a case for the extended urban
DESCRIPTION
Preliminary thesis research for the offshore infrastructure of Southern CaliforniaTRANSCRIPT
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ABSTRACTLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER ONE | The Age of Capital & The Human NicheSOCIETY VS. NATUREAN ACCELERATED STATE OF DOMINANCECALIFORNIA GETS INTO TROUBLE
CHAPTER TWO | Californias Extended UrbanTHERE IS EVIDENCE OF A STORYCONTEMPORARY NOTIONS OF THE URBAN A PRAXIS OF TIMEA SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
CHAPTER THREE | A Proposal for Ecological SymbiosisWHOSE HOME IS IT ANYWAY?INHABITING THE SUBNATURALFUTURE ENERGIES
THESIS INTENTIONSBIBLIOGRAPHYPRECEDENT STUDIESGLOSSARY
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Ecological Symbiosis in Californias Offshore Infrastructure
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A CASE FOR THE EXTENDED URBAN
by Sneha Sumanth
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In my thesis, I am exploring a set of conditions that depict a contemporary ecological crisis.
It is the Age of Capital, where humans thrive in a state of accelerated dominance. Society has detached from Natures womb, a force outside of it, with a self imposed structures of certain doom.
The boundaries of the site capture a 120 year story of a relationship between human beings and Oil. The story is marked with political conflict, economical greed, and environmental disturbance.
The site was rich in fossil fuels. And so it was abused and dominated by human greed. In the aftermath, twenty-three offshore platforms remain standing, distant industrial monuments to our revered black gold.
Engaging with the domain of crisis requires a fundamental shift of our understanding of urban. Let us extend the boundaries of urban focus to the distant, the offshore, the sub-natural and the sublime.
Built with the grandeur of industrial scale, their presence has instigated death and catastrophe along with life and sustenance. Their life extends that of their intended need - Oil - and stirs speculations on continuing ecologies, industries and their symbiotic relations.
The thesis will depict through narrative and design, a set of theoria, poiesis and praxis that will delve into these speculations.
ABSTRACT
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IMAGESCover Image | Bullwinkle Oil Platform, Texas USA, Ethel Baraona [photo]Image 1 | The Deepwater Horizon Spill from shore, Steve McCurry [photo]Image 2 | Hollow Pursuits, Michael Kerbow [painting]Image 3 | Copernicus, Conversations with God, Jan Matejko [painting]Image 4 | Twin platforms Elly & Ellen in the California OCS, Emily Callahan [photo]Image 5 | Removed, a photo series, Erik Pickersgill [photo]Image 6 | The San Andreas Fault, Dave Lynch [photo]Image 7 | President Nixons visit to the oiled beaches on Santa Barbara in 1969, David Lewis [photo]Image 8 | Platform A in the Santa Barbara Channel, Emily Callahan [photo]Image 9 | Lounging on Huntington Beach, Charles ORear [photo]Image 10 | Union Oil Platforms B, C, A & Hillhouse, EDC [photo]Image 11 | Piers of the Summerland Oil field, the first offshore oil field in the world, G. H. Eldridge [photo]Image 12 | An aerial photo of the spill on Feb 4th, LA Times [photo]Image 13 | An aerial photo of the spill on Jan 29th, LA Times [photo]Image 14 | A female Sheephead on Platform Eurekas crossbeam, Emily Callahan [photo]Image 15 | Network of on land pipelines, Jim Blecha [photo]Image 16 | New Religion, Michael Kerbow [painting]
All images are credited to the artist
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DRAWINGSDrawing 1 | Southern California fault linesDrawing 2 | Network of productionDrawing 3 | A sectional inventory of the 23 offshore platformsDrawing 4 | Site PlanDrawing 5 | A timeline of economical, political and ecological eventsDrawing 6 | A timeline of economical, political and ecological eventsDrawing 7 | Spread of the 1969 Oil SpillDrawing 8 | Section through the stratigraphy of Platform ADrawing 9 | Section through Platform ADrawing 10 | Ecologies of a platform - water & airDrawing 11 | Ecologies of a platform - water & earth [casing detail]Drawing 12 | Subnatures of a platformDrawing 13 | Wind MapDrawing 14 | Existing fossil fuel networksDrawing 15 | Implied transmission networks with wind energyDrawing 16 | Speculations on wind platforms
All drawings are courtesy of the author
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what they did yesterday afternoon
they set my aunts house on firei cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middlelike a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me tried to okay my voice
i said hellohe said warsan, whats wrong, whats happened?
ive been praying,and these are what my prayers look like;
dear godi come from two countries
one is thirstythe other is on fireboth need water.
later that nighti held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole worldand whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered everywhereeverywhereeverywhere.
- Warsan Shire
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[Image 1] The Deepwater Horizon Spill from shore, Steve McCurry 7
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CHAPTER ONE | The Age of Capital & The Human Niche
SOCIETY VS. NATURE
The buildings of the Ancients are in Architecture, what the works of Nature are with respect to the other Arts;
they serve as models which we should imitate, and as standards by which we ought to judge.1
Nature used to be our muse, our semblance of intricate perfection. Its vast terrain was the inspiration for our creations. Society strived to embody natures perfection and architecture imitated its beautiful rules, forms and compositions. Nature was societys law - it was the greater whole - society was but another force of nature. However, societys relationship with nature is one of exchange: as we grew and spread, we left permanent footprints of alteration that redefined
natures composition.2 The changes came in waves, a series of exciting revolutions through which we evolved our lifestyles.
1 Adam, Robert, 1728-1792 Ruins of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia, 01-04, Printed for the author, 1764 iv, [7], 33 p., [54] leaves of plates : ill. ; 53 cm.2 Ecologies of the Anthropocene: Global Upscaling of Social- Ecological Infrastructures. In New Geographies, edited by Daniel Ibaez and Nikos Katsikis, by Erle C. Ellis, 021 - 027. 06th ed. Vol. Grounding Metabolism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014.
[Image 2] Hollow Pursuits, Michael Kerbow
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The first Agricultural Revolution came like a slow tide and in its wake altered the physical
composition of our earth, introducing anthropogenic soils from the use of chemicals and fertilizers.3 The Scientific Revolution rode in to form a standing wave, lifting reason and knowledge to great
heights and stirring us to question our relationship to nature and our fellow species. And finally,
the first Industrial revolution washed over us as coal, oil and gas entered the scene as major sources
of energy enabling transitions to new manufacturing processes, severing our devotion to nature. The Industrial Revolutions left behind a fundamental aspect of our lifestyle today: capital. In this way, society moved from being a force within nature to a force greater than, and outside of, nature.4 Today, this switch - our identity as a capital society that exists outside of nature - places before us a fundamental contemporary ecological crisis.
