Retroactive Postbubonicopolis: Double Articulation Against Vector-borne Transmission in Venice

A biological Disaster is a diverse mode of coding in a semiotic chain. A hazard caused by the exposure to living organisms and their toxic substances or vector-borne diseases that they may carry. These disasters are caused by a virus or a bacteria. A

bacteria is a complex, single-celled creature that can reproduce on its own. They are transmitted to humans  through

air, water, food, or living vectors. Once they get inside the human body, they lay on a healthy bacteria and start to multiply in multiplicities. On the other hand, a virus is thinner and has small infectious agents. They’re made up of a piece of genetic material. The viruses can’t survive without a host, they can only reproduce by attaching themselves to cells in our bodies. Biological disasters don’t have an average of how long they will  last because are always in a relation with the outside and their constant movements. Its duration is linked to strategies of city planning, hospital resources, hygiene, among others.

Float and Fly are two ways of these microorganisms can spread. We have Float that spreads when close to infected people by releasing the virus to  air when coughing and/or sneezing. Fly It can spread from indirect transmission from person to person by a virus host, such as a mosquito, a tick or rats. In Venice, our post-bubonic organisms takes into account the rapid outbreak of the disease by administrating within distance from the epicenters. They merge into each other to reduce the strength of the disease. The earth element lifts the building with brick arches, a recurrent resource in venice. These arches segment the city in two horizontal circulations. Fleas cannot move in water and die within 24hrs so the earth-water organism introduce in the underground sanitizing pools with little depth. The water is collected on top and redistributed to underground and then to the sanitizing pool. Then, we have earth and fire, because of the new heights of the buildings our radiation map changes so we cut out the building that is producing a new shadow. In Earth- Air, we chose sailcloth because is not rigid so it can contain different winds. If water and fire combine the pools interact as an actual flea trap that uses heat to attract fleas and water to make them stop moving. In Venice for our Earth elements assemblage we first apply the strata information and then its proximity to the loading docks.Our earth element is a brick arch that elevates the existing buildings in order not to let fleas reach the buildings. First, we elevate all the buildings 9 meters, which is the maximum a flea can reach. Then we overlap the disease diagram that takes into account the proximity to the loading docks. The maximum height is when closer to the loading docks and as they go farther away, the heights decrease. For Air, we worked with sailcloth as a barrier that doesn’t let fleas pass through. We first identified the wind direction during summertime, when fleas mostly go out, and choose the facades that should be covered.  Its height is also defined by its proximity to the loading docks. The Fire element is a pit that is 9 meters profound and its location was defined by different parameters. First, we analyzed the radiation in different hours to set the pits. The pits have a reflecting mirror defined by the direction of the sun which depends on the hour they will get sun rays on. As the other elements, its size in plan is defined by the disease diagram. Finally, we have the water organism which consists of  rainforest collector and storage pools over the buildings.

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