chapter 01
wasting humans
This chapter looks at the history of London waste water system, its current state and the foreseeable effects to it by Climate Change.
As Pasquero and Poletto (2019) Waste, decay, digestion and dissolution are some of their most intense processes and a critical part of their circularity; these processes often constitute the dark side of urban ecology.” London’s Victorian waste treatment system is not unique to this matter.
During the 18th century, sewage was disposed of on the streets. In the 1840s, it became compulsory for raw sewage to be disposed through the sewers into the Thames River (Cook 2001). According to Cook, the Thames was the source of domestic water, which then caused city wide contamination from sewage- borne diseases. This sparked a media campaign through newspapers and journals to cleanse the Thames water (fig x-x).
The waste treatment system was engineering by Joseph William Bazalgatte (1819-91) according to the morphology and technics of London. It materialised after the industrial revolution, and therefore was a product of massive scale production which allowed for pumping stations and treatment works to be available. Waste treatment thus became a utility, devoid of value and divorced from the ecosystem unless as a negative inconvenience.
5
Fig [1] The silent highwayman: Your money or your life, 1858. propaganda
Fig [2] Cross-section of Victoria Embankment, engraving, 1867 (Illustrated London News', 1867)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Figure[3] Greater London
London Urban Context 10km
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Figure[4] Climate Central Flooding Space vs Treatment Plants
Projections - Open Plants proximity networks 10km
Key Flooding
8 (I, 5) CROSS NESS (G,6) BECKTON STATION (G,6) BECKTON STATION (C,5) MOGDEN (I, 6) RIVERSIDE STATION (G,8) DEEPHAMS (G,8) DEEPHAMS (G,8) HOGSMIL Key
A BECKTON STATION G MOGDEN STATION E CROSSNESS PUMPTING STATION C BECKTON STATION F DEEPHAM STATION B CROSSNESS STATION H BEDDINGTON STATION CROSSNESS PUMPING STATION D MOGDEN STATION Figure[5] Flooding in London's Wastewater Treatment and surrounding areas. Figure[6] London's Wastewater Treatment aesthetic & Infrastructure;
9
geo-engineering through artificial intelligence
According to the UK government’s GIS data, the Lea River has one of the lowest water qualities in London, making vulnerable its surrounding publically open water bodies.
Additionally, as predicted by Climate Central (2022), this area including the Walthamstow wetlands will be under threat by flooding, and potentially permanently submerged under water by 2070. To combat both degraded water quality and flooding, eight radical geoengineering models were developed. These models aimed to test the urban landscape at Walthamstow wetlands against water decentralisation, water infiltration, and capacity to host habitat diversity. With decentralised water systems, an urban space can reduce surface runoff accumulation at centralised water bodies. The models tested proved that by integrating porosity within urban morphology, further open spaces can facilitate infiltration and combat flooding whilst serving varying combinations of urban and ecological habitat diversity. Model I hosts the most potential to use flooding as a mechanical resource to treat wastewater with multiple communal outputs.
Within the proposed artifical landscape, four of London’s biomes were identified: moorlands, highlands, woodlands, and wetlands. The wetland biome in the proposed artificial landscape depicts attributes to serve as part of an ecological waste treatment.
