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983. 193-203. Print. 5. Despres, Manaus, 16-17. 6. Ibid 7. Ibid, 18 8. Ibid, 29 9. Ibid 10. Ibid, 32-33 11. Stoler, Ann Laura. “Fordism in the Jungle.” Imperial Debris: On Ruins and Ruination. Durham: Duke UP, 2013. 119-20. Print. 12. “Manaus Free Trade Zone.” SUFRAMA. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. 13. Ibid 14. Despres, Manaus, 33. 15. Ibid 16. Ibid, 28 17. “WB/Brazil: Improving Financial Resource Management in the State of Amazonas.” World Bank. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. 18. Krintz, Jennifer Lynn. Pleasure Piers & Promenades the Architecture of Southern California’s Early Twentieth Century Beach Resorts. Thesis. 2009. 2. Print 19. Ibid, 3-4 20. Ibid, 5 21. Ibid, 6-7 22. Ibid, 8-9 23. “The End of the Pier.” The Economist. December 2007 24. Krintz,Pleasure Piers & Promenades, 37. 25. Ibid, 72 26. The Times, 2 December 1823 27. Krintz,Pleasure Piers & Promenades, 7. 28. Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 35. 29. Seltzer, Coney Island, 99. 30. Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 30. 31. The New York Times, May 6, 1906; Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 38-41. 32. Seltzer, Callahan Pauline. Coney Island: The Limits and Possibilities of Leisure in Turn of the Century American Culture. Thesis. 2011. 82. Print. 33. Stafford, Barbara Maria, Frances Terpak, and Isotta Poggi. “Revelaing Technologies.” Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Research Institute, 2001. 1. Print. 34. Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 35. 35. Gorky. ‘Boredom” 36. Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 67. 37. Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 63 .

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REFERENCES

Images Modified Google Maps. Credit: Julien Nolin Page 07: Page 08-09: Modified Google Maps. Credit: Julien Nolin Manaus, Foto Antiga, Coleção Allen Morrison. Scanned image. Peregrina Cultural. Page 13: Web. 05 Feb. 2016 Urban Manaus 01. Scanned image. Prof 2000. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. Page 14: Urban Manaus 02. Scanned image. Prof 2000. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. Rural Manaus . Digital image. Prof 2000. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. Page 15: 1960 Manaus Post Card. ScieloBrazil. Scanned Image. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. Page 16: 1960 Manaus Post Card. ScieloBrazil. Scanned Image. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. Manaus Plan 1906, Jorge Herrán. Digital Image. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. Page 17: Industrial Belt. Digital image. SUFRAMA Web. 03 Feb. 2016. Page 19: Page 20-21: Credit: Otis Britain Sloan & Julien Nolin Credit: Jakob Knudsen Page 22: Credit: Julien Nolin Modified Google Maps. Credit: Julien Nolin Page 23: Theatre Square. Shutterstock.com. Digtial Image. Web. 28 Jan. 2016 Page 25: Manaus River Edge. EveryStockPhoto.com. Digtial Image. Web. 28 Jan. 2016 Galveston Historic Pleasure Pier. Galveston. Digital Image. Web. 01 Feb. 2016 Page 29: On the Pier, Bournemouth. Flickr: Alwyn Ladell. Digital Image. Web. 01 Feb. Page 30: 2016 Blackpool Pier. REX Photos. The Telegraph. Scanned Image. Web Feb 04. 2016 Page 31: Bournemouth Night, Bournemouth. Flickr: Alwyn Ladell. Digital Image. Web. 01 Page 32: Feb. 2016 Brighton Pier. REX Photos. The Telegraph. Scanned Image. Web Feb 04. 2016 Page 33: Coney Island 1905. Shorpy. Scanned Image. Web Feb 09. 2016 Page 35: Coney, Swimming Pool. Brooklyn Public Library. Shorpy. Scanned Image. Web. Feb Page 36: 06. 2016 Luna Park, Post Card. Flickr: Fred Kahl. Scanned Image. Web Feb 04. 2016 Page 37: Coney Island Ride. Brooklyn Mag. Scanned Image. Web Feb 04. 2016 Page 38: Coney Island Ride. Shorpy. Scanned Image. Web Feb 05. 2016 Page 39: Ferris Wheel, Galveston, Texas. Digital Image. Web. Feb 05. 2016 Page 47: Modified Google Maps. Credit: Julien Nolin Page 48: Modified Google Maps. Credit: Julien Nolin River Edge. Copa2014.gov.br. Digital Image. Web. Feb 05. 2016 Page 49: Photo Collage. Julien Nolin. Images from web. Feb 08. 2016 Page 51: Mechanical Horse, Coney. Denson Archive. Huffington Post. Scanned Image. Feb 08. Page 53: 2016 Photo Collage. Julien Nolin. Images from web. Feb 08. 2016 Page 54: Pier Washed Away. Krintz, Jennifer Lynn. Pleasure Piers & Promenades. Thesis. Page 55: 2009. Photo Collage. Julien Nolin. Images from web. Feb 08. 2016 Page 56: Palafittes. Alarmy. Digital Image. Web. Sept 15. 2015 Page 61: Digital Rendering. Credit: Julien Nolin Page 62: Manaus Dry. Digital Image. Credit: Stine Bundgaard Page 63: Floating Village Device. Digital Image. Credit: Emil Alexander Juel Jespersen Page 64: Floating Village Device. Digital Image. Credit: Emil Alexander Juel Jespersen Page 65:

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Contact Information Julien Nolin juliennolin2@gmail.com +45 93 93 30 16 Copenhagen, Denmark Montreal, QC, Canada

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