Unfortunately, the tendency to exchange and alter is inherent in society, as Erle C. Ellis points out: rather than simply adapting to environments as they are, our species, like some others, alters environments to sustain its populations, a process known to ecologists and archeologists as
3 Ruddiman, William F. The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began Thousands of Years Ago. In Climate Change, 261-293. 3rd ed. Vol. 61. Virginia: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.4 W.Moore, Jason. Part 1: On the Nature & Origins of Our Ecological Crisis. In The Capitalocene, 01-02. Binghamton, NY: Binghamton University, 2014.
[Image 3] Copernicus, Conversations with God, Jan Matejko
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niche construction.5 The Human niche has expanded and grown through the waves of revolutions discussed to reach a stage that unaltered nature alone cannot provide for. A majority of the earth
can now be identified at anthromes or human biomes, ecosystems that have been created as a result of sustained human interaction. These cover more than three-quarters of Earths ice free lands and what remain as natural lands are remote with too extreme conditions for life.6
AN ACCELERATED STATE OF DOMINANCE
Sarcastic Science, she would like to know,
In her complacent ministry of fear,
How we propose to get away from here
When she has made things so we have to go
Or be wiped out. Will she be asked to show
Us how by rocket we may hope to steer
To some star off there, say, a half light-year
Through temperature of absolute zero?
Why wait for Science to supply the how
When any amateur can tell it now?
The way to go away should be the same
As fifty million years ago we came-
If anyone remembers how that was.
I have a theory, but it hardly does.
- Robert Frost
The world has just been witness to a set of united, legally binding and universal
agreements on Climate Change action as a 195 countries banded together on November 30th in the much awaited 2015 Paris Climate Conference, also known as COP21. The conference concluded with an aim to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial period by 21007. This conference marked a world-wide acknowledgment of the current environmental crisis, where effects of our anthropocentric actions are causing man-made natural disasters, large scale infrastructural collapse, and excessive pollution and contamination of our natural environments. In the sociopolitical discourse around these topics, this profound
5 Ecologies of the Anthropocene: Global Upscaling of Social- Ecological Infrastructures. In New Geographies, edited by Daniel Ibaez and Nikos Katsikis, by Erle C. Ellis, 022. 06th ed. Vol. Grounding Metabolism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014.6 Ecologies of the Anthropocene: Global Upscaling of Social- Ecological Infrastructures. In New Geographies, edited by Daniel Ibaez and Nikos Katsikis, by Erle C. Ellis, 023. 06th ed. Vol. Grounding Metabolism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014.7 UNFCCC COP 21 Paris France. Accessed December 13, 2015. http://www.cop21paris.org/about/cop21.
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8 Ecologies of the Anthropocene: Global Upscaling of Social- Ecological Infrastructures. In New Geographies, edited by Daniel Ibaez and Nikos Katsikis, by Erle C. Ellis, 021. 06th ed. Vol. Grounding Metabolism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014.
and permanent transformation of Earths ecology together with anthropogenic global changes in climate, hydrology, element cycling, biodiversity, and other environmental processes has recently led scientists to recognize the emergence of human systems as a global force transforming the Earth system and the beginning of a new epoch of geological time, the Anthropocene.8 The act of building that has stemmed from the anthropocentric mentality expresses its sense of power and dominance with the aid of scale. This is especially conveyed in todays capital driven industrial architecture, as we build larger to better withstand weather, sustain growing populations and facilitate resource extraction. Enhanced methods of fossil fuel recovery have paired with gigantic, resilient industrial infrastructure to sustain energy production for our consumer driven world.
The infrastructural giants that provide for our consumption are evidence of the built human niche - constructed landscapes and mechanizations that have evolved into their own ecosystems. Over time society has separated itself from these mechanizations, moving to more dense urban areas and leaving the constructed niche to function in favorable foreign anthromes.
[Image 4] Twin platforms Elly & Ellen in the California OCS, Emily Callahan
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Today, society functions in an accelerated pace of the Anthropocene. This is the Age of Capital, where industrial, technological and social advancements have expedited, its anthropocentric origins tracing back to the rise of 16th century Mercantilism.9 In 2010, Hartmut Rosa defined Social Acceleration as waves of change in technology, social change and the pace of life.10 Rosa identifies capitalism - the fundamental equation time equals money - as the primary driver of Social Acceleration, a phenomenon that leads to detached and de synchronized societies as the speed at which we produce and consume increases.11 In architecture, this accelerated pace of life has entered the realms of contemporary architecture to establish a sense of impermanence in our building. Contemporary architecture services late modernitys secular intra-generational pace, where the globalized notion of the individual seeks temporality in ideas of shelter and inhabitation so as to be better equipped for change; to be forever on the move. Advancements in virtual scapes have inverted our conceptions of the space-time relationship. Space - that allows for the immediate comprehension of our built surroundings [enunciated by the force of gravity] has been compressed, even eradicated by the prevalence of time in virtual realms. The acceleration
9 W.Moore, Jason. Part 1: On the Nature & Origins of Our Ecological Crisis. In The Capitalocene, 01-02. Binghamton, NY: Binghamton Univer-sity, 2014.10 Rosa, Hartmut, and Jonathan Mathys. Social Acceleration a New Theory of Modernity, 06-10. New York: Columbia UP, 2013. Print.11 Rosa, Hartmut, and Jonathan Mathys. Social Acceleration a New Theory of Modernity, 11. New York: Columbia UP, 2013. Print.
[Image 5] Removed, a photo series, Erik Pickersgill
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12 Rosa, Hartmut, and Jonathan Mathys. Social Acceleration a New Theory of Modernity, 11. New York: Columbia UP, 2013. Print.13 As U.S. Congress Lags, California Leads Push to Divest From Fossil Fuels Linked to Climate Change. In Democracy Now. Amy Goodman. December 2, 2015.14 Water Conditions: Declaration. California Department of Water Resources. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.water.ca.gov/watercondi-tions/declaration.cfm.
in production results in the duration for which societys expectations align with their experience to shrink, compressing what is perceived as the present. This compressed present leaves us looking for the imagined future. Following the Marxian idea of standing still is as good as falling behind, we seek the future faster, heading down a slippery slope.12
CALIFORNIA GETS INTO TROUBLE
Oh the world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you dont much mind
a few dead minds
in the higher places
or a bomb or two
now and then
in your upturned faces
or such other improprieties
as our Name Brand society
is prey to
with its men of distinction
and its men of extinction
and its priests
and other patrolmen
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The contemporary ecological crisis exists alongside a more obvious environmental crisis, where the anthropocentric tendencies of consumption have led to an adverse alterations in our cycles of weather, widely identified as climate change. Actions by capital driven societies cause,
and are combined with, effects of the environmental and ecological crises in a deadly accelerating cycle. This is seen to disastrous extents in the state of California, the 7th largest economy in the world.13 In January 2014, Californias Governor Brown proclaimed a State of Emergency.14 California is experiencing record dry conditions, with 2014 being the worst year to date. Surface and groundwater levels have dropped to 20 percent of the average placing many California communities at risk for drinking water supplies. Meanwhile, millions of gallons of freshwater
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are used for hydraulic fracturing15 [commonly known as fracking] operations on and offshore California. In an investigative report by the Environmental Defense Centre in 2014, five offshore
platforms along the southern coast of the California Outer Continental Shelf were confirmed as
sites of unregulated offshore hydraulic fracturing, with the high possibility of all other platforms in federal waters also using aggressive enhanced oil recovery methods. The relationship between Californias severe drought and the abuse of freshwater resources for hydraulic fracturing operations is not immediately evident to the average north American consumer.
