User:Ninavdbroek/THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN
THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN
Thinking like a mountain is a term coined by Aldo Leopold in his book A Sand County Almanac.[1] In the section entitled "Sketches Here and There" Leopold discusses the thought process as a holistic view on where one stands in the entire ecosystem.[2] To think like a mountain means to have a complete appreciation for the profound interconnectedness of the elements in the ecosystems.[3] It is an ecological exercise using the intricate web of the natural environment rather than thinking as an isolated individual.
PAPER http://www.colorado.edu/geolsci/faculty/molnarpdf/1990IJES.BrainsSizesMountainUpl.pdf
THE RISE OF MOUNTAINS RANGES AND THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANS: A CAUSAL RELATION?
'It is a bold claim to make of mountains, that they contributed a third dimension of height and depth, to humans intelligence.' George Winthrop Young. 1957 Apparently, the rise of mountains challenged.
MOUNTAIN POPULATIONS OFFER CLUES TO HUMAN EVOLUTION
In the hearts of evolutionary biologists, mountains occupy a special place. It’s not just their physical majesty: mountains also have an unmatched power to drive human evolution. Starting tens of thousands of years ago, people moved to high altitudes, and there they experienced natural selection that has reworked their biology.
“This is the most extreme example in humans that you can find,” said Rasmus Nielsen, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California at Berkeley.
Humans have adapted to mountainous environments just as Charles Darwin predicted. To discover how this occurred, scientists are now examining the DNA of people who scaled mountains in different parts of the world.
“There’s this beautiful experiment in natural selection going on,” says Anna Di Rienzo, a professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago. “You can really ask questions central to evolutionary biology.”
When people from low elevations climb to higher ones, they start struggling for oxygen. At 12,000 feet, each breath delivers only 60 percent of the oxygen that the same breath would at sea level. Even a slow walk can be exhausting, because the body can get so little fuel.
In the face of this stress, people respond in several ways. They produce more hemoglobin, the molecule that ferries oxygen from the lungs. Their resting heart rate increases, as does their breath rate. These adjustments help raise the amount of oxygen in the blood, but it never regains its former level. Extra hemoglobin is not a good long-term solution to life at high altitudes, because it can lead to blood clots. Women moving from low altitudes to high ones also have more trouble delivering oxygen to their babies during pregnancy. Studies have shown that the rate of low-birth-weight babies is twice as high at 6,000 feet as it is at sea level. Life in the mountains is easier for people whose ancestors have lived there for millenniums. They don’t suffer from altitude sickness. Women from high-altitude populations give birth to normal-size babies.
Scientists visiting some of those populations have discovered a number of biological adaptations in the inhabitants’ bodies. In Tibet, for example, people have broader arteries and capillaries. In the Andes, they can dissolve more oxygen into their blood.
Evolutionary biologists reasoned that natural selection produced these adaptations as each population settled at a high elevation. People with mutations that let them withstand low oxygen levels would be more likely to survive and have healthy children. Several teams of scientists have traveled to the mountains to gather DNA samples from people and search for traces of that evolution.
In 2010, Dr. Nielsen and his colleagues found variants of certain genes that were much more common in Tibetans than in the Han, the major ethnic group in China, who have lived for thousands of years at lower altitudes. By a wide margin, the winner was a gene called EPAS1. People with different variants turned out to have different levels of hemoglobin, suggesting that the gene was important to adapting to life at high altitudes.
Recently, Dr. Nielsen and another group of colleagues published a study on people who live in the highlands of Ethiopia. They found no evidence that EPAS1 had evolved there as it did in Tibet. Instead, a different gene, BHLHE41, appeared to have experienced natural selection.
Two other teams of scientists have recently searched for high-altitude genes in Ethiopians, and neither put BHLHE41 on their list. It’s possible that Dr. Nielsen’s method is more sensitive than the others, but that remains to be proved. “It’s going to take a while to sort through the discrepancies in Ethiopia,” said Dr. Di Rienzo, a co-author of one of the other studies.
It will be intriguing to see that unfold. BHLHE41 and EPAS1 turn out to have something in common: they work together in a network of genes that lets us cope with low oxygen levels. Even at sea level, low oxygen can threaten our bodies from time to time. Exercise can strip it from our muscles, while inflammation can eliminate it from wounds. The oxygen-sensing pathway triggers defenses to protect our bodies from damage.
Dr. Nielsen’s study suggests that evolution has stumbled across a way to retool this pathway to help people live at high altitudes. But it turns out there’s more than one way to retool a pathway. Though evolution has some creative freedom, it seems to stick to a few themes.
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/artificial-mountain-design/
as seen above, guallart looks to incorporating geological forms into the infrastructure of the city in which he is working. in this case, the focus is on the city of barcelona. before our artificial world of civilization, we were surrounded by virgin land of natural plains and mountains. for example, in san cugat, spain they devour and reform corporative centres, creating new mountain-buildings which are capable of being auto-sufficient. this extension of the landscape has resulted in a public golf court over one of the main highways, it also means more land. in tarragona, spain the mountains detect chemical agents which block the possibility of living on the coasts, isolating and moving towards the interior of the land, unfolding new topographies to organize a new city. guallart’s project ‘the re-naturalisation of territory’ looks at mountains and their way of extending natural continuity within landforms, creating a set of islands in front of the city of barcelona resulting in more land.
vicente guallart
http://www.designboom.com/art/cells-of-life-by-charles-jencks-at-jupiter-artland/
PROOFFLAB MAGAZINE
A new professional magazine that aims to define the future working culture. Every month a visionair is invited to share his or her view on the new working landscape through an essay in text and images. Curated by Studio Makkink & Bey.
