Fictional Creature Propagates Reality Undergraduate Thesis by David J Pearson

INFRASTRUCTURAL PUBLIC/PRIVATE EQUALIZING
david j pearson
INFRASTRUCTURAL PUBLIC/PRIVATE EQUALIZING

camp pendleton marine corps base, ca
a SPILL publication-soirée
5
contributing unknowingly
Smout Allen
Patrick Blanc
Anthony Browell
BBC
Carol J. Burns
Edward Burtynsky
Peter Cook
Gilles Deleuze
Annie Dillard
Bob Dylan
Graffiti Research Lab
Félix Guattari
Mitchell Joachim
Andrea Kahn
Louis Kahn
Ted Kane
Søren Kierkegaard
Rem Koolhaas
Manuel de Landa
Maya Lin
Karl Marx
Bruce Mau
Ian McHarg
New York Times
Friedrich Nietzsche
Joyce Carol Oates
Enrique Peñalosa
Ayn Rand
Francois Roche
Fernando Romero
Bruce Sterling
Kelly Slater
United States Marine Corps
Leo Tolstoy
Kurt Vonnegut
Tom Wiscombe
Lebbeus Woods
many thanks
Robert Arens
Gerardo Ayala
Lisa Coffman
Bob Condia ------ “i can not teach you how to be an architect, but i can teach you how to think
Juan Elvira like an architect.”
Terry Hargrave
Marc Neveu
Vuk Pavicevic
Matt Ritter
Ralph Roesling
a SPILL publication-soirée
Clayton Taylor
Cody Williams
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
and of course:
Mikaela Spielman
Ian Slover
Studio 400
Karen Lange
Cathy, John, Tommy,
and Geordy Pearson
7
9
Corrupt ideologies and religious beliefs
continue to head us toward [un]charted territory
11
I N F E
R S T R U C T U R E an infrastructure that infers

rather than from explicit}
S U P R
A S T R U C T U R E an infrastructure that refers
{to deduce or conclude from evidence and reasoning

{to someone or something mentioned above or earlier}
Theodore Judah
Architect of the first Transcontinental
Railroad
infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structures

and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise
How does infrastructure affect the

democratic nature of space/place?
How will I study it?
Here is my response.
[a thesis process]
13
Modern culture
of commerce
and
circulation has
replaced the
roaming
hunter-
gatherer
culture
of the past.
introduction: beginnings >
Results of commerce/circulation
very beginning As individual and societal relationships formed,

partitions emerged to regulate activity within the open system. As
the partitions increased, the openness of the system decreased. To-
day, a blatant distinction exists between the roaming open system of
private enterprise and the circulating closed system of the individual.
15
RESEARCH (fall+) pp. 6-181
PROCESS (winter+) pp. 182-295
MODEL (spring) pp. 296-355
17
RESEARCH
II N
NFFEERRS STRT URCUTCUT
RAU LRpublic/private equalizing
E an infrastructure that infers

rather
S T U Dthan
I O 4from explicit}
0 0
S U P R A S T R U C T U R E an infrastructure cal
that refers

david j pearson
deduce
{camp orpendleton {to
concludemarinefrom evidence
corps base, san and
diego,reasoning
ca}
Karen L a n g e
2008-09 p a r t i a l c o m p l e t i o n o f b a r c h. poly
i n t r o d u c t i o n ( 1 )
beginnings [very] 12
finding...[?] 20
abstract beg. 22
i n f r a s t r u c t u r e / d a i s y ( 2 8 )
m a t e r i a l e x p e r i m e n t s ( 3 6 )
1:Self-Organization of a Closing System 40
2:(Re)growth 44
3:Frozen 48
4:Hydroponics 50
Open/Closed Systems Definitive Essay 52
c a s e s t u d i e s ( 5 6 )
CCTV Building by OMA: Beijing, China 57
San Diego: contained 65
Ad Study Billboards: I-8 CA to AZ 77
f u t u r e f o r e c a s t : a l w a y s h a z y ( 8 7 )
who will be china’s china? / RepRap 88
technology & intentions 94
h o l e s ( 9 8 )
s a n p e d r o : c i t y a m i d s t ( 1 0 5 )
mapping site, mapping history/anti-market 108

vellum: topo light box 117
s i t e c h a n g e s ( 1 2 2 - 3 3 )
i n t r o d u c i n g s i t e / i s s u e s ( 1 3 4 )
24 hour 146
hydrology 158
p r o g r a m ( 1 6 2 )
s o c i o l o g i c a l i n t e r m i s s i o n ( 1 7 0)
19
beginning, with questions >
1. how does infrastructure affect the democratic nature of place?

/how is democratic participation experienced amidst infrastructure?
/what boundaries does infrastructure impose?
/what does physical infrastructure serve?
/what does digital infrastructure serve?

21
1
2
introduction: where i’ve found myself >
Beginning sketch, sea change
[re]source
change My experience is now world-around…I have been op-

erating on the philosophical premise that all thoughts and ex-
periences can be translated much further than just into words
and abstract thought patterns. I saw that they can be translated
into patterns which may be realised in various physical pro-
jections - by which we can alter the physical environment it-
self and thereby induce other men to subconsciously alter their
ecological patterning…none of the other species have altered
their ecological patterning…in the last half century man has
graduated from a local 12-mile radius daily domain into a world
around multi-thousand
multi-housand mile radius
mile daily radius
domain…as a conse-
quence of his ability to alter his own ecological patterning…”
From Education Automation, Carbon-
dale, 1962 by [Richard Buckminster Fuller]
23
Where privatized space has encroached on public space, a public free-
dom has been lost. Public space is no longer democratic. Our vertical
space is private; our public space is horizontal. Private flees horizontal.
Private is sustained by primarily horizontal circulation. Urban space is
largely seen as public space. However, circulation
is predominantly
based and constructed for the speedy exchange of resources
by private institutions.
Circulation in modern western society is a byproduct of the exchange of re-

sources. As opposed to the hunter-gatherer cultures of the past where roaming
in an open system included the search and acquisition of resources, modern cul-
ture in its relation to movement deals with the optimized exchange of resources
by private institutions. Our current culture relies on movement within a closed
system i.e. circulation. The roaming of the past has been replaced by the oc-
casional search for innovation when anti-market commoditization or the com-
moditization of goods used to manipulate consumer needs rather than provide
innovation has failed. The closest resemblance to roaming today is “shopping”
which operates on a much smaller scale with little connection to the resource
acquiring open system but rather to an individual’s own desire for consumables.
Rather than the roaming behavior of the past we deal in speedy exchanges be-
tween static bodies.
< introduction: abstract beginning
Oil derrick resource
acquisition
These static bodies constitute the private realm where a “few large
enterprises run by a strict hierarchy of managers” controls and sets
prices in what is essentially a society of “mini-Soviet Unions” or
command economies where a few large enterprises run by a hierar-
chy of managers command prices and predetermine as much as pos-
sible.1 The existing topography of the urban North American city
is not democratic. Private enterprise flees upward to the skyscraper
searching for what has been lost in nature and distancing them from
where the last democratic behavior might lie, in the movement of
peoples. The elevator ascends higher and higher to recapture the
light, the views, and the smell of a place unfettered by cars and edi-
fice. Below, what has been left in many areas is urban space where
circulation converges, cuts through and flows along side open pub-
lic space as a result of its optimization by private institutions. This
command circulation encroaches on the definition of public and pri-
vate space and the boundaries or layers between the two.
In some places we have circulation and we have no public space. In

others, the public space we do have only exists with the stipulation
to buy something. These public spaces lack any cultural substrate,
the place to stop, to observe, to think, to catch one’s breath amidst
it all. But, the best areas of our cities have a beautiful diversity of
circulation among public and private space. Subway entrances peel
back along the street where a newspaper kiosk lies across the street
from a small park.
From An Interview with Manuel de Landa