However, the image of the San Andreas fault [pictured on the right], popularized in media as the inevitable cause of the largest earthquake to date - the Big One - is capable of striking fear into everyones hearts. The report states that although fracking has been conducted off of Californias shores for at least two decades, the practice was until recently largely unknown to state and federal regulators, as well as the general public.16 The worst case, but probable scenario of fracking occurring on all offshore platforms [refer to Drawing 1] presents three major risks for
California: a high potential of aggravating intersecting fault lines, the continuous use of much needed freshwater, and unregulated pollution due to compromises in fracking operations that catalyze oil spills and leaked fracking fluid [a mixture of water, chemicals and aggregate].17
15 Defined by the Geological Society of America, Hydraulic fracturing is the injection of a mixture of water, sand, and chemical additives through a well drilled into an oil- or gas-bearing rock formation, under high but controlled pressure.16 Segee, Brian P., and Elise O. Dea. Dirty Water - Fracking Offshore California, 04. Report. Santa Barbara: Environmental Defence Center, 2013.17 Segee, Brian P., and Elise O. Dea. Dirty Water - Fracking Offshore California, 13-16. Report. Santa Barbara: Environmental Defence Center, 2013.
[Drawing 1 at 1:2 000 000] Souther California fault lines. Wells that intersect fault lines are marked in red
LEGEND
Offshore PlatformsDrilling wellDrilling well on fault lineFault line
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[Image 6] The San Andreas Fault, Dave Lynch 15
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THERE IS EVIDENCE OF A STORY
The surface of the sea, which was perfectly smooth and tranquil, was covered with a thick, slimy substance,
which when separated or disturbed by a little agitation, became very luminous, whilst the light breeze, which
came principally from the shore, brought with it a strong smell of tar, or some such resinous substance. The
next morning the sea had the appearance of dissolved tar floating on its surface, which covered the sea in
all directions within the limits of our view.
- Captain Cook, 1792, in observing a natural oil seep in the Santa Barbara Channel18
The Pacific Outer Continental Shelf along the coast of California has borne witness to the story of energy from its very beginnings. Its origins date back two million years where, in the
CHAPTER TWO | Californias Extended Urban
18 Steinhart, Carol, and John Steinhart. Blowout, 25. Belmont, California: Duxbury Press, 1972.
[Image 7] President Nixons visit to the oiled beaches on Santa Barbara in 1969, David Lewis
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middle of the Pleistocene epoch, the sedimentary rock floor of the Santa Barbara Channel [a portion
of the Pacific Ocean that separates the California mainland from the Channel Islands] deformed to
produce a series of folds that accumulated oil. Along these fold trends are Californias prosperous oil reservoirs; Summerland, San Miguelito, Rincon, Ventura, Carpinteria and Dos Cuadros. 19
The story began to pick up after the discovery of oil in the Summerland district in 1895. Humans had found black gold and the search was on. As the turn of the century approached, oil companies such as Union Oil led exciting days of exploration, speculation and development. However, not everyone was enamored by the wondrous liquid flowing from the earth. A series
of oil spills, federal and state disagreements and disregard for provoking Californias daunting fault lines mark the story with dark memories of danger and anger. The relationship of oil with the people of California - not unlike oils relationship with the rest of the world - maintains a perpetual state of complication. Immersed in the politics of production and disaster, the offshore platforms sit at a distance from the onshore consumers. The lives of oil workers hold mysteries of monotony and hardship, partially due to the distance from which they are perceived, and partially due to the walls of privacy constructed around offshore operations.
Today there are twentry three offshore platforms that occupy the California Pacific Outer
Continental Shelf. They are owned by six oil companies and occupy eight oil fields. Starting
from the source of the geological basins that have accumulated oil, the resource travels through geopolitically established field boundaries of ownership, through deep drilled wells to the
offshore platforms that service their production, processing and storage. It is then transported to shore through ships and networks of underground pipelines to onshore processing, refining and
storage facilities [refer to Drawing 2]. The story no longer has characters with starry eyes for oil; now the topic of oil brings heated debate and disdain as we face the truth of our dependance on this diminishing resource and the implied disasters that come with it. Built with a sense of sustenance, the offshore infrastructure lives past its intended use. What will the story hold for their future?
19 Steinhart, Carol, and John Steinhart. Blowout, 19. Belmont, California: Duxbury Press, 1972.
[Drawing 2] Network of production
BASINFIELD
PRIMARY PLATFORM
SECONDARY PLATFORM
TERTIARY PLATFORM ONSHORE
FACILITYPRIVATE OWNER
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[Image 8] Platform A in the Santa Barbara Channel, Emily Callahan18
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[Drawing 3 at 1:20 000] A sectional inventory of the 23 offshore platforms 19
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CONTEMPORARY NOTIONS OF THE URBAN
Look beyond what you see
- Rafiki, The Lion King 1 1/220
The epistemology of urban studies that originated in the early 20th century established the city as integral in defining what is urban.21 Thus, the urban was defined as a bounded
area or unit of settlement, controlled by empiricist identifications of population density, capital
outputs measured by comparative GDP and notions of proximity in production, consumption and movement. In a key text challenging this epistemology, Neil Brenner and Christian Schmidt introduce a new, multidimensional notion of the urban process that explodes inherited assumptions regarding the geographies of this process: they are no longer expressed simply