GOOGLE EARTH PRO
Dat we via google earth kunnen zien hoe onze wereld er op andere plekken uitziet, maakt dat dan ook echt de waarheid?
THE LIVING MOUNTAIN- Nan Shepherd
The Cairngorms of north-east Scotland are the mountains I know best and have known longest. I have crossed the range often on foot and ski, and my maps are spidery with the ink-tracks of routes followed and summits attempted. I have seen dozens of blue-white snow hares, big as dogs, sheltering on the lee slopes of Glas Maol, and I have followed flocks of snow buntings as they created a blizzard over the high plateau. Yes, I thought I knew the Cairngorms well – until a decade or so ago when I read The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd's brief masterpiece about the region, written in the early 1940s but not published until 1977, four years before her death. Her prose – born of a lifetime's acquaintance with the massif – remade my vision of these familiar hills.
In August 2008, I wrote an article for Review in praise of The Living Mountain. At that time the book was almost out of print, but in course of my piece I hoped that "given the current surge of interest in writing about nature and place", Shepherd "might … find a new generation of readers". That hope has been realised. In 2011, Canongate republished The Living Mountain as one of the 12 founding classics of its "Canons" series, alongside books such as Knut Hamsun's Hunger and Alasdair Gray's Lanark. The Living Mountain became the surprise hit of the dozen. It has since sold 12,000 copies, and among its new admirers are Jeanette Winterson, Richard Mabey and Nicholas Lezard. Those who have valued Shepherd's work for longer include Janice Galloway, Kathleen Jamie and Ali Smith. Next spring, the Cambridge-based Galileo Publishing will put out a new edition of Shepherd's only volume of poems, In the Cairngorms, which was first published 80 years ago in a tiny print run, and has since been almost impossible to find.
In late September, I travelled to the Cairngorms to make a BBC Radio 4 programme exploring both Shepherd's prose and her landscapes. Three of us set off into the mountains. With me were Kirk Watson, a film-maker and climber from Aberdeen, and Victoria McArthur, the programme's producer. My wish was to spend days and nights in the hills without fixed purpose. Too often I had been hurried across them by weather and logistics, unable to linger and pry. Shepherd called herself "a peerer into nooks and crannies", and I took this as my mandate for aimless wandering. "Often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination," she wrote, "but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend, with no intention but to be with him."
We walked in from the north, through the dwarf pines of the Rothiemurchus forest, under a blue sky and a daytime moon, and into the Lairig Ghru – the great glacial valley that cleaves the range into east-west halves. It was hot work for late autumn. The sun was slant but bright. Mares'-tail clouds furled at 30,000 feet (9km). A mile into the Ghru, I saw a golden eagle catch a thermal near Lurcher's Crag, "rising coil over coil in slow symmetry", as Shepherd put it. It was only the second eagle I had ever seen in the Cairngorms and it set my heart clattering.
Up the long shoulder of Sron na Lairige we toiled, over the tops of Braeriach and, at last, on to the plateau proper: a vast upland of tundra and boulder at an altitude of 4,000 feet. I heard a barking and saw to my north-east a flight of a hundred or so geese arrowing through the Lairig Ghru. Because I had height, I looked down on to their flexing backs rather than up at their steady bellies as they passed.
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We made camp far across the plateau, near to the source of the River Dee – the highest origin of any British river. I pitched my tent by a stream, looking south-east over the Lairig Ghru towards the battleship flanks of Càrn a' Mhàim. Butterflies danced. There were no midges. I had some real coffee with me for the morning brew. It was, undoubtedly, the best B&B in the country.
Late that afternoon we dropped 600 feet north off the plateau in search of Loch Coire an Lochain, the "loch of the corrie of the loch", which Shepherd prized as one of the range's "recesses", or hidden places. She had also visited it on a late-September day, and marvelled at the chilly clarity of its water, and its secrecy as a site. "It cannot be seen until one stands almost on its lip," she wrote, "the inaccessibility of this loch is part of its power. Silence belongs to it." At the hour we reached it, a curved shadow had fallen across the corrie which, when doubled by the the surface of the water, perfectly mimicked the form of a raven's beak. We swam in the loch, which was steel-blue in colour and speckled with millions of golden pollen grains. The water was gin-clear and bitingly cold.
Sunset was close as we climbed back up to the plateau, so we waited for it on a westerly slope. As the sun lowered and reddened, cloud-wisps blew up from the valley and refracted its light to form a dazzling parhelion: concentric halos of orange, green and pink that circled the sun. Once the sun had gone, a pale mist sprang up from the plateau, and we waded knee-deep in its milk back to camp, from where we watched a yellow moon-rise above the Braeriach tors.
The air was so mild that a tent was unnecessary. I slept out; woke soaked in dew and shrouded in cloud. We were in a white world. Visibility was 20 yards at most. Robbed of sight, for a full hour I sat and listened to the mountain. Ptarmigans zithered and churred to one another, dotterels kewed, and water moved: chuckled, burred, glugged, shattered. "The sound of all this moving water is as integral to the mountain as pollen to the flower," Shepherd reflected beautifully. "One hears it without listening as one breathes without thinking. But to a listening ear the sound disintegrates into many different notes – the slow slap of a loch, the high clear trill of a rivulet, the roar of spate. On one short stretch of burn the ear may distinguish a dozen different notes at once."
That morning we searched in the mist for the Wells of Dee, the springs that mark the river's true birthplace. We began at the plateau rim where the Dee crashes 1,000 feet into Garbh Choire, and from there we followed it back uphill, always taking the larger branch where the stream forked. At last we reached a point where the water rose from within the rock itself. Shepherd had also made this "journey to the source", and confronted matter in its purest form: "Water, that strong white stuff, one of the four elemental mysteries, can here be seen at its origins. Like all profound mysteries, it is so simple that it frightens me. It wells from the rock, and flows away. For unnumbered years it has welled from the rock, and flowed away. It does nothing, absolutely nothing, but be itself."