(http://t0.or.at/delanda/intdelanda.htm/)
25
Capitalist webs capture resources
in an open system to feed into
boxes.
27
machining landscape
acquisition
transportation
port of los angeles - 1872

introduction: beginnings >
exchange
resources are gathered, marshlands are pressed into ports, small men
in dark rooms exchange them numerically, more pressing and pen-
etrating is made to transport them, the waste is transported over the
great recycling medium of the pacific ocean to china, waste gathers.
waste
29
This paper will be about infrastructure. It is not the tie that binds.
The other part will be about the daisy, although the daisy itself is gen-
eral.
(Left)Map of Pre-Interstate US
Highway System, 1955. Most
routes are still in use and well-
maintained.
We have chosen to structure the earth, to do so in an attempt to better partition

our tasks and gain access to the resources that sustain us. We have done so
through technology. At all scales, our environments are measured so as to better
understand them; striated so as to draw abstract lines across the earth and con-
trol the area within those lines; and independently or as a result of the previous,
stratified so as to predict and rule those within the lines. Through these actions
we have set up conditions of prediction. This will be the simplified version and
perhaps, that is the only way to tell it because we all make up our own.
The smooth space of the earth has always been such. Entities flow in and out of
each other, transforming, mutating, and growing. These entities are experienced
fragmentary but in reality exist dependent of each other. The behavior defining
their relationships is smooth and thus the earth is smooth. It is self-involved,
although extremely supportive to the human, which assigns its individual parts
< infrastructure: a history, attitude, & hint
value. This inevitably leads to structuring or striation as Deleuze and
Guattari have established.1 They establish the notion of a smooth
and striated space. The first, the smooth is represented as the nomad
space where the war machine roams seeking to territorialize. The
second is the striated space, where the state develops seeking to rule
territory through assigning value and then structuring.
At a larger scale, the earth appears as two surfaces, the moiré of

the mountains flows into green patches of the valleys, and the only
distinction arises where water meets land, the gold sand juxtaposed
against the rich blue of the sea.2 The surface of the earth is a flux,
a rich gradient of blending and competing forces. Today, the Inter-
state System is one continuous surface.
1924: the Bureau of Public Roads is called upon to investigate the

possibility of creating a system of standardized highways. A grow-
ing automobile population brought on by the mass production tech-
niques of Henry Ford is leading to an increased mobility. Dirt paths
are no longer providing the medium needed to move across the na-
tion. They lead along a trail of history. Where a carriage or train
makes its way across the country, early settlers took route. That is
changing. National defense calls for the swift transport across a
great nation, and no trail of history allows that in car and it certainly
does not allow planes to land along them.
250 uniquely named roads confuse drivers and passengers alike.
In 1925, the Bureau of Public Roads “joins with states to create
[the] U.S. numbered highway system for marking the main inter-
state highways.”3 Names such as the Lincoln Highway, the Oregon
Trail, and the Santa Fe Trail will be assigned numbers despite the
1 A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Pp. 474-500.

2 A quick glance at Microsoft’s Live Search Maps from 50 miles above the earth,
demonstrates two surfaces: a smooth blue sea and a wide reaching spectrum of land.
Strip away the water and all is land. Or as the effect of global warming, flood the
land and all is water. Water’s nature allows it to constantly slip along the surface of
the earth. (maps.live.com)
Earth, water, air, and fire compose the Greek classical view of the elements. This
brings to mind the issue of scale. Only with the microscope’s minutiae of scale do
we have our contemporary view of the 117 elements. In fact, currently we know
water as two atoms of hydrogen covalently bonded to one oxygen atom. There is
more to be discovered. There is more already documented that our instruments have
not told us.
3 Four years of thinking, confusion, and deliberation and the numbered system was
created. It not only leads to an increased understanding between states as to what
roads cross state line but to a call for increased cooperation between states, private
individuals, and the federal government in the construction of roads. U.S. Depart-
ment of Transportation website (http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/spring96/p96sp44.
htm)
31
public’s nostalgic resentment of changing names into impersonal numbers.
“Why no, sir you may not change my dear Lincoln Highway to 30. I,
by dear resent that.” A small town hall meeting erupts in applause as a
petite woman in a red pea coat stammers in confidence.
“Well, Miss. It is a matter of national security and of course efficiency.
Our meandering roads are just too confusing.” The commissioner’s tone
relays an understanding of a great effort underway.
“Confusing? Confusing is when the bread comes out of the oven past due
and is still doughy, mister commissioner.”
“Please now, just settle down….”
===
We add strata to the earth. Laying layer upon layer then expect that it will not grow.
But it does, despite our impervious surfaces of asphalt and concrete. Although water
runs off these surfaces and into storm drains, the little water that percolates through
springs seeds to life. The daisy grows through the cracks it forms or that we have
formed through use. The material of the earth is not so pliable. It is not submissive.
We call them weeds and spray them. The pesticide soaks into their leaves and they
die. Their seeds, however, do not leave. They stay. A tree pushes through another
crack. And if its roots are strong enough, pavers are pushed aside, sidewalks are
lifted, and a flat plane becomes a hinge pinned around the root of an elm.
In the earliest days of transportation in the United States, there was no need to lay
down a suffocating surface. The railroads of the 1800’s and today are two tracks
laid upon a series of ties, typically wood. Between the ties, especially of rarely used
tracks, grow grasses and weeds. Alongside the tracks, trees grow. Perhaps, it is the
touching the earth lightly attitude that has led to the emergence of a railroad ecology.
Where small watersheds from improperly drained roadbeds create artificial wetlands,
hardy vegetation results. Vegetation that responds well to occasional clear cutting
and herbicide may actually flourish.
During these early days, the daisy grew openly, much like before the infrastructure
running through it. Its only impediments were that it not sprout beneath a tie. When
it did though, it simply grew around. It could do so. But, infrastructure grew with
little impediment. While the daisy’s system was slowly closing, infrastructure’s was
expanding. And the individual, their only impediments were personal.
And today what would happen if our infrastructure was inferred from the natural
infrastructure about us? Would the buildings re-wild themselves and a smooth
ecosystem emerge? Or maybe it is human nature that will always seek to structure
and our best approach is to structure efficiently.
1938: The seed for the future Interstate System is planted. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt calls on the Bureau of Public Roads to conduct a study of the feasibility
of a toll financed system of three east-west and three north-south superhighways.4
These studies will be known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of
Interstate and Defense Highways. Studies filter in and around the bureau. One
thing is evident; a toll network would not be self-supporting. The report sug-
gests a 26,700-mile toll-free network connecting all states President Franklin D.
Roosevelt bellows a need for:

[A] special system of direct interregional highways, with all necessary-
4 U.S. Department of Transportation website (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/index.htm)
(Above) Natural strata of Laguna Beach,

