Storehouse of the earth_Part2

STOREHOUSE OF THE EARTH

To Document the Fast-changing Environment

M. Arch Thesis
Advisor: J. Meejin Yoon
August-December 2015

In the book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson argues that humans are one species that could modify its surroundings so drastically as to cause damage to the Earth. Currently, as a consequence of accumulated modification, the rapidity of environmental change accelerates and causes hazards all over the world. Though the earth is always changing, the current speed of change is unprecedented and problematic.

The site of this thesis, the Rhone glacier and surrounding area, shows the drsatic speed of change. The Rhone glacier, 11,500 years old, is one of the oldest glaciers in the Alps. However, scientists estimate that this glacier, along with 94% others in the Alps, will disappear in 100 years due to climate warming. When the environment changes slowly flora and fauna can adapt to the change. However, species that are vulnerable to small changes become extinct.

Numerous disciplines document the alarming changes taking place including art, science, photography, and film. Each uses unconventional methods to document the rapidly-changing world. I call this new type of documentation culture the “culture of capture.” Its preconditions are [1] a shared concern about the extinction of species and the loss of the landscape and [2] the use of new technology to document every detail of change.

This thesis argues that architecture is a unique medium that can both document the changing environment as well as have a positive impact on the physical form. I propose two architectural interventions: a ‘glacier blanket’ and a ‘mountain hat’ to delay change and to archive the physical remnants of the melting glacier and nival plants. The future scenario of the site, which consists of four aspects, Glacier retreat, Bio-Diversity, Tourism, and Infrastructure, is complicated and constantly varying. The architectural documentation will also be an intricate system that adapts its function and form.

Section

Glacier Blanket

Section

Glacier Research Lab & Glacier Museum

“Glacier Blanket” aims to go beyond the mere protection and actually function as a tool to document the changing landscape. The entire size of the glacier blanket is 4.8 km by 8 km to cover 2/3 of the Rhone glacier, under the permanent snowline. The function and form of the glacier blanket will change to cope with the environmental change. The glacier blanket will 1. Delay the melting process of the Rhone glacier by reflecting sunlight 2. Collect the physical and chemical remnants of the glacier such as rock and mineral dust. 3. Become a permanent archive of those remnants. Also, some tension structure, which has maintained the fabric, will be converted to the pedestrian bridges when the underneath glacier melts.

Section

Mountain Hat

Nival plants in the Alps are in danger as alpine plants are migrating to the upper elevation zone. I propose this mountain hat, which will become a new habitat for the nival plants. The mountain hat consists of three parts: a surface, which is a nival plant habitat, space, which provides huts for tourists, and an underground archive, which will archive the seed.
Mountain hat, as well as glacier blanket, aim to decelerate the speed of environmental change in order to gain time to document important natural elements.