Active Forces

What makes this interesting...

What is most interesting about this project is the magnitude of the problem that its concerning. Seattle is not prepared for an earthquake at all. Let alone a huge earthquake.  Although earthquakes of the magnitude of the one Seattle is expecting occur elsewhere in the world. Those regions, like California and japan, experience these events more frequently and have experienced these type of seismic events in much more recent times. Due to the fact that earthquakes are a recognized and frequently occurring incidence, these regions have seismic design requirements which are much more in line with the danger, meaning the occurrence of an earthquake of equal magnitude will have a much smaller effect on the people living in that region. Due to the fact that since the time the region was urbanized, there has been little seismic activity. Due to the economic implications of higher seismic design standards causing construction and planning costs to escalate, these measures are resisted.

Furthermore, the proximity of the project is of particular interest to

Location: Relevence to the region

Economic impact of the region

Where to begin... initial thoughts, or just enough to get the wheels turning.

Deciding on a thesis topic… Where to start.

I have a lot of ideas for my thesis that I would like to explore. The task for me will be to find focus, and clarity in my topic – precision. Initially, for my thesis I thought I would like to explore the concept of the architecture of recovery. The idea of the architecture of recovery could go in several directions, the design of rehabilitative environments came to mind, perhaps a modern interpretation of the asclepion resort and an exploration of architectures possibility to contribute to the physical and mental progress of patients. This would be an exploration of the recovery of the individual. An architecture of recovery could also go in the direction of social and economic recovery, looking at the recovery of a system, an economic system, or an urban system. This could ultimately lead to a project focusing on urban revitalization, or on a smaller scale the design of refuge settlements perhaps. Economic recovery itself could be the basis of a thesis, however the topic is broad, and lacks the precision we discussed last Thursday.  

So with the idea of recovery, I decided to create a scenario in which architecture would be faced to recover from. Running with this thought experiment, my initial idea was to focus on the rebuilding of the Seattle waterfront after a catastrophic earthquake perhaps in the near future, 2050. Certainly this is a realistic problem as Seattle lies on a major subduction zone, and experiences 9.0+ earthquakes on approximately 200 year intervals, the last being in 1700, before urban developments existed meaning that such seismic danger is not reflected in the city’s building code. An earth quake like the 1700 megathrust quake, if it were to occur today, is projected to level most of the city west of I-5. This would provide a foundation for an exploration of urban redevelopment of the waterfront district. My scope would start with an overhaul of the city’s infrastructure, looking at transportation, resource distribution, and urban planning, and would culminate with the design of a high rise timber structure that would be seismically resilient, and would stand as an example of the progress which comes from strife.

Adorno and Hegal comes to mind here when I think of negative occurrences leading to positive developments.  Vaguely, very vaguely.  This would perhaps lead to some interesting research though. Research regarding Adorno’s critique of Hegals theodical philosophy of history in negative dialectics. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but the massive loss of life that could theoretically be caused by the combination of Seattle’s huge potential for seismic catastrophe, combined with its inadequate building code which is a reflection on the development of its building code during a time where very little seismic damage has influenced the economic drive behind legislation, and the prevalence of unreinforced masonry structures in the water front district could perhaps lead to an awaking of the importance of a seismically aware architecture.

This topic is interesting to me, because it spans the theoretical, looking forward in time at how architecture could facilitate recovery. It also has technical aspects, which could lead to a lot of interesting research on current seismic mitigation tactics, as well as potential future technologies, and could also perhaps have a theoretical stance looking at Negative Dialectics.

It’s a rough start but hopefully will be a good starting point to move forward from. 

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