San Juan Capistrano, and Camp Pendleton
area. Little variation in strata composition
is presented relative to the distance between
each measured section (a-b: 8 miles; b-c: 17
miles). This suggests a smooth gradient be-
tween areas.
33
connections through and around cities, designed to meet the requirements
of the national defense and the needs of a growing peacetime traffic of
longer range.5
His call is answered later after a series of studies and speculation linger through
Congress. The first formal model for an interstate highway system is reported in
Congress.
On a typical cold November day of 1942 the sun’s appearance is decreas-

ing in Big Delta, Alaska day by day as a crude but traversable road is
completed. Army engineers and civilian contractors celebrate in unison.
They are the first team to complete a highway after FDR’s call. Built
between Dawson Creek, British Columbia and Big Delta; the Alaska
Highway covers 2,300 kilometers connecting a chain of strategic military
airfields.
==
Perhaps the problem is the daisy is unpredictable. Is it not amazing that it lives in
those cracks? Its yellow dotted center and rich white petals rising out of gray weath-
ered pavement and cold concrete lie to us about its origins. What does it look like
below that surface? Isn’t the world beneath much different? The root system of a
large tree forms an intense overlapping and interconnecting network of fibrous mat-
ter. Instead of the open unlimited growth above earth, we can envision the structure
and nutrients that bring it life; the support system, that if severed from brings about
the real collapse and eradication of the plant.
The daisy is common in Europe. It grows within the small breaks created in our sur-
faces and is labeled invasive. Are the surfaces invasive? It is where and the manner
in which they are laid that is invasive.
Have we created a series of arks, places amidst the slivers of infrastructure where
species in small numbers are growing 2 by 2? If the daisy is coming up through the
5 Although Roosevelt’s political opponents deemed his words as part of a “master plan” or “another
ascent into the stratosphere of New Deal jitterbug economics,” Roosevelt feared a relapse of the Great
Depression after American soldiers returned from the war looking for jobs. (“Federal-Aid Highway Act
of 1956, Creating the Interstate System: Public Roads,” Weingroff, Richard F., Summer 1996, v. 60, no.
1)
Infrastructure Party
cracks of pavement, how does it grow alongside it or between two rows of pave-
ment?
1956: President Eisenhower creates the Highway Trust Fund through his signature
on the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The Highway Trust Fund will provide the mech-
anism for financing the Interstate System. It will allow the smooth operation of
funding between the states who need it and the federal government. Ultimately, the
act will resolve the problem of how to fund interstate building without creating a
deficit in the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund. Self-financing will be created through
the application of a federal gas tax and other motor vehicle taxes. Automobile
infrastructure has been standardized.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials declare:
The standards include a minimum of four 12-foot wide travel lanes, a

minimum shoulder width of 10 feet, full control of access, and design
speeds of 50 to 70 miles per hour (depending on the type of terrain).6
We live in a top-down world, meaning our infrastructure is deterministic rather

than free. Our nomadic ancestors roamed the earth in an open system. What they
needed was the world in front of them. Their resources, their nutrients, their sus-
tenance for survival passed directly from the earth to the mouth. Today is much
35
different. Our current thinking favors predetermined control.
The daisy grows through the cracks. Before there was the single continuous surface
of pavement, there was the wild. The daisies grew up along side the evergreen and
the evergreen’s needles littered the ground beneath it. Man existed similarly. He
roamed. Along came structuring and man’s desire to partition tasks and hold power
over others rather than over food. Through the measuring of phenomena, stratifying
of the earth, and the striating of behavior, mankind has purpose because what is to
be done is known.
Geography is the medium of infrastructure. Why is the medium so unknown to us?

Just as a great painter knows the technical limits of the brush and the mysterious ac-
cidents of the canvas, geography is the trampled medium. It is forgotten. It is clear
that cars dominate the ground. The earth could be wrapped 225 times around its cir-
cumference by the 3,974,107 miles of highway in the U.S. And this seems warranted
because “Americans travel 1,100,000,000 miles in one day. Equal to 4,605 trips to
the moon per day.”7 Whether in our cities or our suburbs, roads comprise an impen-
etrable continuous surface that ignores what lies beneath it and in doing so what is
alongside it for the ‘practical’ method of disposing of water is by quick runoff. The
mobility of the car has allowed us to go places without any understanding. Man-
kind’s understanding of nature is changing. Nature is not an external reference point,
but in fact an inhabitable ever changing surface less volume of hinges, pulleys, and
pins existing in behaviors unknown and known. And we are a part of it. Simply, it
is complex. Unlike the views of the past and the conquering of nature like Professor
Challenger,8 we do not need to hear the earth scream any longer. We can hear it.
7 Skycar City, p.33

8 Felix Guattari ’s reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ‘s When the World Screamed in his book Three
Ecologies. It is the story of a man convinced the earth is a sentient being and with a big enough machine
he can awaken it. He drills towards the center of the earth until the earth screams and then the awakened
creature proceeds to destroy his machine. Guattari argues for a philosophy of ecology which he terms
‘ecosophy.’
per capita RV 0.0465 - 0.0735
0.0000 - 0.0035 0.0736 - 0.127
0.00336 - 0.0062 0.128 - 0.224
0.0063 - 0.0135 0.225 - 0.380
0.0136 - 0.0203 0.381 - 0.768
0.0204 - 0.0305 0.769 - 1.669
0.0306 - 0.0464 1.670 - 11.90 km3/person
National Roadless Map

This map shows per-capita “roadless volume” (RV) or the volume of area with-
out roads by county for the contiguous United States. Some counties have high
RV overall but low per-capita RV; for example, some counties contain metropolitan
areas closely juxtaposed with mountains, desert or extensive wetlands. This map
demonstrates the overall connectivity of the US.
37
Material Experiments>
Detail view of semi-rigid/semi-pliable

plant structure “ball”
39
The plant became a device to study the nature of closed and open systems.
Developed in order to test an ongoing conceptual model in the physical.
Step One: Pour water in Step Two: Pour water out
Images of Procedure
Step Three: Observe resulting self-organization

Video Stills: Demonstration
of pliable nature of “ball”
origins and followings The idea for these experiments

came unintentionally. As the result of preparing herb wa-
ter in a cylindrical container, I noticed the mint stems provid-
ing the flavor were balling up after multiple pours. Togeth-
er, the shape of the container, gravity, and the repeated pours
“balled” the cut stems into one semi-rigid pliable structure.
Inadvertently, I had removed the plant stems from its organizing
matter (material growth) and agitated it to form a bottom-up self
organizing structure (semi-rigid structural “ball”).
Lars Spuybroek investigates the self organizing tendencies of mate-

rials. Spuybroek sets into motion a series of events that:
First, isolate the material through selection,
Second, agitate the material in what he calls the mobiliza-
tion phase,
Third, observe the self-organization through the consolida-
tion of the
system
Fourth, allow the resulting architectural morphology to
take place
In an attempt to elaborate upon the fourth phase Spuybroek explains,

I set about the regrowth of the plant stems as organized as structural
“ball.” The following experiments attempt to freeze the experiment at
multiple stages to better understand the resulting structure and to re-
grow the plant as a more complex open system that provides the plants
with their necessary nutrients in an increasingly dense meshwork ball.
41
< Experiment 1: Self-Organization of a Closing System
procedure:
1. Cut stems from open system of plant of 6-7” in length

2. Place cut plant matter in glass jars
3. Fill jar with refrigerated water
4. Allow xylem to absorb water, let stand 18 hours in refrig-
erator away from light
5. Pour water out repeatedly twice a day
6. Repeat over series of days
hypothesis:
Severing a plant at lengths along its stem will stop the open growing
system or “the characteristic state of the living organism” (Ludwig
von Bertalanffy). Although no change of the plant’s components
will occur, only the decomposition, there is a structural behavior to
be observed. As plants dry, wither, and die they may curl or break
apart loosely. Thus, placing these plants in water slows the process
of death (possibly inciting new life) and allows water and any dis-
solved minerals to flow through the xylem of the plant to all parts
of the cut piece. This, of course, ignores the plant’s other necessary
nourishments: light energy, food & metabolites.
Will the plant slowly die and come together or will new life sprout?
What forces cause the plant material to ball together to become semi rigid yet pliable?
Jar 1: Firethorn (Pyracantha) Berries
Length: 5.5”
Various characteristics:
Apex with flower
Slightly woody stem (semi rigid)
Green stem (pliable) with corresponding leaves
Biggest leaf width: 0.75”
Range of stem diameter: 1/32” - 3/32”
Jar 2: PM from front of Parable Christian Bookstore, Marsh St.