This proof of the mountain's mindlessness was, to Shepherd, both exhilarating and terrifying. The Cairngorms exceeded human comprehension: what she called the "total mountain" could never totally be known. Yet if approached without expectation, the massif offered remarkable glimpses into its "being". "The mind cannot carry away all that [the mountain] has to give," she wrote near the end of her book, "nor does it always believe possible what it has carried away." THE CAIRNGORMS OVERSCHRIJVEN HET MENSELIJK BEGRIP
Walking under Shepherd's influence, we had enjoyed an astonishing time of gifts. The eagle, the geese, the blue‑gold loch, the parhelion, the mists, the springs … Our few days in the hills had a year's worth of marvels compressed into them – and each with its precedent in The Living Mountain. The fortuity of it all was vast, approaching the eerie. It was if we had walked into the pages of Nan's book – though, of course, her book had emerged out of the Cairngorms themselves, so we were merely completing that circuit of word and world.
It is not a silly thing at all to enjoy a stone in a tray. I see the whole world in a tiny stone. Some objects in this world are huge, and others are small, and they come in all shapes, but they are not that different when you look at their essence.[4]
Geological Erosion Definition Explained
Erosion DefinitionGetty Images
Erosion is defined as the processes that break down surfaces of the earth and carry away sediments. The field of geology often examines the natural sources of erosion. While most sources of erosion are natural, it is human actions that enhance its effects on the environment. This is a source of concern to those with careers in geology or geology education. Sources of Erosion Wind, moving water, gravity, and glacial ice are often the elements most responsible for erosion. They aid to carry earth and soil from one place to another, usually very close to the earth's surface. There is also coastal erosion, which is caused by waves produced in the ocean. These methods of erosion are called mechanical erosion. Sedimentary rocks, valleys, and ravines are products of such erosion. Erosion has long been part of the natural order of things in nature, but there is one major difference between what happened in the past and what is happening now. In the past, erosion was controlled as nature found a way to replenish and only let go of minimum quantities of earth. However, at present, much more is taken away by erosion than can be replenished by nature, and we are not replacing what erosion takes away from nature. Effects of Erosion With the increase in construction, urbanization, and deforestation, it is no surprise that erosion is causing a huge imbalance in the earth's natural environment. Excessive erosion can cause land degradation, increasing desert landscape, and loss of nutrient rich layers of soil. Erosion of the topsoil of the earth can cause the composition of soil to change. This, in turn, has a major impact on what we can grow for food and how much of it we can grow. Reductions in crop yields can also have short and long term economic effects such as increases in the cost of food. In addition, erosion caused by wind can also have a detrimental impact on health by introducing elements into the atmosphere that can accumulate in lungs and cause respiratory disorders. The introduction of soil elements into water sources can also affect water use and quality. In addition to impact on humans, erosion can also have major consequences on wildlife. Erosion can eliminate a lot of wildlife habitats that can dislocate animals and reduce their numbers drastically. Added soil particles in water can also affect life in water, preventing the growth of algae and other water animals. Factors that Affect Erosion There are some factors that affect how much erosion takes place. The amount and quality of precipitation affects erosion. The heavier the rainfall and greater the velocity of the rain, the more erosion occurs. High wind speeds can also increase the amount of erosion. Soil that has large amounts of clay is more likely to stand up to erosion as it holds together more than other kinds of soil. The topography of the land also makes a difference in erosion rates. The steeper the topography is, the more likely erosion is to occur. The amount of plant coverage on any landscape makes a huge impact on the amount of erosion. The more plant coverage there is, the lower the rate of erosion. Fighting Erosion Since humans are a major element responsible for unprecedented increases in erosion, it goes without saying that we could possibly control the effects of erosion with our actions as well. Increasing green coverage can decrease erosion considerably. Even simple things like grass coverage or ornamental grass can go a long way in reducing and preventing soil erosion. Covering areas with green plants is especially important in inclined areas that particularly need protection from erosion. If you cannot do anything with bare land, at least cover it with mulch that prevents soil erosion. In addition, adopting organic farming practices like crop rotation and reducing the amount of chemical treatment of soil can significantly decrease unwanted erosion. Also ensure that water from rain and snow melt has adequate drainage. In doing this, you minimize the amount of free running water there is on land to wash away soil. Around You There is a way every individual can contribute to reducing erosion. Consider planting trees for special occasions like weddings and births. In addition, keep the land around you from getting eroded by planting trees or growing shrubs. These can act as windbreakers in the area, preventing erosion. Yes, erosion is a natural process, but human activity has pushed this natural process to unnaturally high limits. This is increasing the negative effects erosion has on the planet in terms of soil and air quality. But we can turn this trend around by doing simple things where we live. Spread the word and help set the world on the way to less erosion and less impact.
Terrace farming is a type of farming that was developed in various places round the world. The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (hills and mountains) is a World Heritage Site. It dates back two thousand years.[1]
This method of farming uses "steps" that are built into the side of a mountain or hill. On each level, various crops are planted. When it rains, instead of washing away all of the nutrients in the soil, the nutrients are carried down to the next level. Additionally, these steps prevent a free flowing avalanche of water that would take plants with it and destroy the all of the crops on the hillside. This system also allowed them to build aqueducts, which carried water to each level.
The idea was also independently developed by the Inca people. The Incas built their aqueduct system so well that it is still used today. Terrace farming is often used in Asia on rice farms
https://plus.google.com/112857255995703553144/about
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc37pVh-WE46Xkqeq-KZQsA
TANGIBLE LANDSCHAPE
Tangible user interfaces couple creativity and rigorous analysis.