20 The Lion King 1 1/2. Directed by Bradley Raymond. United States: Walt Disney Home Entertainment ;, 2004. VHS.
21 Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban?, City, 19:2-3, 154, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712
[Image 9] Lounging on Huntington Beach, Charles ORear
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22 Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban?, City, 19:2-3, 169, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2015.101471223 Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban?, City, 19:2-3, 159, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2015.101471224 Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban?, City, 19:2-3, 162, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712
through the city, the metropolitan region or inter-urban networks, and nor are they bounded neatly and distinguished from a putatively non-urban outside.22 These preconceived outsides, anthromes that are separated from the bounded urban through borders of rural and urban, industry and (sub)urban, and nature and inhabitation, need to be challenged when addressing the contemporary ecological and environmental crises. In order to do so, Brenner and Schmidt propose new ways of addressing the constantly changing urban condition with a sense of epistemological reflexivity: This entails an insistence on the situatedness of all forms of knowledge, and a relentless drive to reinvent key categories of analysis in relation to the ongoing processes of historical change23 Essentially, we need to broaden our frame of the urban by understanding it through the perspective of various fields of knowledge, and with adaptability to the constant change and flux of various
accelerations that affect contemporary urban society. The site of study is the offshore infrastructure of the southern California outer continental shelf [OCS] where twenty three offshore platforms stand perched like distant artifacts, evidence of a distant source to fuel the consumptive life of the state [refer to Drawing 3&4]. The boundaries of the site capture a 120 year story of a relationship between human beings and Oil. The story is marked with political conflict, economical greed, environmental and ecological disturbance. This vast
network of energy production and infrastructural fabric should enter the contemporary discussion of the urban as the extended urban and will be addressed as so in this thesis. In Brenner and Schmidts new epistemology, extended urbanization is understood as fundamental conditions of possibility for the production of historically and geographically specific forms of cityness and
must be analyzed and theorized centrally within any updated epistemology of the urban for the 21st century.24
[Image 10] Union Oil Platforms B, C, A & Hillhouse, EDC
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Oil Reneries
LEGEND
Federal leases
Shipping lanes
Pipelines
Federal boundary
8g lineHeli - ports
Crew support
Power Plants
Storage Facilities
Pump stations
Onshore drilling
Offshore platforms
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1
2
4
5
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15
16 17
18 19
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[Drawing 4 at 1:750 000] Site Plan
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Oil Reneries
LEGEND
Federal leases
Shipping lanes
Pipelines
Federal boundary
8g lineHeli - ports
Crew support
Power Plants
Storage Facilities
Pump stations
Onshore drilling
Offshore platforms
3
1
2
4
5
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8 121314
15
16 17
18 19
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25 The Lion King. Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. United States, 1994. VHS.26 Giorgio Agamben, Che cos il contemporaneo? (Rome: Nottotempo, 2008)
A PRAXIS OF TIME
Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it.
- Rafiki, The Lion King25
Georgio Agamben defines the contemporary as he who firmly holds his gaze on his own
time so as to perceive not its light, but rather its darkness.26 This over arching definition, rather than the more limited one of the Contemporary as the now or the up-to-date is the stance that will be taken when addressing the topics in this thesis. It calls for a step outside the immediate boundaries of our present, where our movement through time adopts its own rules of force and direction. In this way, the Contemporary has a better grasp of his time, a peek at the present condition with a cone of vision that stretches outside of it.
As always, the ancient Greeks had the right idea. There were two notions of time, the Chronos and the Kairos. Kairos is a qualitative understanding of time; a serendipitous time, a right time to act. Chronos is a quantitative understanding of time. It has order and a logical sequence of function. It is the understanding of time we rely upon for the structure of our daily lives and is very often the understanding we impose on conditions of crisis. In observing Heideggers theories of Chronos and Kairos, Felix O. Murchadha observes, In the context of human action, we experience chronos as continuity and kairos as a moment of vision - Augenblick - that breaks with the continuity, as an other time, as a time which is opportune for action in the emphatic sense.
1859
1895
1850
1861
1864
1868
1860
1870
1880
1890
First oi
l well
drilled
in Pen
sylvani
a by C
olonel
Edwin
Drake
First of
fshore
oil we
lls in S
umme
rland, C
aliforn
ia
Oil dis
covere
d alon
g the K
ern Riv
er
US Ste
el Corp
oration
organi
zed
Union
Labou
r Party
(ULP) f
ormed
Califor
nia rec
eives
Stateh
ood
Start o
f the A
merica
n Civil
War
End of
the Am
erican
Civil W
ar
The Sa
n Fran
cisco S
PCA is
forme
d
[Drawing 5] A timeline of economical, political and ecological events
ECON
OMICA
LPO
LITICA
LEC
OLOG
ICAL
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1859
1895
1850
1861
1864
1868
1860
1870
1880
1890
First oi
l well
drilled
in Pen
sylvani
a by C
olonel
Edwin
Drake
First of
fshore
oil we
lls in S
umme
rland, C
aliforn
ia
Oil dis
covere
d alon
g the K
ern Riv
er
US Ste
el Corp
oration
organi
zed
Union
Labou
r Party
(ULP) f
ormed
Califor
nia rec
eives
Stateh
ood
Start o
f the A
merica
n Civil
War
End of
the Am
erican
Civil W
ar
The Sa
n Fran
cisco S
PCA is
forme
d
27 Murchadha, Felix. Introduction. In The Time of Revolution: Kairos and Chronos in Heidegger. New York: Continuum, 2012.
In kairos, the discontinuity if time appears.27 Following Agambens using the past and future to better understand the present can serve as an exercise to reflexively approach the crises of our time.
In order to gain a qualitative and chronological perspective of time in relation to the context, a timeline [refer to Drawing 5] was constructed to understand the economical, political and ecological conditions of the site. It begins in the past from the establishment of Californias statehood to the predicted future decommissioning of all the federal platforms in the site, extending instead into a proposed phase of recommissioning, or a future use for the existing offshore infrastructure. Graphically, the timeline depicts a density of activity in the combined events of the three categories allowing one to understand the implications of each major event on the site.