chapter 02
fig [7] Walthamstow wetlands aerial photograph
11
Figure[8] 8 Radical geo-engineering models, model I detail w decentralisation w infiltration habitat diversity
12 epoch003_real_B epoch011_real_B epoch003_fake_A epoch011_fake_A epoch041_real_B epoch059_real_B epoch041_fake_A epoch059_fake_A epoch093_real_B epoch108_real_B epoch093_fake_A epoch108_fake_A epoch150_real_B epoch165_real_B epoch150_fake_A epoch165_fake_A
epoch024_real_B epoch033_real_B epoch024_fake_A epoch033_fake_A epoch065_real_B epoch080_real_B epoch065_fake_A epoch080_fake_A epoch134_real_B epoch146_real_B epoch134_fake_A epoch146_fake_A epoch177_real_B epoch198_real_B epoch177_fake_A epoch198_fake_A Figure[9] CycleGAN epoch test and generation of model I
13
MOORLANDS - HIGHLANDS
Rough grass Brakens
Exmoor Heathers
FLORA
Oak Trees
Heathers
Ash Trees Heathers
Fungi Gorses
WOODLANDS - ALL ALTITUDES
HEATHLANDS- LOWLANDS
Bull Rushes
Reeds
Peat Bogs WETLANDS - LOWLANDS
FAUNA
Buzzards
Grouses
Red Deers
Foxes
Sand Lizzard
Owls Hares
Roe Deers Voles
Figure[10] London's biomes evident on artificial landscape
Breams
Dragon Flies Otters
14
Figure[12] Wetland Biome Morphology detail
Figure[11] Architectural Morphology
15
collective intelligence
There are currently 8.7 million known organisms on planet earth. Yet, human beings consider their own intelligence as not only superior but singularly relevant. In this chapter, the concept of the exploded mind is employed to borrow the waste existence lens of other humans and nonhumans beyond the western canon. As Yuk Hui (2019) conceptualises, there are multiple ways of doing things in different societies which means that technology is not universal, instead it comprises of multiple pluralities - cosmotechnics. Therefore, waste [treatment] occurs in plurality as well. In this part of the paper, artificial intelligence, indigenous and biological intelligence are used to negotiate the place of waste [water] in the city with the aims of concepualising new cosmotechnics the redesign our relationship with waste.
The project uses computational methods to vowelise the artificial landscape, exploring a new material relationship between waste treatment and architecture. These relationships are further explored through the Bheri aquaculture (indigenous, mycelium (biological), and cycelGAN (artificial).
chapter 03
Figure[13] Voxelisation of architectural morphology
Figure[14] Metabolisation of voxel through cycleGAN
18 epoch005_real_B epoch082_real_B epoch154_real_B epoch257_real_B epoch024_real_B epoch098_real_B epoch168_real_B epoch267_real_B epoch005_fake_A epoch082_fake_A epoch154_fake_A epoch257_fake_A epoch024_fake_A epoch098_fake_A epoch168_fake_A epoch267_fake_A
epoch043_real_B epoch104_real_B epoch225_real_B epoch285_real_B epoch066_real_B epoch119_real_B epoch235_real_B epoch300_real_B epoch043_fake_A epoch104_fake_A epoch225_fake_A epoch285_fake_A epoch066_fake_A epoch119_fake_A epoch235_fake_A epoch300_fake_A Figure[15] cycleGAN machine learning process - epochs
3 maturation ponds 2.2 mycelium ponds
2.1faculative
1. Anaerobic ponds: Larger ponds with affluent aerated over a period of time allows larger components to settle. Restricted access to public 2.1 Faculative ponds: smaller ponds filled with mycofiltration prototype, vegetation and fish. Primary function is to improve water quality 2.2 Mycelium Harvesting: mycelium from mycolfiter is harvested and processed into an architectural prototype 3. Maturation ponds: last phase of filtration, no mycofiltration, vegetation and fish farming for harvesting
ponds
20
i n d ig e nou s i n t e lligen c e b i o - i n telli g e n c e a r t i f laic i n t e l l i g e nce
Figure[17] Biological intelligence mycelium and waste treatment
21 INNOCULUM 1 Day 01 Day 01 Day 01 Day 05 Day 05 Day 05 Day Day Day INNOCULUM 2 INNOCULUM 3
Day 07 Day 07 Day 07 Day 09 Day 09 Day 09 Day 11 Day 11 Day 11 Figure[18]
1-2
Mycelium: Generation growth of mycelium
mygregate
Mycelium’s ability to treat waste and facilitate decomposition (or the metamorphosis of nutrients) inspired the study of its wastewater treatment potential. According to the River Wandle Trust, mycelium can be used to treat wastewater through mycofiltration: the usage of mycelium filled hessian sacks distributed along a water channel to treat waste water. In this process, mycelium breaks up and utilizes the nutrients in the water to grow, removing them from the water and improving its quality. Mycofiltration coupled with the Bheri aquaculture system can result in waste treatment that is not divorced from urban ecosystems, but a vital member of it.