TanGeoMS Kinect Scanner Projector Physical 3d model (Sand with polymer) GRASS GIS Open source = 3d sketching tool
You can see the side effects on screen. Disjunction between virtual and physical Sculpting a physical model, 3d scanning, into a GIS projecting back on to the model.
Creating different change scenarios- real time updating. First trying to create the existent surface, then design intuitively a new future concept. 3 dimensional shaping of the land. For example simulate the waterflow on it or the sea level rise. It's generative design, form generation, reconceptualization. Conceptual design with very scientific and rigorous analysis from the beginning of the process.
Helena Mitasova shows the combination of a real-world digital elevation model with a flexible, laboratory-scale 3D model, indoor laser scanner, and projectors into a tangible geospatial modeling system.
See what the consequences are of changing the topography of the landscape
Generate very quickly many different scenarios
Modify landscape by hand -add buildings, ponds, dams, roads -change land surface properties
Compute and project -elevation or volume change -slope and aspect -views, line of sight -flow accumulation -soil erosion and deposition -solar energy potential
Different people with different backgrounds, try to design their optimal landscape. Forming a database of possibilities.
Explore and demonstrate spatial impacts of landscape change.
BRENDAN HARMON
brendan.harmon@gmail.com
RESEARCH
My research explores the role of creativity in traditional and digital design processes for landscape architects. With computer modeling and visualization we are better able to understand and represent landscape dynamics. However, interacting with computers can be very unintuitive and can inhibit or transform creativity. I am exploring whether advances in digital design, tangible user interfaces, and computer-aided manufacturing can enable a more intuitive design process that tightly couples creativity and rigorous analysis. Please explore my projects.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Landscape dynamics, geospatial modeling, tangible user interfaces, human-computer interaction, algorithmic landscape architecture, parametric urban modeling, generative design, geovisualization, & scientific rapid prototyping.
LINKS
Hand as direct tool Showing the impact of human on their environment. Literally. Using technique for natures good. Questioning the malleability of humans. Seeing us as creators. Impact on climate change. Using live data from google earth Side effects of deforestation and so on. Invest how you can visualize as an artist your research, cause more often projects are based on information. I'm trying to find new ways to transmit my thoughts and visions. I also use technology for natures advance and recovery instead of damaging it.
Valencia Arquitectura, España : Nitropix Event
Nitropix Architectural Events : Valencia, Spain
Vicente Guallart Valencia
Vicente Guallart presents his “Logica Natural” at IVAM, Valencia
“If Architecture is landscape, buildings are mountains,” the Barcelona-based architect Vicente Guallart claimed in an aphorism in 1998. By searching for logic in nature and combining that with research into the latest technologies, techniques and social developments, Guallart has developed an architecture that responds to the specific environment in which it appears with inhabitable Structures that offer human versions of both the visible and invisible landscapes shaped by geological, biological and computational forces.
Vicente Guallart Valencia
Guallart cuts through the notion of architecture as the production of a building or urban plan. Instead, he moves through scales, connecting the construction of concrete or steel with the tectonic structure of a mountain, the microscopic geometries of a mineral, and the complex formation of a tree into a forms out of which he composes his buildings. Nor is his field of investigation only that of geology and biology. He finds similar patterns in our rituals of everyday life and in the movements of peoples through urban landscapes. He intersects these structures with material investigations to build a repertory of forms that responds in a more fundamental way to the social, economic and physical geography of the modern city. The result is what he calls a “re-naturalization of the territory,” in which buildings grow out of and critically respond to the world in which they arise.
The exhibition includes a selection of drawings, diagrams, videos, models and prototypes of his most acclaimed projects, such as the Fugee Harbor Covers in Taiwan, the Artificial Mountain in Denia, and the Sharing Tower of Sociopolis, which was also exhibited at the MOMA’s exhibition on recent Spanish Architecture in 2006.
At IVAM, Valencia, the exhibition will be staged in the “Sala de la muralla,” since September 13th until November 11th, a space of 1000 square meters that contains the lower part of an impressive 70 meter-long wall built in the Middle Age. The exhibition will show models, prototypes and video projections floating over the wall and thus reacting to this physical and human geographical event.
The exhibition will display pieces produced through the use the last digital fabrication techniques. These will include a 3 meter-long topographical model of Denia Mountain (selected for the Venice Biennal in 2004) produced with a CNC router out of high density polystyrene. The exhibition will also include wooden parametric rocks (part of the keeling Harbour project, in Taiwan) and a video that will how Mr. Guallart uses a parametric element to produced using dynamic data. This technology will be used also to show the parametric tree in a prototype 1,8 meters high that was used for the competition of the Spanish pavilion in Shanghai Expo. The exhibition will show model and images from projects already built, such as the wooden platforms in Vinaros (Spain) and the tourist apartment in Cambrils (Spain). The Sociopolis master plan, one of the most important urban developments in Europe, currently under construction in Valencia, will be displayed with a 2 by 2 meter model.
Finally the exhibition include some of the Guallart latest projects, such as the artificial mountain for Wrocalw (Poland), a project selected for that city’s candidature for the Expo 2012. The exhibition will end with the video “The Re-Naturalization of the Territory.”
Vicente Guallart Spain Vicente Guallart design Vicente Guallart Valencia Vicente Guallart
The show can be visited digitally through the blog: www.guallartblog.com which includes images of the fabrication process of the prototypes and building.
