1
2
3
4
5
What will happen in 100 years when sea level rise is at its highest projected level? Will there be places for people? Will there be industry? Will the lens of productivity shift and if so, how? Theses are only the first few out of hundreds of questions posed when thinking about the future of the Redwood City Cargill Salt Flats. How do landscapes evolve – but even more, how will the built environment evolve to remain significant?
Refined and examined through drawing, we established a site program and a set of principles and priorities for the site’s occupation.
Moved by the landscape and emotions of my colleagues I began to write. I trudged the muddied waters, got stuck in salty sand, and found objects that did not belong in a Salt Flat. I photographed the site incessantly and wrote 33 haikus – a form of Japanese poetry that forms a verbal punctuation between a juxtaposition of two ideas or images.
My colleagues and I riffed off our representations and honed in on the fact that no people were present. What does our world look like when the built environment needs to sustain itself without human connections? We began drawing and analyzing the site by unmanned machines and used them as our drawing tools.
Based on their movements, repeated actions we cataloged the change in site overtime. We grew attached to these drawing machines and characterized their individual personas.
These personas evolved even further as we developed their narratives. For example, The Mahitikalektar – is a productive force which utilizes modular piston legs. Its satellites send signals the other collectors on the ground to collect data. Equipped with wind detection devices and the use of radial arms, Mahitikalektar monitors site and other robot health. It tracks sea level rise and serves as a liaison between Krabbelaar and Motughar units.
In collaboration with: Baxter Smith + Arian Tajik
Critic: Nicholas de Moncheaux