Various lengths
Range of stem diameter: 1/16” – 1/8”
Jar 3: PM from San Luis Trust Bank, Marsh and Osos

Various lengths of multiples of 3”
Length range: 3” – 21”
Range of stem diameter: 1/32” – 1/8”
1 stem with leaves of 24” long from 1/8” stem, stemming into 3
of 6”, 12”, 21”
Jar 4: The Big Mix - Palm and Johnson: Firethorn (Pyracantha) Berries;
Rosemary; and Lavendar 43

Material Experiment 1: Results and response >
description Jars 1 and 3 demonstrated the best results. Jars 2 and 4

did not produce the ball like effect that I was looking for and were
aborted. 1 and 3 produced fairly rigid networks based on friction
connections where stems crossed. Although neither became balls
as desired each demonstrated self organizational characteristics. Jar
3’s materials formed a simple weave. Jar 1’s slightly more complex
weave included the introduction of a third element crossing the
weave perpendicularly. Zip ties fastened the friction connections
where stems crossed. This created flexible connections although
freezing the plant in place.
None of the plants had new life sprout, although it is very possible
that they could root given more time.
Proposed site installations at LA River and Kuwait

City, Kuwait
The resulting plant matter was placed on a

piece of topography (Jar 1: a small sand dune
of Kuwait; Jar 3: a portion of the L.A. River) as
proposals for the exhibition of gradually closing
systems.
Simple Weave of Jar 3
Weave with perpendicular 3rd element of Jar 1

Base Housing
Santa Margarita River
East Elevation
Intervening at the site of acquisition Intervening at the site of exchange and waste
45
< Material Experiment 2: (Re)growth >
procedure:
1. Procedure of Experiment 1
2. Make small cut in plant stem, exposing phloem and xylem,
but not severing
3. Apply Rootone (artificial rooting hormone)
4. Place 2 specimens in humidifier (high humidity, warm
temperature environment); leave other 2 in typical green
house environment
5. Compare effects of different environments after 1 week
6. Place successful roots in Jiffy pots (soil rooting medium)
7. Provide water and nutrients for newly rooted plants
hypothesis:
I returned to the mint after the first experiment, realizing that mint
provides the right amount of flexibility in its stems to create the struc-
tural “ball.”
From the results of the first experiment, rooting is possible if kept in a
moist environment away from light. Thus, by covering the plants and
keeping them in a moist environment they should root. The applica-
tion of Rootone should increase the odds of this rooting and speed
up the rooting process. The specimens placed in the humidifier will
not fare as well given the plant’s preferred climate is cold and moist
rather than hot and moist.
Which specimens will fare better: those in the humidifier or those in the typical green-
house environment?
What medium will be necessary to continue the plants’ growth once rooted? Will the Jiffy pots provide the nutrients
needed?
Plant specimen, Cutting Instrument, Rootone artificial rooting hormone
(Left) Plant specimen removed from container

with possible rooting points located.
(Bottom) Cuts made into stems at determined
possible rooting points so as to not sever
xylem and phloem.
47
Material Experiment 2: Results and response >
desiccate or live: Despite the high humidity of the hu-

midifier, the temperature it contained desiccated the
Spearmint and Peppermint specimens beyond root-
ability and They were abandoned.
The Peppermint and Ginger mint combination and the
Ginger mint however, did root. The typical green-
house environment served best for the development of
rooting. It’s important to note the Ginger mint speci-
men’s state. Because its roots were left attached, it
had a much more likely chance of surviving. How-
ever, it was surprising to see it root in multiple places
along its stem, since its root system was already very
developed. It had been assumed that a root system
as big as its own would have drawn all the nutrients
it needed and not allowed the stems to root. The two
specimens that demonstrated the most potential had
developed 3 sufficient rooting areas to where a Jiffy-
pot could be placed as a medium to allow the nutrients
needed to circulate through the plant.
Peppermint and Gingermint zip tied Semi desiccated
Gingermint Living due to intact roots

Spearmint Nearly desiccated
1.5 Months Later: the Zip tied

Combo and the Ginger mint
with intact roots, are showing
life. The Ginger mint shows less
life. This is most likely because
its roots were left attached and
continued to pull nutrients in. It
had a greater system to support
than the Ziptie Combo. The Zip-
tie quickly loss life in its original
stems and nutrients were then fo-
cused on the newly rooting life.
Peppermint Desiccated
3 Successful rooting beginnings The Pack: 1.5 Months Later The Pack: 1.5 Months Later
placed in Jiffy pots (Ginger mint) Multiple Sproutings (Re)growth
3 Successful rooting beginnings Separated from the Pack The Pack: 1.5 Months Later
placed in Jiffy pots (Peppermint & 1 Jiffy Pot is Showing New Life
Ginger mint) 49
< Material Experiment 3: Frozen
procedure:
Experiment 3: Attempting to “freeze” the plant ball structure in
order to more carefully observe its structure.
2. Remove ball from container and ziptie friction joints
where plant
stems cross in order to maintain ball structure
3. Heat glycerin soap to the point of liquidness
4. Dip ball in glycerin soap several times, waiting a few sec
onds after each dip to allow soap to thicken, much like
the dipping of a wick during the candle making process
What will the structural system essentially be?

Will it prove to be more complex or less?
Will the ball lose its spatiality?
results the frozen ball, although not very

useful beyond its one state, reveals a simple
structural system
of overlapping
arches. The freez-
ing process loses
its spatiality.
(left)beginning “semi-struc-
tural plant ball after zipty-
ing to loosely fix the ball”
51
< Material Experiment 4: Hydroponics
procedure:
Experiment 3: (Re)growth by Hydroponics [a crude start]
2. Add dissolved Rootone to container
3. Remove ball from container forming ball and place in
glass jar to allow light to enter and photosynthesis to occur
3. Fill bottom of jar 1/4” up with dissolved nutrients to
allow solution to humidify the container and feed multiple
parts of the plant.
4. Observe
currently this method has incited new growth in the form of small
strong stems. However, the method of feeding the plants is inef-
fective. A device must be developed to feed the roots systems with
mobility.
one source
multiple sources
new sprouts
53
The basic state of the cell and the organism is a steady state. Compared to
the closed systems of equilibrium, the organism continually maintains
itself through the exchange of materials in its environment. This
system acts equifinally, meaning the system may reach the same final state
from varying initial conditions.1 Closed systems however cannot act in such
a manner.
The plant became a device to study the nature of closed and open systems. De-
veloped in order to test an ongoing conceptual model through physical material-
ity; the procedure followed this path:
1. Opening system of living rooted plant;
2. Closing system of cut stems; closed system of “ball” structure;
3. Opening system of re-rooting “ball” structure;
4. Opening system of living plants.
Thus, the procedure not only opened and closed, but multiplied through the
propagation of the cut stems forming the structure “ball.”
Parallel to this model as an operating premise was the induced closing system of
the plant as the individual’s closed system of his/her environment. The critique
of modern society, as a closing system on the individual basis, led to actions
within the plant model, mimicking those of society over time. Therefore, the
open roaming culture of the past, with the individual less removed from the re-
source origin, became that of the living rooted plant: stage one.

The closing system of cut stems resembled the assembling of partitions. The
roaming culture gradually subsided as partitions were formed denoting individ-
ual job placement. These partitions, although based on efficiency and increasing
levels of human comfort and stability, further removed the individual from the
resource origin. Gradually, the openness of the system on the individual level
abated.

Contemporary society stands at a threshold. Technological means are allow-
ing for the third stage: the re-rooting of society through the increasingly dense
meshwork of the virtual. Obviously, few people in contemporary society are
living in direct relation to the resources they acquire through “shopping.” But,
Material Experiment: Open/Closed systems >
Oil derrick resource
acquisition
through our increase in knowledge by means of an informing internet , decisions

regarding where our resources come from and by which exploitative means they
are extracted, individuals can again establish a connection to resources. This, of
course, assumes the demand function of the market economy is in place. In our
command economy, this is hardly the case. Individual demand is replaced by
corporate command. Regardless, as Francois Roche points out, “a multitude of
citizens is gradually taking over from the republic’s centralized authorities .”