LOGICA NATURAL. Vicente Guallart @ IVAM Valencia Sep 13 – Nov 11 2007 Curated by Aaron Betsky and Consuelo Ciscar
IVAM (Valencia) www.ivam.es; www.guallart.com Information : laia@guallart.com / +34 933248692
Vicente Guallart images / information from Nitropix
City of Culture of Galicia Eisenman Architects City of Culture de Galicia. Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Under construction as of 2011. Eisenman Architects.
Carved mountains/hills. Images are from Achitectural Record website.
“The design evolves from the superposition of three sets of information. First, the street plan of the medieval center of Santiago is overlaid on a topographic map of the hillside site (which overlooks the city). Second, a modern Cartesian grid is laid over these medieval routes. Third, through computer modeling software, the topography of the hillside is allowed to distort the two flat geometries, thus generating a topological surface that repositions old and new in a simultaneous matrix never before seen.” http://www.arcspace.com/architects/eisenman/ccg/ccg.html
KEPLER'S DREAM
The Creators Project: Deze installatie was jullie eerste ervaring met 3D-printing. Vonden jullie het een beetje spannend?
Michael Burk & Ann-Katrin Krenz: Het was opwindend en stressvol tegelijk. Dat kwam omdat we het ontwerp lieten maken door een 3D-productiebedrijf, dus we hadden maar één kans. Het was slagen of falen. Alles moest in één keer kloppen. Daarom hadden we dus ook niet de mogelijkheid om eerst een goed prototype als test te bouwen. Onze eerste opstelling bestond daarom gewoon uit wat papier en een speelgoeddinosaurus. Het meest intense moment was toen onze bestelling arriveerde. Omdat de lenzen die we gebruikten een enorm lage scherptediepte hadden, was het nog maar de vraag of het allemaal ging werken. We pakten het meteen uit, testte het en bam: alles klopte. Puur geluk.
Hoe zijn jullie op het idee voor Kepler's Dream gekomen?
We vinden het interessant om oude en vergeten technieken met nieuwe technologie te combineren. De geschiedenis leert ons veel over het heden. Na wat speurwerk raakten we in de geometrie verzeild door de Duitse astronoom Johannes Kepler en zijn Mysterium Cosmographicum – een kosmologische theorie gebaseerd op het Copernicaanse model. We raakten helemaal gefascineerd toen we op het idee kwamen om het geometrische model dat Kepler hanteerde om het universum te begrijpen met 3D-printen te visualiseren. Daar hebben we inspiratie uit geput. Je ziet ook dat onze installatie vergelijkbaar is met Keplers model van platonische lichamen.
Wat willen jullie precies met Kepler's Dream vertellen?
Het is interessant om verhalen in een non-lineaire vorm te vertellen. Hoewel het werkproces voor Kepler’s Dream eigenlijk andersom is gegaan. We begonnen niet met het verhaal, maar met de esthetiek, de vorm en de technologie. En daarin kan iedereen zijn eigen verhaal vinden. Dat is het mooie aan Kepler’s Dream. Voor mensen die meer van Kepler en geometrie weten geeft het ook verdieping, maar voor iemand die daar totaal geen weet van heeft is het nog steeds een hele warme en esthetische ervaring. We willen een glimlach op je gezicht toveren.
Hoe breng je die glimlach dan?
Voornamelijk met de visuals, die zijn heel mooi. Het zijn plaatjes van een soort verlaten planeten. Toen hebben we dat gecombineerd met de vier elementen, waarbij we voor elk van die elementen een passende visual hebben gemaakt. Onze installatie werkt ook analoog. Je kunt Kepler’s Dream handmatig besturen, waarbij je geen vertraging van twee frames hebt, zoals met digitale beelden. Die handmatige esthetiek geeft een ambachtelijk gevoel, waarbij de digitale en analoge technologieën perfect samenvallen.
AND ALTHOUGH I AM MORE THINKING LIKE A TREE, WE DO OFTEN STAND ON MOUNTAIN GROUND.
Think like a mountain
Think like a mountain is a composed story about the relation between man and his environment and the shifting mutual (wederzijdse) dominance from both sides. From Darwin’s evolutionary perspective, surrounds have shaped human beings and other animals for centuries in order to survive. Since our capacity to transform nature and environment significantly increased through our knowledge and techniques, this dominancy shifts further towards our hands and responsibility. Whereby the discussion reassess wether evolution, as we know it by natural selection and coincidence, reaches its ‘end station’ while we get in charge of the design process of living matter.
This phenomenon performs in urban places such as our society- where everything is divided and controlled by man- from public parks to bridges or the amount of light that shines through the streets. We see cities rising from the ground with an enormous speed of which the process completely depends on our technology in order to accomplish the complex city plans we propose. The buildings seem ideal for us to live in, providing security, right facilities and an infrastructure that enables us to move to different places. The other importance is the cooperation with neighbours and fellows in sharing data and property. There are only a few men who would be able to survive independently against the forces of the wild and even then they need ordinary tools used to protect themselves and provide food and lodging. Tools, -in my opinion- part of the technological cycle, can be seen as an extension of our body and a method that enables us to express our thoughts and ideas. It’s also a form of luxury that wouldn’t exist when man never invented it. Thereby its original genesis can actually be seen as a natural source instead of a contrary mechanical development. (Refer to essay) Assuming that ‘making’ is in our origin, a closer and more sensitive relationship towards technology might enables us to act more human. This so-called coevolution with technology is becoming more and more intergraded and crucial in our daily lives while the appearance of matter slowly disappears as technology becomes smaller and smaller. However, since we are originally formed by nature, a green environment suits us intentionally better than an urban one. Scientific research has proven that trees and plants contribute to a better health, as well as physically as mentally. So therefore we gathered green life and flowerbeds in our city plans but like al other objects; very structured and moderated. It provides a well appearance of the city, as people are somehow attracted to these living objects. But the question is; can it be seen as nature? This issue constantly triggers my mind. We’ve plant everything well considered as decoration, maybe even with a commercial viewpoint, but unmistakably for our own goods and desires. Of course this is still a good thing but the amount of cultivated emerged nature is increasing and slowly overrides most surface of the earth. Everywhere you go you’ll somehow find humans handprint trying to make the environment more livable, tracing for raw materials or, in opposition, by conserving landscapes through adding new (synthetic) life(forms). Fortunate there are some untouched places left like some areas in the jungle or dessert, not even mentioned the oceans yet. We’ve only seen and known the tip of the iceberg of the undersea worlds and have no idea what’s kept secret miles below our reach and consciousness. The thing that most interests me though, are the enormous mountain landscapes that cover up 10 percent of the whole earth surface. It’s ironic that we like to believe that we’ve also concurred these marvelous statures by placing a flag on top. But witnessing the lost and suffer of people who were victim of Nepal’s earthquake last month, proves again that it’s only semblance to have this anthropocentricism belief in which we place ourselves above all natural phenomenon. Nature is on some level still in charge although it’s not everlasting.