1921
1928
1933
1938
1944
19201900
1901
1905
1906
1910
1930
1940
1950
Oil dis
covere
d alon
g the K
ern Riv
er
US Ste
el Corp
oration
organi
zed
Union
Labou
r Party
(ULP) f
ormed
Work b
egins
on the
Ocean
Shore
Electri
c Railw
ay
San Fra
ncisco
Earth
quake
; magn
itude 7
.8 and
great f
ire
First fe
deral l
ease a
ct
Califor
nias fi
rst lea
se act
St. Fra
ncis D
am fai
lure k
ills 60
0
Long B
each E
arthqu
ake kil
ls 120
Los An
geles
flood c
aused
by a p
air of P
acific
storm
s kills
115
Port C
hicago
Disas
ter kill
s 320
Subm
erged
Land
s Act &
Outer
Conti
nenta
l She
lf Act
passe
d by C
ongre
ss
[Image 11] Piers of the Summerland Oil field, the first offshore oil field in the world, G. H. Eldridge
25
-
Mar 1
967
Nov 1
967
Feb 19
68
Sep 1
968
Jul 1
968
Sep 1
967
Jan 19
83
July 1
986
Aug 1
985
Oct 1
985
Jun 1
985
Apr 1
987
Jun 1
989
Oct 1
989
Jul 1
984
Aug 1
979
Jul 1
979
Dec 1
980
Jan 19
81
Jan 19
80Ma
r 198
0
Oct 1
981
Feb 19
77
Jun 1
976
Nov 1
968
Jan 19
69Feb
1969
Apr 1
969
Sep 1
969
Nov 1
969
Nov 1
970
Jan 19
71
Mar 1
968
1989
1950
1960
1990
2000
1953
1963
Sale o
f feder
al leas
es in t
he San
ta Barb
ara Ch
annel
Union
Oil Co
mpany
s Platfo
rm A in
stalled
Platform
Houch
in insta
lled
Platform
Hogan
install
ed
Platfor
m Edith
install
ed
Platfor
m Hidal
go inst
alled
Platfor
m Irene
install
ed
Platfor
m Herm
osa ins
talled
Platfor
m Harve
st insta
lled
Platfor
m Gail i
nstalle
d
Platfor
m Harm
ony ins
talled
Platfor
m Herit
age ins
talled
Platfor
m Eure
ka inst
alled
Platfor
m Henr
y insta
lled
Platfor
m Grace
install
ed
Platfor
m Gina
install
ed
Platfor
m Gilda
install
ed
Platfor
m Ellen
install
ed
Platfor
m Elly i
nstalle
d
Platfor
m Habit
at insta
lled
Platfor
m C ins
talled
Platfor
m Hond
o insta
lled
Platfor
m B ins
talled
Platfor
m Hillho
use ins
talled
Hickel
halts
drillin
g and
produ
ction in
the Ch
annel
First of
fshore
federa
l lease
sale o
n Paci
fic Co
ast
Loma P
rieta e
arthqu
ake kil
ls 69 in
San F
rancisc
o Bay
area
Subm
erged
Land
s Act &
Outer
Conti
nenta
l She
lf Act
Torrey
Canyo
n oil s
pill off
the co
ast of
Englan
d
Ocean
Eagle
oil sp
ill off th
e coas
t of Pu
erto Ric
o
Jan 28
: Platfor
m As w
ell A-2
1 blow
s out i
n Sant
a Barb
ara
Feb 5:
Oil c
ontam
inates
beach
es of S
anta B
arbara
Feb 24
: Platfo
rm As w
ell A-4
1 blow
s out i
n
Oil Sp
ill in B
uzzard
s Bay,
Massa
chuset
ts
San Fra
ncisco
Bay O
il Spill
Secreta
ry Hick
el fired
Santa B
arbara
Coun
ty Repo
rt issue
d
Jan 20
: Innau
garatio
n of R
ichard
Nixon
Jan 24
: Walte
r Hick
el swo
rn int
o offic
e as
Jan 30
: GOO
organi
zed in
Santa B
arbara
Feb 17
: Hick
el sign
s ame
ndme
nt
Hicke
l lifts b
an on
passe
d by C
ongre
ss
Secreta
ry of th
e Interi
or
deemi
ng oil
comp
anies
liable f
or pollu
tion
damage
drillin
g & pr
oductio
n
Santa B
arbara
A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yet, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night:
The water, like a witchs oils
Burnt green, and blue, and white
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A key historical occurrence on the site is the 1969 Oil Spill in the Santa Barbara Channel. The spill occurred off of Platform A, a Union Oil Company owned offshore platform in the Dos Cadres Oil Field. The spill lasted for weeks while retention and clean up efforts tried in vain to quell the spread in varying directions and intensities to the will of the wind and weather. The international reaction to the disastrous consequences of pollution, ecological disturbance and infrastructural instability caused a rush of world-wide awareness that impacted the sociopolitical frameworks of energy extraction and gave birth to the modern environmental movement.
On the morning of January 28th 1969, five month old Platform A was being prepared
[Drawing 6] A timeline of economical, political and ecological events
ECON
OMICA
LPO
LITICA
LEC
OLOG
ICAL
26
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EPILO
GUE
CHAP
TER T
HREE
CHAP
TER T
WOCH
APTE
R ONE
PROL
OGUE
Mar 1
967
Nov 1
967
Feb 19
68
Sep 1
968
Jul 1
968
Sep 1
967
Jan 19
83
July 1
986
Aug 1
985
Oct 1
985
Jun 1
985
Apr 1
987
Jun 1
989
Oct 1
989
Jul 1
984
Aug 1
979
Jul 1
979
Dec 1
980
Jan 19
81
Jan 19
80Ma
r 198
0
Oct 1
981
Feb 19
77
Jun 1
976
Nov 1
968
Jan 19
69Feb
1969
Apr 1
969
Sep 1
969
Nov 1
969
Nov 1
970
Jan 19
71
Mar 1
968
1989
1950
1960
1990
2000
1953
1963
Sale o
f feder
al leas
es in t
he San
ta Barb
ara Ch
annel
Union
Oil Co
mpany
s Platfo
rm A in
stalled
Platform
Houch
in insta
lled
Platform
Hogan
install
ed
Platfor
m Edith
install
ed
Platfor
m Hidal
go inst
alled
Platfor
m Irene
install
ed
Platfor
m Herm
osa ins
talled
Platfor
m Harve
st insta
lled
Platfor
m Gail i
nstalle
d
Platfor
m Harm
ony ins
talled
Platfor
m Herit
age ins
talled
Platfor
m Eure
ka inst
alled
Platfor
m Henr
y insta
lled
Platfor
m Grace
install
ed
Platfor
m Gina
install
ed
Platfor
m Gilda
install
ed
Platfor
m Ellen
install
ed
Platfor
m Elly i
nstalle
d
Platfor
m Habit
at insta
lled
Platfor
m C ins
talled
Platfor
m Hond
o insta
lled
Platfor
m B ins
talled
Platfor
m Hillho
use ins
talled
Hickel
halts
drillin
g and
produ
ction in
the Ch
annel
First of
fshore
federa
l lease
sale o
n Paci
fic Co
ast
Loma P
rieta e
arthqu
ake kil
ls 69 in
San F
rancisc
o Bay
area
Subm
erged
Land
s Act &
Outer
Conti
nenta
l She
lf Act
Torrey
Canyo
n oil s
pill off
the co
ast of
Englan
d
Ocean
Eagle
oil sp
ill off th
e coas
t of Pu
erto Ric
o
Jan 28
: Platfor
m As w
ell A-2
1 blow
s out i
n Sant
a Barb
ara
Feb 5:
Oil c
ontam
inates
beach
es of S
anta B
arbara
Feb 24
: Platfo
rm As w
ell A-4
1 blow
s out i
n
Oil Sp
ill in B
uzzard
s Bay,
Massa
chuset
ts
San Fra
ncisco
Bay O
il Spill
Secreta
ry Hick
el fired
Santa B
arbara
Coun
ty Repo
rt issue
d
Jan 20
: Innau
garatio
n of R
ichard
Nixon
Jan 24
: Walte
r Hick
el swo
rn int
o offic
e as
Jan 30
: GOO
organi
zed in
Santa B
arbara
Feb 17
: Hick
el sign
s ame
ndme
nt
Hicke
l lifts b
an on
passe
d by C
ongre
ss
Secreta
ry of th
e Interi
or
deemi
ng oil
comp
anies
liable f
or pollu
tion
damage
drillin
g & pr
oductio
n
Santa B
arbara
2015
2030
Magn
itude
of Im
apct
2010
2020
2040
2050
Beginn
ing of
propos
ed De
commi
ssionin
g of al
l feder
al platf
orms
End of
propos
ed De
commi
ssionin
g of al
l feder
al platf
orms
Econom
ical Ev
ents
Politic
al Even
ts
Ecolog
ical Ev
ents
for its fifth well - well A-21. This well was going far, tapping into a petroleum reservoir 3500 feet
deep [refer to Drawing 8]. An hour after the drilling started, while workers were retrieving the drill pipe, the casing around the well gave way and drilling mud started pouring out into the floor of the
platform. We often forget the earth is one unanimous body - the disturbance in deep earth pressure caused a rutpure in the seabed 200 yards north-east of the platform. The drilling engineer on call noticed slight bubbles which suddenly turned into dark waves of poisonous oil that rolled toward the platform.