Assuming a cyclical event, the plant will re-root in various locations and complex-
ities will arise. The open system of the past will be replaced by a more complex
open system of the present, where individual contingencies determine resource
use and exploitation with multiple sources feeding multiple roots. The virtual
network is and will ever more act as an extension of the body in its search for and
acquisition of the resources which sustain it. The virtual network becomes the
hand that gathered berries or that held the sickle.
Current infrastructural thinking suppresses the heart of this movement. The aris-
ing digital infrastructure must continually be made available to the mass public.
Because no multitude of citizens will overpower infrastructure of a few. Thank-
fully, digital infrastructure is a flexible infrastructure. Compared to physical
infrastructure, the digital data space of resource exchange is highly mobile and
adaptable.
Theory of Open Systems in Physics and Biology. Ludwig

Van Bertanlaffy. Science, New Series, Vol. 111, No. 2872
55
“A system is closed if no material enters or leaves it; it is
open if there is import and export and, therefore, change
of the components.”
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
A semi-pliable/semi rigid plant structure “ball” with roots
57
Case Study: CCTV Building: Beijing, China >
59
Toil in the city: 2008
The work of Rem Koolhaas/OMA actively investigates the resolution
between “actual indeterminacy and architectural specificity.”
This inquiry roots itself in these analogies: the relationship of specificity
and indeterminacy in urban context and the grid; and building and elevator.
(Left) Recently completed CCTV building

amidst Olympic advertising, Central Business
District, Beijing, China
(Middle and Center) Indeterminacy of social
gathering: Madrid’s La Noche en Blanco &
Specificity of grid: Manhattan 1847
Both actual determinacy and architectural specificity find parallels in the combi-
nation of freedom and law in contemporary society. An end goal becomes how to
react to the rigid and controlled specificity in order to create more humane space.
Specifically, the work of Koolhaas has structured the elevator as a mechanism
“which promotes an open, liberating quality along with its consubstantial dis-
advantage of stiffness and inhumanity.”1 The architectural intent of the CCTV
Television Station and Headquarters in Beijing, China liberates program and user
1 Cortes, Juan Antonio. “Delirio y Más.” el croquis. no.131/132. Madrid : El Croquis Editorial, 2007.
Interconnected loop of program and
circulation
CCTV Tower by OMA
through a thorough understanding of specificity and indeterminacy.

The Chinese government actively seeks totalitarian control. In op-
position to Koolhaas’ investigation of freedom within the rigid, the
People’s Republic of China places emphasis on rigid law to control
the freedom and indeterminacy of the individual. They, Koolhaas
and China, are engaged in ambivalent notions of what is the correct
reaction to the polarity of law and freedom.

CCTV (Chinese Central Television), although reflecting some inde-
pendence in regional issues, is subjected to the control of the State
Council of the People’s Republic of China. The commentary in
CCTV media is regulated by government policy, a government
policy as propaganda machine. The CCTV building, designed by
Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas, has become another part of the
propaganda engine of the People’s Republic of China. Its open and
democratic agenda in public use and accessibility is dwarfed by gov-
ernmental policy. Despite the best intentions of the architect, any
openness is subject to the discretion of the CCTV board of directors.
The building does not “actively engage the city space” as intended
A looping liberator or a looping propaganda

machine of Chairman Mao? Broken record.
61
by OMA nor is it “freely accessible.” Any notion of a public plaza is
absconded by the governmental policy to restrict access to only com-
pany employees and cut off the two roads leading towards it from the
public. As propaganda for the People’s Republic of China, the building
is much more successful. Built in occurrence with the 2008 Beijing
Olympics, this symbol of freedom in program and user establishes an
openness incongruent with modern Chinese society. For the party in-
volved, the building portrays a governmental policy that is westward
leaning and increasingly free-market. The corporate or authoritarian
planned society envisioned in the international style would be much
more honest here.
For all this failure in reality, some very successful strategies are evi-
dent in CCTV as an object stripped from any tie to a place or soci-
ety. Koolhaas states, “the aim is to concentrate all the activity and
program in a single system, rather than to separate them and pull them
apart.” As opposed to the western world, whose sustenance relies on
the decentralized processes of goods and production, China is apt to
centralize process, program, and activity at all scales. CCTV combines
The CCTV building sits near

the intersection of two main roads in
Beijing’s new Central Business District.
The People’s Republic of China has
decided the two public roads that cut
through the site be inaccessible to the
public.
The CCTV building allows “spectacular views across the multiple facades
towards the Central Business District.” The People’s Republic of China
will no longer allow visitors. The enormous public plaza will no longer
be public. It is restricted to company employees.
the production of television “in a loop of interconnected activ-

ity,” that includes administration and offices; news and broad-
casting; program production and services. Seen as two towers
rising towards each other, the architectural systems close in on
themselves. Seen as one folding tower, the architectural systems
redistribute themselves. Both perspectives see the meeting of
something, whether tower or redistributed system, at the 14 floor
overhanging cantilever that houses the management penthouse.
Program and circulation is orchestrated to induce a free flow of
information. From a common nine-story platform, broadcasting
rises along one side and services, research, and education rise
along the other.
* All quotes not previously footnoted provided by http://www.oma.nl/
* It should be noted that since the writing of this commentary, the TVCC tower adjacent to the CCTV
building burned due to an unauthorized fireworks display celebrating the end of the Chinese New Year on
February 9, 2009. One firefighter died in the blaze and dozens were injured. Some worry that with the recent
blaze and the unoccupied Bird’s Nest after the 2008 Olympic Games, European architects will have trouble
obtaining work in China.
63
The varying perspectives of
CCTV(Clockwise) service?,
spectacle, boom, looming,
propaganda.
“At stake here is an understanding of architecture as
participating in a world of living systems and enti-
ties. The organization of cultural/physical systems is
not reducible to a set ‘base’ or ‘core’ of patterns or
structures found ‘behind’ contexts or settings. Unlike
ideology, which moves to exclude alternative positions,
the environment incorporates contradictions.”
[Carol J. Burns]
boom
propaganda
service?
spectacle
surface
looming
Despite its changing form throughout the city, oppression comes to mind first.
65
Case Study: San Diego , Ca >
Aerial view of downtown San Diego

with green space of Balboa Park (top
center)
67
nature of place Looking closely at downtown San Di-
ego, the grid has a sort of void about itself in that streets
neither suggest mystery (unlike other city grids) or even
privacy (Alfama of Lisbon for example). There is an
interesting irony in that its bounded northwestern edge
is an airport; and its bounded southeastern edge is a rail-
road leading out of the city, and the Coronado Bridge
crossing the San Diego Bay. Although all edges are cir-
culatory, the city itself is contained.
The nature of San Diego can be defined through its

containment by infrastructure. All edges are heav-
ily defined by infrastructure to the extent that pub-
lic space is encroached upon or nearly inaccessible.
Manhattan Grid and Lis-
bon’s alfama
“The grid is above all, conceptual specu-

lation. In Spite of its apparent neutral-
ity, it implies an intellectual program for
the island: in its indifference to topogra-
phy, to what exists, it claims the superi-
ority of mental construction over reality.”
[Rem Koolhaas]
69
Airport
San Diego Bay
City Center
Conv. Cntr
Coronado
The infrastructure that sustains the mobility of people, goods,
and resources of San Diego is the infrastructure that contains
San Diego. Although this inhibits the city’s growth and is leading to an in-
creasing density, this container currently strangleholds the cultural activity
of the city through its isolation from local parks and the bay itself due to the
series of high rise hotels and the convention center that line the water’s edge.
Balboa Park
Diagramming the containing

elements of the city: Airport, I-5
(diagonally across page), rail
yard, Coronado bridge, and San
Diego Bay
Rail yard
Coronado Bridge
I -5
71
open space Big swaths of open reserve space lie to the
east and the Miramar Marine Corps Air Base sits be-
tween the north county region and the south and central
regions of San Diego County.
Balboa Park is the focal point of all park space in San