Mountains have played a very important role in our history and evolution. First of all they have the largest influence on our climate, as part of the circulation of all water and wind flows on earth. Secondly determined the high landscape whether our ancestry could advance from one place to another. Studies have shown that species on one side of a mountain evolved differently then species on the other side where different spheres influenced them. This decisive demarcation provides also insight of the mountains age, since their appearance dates back centuries ago, even before the dinosaur age.
The project brings an honor to the mountain landscape through using its model and history as a storytelling tool divided in different layers of awareness. The pyramid-like shape is a well-known method to subdivide and explain different areas of a system. Because my research scoops the main subject ‘biological malleability’ in so many parts -exposing several perspectives- the mountain is used as metaphor to guide the theory. Beneath these sentences you’ll find the different angles arranged by title.
1. Holistic approach Think like a mountain
2. Evolutionary approach Hands and tools
3. Technological approach The evolution of artefacts
4. Emotional approach Definition of nature
5. Futuristic approach The next city planning
6. Historical approach Adapting to environment
7. Ecological approach Manufactured landscapes
Historical approach Adapting to environment
Door de botsing van aardplaten ontstonden miljoenen jaren geleden gebieden waar de aardkorst de lucht in werd gedrukt. Deze ‘verdikkingen’ van de aarde worden gebergte genoemd en hebben invloed gehad op vrijwel elk levend organisme op deze aardbol, waaronder de mens. Door hun nagenoeg eeuwige bestaan zijn ze toeschouwer geweest van iedere ontwikkeling en ieder tijdperk wat wij tot dusver hebben geformuleerd. Het ontstaan van het Himalaya gebergte bijvoorbeeld word geschat op zo’n 35 miljoen jaar geleden en bepaald sindsdien mede het klimaat op aarde. Behalve het verschil in hoogte is ook de oriëntatie van een helling belangrijk: hellingen gericht op het zuiden ontvangen gemiddeld meer zonlicht. Zo kan op tegenovergestelde hellingen van hetzelfde dal het bloeiseizoen een maand eerder beginnen en de sneeuw een maand langer blijven liggen waardoor een perfect balans ontstaat. Waarschijnlijk heeft het stijgen van bergen tevens invloed gehad op de selectie van onze voorgangers. Hooggebergte vormden een natuurlijke grens waardoor vroege homo sapiens gedwongen waren om aan de ene kant van de berg te blijven. Een andere groepering die eveneens de hoogte niet kon trotseren bleven zich aan de andere kant door ontwikkelen. Zo ontstonden er al wezenlijke verschillen tussen hetzelfde ras. De sterke, ambitieuze en levenslustige aapmensen begonnen naderhand uit nieuwsgierigheid voor het onbekende hun habitat te vestigen in het nieuwe bergachtige landschap, terwijl anderen liever bleven luieren op het laagland waar het leven eenvoudig, maar tot weinig uitdaging leidde. Deze groep ontwikkelde hun verstand aanzienlijk minder snel dan men in de hoger gelegen dorpen, wiens hersenen een stuk groter begonnen te evolueren. Heel begrijpelijk hebben bergen daarom een speciale plaats ingenomen in de harten van evolutie biologen. Niet alleen door hun fysieke indrukwekkendheid maar ook door hun ongeëvenaarde macht ter opzichte van de menselijke evolutie. Met de verhuizing van de homo sapiens tienduizenden jaren geleden onderscheidde zij zich niet alleen qua ambitie van de rest maar ondergingen zij ook lichamelijke veranderingen ten gevolgen van het extreme milieu. De verplaatsing naar hoger gelegen gebieden zorgde voor problemen met zuurstof. Op 3,5 kilometer levert elke ademhaling namelijk slechts 60 procent op van wat diezelfde adem zou opleveren op zeeniveau. Zelfs een trage wandeling kan uitputtend zijn omdat het lichaam zo weinig brandstof kan voorzien.