Subsequent to mycofiltration, the mycelium and substrate can be processed within the pond system as an architectural materialmygregate. Through its fibrous structure, mycelium acts as a binding agent of its substrate comprising of agricultural and manufacturing waste – sawdust and hay (Ongpeng Maximino C et al, 2020). The resulting mygregate becomes an extension of the voxelised relationship between ground and foreground, aggregated to form a negotiation of diverse forms and shapes. The mygregate is sourced from mycofiltration, cleaned, then moulded in a two-part 3D printed mould and grown over three weeks in a still air box inside a greenhouse. It is then removed from the mould and allowed to further grow in the still room, until it is dehydrated to prevent any further growth.
Through a continuous process of developing, testing and improving the mygregate prototype, the process of making architecture become intertwined in what Anne Willis (2006) describes as the fabrication of the human or human design. By employing architectural design processes to include the nurturing and growing of living micro-organisms, we design new relations between humans and non-humans, ultimately formulating a post-human state.
22 chapter 04
Figure[19] Mycelium prototype - mygregate
100mm 70mm
100mm
PROTOTYPE COMPONENT 1
100mm 70mm
PROTOTYPE COMPONENT 2
70mm
PROTOTYPE COMPONENT 3
BAKED MYCELIUM PROTOTYPE
PROTOTYPE MOULD
23
3 COMPONENTS A: 1 A: 6 A: 16 A: 22 A: 37 A: 9 A: 13
40 COMPONENTS 100 COMPONENTS 10
50
150 COMPONENTS 20
75
200 COMPONENTS
B C Figure[20] Mygregate making and aggregation
A: 3 A: 4 B: 1 B: 9 B: 21 B: 34 B: 49 B: 11 B: 17 B: 1 B: 4 C: 1 C: 25 C: 63 C: 94 C: 114 C: 30 C: 45 C: 6 C: 12
COMPONENTS
COMPONENTS
COMPONENTS
COMPONENTS
A
Figure[21] Mygregate first and second generation
prototype /ˈprˈˈtˈtˈˈp/ Develop Test Improve
Figure[22] Mygregate prototype in mould
Figure[23] Fully grown mygregate prototype
27 3 TYPE A 3 TYPE D 3 TYPE G 3 TYPE B 3 TYPE E 3 TYPE H 3 TYPE C 3 TYPE F 3 TYPE I 3 TYPE I A: 1 A: 3 A: 5 A: 1 A: 3 A: 5 A: 2 A: 4 A: 6 B: 0 B: 0 B: 1 B: 0 B: 1 B: 2 B: 0 B: 1 B: 31 C: 0 C: 3 C: 6 C: 1 C: 4 C: 7 C: 3 C: 5 C: 9
Figure[24] Mygregate prototype aggregation A: 6 B: 3 C: 10
28
morphogenesis
The proposed urban morphogenesis utilises an extended mind to designing waste treatment as a utility into both ecologic and urban technics that redesign the relationship between humans and waste, humans and non-humans and humans and themselves. The artificial landscape proposal in the wetland biome suggests wastewater treatment can become negotiated architecture, agriculture marketplace and habitat.
Waste treatment design as a part of urban ecologies, allows spaces for the negotiated aggregations of spaces that redesign human and urban relationships with waste. The proposed landscape increases urban porosity through open spaces and water basins that embrace flooding [not resist] by facilitating water infiltration, vegetation and fish farming through aquaculture. The prototyping and aggregation can thus occur as a negotiation of these various factors, accumulating as architecture and reclining as mulch to curate diverse urban habitats.