Diego. Unfortunately, it is severed from the city center
by the I-5. The only connections are vehicular bridges
spanning the I-5, incomplete to serve the needs of cy-
clists and pedestrians.
The city center has very few public spaces. The space
that is reserved for public is typically removed from the
circulation of the street or completely encroached upon
by it.
A strip with hotels and the convention center on two

sides follows the curvature of the bay’s coast. There
are very few open public spaces (not heavily defined
by an edge).
Balboa Park is an interesting example of circulation

completely bound by an edge in its relationship to the
I-5 and 163.
I-5 and 163 (infrastructure) ; and relationship to Balboa Park (open space)
Drawing open space and in-
frastructural influences
Refuge
(Mts..., Sloughs, Canyons)
Military Open Space
Open Park or Reserve Space
Golf Courses
Water Bodies
Infrastructural Cuts Influencing Open Space
73
grid The linear movement of cars within San Diego is
defined by these 4 main road patterns: the downtown
north-south and east-west grid; the pacific coastline in-
fluenced grid such as in Coronado and Pacific Beach;
the interstate influenced grid such as the one shown here
in Golden Hill where the 94, 15, and the 805 converge
and diverge; and the typical dead worm pattern of com-
munities like Tierrasanta and the interior of La Jolla.
Their influences are all clear here whether they be the
bay, the coastline, interstates, or goals of privacy.
This study uncovered some fundamental aspects of

levels of public and private as they relate to vehicular
movement. Looking at the coast we see that although
there is a strong established grid in Coronado for exam-
ple. As we near the coast, roads become more organic
in an effort to create privacy.
Downtown N-S Grid Coronado Coastline Grid
Dead Worm Pattern Interstate Influence

Drawing grid types, worms,
and exceptions
Major Arterial Connections
Grid Exceptions
Parks
Grid
Dead Worms
75
This container comprised of circulation/infrastructure is further broken
down in scale itself. The edges of the city strive for privacy amongst
its residents yet no shades between public and private exist. Thus public
easily breaches private and vice versa. Here we see the private ATM
meeting the public of the street.
ATM
ATM meeting public sidewalk Downtown N-S Grid
hierarchy A fault lies in the lack of hierarchy in the

streets. Street widths and completeness do not have a
strong hierarchy. Completeness being their totality as a
circulation route for pedestrians, cyclists, and cars.
San Diego Grid Hierarchy Plaza de España - Madrid

San Diego, Ca: infrastructure as container
Alonzo Horton: speculator,Figen-
x.x
trepreneur, and Drawing grid types, worms,
eventual broke.
and exceptions
public/private The beautiful ingredient of San Diego is its circu-

lation, which ironically the greater infrastructure of the I-5, bay,
railyard and airport contains. These routes of circulation create
complex interactions of activity. Trolley lines cross streets, the
MLK promenade follows the trolley line and the dining activity
along the Gaslamp produces a wonderful atmosphere for a pedes-
trian or a diner. However, this circulation unfortunately overruns
culture in other parts and leaves no cultural substrate, no place to
sit and observe these interactions without the stipulation to buy
something which can not activate space at all times.
From its conception by downtown San Diego city
founder, Alonzo Horton, the city was developed to maximize
profits. Horton sold small lots with no alleys focusing on corner
lots which could be sold for a higher price. The blocks were laid
with little hierarchy except for Broadway St. and Harbor
Dr. at 200 x 300 feet. These block sizes remain today.
The result is no cultural substrate spaces,

meaning public places without the stipula-
tion to buy something, where this movement
can be observed or just a place to stop.
77
Scene of an overturned
Dodge Ram - Interstate 8,
Arizona
< Ad Study Billboards: I-8 CA to AZ
79
Arizona
California
Gila Bend
178 miles
Mexico
driving This series of photographs were taken during a drive on Interstate 8
from the California/Arizona border to Gila Bend. Gila Bend is nicknamed the
crossroads of the southwest for its location at the “center of the wheel” of Ari-
zona highway transportation. Billboard advertising along this route generally re-
fers to regional and localized destinations. Corporations whose headquarters are
as far away as 5329 miles are also displayed. However, emphasis is on location
here and now. Signs command exit here, turn right, or simply an arrow points
the way. On a stretch of interstate with less cars than mile markers, billboards
for ipods and Nike shoes are less productive. In these areas local businesses or
corporations with a stake in the local economy are most likely to pay to display.
Television is much better suited for corporate advertising in rural regions.
81
496
0 0
296 296
illeg- 0
231
196 182

2,511
0 2,511
83
0 0
Jack in the
0 Chev- 646 0
illeg- 0

0 1969
0 0
Burger King 2,485
Pizza Hut 1,186
Dairy
Sub- 2,716
Applebee’s 213

0 2088

2,485 indetermi-
85
0 0
Advertising Organization Reference Location
The Links at Coyote Wash Dateland, Az

RV Park/World Famous Date Shakes Dateland, Az
Holiday Inn Casa Grande, Az
Sun Land Inn/Robson Ranch Sun Lakes, Az
Arizona (“The Grand Canyon State Welcomes You”) Az/Ca Border
Grand Canyon Water Twr Mural Az/Ca Border
APS (clear channel) Phoenix, Az
Beaudry RV Tucson, Az
Prime Care 24 hr Urgent Care Yuma, Az
Sunset Vista Cemetery Yuma, Az
Southwestern Eye Center Yuma, Az
La Mesa RV Yuma, Az
Pacesetter Home Centers Yuma, Az
L. Candy Camarena Yuma, Az
American Red Cross USA
illegible illegible
Premier Storage Yuma, Az
Bob Camel RV Sales Center Yuma, Az
Ed Whitehead’s Tire Country Yuma, Az
Shared Billboard Yuma, Az
Chevron
Jack in the Box
Food Exit - 12 Yuma, Az
Burger King
Pizza Hut
Dairy Queen
Subway
Applebee’s
Westwind RV & Golf Resort Yuma, Az
New Sun Homes Yuma, Az
w.w.williams Columbus, Oh
Blue Sky RV Park Yuma, Az
YMCA Yuma, Az
Burger King Yuma, Az
Slide Your Pride indeterminate
The Rancho Yuma, Az
Express Lube Car & RV Wash Yuma, Az
Dateland: World Famous Date Shakes Dateland, Az
The Rancho Yuma, Az
Distance (miles) Headquarters (Location/Distance) Suggestion
23 Same as Reference Command

170 Denham, UK / 5329 Signaler
204 Same as Reference Signaler
0 Arizona & Grand Canyon / 496 Welcome
0 Arizona / Grand Canyon / 496 Pride
177 San Antonio, Tx / 1104 Warning
0 Mesa, Az / 196 Signaler
0 San Diego, Ca / 182 Command
0 Huacama, Az / 296 Signaler
multiple Washington D.C. / 2511 Signaler
illegible illegible illegible
0 Command
San Ramon, Ca / 646
San Diego, Ca / 182
Command
Fountainbleau, Fl / 2485
Addison, Tx / 1186
Edina, Mn / 1990
Milford, Ct / 2716
Lenexa, Ks / 1512
0 Same as Reference Immediate
0 Same as Reference Immediate
0 Chicago, Il / 1969 Signaler
0 Fountainbleau, Fl / 2485 Command
indeterminate indeterminate Signaler
50 Same as Reference Signaler/Pride
Billboards are categorized as command, signaler, welcome, pride, or warning depending on the
nature of the advertisement.
87
<< Future Forecast: Always Hazy
“An Old Friend” draws
us in by what we know,
not what we don’t
“Can’tcha read it?’ He opened the door very carefully, as if