In het licht van deze stress reageren mensen op verschillende manieren. Zij produceren meer hemoglobine, het molecuul dat zuurstof uit de longen verhoogt. Hun hartslag neemt in rust toe, evenals hun adem ratio. Deze aanpassingen helpen bij het verhogen van de hoeveelheid zuurstof in het bloed, maar zal nooit zijn voormalige niveau herwinnen. Extra hemoglobine is niet een goede lange termijn oplossing om te leven op grote hoogten, omdat het tot bloedstolsels kan leiden. Leven in de bergen is makkelijker voor mensen wiens voorouders hebben er gewoond voor millennia. Zij ondervinden geen last van hoogteziekte. Wetenschappers bezochten enkele van die populaties en hebben een aantal biologische aanpassingen in de bewoners organen ontdekt. In Tibet, bijvoorbeeld, hebben mensen bredere aders en haarvaten. In de Andes, kunnen zij meer zuurstof in hun bloed ontbinden. Behalve lichamelijke aanpassingen aan de omgeving zien we ook verbanden tussen cultuur en natuur. Ook al beschouwen we deze twee vaak als tegenstellingen, volgens bioloog Jonathan Loh (Zoological Society of London) zijn ze onlosmakelijk met elkaar verbonden. Niet alleen is hun bestaansgeschiedenis vergelijkbaar, maar ook hun onzekere positie: zowel culturele- als biodiversiteit wordt bedreigd. De ontstaansgeschiedenis van cultuur kan naast Darwins beroemde ‘tree of life’ worden gelegd. Uit een van die takken van leven, de mens, ontstond een nieuwe boom: de ‘cultural tree of life’. Maar hoe komt het dat uit één natuurlijke soort zoveel verschillende culturen kunnen voortkomen? Zeker weten doen we het niet, maar waarschijnlijk heeft het te maken met het grote aanpassingsvermogen van de mens waar ik zo net over schreef. Toen zij zich duizenden jaren geleden ging verspreiden over de aardbol, wist zij zich aan te passen aan ijzige kou, ondoordringbare jungle en gortdroge woestijnen. Verschillende omgevingen leiden tot verschillende gewoonten, gebruiken en talen. Daarnaast blijkt dat plaatsen waar de biodiversiteit het grootst is, ook de culturele diversiteit het grootst is. Ook geografisch komen natuur en cultuur dus overeen. Traditionele kennis over planten en dieren hangt nauw samen met lokale benamingen van de flora en fauna, want zonder naamgeving is overdracht van kennis over plant- en diergebruik onmogelijk. Een betere documentatie van lokale plant- en diersoorten en traditionele manieren om de natuur te rubriceren en die kennis over te dragen draagt bij aan de bescherming van zowel biologische als culturele diversiteit.
Holistic approach Think like a mountain
We zijn gewend om te denken en handelen als geïsoleerde individuen en dragen de overtuiging dat de mensheid in het middelpunt staat als meest geavanceerd zijnde soort op aarde. Het idee dat we een morele status of waarde beschikken die hoger ligt dan die van andere diersoorten, heeft zich gedurende tijd nevens de groei van ons bewustzijn, ontwikkeld. Soms vergeten we dat we onderdeel zijn van een groter ecosysteem dat opereert via een netwerk van miljoenen interacties te midden van organismen en hun omgevingen. Verschillende onderdelen worden beschouwd als schakelingen tussen nutriënten cycli en energiestromen die allen hun eigen kringloop hebben. To Think Like A Mountain impliceert het hebben van een volledige waardering voor deze diepe verbondenheid voor de elementen binnen zo’n ecosysteem. Dit holistische gedachte-proces herinnert ons aan de inheemse verbintenis die we hebben met de complexe systemen van de natuur en het feit dat iedere interactie hiermee het andere beïnvloed -ook wel bekend als het ‘butterfly effect’- Zelfs een kleine verandering kan resulteren in grote gevolgen in een later stadium. We krijgen dan ook met de dag meer met deze neveneffecten, veroorzaakt door onze bewerkingen in het milieu, te maken. De gevolgen worden directer voelbaar naarmate het natuurlijke balans meer verstoord word door vervuiling van opkomende steden en uitputtende landbouwcultuur. Het probleem is echter dat het onderwerp klimaatverandering niet leeft omdat het te ‘complex’ is om te vertellen.. Gebieden die we tot op heden nog niet hebben getrotseerd, zoals het ijsgebied, de Sahara of de hoog gebieden als het atlas gebergte en de Himalaya leiden hier ook onder. Zij bepalen grotendeels het klimaat op aarde en nemen vanuit hun perspectief de wereld waar. Aangezien 1/10e van het aardoppervlakte uit gebergte landschap bestaat hebben zij vanwege hun omvang veel meer baat bij het complete wereldplaatje. De mens daar in tegen interesseert zich voornamelijk in zijn of haar leefwereld die meestal niet meer dan een aantal kilometers uitmaakt. Ook qua tijdspanne gezien is het interessant om de verschillen te bestuderen. Gebergte zoals de Himalaya bestaan al zo’n 40 miljoen jaar dus de tijdsperceptie en de daarbij behorende belangen vanuit dit perspectief nemen een veel grotere horizon in acht vergeleken met onze spanningsduur van gemiddeld zo’n 80 jaar. Onze systemen en productie methoden zijn daarom voornamelijk gericht op korte termijn en daarbij erg schadelijk. Het inzicht om vooruit te denken ontbreekt. Wat we nodig hebben is een wederzijdse betrokkenheid op lange termijn en geen korte termijn oplossingen voor crisis. Gelukkig stelt beschikbare data ons tegenwoordig in staat om op een nieuwe manier natuurlijke ontwikkelingen te bestuderen en zo haar transformaties op grote schaal inzichtelijk te maken zodat we besef kunnen hebben wat de directe en indirecte gevolgen zijn. Vanuit dit holistische perspectief gezien is het misschien effectiever om grotere elementen mee in beschouwing te nemen en onze technologie, kennis en vakkundigheid in te zetten voor het herstel en behouw van onze omgeving in plaats van deze alleen maar schade aan te doen. Het infiltreren van deze mountain based ideologie benadrukt de mens-als-ecologie, in tegenstelling tot het idee van mens-als-machine die gevormd is in onze moderne wereld. Een nieuwe relatie met de natuur, gebaseerd op het efficiënte en circulerende eco systeem van gebergte, kan onze waardesystemen, economieën en machtsstructuren beïnvloeden door te kiezen voor alternatieve productie methoden
Technological approach The next generation
We naderen de rand van een nieuw tijdperk waarin technologie zich niet alleen verder ontwikkeld door de mens maar ook via een eigen autonome manier doorontwikkeld. De capaciteit van ons denken en ontwerpen groeit en kan d.m.v. taal worden voortgedragen aan nieuwe generaties. Het opvangen van spraak, wat begint vanaf onze geboorte, heeft een groot effect op de structuur van ons brein. Hierdoor hebben we een veel beter vermogen om te kunnen reflecteren en een standpunt aan te nemen binnen deze wereld, wat ons onderscheid van dieren. Deze doorgaven van kennis gaat via een geweldig netwerk van informatie die als een soort software word geïnstalleerd in onze langdurige jeugd. Alle neuronen in onze hersenen opereren als een soort autonome nano-robots die al het transport voorzien binnen de cel. Kunst, technologie en wetenschappelijk onderzoek brengen ons is het post- intelligente tijdperk waarin we natuurlijke selectie voorbij streven. Een belangrijk verschil is het feit dat wij een doel kunnen formuleren in het ontwerp proces terwijl evolutie voornamelijk een uitkomst is van toeval. Het verzamelen van data vormt de fundering van deze intelligentie, machines worden beter en beter in het verwerken van deze grote hoeveelheid informatie en kunnen inzicht geven in complexe algoritmes waardoor we ook natuurlijke fenomenen beter kunnen begrijpen en simuleren. (klimaatverandering bijvoorbeeld is zo’n gelaagd en complex systeem, wat verspreid is over tijd en ruimte, dat we niet in staat zijn om het te bevatten.)
