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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