he were afraid it might fall off. He slid out just as careful-
ly, planting his feet firmly on the ground, the tiny metallic
world in his glasses slowing down like gelatine harden-
ing, and in the midst of it Connie’s bright green blouse.
‘This here is my name, to begin with,’ he said. ARNOLD
FRIEND was written in tarlike black letters on the side,
with a drawing of a round, grinning face that reminded
Connie of a pumpkin, except it wore sunglasses. ‘I wanta
introduce myself, I’m Arnold Friend and that’s my real
name and I’m gonna be your friend, honey, and inside
the car’s Ellie Oscar, he’s kinda shy.’ Ellie brought his
transistor radio up to his shoulder and balanced it there.
‘Now, these numbers are a secret code, honey,’ Arnold
Friend explained. He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and
raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that,
but she didn’t think much of it. The left rear fender had
been smashed and around it was written, on the gleam-
ing gold background: DONE BY CRAZY WOMAN
DRIVER. Connie had to laugh at that. Arnold Friend was
pleased at her laughter and looked up at her. ‘Around the
other side’s a lot more —you wanta come and see them?”
[Joyce Carol Oates - Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?]
89
W H O W I L L B E C H I N A ’ S C H I N A ?
ture that infers {Infra means below, further on}
Structure means the arrangement of and relations
S U P R A S T R U C T U R E an infrastructure that refers

I N F E R F U T U R E - S T R U C T U R E an infrastruc-
between the parts or elements of something complex}

Manufacturing #17,
Deda Chicken Processing Plant,
Dehui City, Jilin Province, 2005
Edward Burtynsky
holes “When you think about it, there’s a big hole

somewhere for every stone building on the planet.
There are holes on account of the Pyramids, the Par-
thenon, the Pont Neuf, and the Houses of Parliament.
And there are holes because we like marble counter
tops, cobblestone streets and granite gravestones.”
Michael Mitchell
Is a digital infrastructure, an infra-

structure? Are we leaving the days of
“infrastructure” connecting us? A digi-
tal “infrastructure” infers and densifies.
[a thesis question]
91
N A N O S C A L E T H I N K I N G L E A D S
scale
So the RepRap project will allow the revolutionary ownership, by the prole-
tariat, of the means of production. But it will do so without all that messy and
dangerous revolution stuff, and even without all that messy and dangerous in-
dustrial stuff. Therefore I have decided to call this Darwinian Marxism.
- Adrian Bowyer
(Top) Image of fluorescent near-

infrared-emissive polymersomes
allow light to circulate longer in
cells and thus detect cancer sooner
(Bottom) The RepRap developed
by Adrian Bowyer and Vik Olliver
is a self-replicating 3D printer.
T O: HUGE CHANGES on the global
Sterility is what people do need when they don’t know what’s happening on a microbial level. In
a biotech world, sterility is a confession of ignorance. It’s a tactic of desperation.
- Bruce Sterling from
Tomorrow Now
small thinking This thinking at the microbial level

and nanoscale are leading towards the harnessing
of the industrial nature of bacteria. The biotech
world of genetic modification and engineering is
industrializing microbial life through the exploita-
tion of DNA and its reason for being: multiplying
and spreading.
Although not a perfect self-replicator, the RepRap
self-copies all the components needed to reproduce
it given its assembly by human hands. this partner-
ship of human and machine is analogous to that of
wasp and flower. The RepRap accomplishes this
self replicating through the use of nano machines
which compile atoms forming molecules, mol-
ecules forming compounds and so on up in scale,
until a full scale object is printed such as a laptop
or another self-replicating RepRap.
93
theRepRapprojectwil allowthe
revolutionaryownership,bythe
proletariat, of . . .
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image of the production of nano-structures at different time intervals and temperatures
The original idea of a Universal assemble, like rocks; things that
Constructor was of a machine self-copy but don’t self-assemble,
that would both self-copy and like viruses; things that self-as-
self-assemble - as a bacterium semble but don’t self-copy, like
or a daffodil do. The machine proteins; and finally things that
I propose will self-copy, but both self-copy and self-assem-
not self-assemble. In nature all ble, like you and me. And you
four possibilities exist: things and I are quite dexterous at as-
that neither self-copy nor self- sembling machines that we want
So the second alternative (self-
copying without self-assembly) is
economically and practically the
most interesting option.
- Adrian Bowyer
... the means of production. RepRap, the tag name

for a self replicating rapid prototyper, will lead to the decentralization of
industrial processes. It will, in short, allow the existence of a China on a
desktop.
95
technology
technology is the resulting physical manifestation of
man’s inquiry into the world through conceptualiza-
tion rather than experience. I have no in interest in re-
sponding to that which lies in the “future.” I understand
neither I nor science can predict future. Understanding
social change becomes a very complex matter when all
individual decisions are concerned. The social change
that becomes the future is not simply the summation of
individual decision. We of course live in a society, a
world, in which individual decision for one is not equal.
Of course the power players give us hints and make the
job of determining the future easier, but the individual
decisions of many lie outside our grasp. So I respond
to now, to the present. I dwell here, I am happy here.
These ideas of future so immediately fail because they
date themselves. Francois Roche claims you can’t even
use the term future anymore. It is forever attached to the
60’s ideal of the future. Something of the Jetsons, space
wars, and plastic. I do not wish to envision the resulting
society based on a few technological advances. But as
Louis Kahn would point out, the unfamiliar thing may
not exist without already feeling that you need it.
“An axe is created by man, not by society.

But society leads him to produce the axe be-
cause there is a certain need for it. At first
the axe was not perfect. It probably fell off
the handle and you had trouble lifting it. But
society demanded that it be developed--it
needed it.”1
We simply reinvent them, apply different scales to them.

The RepRap will not change the way in which we love.
It will give the industrial process to the proletariat after
the industrial process has been de-processed. What do
you say of that? After any sign of process, of making, is
deleted, the proletariat will be given it, and yet held even
more vulnerable to its makers.
1 Essential Texts. Louis Kahn.
97
WHAT ?!?
You sweat when you shop?
99
the
RESIDUAL
HOLES
the human
101
Burtynsky’s work evokes the sublime of altered landscape by
humans.

San Francisco Bay Oil
Spill November 2007
double image As Rem Koolhaas points out in Delirious New

York, each “[technological] invention is pregnant with a double
image: contained in its success is the specter of its possible fail-
ure.” Sometimes that failure finds success in a glorious hole
where a community thrives beside it; as is the case in many
towns in Iberia and Italy. Sometimes the hole is not so glorious.
The skyscraper has its hole as do the shoes we wear and the televi-
sions we view. Our lives are made possible by industry far from us.
the residual The stone buttresses of gothic cathedrals leave their

holes elsewhere. The quarries of Vermont are the voids of granite
counter tops in Tokyo’s kitchens. These are holes. For every cubic
inch of material of a skyscraper is a series of holes in another place.
scale Voids remind us very quickly of our own human scale.