The following days were a frenzy of clean up attempts and cover ups. Santa Barabarans were furious, Union Oil Company was trying to act calm and anybody who was somebody spouted various versions of I told you so. Meanwhile, the oil spread, each day a gamble to the tumultuous winds and waves [refer to Drawing 7]. This time, nature made the statistics: over three million gallons of oil was leaked in an 800 square mile radius. 35 miles of shore was contaminated, killing close to 15 000 seabirds and poisoning dolphins, seals and sea lions.
The spill left its aftermath of death and destruction along with a little apprehension. Hickel Secretary of the Interior suspended drilling and federal leasing for a few months to reassess that inadequate safeguards by oil companies. But this soul searching did not last long and within a month Hickel lifted the ban on offshore drilling. Platform A was the third platform to be constructed on the site. In twenty years, twenty platforms would be added to the site to account for many more mistakes, clean up attempts and cover ups.
- This narration is a summary from Blowout,28 a case study of the 1969 Oil Spill -
28 Steinhart, Carol, and John Steinhart. Blowout. Belmont, California: Duxbury Press, 1972.29 Steinhart, Carol, and John Steinhart. Blowout, 21-23. Belmont, California: Duxbury Press, 1972.
27
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Jan 28 | 11am : Drilling engineer observes oil bubbles 200 yards northeast of platform. Following this, waves of poisonous gas roll towards the platform
Jan 30 | am : Oil is spotted one mile away from Carpinteria
Jan 30 | pm : Oil is reported at Rincon Beach
Feb 3 | am : Heavy oil buildup around Ancapa island & oil within 100 yeards of beach at Carpinteria
Feb 4 | pm : Oil reaches Santa Barbara Harbour
Feb 5 | am : A ship rams through booms in Santa Barbara Harbour, spreading oil west
[Drawing 7] Spread of the 1969 Oil Spill
-
Jan 28 | 11am : Drilling engineer observes oil bubbles 200 yards northeast of platform. Following this, waves of poisonous gas roll towards the platform
Jan 30 | am : Oil is spotted one mile away from Carpinteria
Jan 30 | pm : Oil is reported at Rincon Beach
Feb 3 | am : Heavy oil buildup around Ancapa island & oil within 100 yeards of beach at Carpinteria
Feb 4 | pm : Oil reaches Santa Barbara Harbour
Feb 5 | am : A ship rams through booms in Santa Barbara Harbour, spreading oil west
EPILO
GUE
CHAP
TER T
HREE
CHAP
TER T
WOCH
APTE
R ONE
PROL
OGUE
29
[Image 12] An aerial photo of the spill on Feb 4th, LA Times
[Image 13] An aerial photo of the spill on Jan 29th, LA Times
-
[Drawing 8 at 1:8 000] Section through the stratigraphy of Platform A30
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EPILO
GUE
CHAP
TER T
HREE
CHAP
TER T
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APTE
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PROL
OGUE
250 000 B.C.E.
1492 C.E
.: Colum
bus dis
covers
New Wo
rld
Commo
n Era be
gins
Present
day 10th ce
nt.C.E.: C
analino
s (chann
el) Indi
ans are
born
1200 B.C
.E.: Iron
Age
3300 B.C
.E.: Bron
ze Age
9700 B.C
.E.: Begin
ning of
the Hol
ocene
160 000
B.C.E.: H
omo Sa
piens ap
peared
400 000
B.C.E.: H
ominid
s begin
to hunt
330 000
B.C.E.: S
an Pedr
o forma
tion beg
ins
10000 B
.C.E.: Neo
lothic A
gricultu
ral
Revolut
ion
LEGEND
Red Mountain fault lines
Platform A extraction wells
Platform A - well A-21 [cause of 1969 oil spill]
Oil and Natural Gas reserves
Impermeable layers of caprock
[Drawing 9 at 1:2 000] Close up of Section through Platform A
A sectional understanding of the platforms demystify the distant, artifact like image so often perceived from shore. Documenting and observing the platforms sectionally reveals their relationship with three stratigraphies: air, water and earth. A vertical timeline can be seen in Drawing 8 with a comparison of its corresponding geological scale in the depth of extraction occurring from Platform A. The deepest bed Platform A extracts from is 3500 feet deep29, and 2 million years old. This 2 million year old resource will be entirely extracted in a mere 50 years - a comparative geological depth of 1.05 inches. The section also reveals the components of these stratigraphies: the layering nature of oil and natural gas rich shale beds, the varying spread and depths of the wells that extract for them and the intersecting fault lines that cut through.
31
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CHAPTER THREE | A Proposal for Ecological Symbiosis
WHOSE HOME IS IT ANYWAY?
The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead -
There were no birds to fly.
- Lewis Carroll
Observing the site at the scale of a platform, various notions of ecological inhabitation enter the discussion. A crucial argument can be made for the extended urban when relations of ecology and industry are discovered to thrive and rely upon the built infrastructure of the site.
[Image 14] A female Sheephead on Platform Eurekas crossbeam, Emily Callahan
32
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Along with human beings, the southern California Outer Continental Shelf is home to thousands of species of marine, mammal, bird and other multi-cellular populations. While these populations have been negatively affected by the actions of oil and gas extraction - numerous oil spills and pollution from hydraulic fracturing actions - the built structure of the platforms are a necessity to their inhabitation. Oil workers occupy the deck of the platform on 12 hour, week long shifts. Sea lions rest on the base beams of the deck while seabirds regularly roam the skies. Tourists tour the waters to catch sight of the dolphin populations and a dive under the water will find breathtaking
artificial reefs that have formed because of the existence of the vertical substructure [refer to
Drawing 10 & 11] Cool, subarctic waters converge with warmer, equatorial waters in the Channel, fostering a richness of marine and other wildlife, including blue, fin, humpback, minke, and killer
whales, porpoises, dolphins, pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), the southern sea otter, and hundreds of species of birds, fishes, and invertebrates.30
30 ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIGHT: A SYNTHESIS AND INTERPRETATION. University of California Press, edited by Murray D. Dailey, Donald J. Reish, and Jack W. Anderson (1993).