Therefore, within this space, architecture is up for bargaining. It hangs at the mercy of the aggregation of biological, indigenous, artificial and human intelligence. In this exploded intellectual project, its designers also thus have agency. As implied in the writings of Anne Willis, if humans renegotiate the place of waste in the city, those waste technologies will further redesign what it means to be human – post human.
chapter 05
Figure[25] Mycelium growth pattern
PHASE A: SAWDUST PROTOTYPE INNOCULATED WITH MYCELIUM
PHASE B: RADIAL MYCELIUM GROWTH FROM DEFINED THRESHOLDS
PHASE E: SEMI CAPACITY GROWTH
PHASE F: FULL GROWTH OF MYCELIUM
30
Figure[26] Simulation of non-linear mycelium growth in mould - thresholds
PHASE C: MYCELIUM COLONISATION OF SUBSTRATE
PHASE D: CONTINUAL RADIAL GROWTH
PHASE G: COMPETITION WITH OTHER MICROORGANISMS
PHASE H: FLUCTATION OF MYCELIUM DEFENSE WITH COMPETITION
31
PHASE A
WASTEWATER TREATMENTVEGETATION
MUSHROOM HARVESTING
WETLAND
CULTIVATION AQUAMARKET STRUCTURE PHASE B
PHASE C
Figure[27] Growth aggregation of aquamarket defined by thresholds mycofiltration infiltration aggregation
phase C - Aquamarket
Figure[28] Morphogenisis
33
WASTE WATER TREATMENT PROTOTYPE AGGREGATION
MARKET STALLS AQUACULTURE & FARMING
Figure[29] Aquamarket section
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 01
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 02
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 03
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 04
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 05
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 06
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 07
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 08
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 09
34
Figure[30] Aquamarket mygregate aggregation
vegetation mygregate
MYGREGATE AGGREGATION 01 - AQUAMARKET
Figure[31] aquamarke
Figure[32] Aquamarket
Figure[33] Aquamarket
38
PATTERN A
PATTERN E
PATTERN B
PATTERN F
PATTERN PATTERN
Figure[34] mygregate patterns
PATTERN C
PATTERN G
PATTERN D
PATTERN H
Figure[35] aquamarket
Figure 1: Cross-section of Victoria Embankment, engraving, 1867 (Illustrated London News', 1867)
Figure 2: The silent highwayman: Your money or your life, 1858. propaganda
Figure 3: Greater London Urban Context
Figure 4: Climate Central Flooding Projections - Open Space vs Treatment Plants proximity networks
Figure 5: London's Wastewater Treatment aesthetic & Infrastructure
Figure 6: Flooding in London's Wastewater Treatment and surrounding areas.
Figure 7: Walthamstow weltands aerial photograph
Figure 8: Radical geo-engineering models, model I detail
Figure 9: CycleGAN epoch test and generation of model I
Figure 10: London's biomes evident on artificial landscape
Figure 11: Architectural Morphology
Figure 12: Wetland Biome Morphology detail
Figure 13: Voxelisation of architectural morphology
Figure 14: Metabolisation of voxel - cycleGAN
Figure 15: cycleGAN machine learning epochs
Figure 16: Indigenous Intelligence - Bheri Aquaculture
Figure 17: Mycelium: Biological intelligence waste treatment
Figure 18: Mycelium: Generation growth of mycelium 1-2
Figure 19: Mygregate prototype
Figure 20: Mygregate prototype making and aggregation
Figure 21: Mygregate prototype generation 1 and 2
Figure 22: Mygregate prototype in mould
Figure 23: Fully grown mycelium prototype
Figure 24: Mygregate prototype aggregation
Figure 25: Mycelium growth pattern
Figure 26: Simulation of mycelium growth in mould - thresholds
Figure 27: Growth ggregation of aquamarket defined by thresholds
Figure 28: Morphogenisis phase C - Aquamarket
Figure 29: Aquamarket section
Figure 30: Aquamarket mygregate aggregation simulation
Figure 31: Aquamarket 01
Figure 32: Aquamarket 02
Figure 33: Aquamarket 03
Figure 34: Aquamarket 04
Figure 35: Aquamarket 05
...05 ...05 ...06 ...07 ...08 ...08 ...10 ...11 ...12 ...13 ...14 ...14 ...16 ...17 ...18 ...19 ...20 ...21 ...22 ...23 ...24 ...25 ...26 ...27 ...29 ...30 ...31 ...32 ...33 ...34 ...35 ...36 ...37 ...38 ...39 ...40 ...41
41
Figure 36: Aquamarket 06 List of Figures
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