Becoming-Disaster, Resisting-Disaster: Transformations of Speeds and Paces in a Post-Landslide Milieu

The landslide of Mocoa was caused by an overflow in the rivers surrounding the city. The landslide started from the east of the city and continued to the west. In this process, some buildings were washed away and others were silted. When the landslide finishes its course and starts to recede, it leaves sediments, logs and rocks. These materials are taken advantage of to form the berms, and the rest of the debris is used for the rest of the organisms.

The project works in what we call a becoming-resisting disaster gradient: relative variations in the strata will determine the thermodynamic performances of the organisms, in terms of “resisting” and “becoming”, where resisting performances will find the most comfortable solutions, and becoming will enhance the site’s climate attributes. The earth organisms in Mocoa are the berms, which will vary in composition, size, and direction according to the slope of the site, which is the first code. The second code is the elevation contours of the site, every 4 meters. The becoming disaster area is the one with the more intense slopes, where in a far from equilibrium condition the landslide will be faster. The resisting end of the spectrum will aim to slow down the motion of the mud. The berms will be parallel to the slope when they are becoming disaster, to allow faster motion and prevent material buildup, and they will be perpendicular when resisting so as to act as sorting machines to collect materials to build the rest of the organisms. The air organisms are distributed with a double wind mapping, for both predominant wind directions. The mapping is done with a random populate that will generate variability in the inter-organism relationships within the strata. The organisms create a venturi effect to maximize wind flow, and they bend to the direction of the wind vectors. The intensity of the wind will determine the intensity of the geometry that generates the venturi effect, the amount of stacked pieces, and the size. For the fire organism distribution, the radiation mapping was combined with a square solar grid, to generate blocks that will vary their proportions to allow for more or less solar gain through the east and west sides. This will differentiate the becoming and the resisting areas, which will generate hot and cold water pools respectively. The density of the distribution depends on proximity to tree clusters, which work to alleviate the strong radiation. As the height and diameter of the organisms are inversely proportional, the hot water pools will be wide and short, to maximize solar gain, and the cold water pools will be tall and skinny to minimize solar gain and help ventilate.

Finally, the fog harvesting devices are mapped using a grid that is oriented facing the predominant wind direction, double lined in one direction to improve the performance of the organisms, and densified by elevation to compensate for the differences in fog density in lower and higher areas. The density and size are inversely proportional.

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