[Drawing 10] Ecologies of a platform - water & air
33
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A unique case of life cycles can be seen on Platform Evas substructure. The platform substructure is overgrown with clumps of sea mussels. At the bottom of the sea floor around the
platform live large densities of sea stars. Approximately one cubic meter of sea mussels falls of the vertical substructure to the ocean floor where they are fed on by the sea stars. The sea stars
are prevented from climbing up the structure to feed on the mussels by a band of stinging sea anemones along the platforms base. This way, they only feed on the mussels that fall off the platform to the sea floor (sufficient food) and the majority of mussels continue to thrive on the
structure. This particular set of relationships in the food cycle is unusual to platform Eva, due to the conditions of its vertical structure and relationship to the sea floor. However growth of marine
lives such as these are common to offshore platforms as most offshore platforms are placed on soft-sediment bottoms, forming artificial reefs which provide attachment sites for marine life and
vertical relief attractive to fish.31
A biennial decommissioning report for the twenty three offshore platforms is released to keep track of the rising cost implications of complete removal once the platforms have finished
31 Wolfson, A, and Parr, T. (1975) The marine life of offshore oil drilling platform EVA. Marine Ecological Consultants of southern California. Tech. Rep. No. 75-11
[Drawing 11] Ecologies of a platform - water & earth [casing detail]
34
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31 Wolfson, A, and Parr, T. (1975) The marine life of offshore oil drilling platform EVA. Marine Ecological Consultants of southern California. Tech. Rep. No. 75-11 32 Gissen, David. Subnature Architectures Other Environments, Introduction. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.
extracting all fossil fuel resources. The 2014 Decommissioning Report gave a total estimate of $1,460,800,165.00 USD. Of this astounding amount, $25,624,000.00 USD is budgeted for site clearance, including the removal of all marine growth on the platforms.32
The intention of this thesis is to propose a set of narratives and designs as a recommissioning alternative to the otherwise obviously ludicrous option of decommissioning. In doing so, the lives of these species and many other inhabitants will be a primary concern in the continued existence of Californias offshore infrastructure. The relationship of these species with the built structures can shape better cycles in the anthrome as we rediscover cohabitation in the extended urban. This solution can reintroduce notions of a horizontal ontology in ecology and challenge our current anthropocentric ways of designing and organizing industrial landscapes.
INHABITING THE SUBNATURAL
Now fallen, slain, cast for rebirth,
the core of you sublime,
an earthly stump, at forest skirt
reminds me of grand times.
- Debbie Guzzi
The platforms have braved half a century of contact with abrasive environments of wind, water, fire and oil. They wore on the platforms skins, leaving behind an array of rust, debirs and
dirt. To accompany this, everyday the platforms are consumed in fumes of smoke, gas, mist and other airborne particles of oil extractions industrial process [refer to Drawing 12] . Conditions such as these are common to the anthrome, and can be perceived as alternative natural conditions: elements of the environment that exist as a result of the industrial setting, identified by architectural
historian David Gissen as subnatures. Subnatures are those forms of nature deemed primitive (mud and dankness), filthy (smoke, dust, and exhaust), fearsome (gas or debris), or uncontrollable
(weeds, insects, and pigeons). We can contrast these subnatures to those seemingly central and desirable forms of naturee.g., the sun, clouds, trees, and wind.32
It is easy to embrace the more desirable forms of nature, they appeal to us with their purity and romance, suggesting utopian ideologies of inhabitation. Engaging with these central
35
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[Drawing 12] Subnatures of a platform36
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EPILO
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natures may also be habitual, passed down through generations as our earths key elements. It is then perhaps more difficult to accept the less ancient natures; to greet the sublime with open
arms. But it is amongst these subnatures that the existing ecologies of the site thrive and it is with these subnatures that any future design should be considered. As we bridge our proximities to the extended urban, we will come closer to interacting with the rust, dust, smoke, fog, mist and dirt on the platforms. Inhabiting the subnatural, often a reality that is overlooked, is an essential component of designing for the extended urban.
FUTURE ENERGIES
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
Each platform plays a role in providing for consumers of southern California and beyond. The network of oil previously identified extends into the state, each barrel produced playing a vital
part in a Californians daily life. Addressing the elephant in the room - that Oil is a decidedly non renewable resource - brings forward the question of energy production in a post-oil California and a post-oil world. Luckily, the terrain of crises also contains the terrain of redemption. The California outer continental shelf contains a large potential for renewable energy resource extraction including wind33, geothermal34 and resulting tidal energy. Studying the subnatural and ecological conditions of the site as an anthrome due to oil can aid in understanding what possible future energy anthromes could be. Will inhabiting industrial settings of these so called clean energies
33 J. Dvorak, Michael, Cristina L. Archer, and Mark Z. Jacobson. California Offshore Wind Energy Potential. In Renewable Energy - an International Journal, 12441254. Vol. 35. Stanford, California: Elsevier, 2009.34 Matek, Benjamin, and Karl Gawell. REPORT ON THE STATE OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN CALIFORNIA. In Geothermal Energy in California Status Report. Washington, D.C: United States. Dept. of Energy. Geothermal Division ;, 2014.
37
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be so drastically different? The built industry of future energies could harvest similar subnatures and could support similar ecologies as the current condition - without the hassle of unnecessary disasters or the fear of resources running out. The thesis will look at a continuous industrial life of these platforms; one that can sustain a horizontal ontology of ecology amongst the anthromes of future energies. Contrary to the utopian, green approach to designing with renewable energy, this thesis proposes to engage with the realities of industrial settings: the destined complexities of energy production in the Age of Capital, the subnatural setting of renewable energies and the ecological inhabitation of the resulting extended urban anthrome. It calls for an Ecological Symbiosis, where industry and ecology - the built and living components of the anthrome can prosper in the inevitable state of material and energy exchange.
A speculation was explored to understand the implications of renewable energy entering the network of production and consumption on the site. Platforms Hidalgo, Harvest and Hermosa
[Image15] Network of on land pipelines, Jim Blecha
38
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EPILO
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Platform HermosaPlatform Harvest
Platform Hidalgo
Platform Hermosa
Buellton [pop: 4964]
Solvang [pop: 5385]
Santa Barbara [pop: 90 412]
Gaviota proccessing and storage plantPlatform Harvest
Platform Hidalgo
Platform Hermosa
Buellton [pop: 4964]
Solvang [pop: 5385]
Santa Barbara [pop: 90 412]
Platform Harvest
Platform Hidalgo
[Drawing 13] Wind map
[Drawing 14] Existing fossil fuel networks
[Drawing 14] Implied transmission networks with wind energy
of the Pt. Arguello unit, owned by DCOR lie in a high wind speed zone [8m/s at 90m - refer to Drawing 13]. Taking precedent from SeaEnergy Renewables, a Scottish company founded by oil industry veterans, a centaur like proposal is proposed: the body of an oil platform with the head of a wind turbine. The three platforms service three immeadiate centres - Buelton, Solvang and Santa Barbara through an existing network of onshore and offshore pipelines as well as road transport of processed and refined oil [refer to Drawing 14]. If these platforms were to instead produce
electricity through wind turbines, the resulting required infrastructure would suggest adding to an existing set of transmission cables onshore and offshore [refer to Drawing 15].
The first of many speculations on future energy inhabitations [refer to Drawing 16],
this speculation begins to exhibit the concerns and conditions that will be addressed in the recommissioning of the site, a continuous goal for ecological symbiosis in the extended urban of Californias offshore infrastructure.