Deze ontwikkeling kan ons dus eigenlijk juist dichter bij de natuur laten komen in plaats van er verder van verwijderd zoals veel mensen voor vrezen. Het stelt ons in staat om natuur echt actief in te zetten in ons systeem en niet slechts als decoratie te zien in een stedelijke omgeving. Binnen de designwereld is bijvoorbeeld de term biomimcry sterk in opmars. Binnen deze beweging vormen dierlijke en plantaardige eigenschappen de basis van het ontwerp en zijn technologische innovaties dus afgeleid van natuurlijke slimmigheidjes. Vooral op het gebied van energiebesparing kunnen we nog veel leren van natuurlijke modellen of zoals Michael Pawlyn beter formuleerd; Ideeën uit de biologie kunnen leiden tot radicale toename van hulpbron efficiëntie, waarbij dezelfde functie wordt afgeleverd, maar waar een fractie van het hulpbron voor nodig is. Zo kun je bijvoorbeeld super efficiënte dakstructuren ontwikkelen gebaseerd op reusachtige Amazonewaterlelies en het metabolisme van complete steden beschouwen als kansen’. Zo veranderd een lineair proces in een kringloopmodel. Architecten d.m.v. analyses steeds meer inspiratie uit biologische ecosystemen halen, ze intrigeren meer groen binnen hun ontwerpen zodat het gebouw als het ware gaat leven. Gecontroleerde begroeiing kan bijvoorbeeld erg veel voordelen opleveren, zowel als extra beschutting als ventilatie, de zon functioneert als volledige energie leverancier en micro organismen werken als zuiveringssysteem om afvalwater schoon te maken. Natuur zien als ontwerpgereedschap levert wat mij betreft dus behoorlijke kansen op, alhoewel het niet perse een nieuwe ontwikkeling is. Men maakte vroeger ook al gebruik van de bestaande elementen in een omgeving, zoals de ruïnes van Petra laten zien in Jordanië. Deze stad is gelegen in een kloof in de heuvels en is gedeeltelijk uit de rotsen uitgehakt, het vormde dankzij haar strategisch gunstige ligging aan het kruispunt van karavaanroutes, een belangrijke handelsstad. Een moderne vertaling van dit wereldwonder vertoont zich in de ‘limestone skyscapers’, voorgesteld door de Maleise ontwerpers Jethro Koi Lik Wai en Quah Zheng Wei. Op basis van het geografische uiterlijk van Vietnam kwam het voorstel tot stand, de natuurlijke monumenten vormen de constructie van het gebouw, wat naderhand met de rots word gecombineerd en bevestigd.
Er zijn ook voorbeelden waarbij natuurverschijnselen als bergen volledig worden nagebouwd. Tot op heden zijn het slechts voorstellen maar in de nabije toekomst zou er zomaar een kunstmatige berg kunnen worden gebouwd midden in een stad als Berlijn, volledig gebaseerd op het model van een echte berg en functionerend als een natuurlijk habitat voor zowel gedierte als een plek voor skiërs. Het idee word beschreven als ‘re-naturalisation of the environment’ en verkondigd een extreem voorbeeld in het combineren van technologie en biologie, wat perfect valt binnen het kader van het post- intelligente tijdperk.
Speculatieve ontwerpen onderzoeken toekomstige implicaties en de mogelijkheden om opkomende technieken op een kritische en urgente manier te betrekken in het stadslandschap. Fictieve scenario’s kunnen in dit geval een verbeeldend middel zijn en een brug om de massa te kunnen bereiken. Liam Young, aangesloten bij Unknown Field Devision, filosofeert over een metropolis gevormd door digitale netwerken in plaats van fysieke gebouwen en objecten. Netwerken definiëren nieuwe vormen van gemeenschappen stadsplannen, de organisatie van een stad zou hier volledig op kunnen worden ingericht. We navigeren ons al aan de hand van een blauwe stip op onze mobiele telefoon maar deze digitale voetprint zou veel efficienter kunnen worden benut wanneer architecten inspelen op dit digitale spectrum.
