Displacement Ecologies

Date
2011
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Abstract

This thesis defines displacement as the occupation of infrastructural voids for collective use. By calibrating patterns of appropriation, I propose displacement as a formal strategy for leveraging issues of demand. The discipline of architecture is becoming arguably subsumed by "sustainability"- an agenda which responds to demand with increased efficiency. Instead, this thesis ask how might systems of efficiency be leveraged for new modes of collectivity? Specifically, this project re-appropriates growing energy needs by proposing a pumped storage facility in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. Current technologies accommodate the storage of energy through the physical displacement of water: a spatial exchange that I leverage to increase the city's collective space. Displacement reorganizes mass:void relationships. What if we design all voids? The Void:Void condition is a matrix of containers - some filled with people and others with water. Adjusting to changing energy and programmatic demands, displacement occurs as one void appropriates another.

Description
Degree
Master of Architecture
Type
Thesis
Keywords
Communication and the arts, Applied sciences, Landscape architecture, Civil engineering, Architecture
Citation

Highfill, Brantley Frederick. "Displacement Ecologies." (2011) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70261.

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