39
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[Drawing 16] Speculations on wind platforms40
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EPILO
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TRD2 | Jan 2015 - Apr 2015Continued documentation of 23 platformsContinued research on existing ecologies and their related life cyclesContinued research on potential renewable energy systems and their implementationsContinued investigation of natural/subnatural conditions-for current and future energy infrastructuresDevelopment of theories and relationships between the extended urban, ecological symbiosis & subnaturePreliminary site proposal
TRD3 | May 2015 - Aug 2015Site Visit - May & Jun 2015Refine site proposal
Design & narrate different recommissioning ideasPropose sets of ecological symbiosis within the context of the extended urban & subnatural conditions
TRD4 | Sep 2015 - Dec 2015Final thesis book - aim for defence in December
THESIS INTENTIONS
41
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A Brief History of Offshore Oil Drilling. Draft. ed. Washington, D.C.: National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, 2010.
Adam, Robert, 1728-1792 Ruins of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia, 01-04, Printed for the author, 1764 iv, [7], 33 p., [54] leaves of plates : ill. ; 53 cm.
As U.S. Congress Lags, California Leads Push to Divest From Fossil Fuels Linked to Climate Change. In Democracy Now. Amy Goodman. December 2, 2015.
Bhatia, Neeraj. The Petropolis of Tomorrow. Actar, 2013. Print.
Campbell, Colin. Oil Depletion - The Heart of the Matter. The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 19 May 2015.
Crutzen, Paul J. Human Impact On Climate Has Made This The Anthropocene Age New Perspectives Quarterly: 14-16. Wiley Online Library. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Decommissioning Cost Update for Pacific OCS Region Facilities. 1 (2015). Print.
Ecologies of the Anthropocene: Global Upscaling of Social- Ecological Infrastructures. In New Geographies, edited by Daniel Ibaez and Nikos Katsikis, by Erle C. Ellis. 06th ed. Vol. Grounding Metabolism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014.
ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIGHT: A SYNTHESIS AND INTERPRETATION. University of California Press, edited by Murray D. Dailey, Donald J. Reish, and Jack W. Anderson (1993).
Giorgio Agamben, Che cos il contemporaneo? (Rome: Nottotempo, 2008)
Gissen, David. Subnature Architectures Other Environments. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford [England: Blackwell, 1990. Print.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Hydraulic Fracking Update - Correspondence Package. Report. San Francisco: Environmental Protection Agency, 2014.
J. Dvorak, Michael, Cristina L. Archer, and Mark Z. Jacobson. California Offshore Wind Energy Potential. In Renewable Energy - an International Journal, 12441254. Vol. 35. Stanford, California: Elsevier, 2009.
Kalundborg Symbiosis. Kalundborg Symbiosis. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.Molotch, Harvey. Oil in Santa Barbara and Power in America. Sociological Inquiry: 131-44. Print.
Matek, Benjamin, and Karl Gawell. REPORT ON THE STATE OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN CALIFORNIA. In Geothermal Energy in California Status Report. Washington, D.C: United States. Dept. of Energy. Geothermal Division ;, 2014.
Mostafavi, Mohsen. Ecological Urbanism. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Mller, 2010. Print.
Murchadha, Felix. Introduction. In The Time of Revolution: Kairos and Chronos in Heidegger. New York: Continuum, 2012.
Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban?, City, 19:2-3, 154, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712
Rosa, Hartmut, and Jonathan Mathys. Social Acceleration a New Theory of Modernity. New York: Columbia UP, 2013. Print.
Ruddiman, William F. The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began Thousands of Years Ago. In Climate Change, 261-293. 3rd ed. Vol. 61. Virginia: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
Scott, Geoffrey. The Architecture of Humanism; a Study in the History of Taste. [2d ed. Gloucester, Mass.: P. Smith, 1965. Print.Segee, Brian P., and Elise O. Dea. Dirty Water - Fracking Offshore California. Report. Santa Barbara: Environmental Defence Center, 2013.
Steinhart, Carol, and John Steinhart. Blowout. Belmont, California: Duxbury Press, 1972.
Ulisse, Alberto. Energy City: An Experimental Process of New Energy Scenarios. Barcelona: LIStLab. Print.
Ungers, O. M. The City in the City: Berlin : A Green Archipelago. Zrich: Lars Mller, 2013. Print.UNFCCC COP 21 Paris France. Accessed December 13, 2015. http://www.cop21paris.org/about/cop21.
W.Moore, Jason. Part 1: On the Nature & Origins of Our Ecological Crisis. In The Capitalocene. Binghamton, NY: Binghamton University, 2014.
Water Conditions: Declaration. California Department of Water Resources. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/declaration.cfm.
Wolfson, A, and Parr, T. (1975) The marine life of offshore oil drilling platform EVA. Marine Ecological Consultants of southern California. Tech. Rep. No. 75-11
Wolfson, A., G. Van Blaricom, N. Davis, and G.S. Lewbel. The Marine Life of an Offshore Oil Platform. Marine Ecology -
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PRECEDENT STUDIES
BERLIN: A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO
Berlin: A Green Archipelago is a manifesto by Rem Koolhaas and Mathias Ungers (along with Peter Reimann, Hans Kollhoff and Arthur Ovaska). Published in 1977, it contained an urban design concept for the future development of Berlin. Since then, this piece has inspired various ideas of the Archipelago, outlining the conditions under which urban areas function and those under which they should be conceived. The idea of the Archipelago ties into notions of Polycentric Urbanism, where the city is decentralized in terms of industry. A polycentric urban condition removes industry from the central focus and encourages an archipelago - like system for production and consumption; allowing the surrounding architecture to not be compromised.
Water
Streets
Objects
Extruded Archipelago and City types
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KALUNDBORG INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Kalundborg is an Eco-industrial park located in the municipality of Kalundborg, Denmark. The park is the worlds first system of Industrial Symbiosis. Over the course of a few decades, Kalundborg has grown to become a center of energy production in a Closed-loop system.an Eco Industrial Park (EIP) is a community of manufacturing and service businesses located together on a
common property. Members seek enhanced environmental, economic,
and social performance through collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues.
- Eco Industrial Park Handbook
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manufactured pharmaceuticals and enzymes
biogas
natural gypsum
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sludge from wastewater
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sludge given away as fertilizeryeast used for pig feedstock
sludge sold as fertilizer
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sludge sold as fertilizer
manufactured pharmaceuticals and enzymes
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sludge from wastewater
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sludge sold as fertilizer
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sludge sold as fertilizer
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manufactured pharmaceuticals and enzymes
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gas
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sludge sold as fertilizer
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waste heat
waste heat for district heating
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steam
steam
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steam
sludge sold as fertilizer
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manufactured pharmaceuticals and enzymes
biogas
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waste
gas
sludge from wastewater
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gypsu
mindustrial
gypsum
waste
gas
waste gas
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plasterboard
crude oilrecovered sulfur
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sludge sold as fertilizer
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gas
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ater
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ater
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