As I begin to pin-point what it is exactly I am trying to do, I find myself between projects in the works- critiquing existing and aspiring the theoretical.
The purpose of doing a thesis on energy landscapes is to find a synergistic relationship between the source in the landscape and the ecologies embedded in a particular environment, coupled with land use and efficiency issues. Ultimately, I'd like to recalibrate the whole life cycle of an energy, a renewable energy- specifically geothermal because that has been my focus and I have built such a body of research and understanding. I know what is working and I understand how it is flawed. I think the thesis is an opportunity to express my criticism of the way in which geothermal's life cycle currently exists to then be able to come up with strategies for re-working and re-organizing that system.
Our post-oil future gives rise to renewable energy as a contender. The advantage to this is realizing and understanding how its installations can overlap and hybridize with other structures to generate synergies. The field of landscape architecture has an advantage of being able to understand the different systems in place. One can then begin to develop these relationships and cross-breed their functions and use- transforming these things from separate entities to an entire body that is self-conscious. By working with the other uses, it can form into a single, cohesive thing made up of multiple functions. They can be overlapped with other uses and implemented in ecologically and aesthetically intelligent and coherent ways.
As a recent article in Topos this year describes (in the Sustainability Issue), landscapes of renewable energy need to become landscapes of reconciliation. There is an ambivalence about renewable energies in landscape development because of the fall back on conventional methods:
"...renewable energies are to enable not only basic electricity and water supply but also additional forms of employment in the local processing of agricultural products and the formation of regional production clusters in trades and crafts. The most important contribution of landscape architecture in the domain of renewable energies is probably especially in helping to develop and facilitate these specific 'synergies'".
I think this statement lies at the heart of my thesis.
I would like for the thesis to express how energy landscapes have spatial impacts and can be ecologically driven. One landscape strategy can be a re-organization of the system from nodal to cascading in order to improve the efficiency of energy use while allowing each process to be conscious of the other. Uses will derive from current ones while also finding other niches for different temperature pockets. If the study entails the life cycle, then a strategy for disposal needs to occur. William McDonough's and Michael Braungart's theory of Cradle-to-Cradle, although conceived as a material process, can be translated into energy practice. Energy is a material; a transcendent material that allows other physical materials to manifest themselves in its process of utilization. The idea behind Cradle-to-Cradle is allowing waste to become food again, closing the loop on the cycle of material process.
Geothermal would be an interesting case study because it is a renewable energy that physically manifests itself as a material that is extracted from the earth. I see it buried with issues of land use and efficiency because of its physicality. Other renewable energies such as solar and wind aren't actual material substances, but are ethereal forces that are being harnessed through technological strategies. The beauty of landscape is in its physical manifestations and material processes over time. Geothermal energy is a physical manifestation of the earth's energy, which is why I find it so interesting to study, use, understand, exploit, and re-calibrate its current system of harnessing, dispersal, and effluent.
The images shown are what I see to be precedents for my thesis. Although they maybe subject to change, they currently express the kind of synergistic energy landscape condition I hope to achieve. They are extremely useful in understanding methodologies, processes, content of exploration, and the graphic representation of the project I hope to achieve.
1, 2- Zeekracht, Netherlands, 2008 by OMA: A masterplan for a renewable energy infrastructure in the North Sea. The project is an illustration of the synergistic relationship between energy, ecology, and culture. It explores the energy supply, its production manifestation (industrial and economic component), its ecology as integrating with existing while providing simulations within the design (environmental), and a research center (educational). It is conceived as a reciprocal system with top-down components for development, and bottom-up for decision making. It is a perfect example of what I hope to achieve.
3- National Energy Park, by PORT Architecture + Urbanism: This urban research project proposes the comstruction of 23 new nuclear power plants with 2,000 acres of ecological preserve for each plant. This creates vast wildlife and isolates these areas away from urban areas, creating a buffer that prevents the risk of any contamination in those areas. The purpose of the project is to explore a 21st century version of a National Park, transforming from the picturesque experience into one of ecological consciousness and environmental protection. It would provide an alternate economic driver and create jobs. Not only a good example of branding a project but also adds a heavy ecologic component. It also gives an identity to the project because it is so widespread.
4- WPA 2.0: Carbon T.A.P. (Tunnel Algae Park) by PORT Architecture + Urbanism: As a deployable urban infrastructure of CO2 capture, the project is concentrated within highly urbanized areas of great CO2 sources. An algal agriculture would sequester the carbon and CO2, producing oxygen, biofuels, bioplasticsm feeds, etc. The project also engages the public realm by providing a new form of interaction between people and infrastructure. This is an amazing example of how an energy landscape can be synergistic. It is an energy infrastructure, through the domain of agriculture, that is environmental, economic, and public.
5- Conduit Urbanism: Regional Ecologies of Energy and Mobility: Renewable energy and transit become bundled with freshwater and communications. It works as a regional strategy to form more synergistic networks. Also a great example of energy infrastructure developing a closer relationship to other infrastructures, like transit.