The immense solids produced from these voids come in the
form of skyscrapers and freighters. Unfortunately, the envi-
ronment surrounding these productions nearly hides ther true
scale. A submerged freighter’s mass is 80% underwater. The
preceding page presents a better understanding of its sheer
size. Likewise, the skyscraper of Manhattan sits in a pseu-
do skyscraper national park. Its size is neglected. But, the
new skyscrapers of emerging cities like Dubai or on the out-
skirts of existing cities like Madrid demonstrate sheer scale.
Iberia Quarries # 8,
Cochicho Co., Pardais, Portu-
gal, 2006
Edward Burtynsky
103
US Treasury Secretary Paulson urges Congress to back his plan
The London stock market ended a week of turmoil with its biggest one-day gain after the US taxpayer unveiled a
plan to bail out the financial system.
The FTSE 100 closed 8.8% up at 5311.3. Wall Street ended 3.3% higher and the French and German markets also
rose.
The surge came as the US taxpayer said it planned to spend billions of dollars to mop up bad debts fuelling the
global financial crisis.
But Chancellor Alistair Darling ruled out a similar plan for the UK.
“We fully support what the Americans are doing ... here in this country, our problems are different,” he added. “We
are helping banks as people would expect us to do.”
Washington will set out further details of the US rescue plan next week.
Crisis of confidence
The proposed US taxpayer rescue plan comes at the end of a week of almost unprecedented turmoil on world
financial markets:
* Central banks around the world have pumped billions of dollars of extra funding into money markets on
Thursday and Friday to ease the liquidity crisis
* The US taxpayer also said it would guarantee US money market funds - mutual funds that typically invest in
low-risk credit such as taxpayer bonds and are often used by pension funds - up to a value $50bn to further restore
confidence
* Stock markets in Russia were temporarily suspended again on Friday at the end of a week of wild swings and
stop-go trading
* There are rumours that Morgan Stanley is looking for a partner
Banking boost
Financial stocks have gained the most from the rise in confidence on the markets. In London, the Royal Bank of
Scotland and HBOS rose as much as 50%.
See graph of the FTSE 100 this week
Meanwhile, in the US insurer AIG - which earlier this week received an $85bn rescue package from the US tax-
payer - surged almost 60%, while banks Citigroup and Bank of America jumped 22% and 16% respectively.
Moves to restrict short-selling in the US and UK also helped to boost financial shares.
Short-selling occurs when a trader borrows shares from another to sell them with the hope of buying them back at
a lower price, thereby profiting from the difference. It has been blamed for the recent sharp falls in some banking
shares.
Late on Friday, Germany followed suit with a ban on short-selling in 11 finance firms in an effort to protect them
from damage by speculators.

There will be serious long-term damage to the ability of the US to export its way of doing business to the rest of
the world.
Robert Peston,
BBC Business Editor
Read Peston’s thoughts in full

Who’s to blame for the crisis?
names have been changed in order to protect the ‘innocent’
105
Case Study: Community Amidst >
Satellite image of Los Angeles basin

with Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach
Complex and San Pedro higlighted
in foreground
Taken together, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, account for over 40% of the na-
tion’s containerized import trade. The community of San Pedro lies next door.
107
<Community Amidst: Port’s Impact & Importance
where the goods go. The majority of goods passing through

the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach serve the north cen-
tral states (39%) followed by the south central states (26%). in
fact, it is estimated that over 60% of Chicago’s imported goods
pass through the Port of LA/LB Complex. This wasn’t always
the case. Prior to the Asian boom in manufacturing during the
1980’s, the New York/New Jersey Port Complex imported the
most. This boom can be contributed to the size of Southern
California’s market; it’s geographic location in relation to East
and Southeast Asia; the large number of industrial warehouses
to serve as distribution centers; and California’s established land
infrastructure (primarily Interstate 5, and the railroads, the Union
Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe)
locally, the port’s own infrastructure played a huge role in the

development of Southern California as the leading gateway for
foreign imports. The surrounding deepwater channels and access
to roads and railroads leading all over the country incited growth
within the port itself. The California coastal environmental laws
encourage the expansion of ports rather than the building or de-
velopment of others. This, along with the Port’s near autonomy,
meant the Ports expanded with little local resistance until the
China Shipping Suit of 2003 regarding the construction of a gi-
ant new terminal. In which, the ‘greening’ of the port emerged.
The settlement required the city to provide $10 million to clean
up trucks in the port; $20 mil. to mitigate aesthetic impacts on
San Pedro and Wilmington; $20 mil. to reduce air pollution; to
replace 4 large cranes with smaller ones ; and create a traffic plan
for the terminal and other parts of the port.1
1 Bonavich, Edna and Jake B. Wilson. Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the
Logistics Revolution
Northeast States
1.7 Millions Tons (2 %)
Southeast States
South Central States

North Central States 21.2 Millions Tons (26 %)
Northwest States
Southwest States
109
1907: Port of San Pe-
dro becomes part of
Port of Los Angeles
5000-2000 B.C.: Chumash inhabit greater Los Angeles area. Experience
Late 1700s: Development of L.A. with San Pedro at the heart begins under Spanish rule.
a reliable maritime economy for centuries based on gathering and fishing.
1542: Spaniard Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo lands on California
coast. At this point there are 300,00 Native Americans in California. Dur-
ing the colonial era this figure drops by two-thirds due to European diseases.
1851: Phinaes Banning constructs a small wharf and warehouse in San Pedro
1871: In response to lumber and coal boom, Con-
gress calls for the dredging of the main channel to a
depth of 10 feet and the construction of a breakwater.
Pre-WWI: San Pedro constructs the Great Depression: Commerce declines
first submarine base on the west coast.
WWII: Port thrives again due to shipping military equipment
spedro
smoke-
s t a c k
landmark
North Meyler St., San
Pedro, CA
20th Ce.: Standardization

of containers revolutionizes
logistics. These containers
1800s: Asian immigrants spur California commercial become the visual depiction
fishing industry. of capitalism in motion.
Turn of 19th Ce.: Abalone diving at depths less than 20 feet is banned
due to over-exploitation.
1910s: Immigrants from all over arrive with their own fishing secrets. Develop
alliances where comon culture and mother language is shared.
1900s: The town of San Pedro is essentially built by the monies brought in by the fishing industry.
By 1970’s: Fishing has waned in the area as competitors in Asia
and Latin America offer cheaper prices due to less regulations.
This same global shift leads to the Port of LA/LB Complex as
the leading US port.
* * *
Most common container sizes used in interna-
tional commerce: 20’, 28’, 40’, and 48’. Other
sizes 10’ (used in Europe and by military).
*Trailer length restrictions in many
areas regulate container sizes.
Typical ht: 8’-6”.
High-cube containers: 9’-6”.
Containers of less than 8’ in ht are used for
the triple-stack shipment of automobiles.
The standard width (int. commerce): 8’
Domestic container used only for land trans-
port (rail or road) 53’ long by 102” (built to
lighter standards, as they are not designed
to be exposed to the elements of the sea).
* * *
111
1970’s political context leads to elections of neoliberals Ron-
ald Reagan (US) and Margaret Thatcher in 1980. A period
of deregulation, attacks on the welfare state, and increased
free-trade follows. Retailers like Wal-Mart
rise to power because
fair-trade rules are broken
down in order to minimize
government interference
becoming monopsonies.
Specifically, manufactur-
ers no longer set the prices
of their products and thus
can no longer account for
increased production costs
due to innovation.
typ. a-fram
crane:
185’tall
when not
in use
capitalism in motion - the moving container

As the streets rise from the Pacific, the
culdesacs and gaps between houses
offer reminders of the port below.
Capital looks for best deal in world, but labor is local.
Mid-80s rise in LA/LB ports can be contributed to the

size of Southern California’s market; it’s geographic lo-
Rising along Meyler St., San cation in relation to East and Southeast Asia; the large
Pedro, Ca
Approximate Elevation: 53’ number of industrial warehouses to serve as distribu-
above sea level tion centers; and California’s established land infra-
structure (primarily Interstate 5, and the railroads,
the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe)
113
As the streets rise from the Pacific, the culdesacs and gaps between
Argument between flexible production advocated by neo-

liberalism and mass-production by welfare state begins.
Flexible production = pro- Mass-production = stable work
duction based on “consumer = risk at retailer level who must
needs.” = unstable production interpret “consumer needs” =
houses offer reminders of the port below. >
work leading to decreased unions promoting social econ-

standard of living of produc- omy and political equality.
tion workers due to piece-rate,
temporary, part-time, and in-
dependent contracted work
Giant contractors seeking to make

production flexible take over role of
inventory management through use
of computer models and digital in-
frastructure. The distance between
production and R&D facilities is
decreased to save time and labor.
Wal-Mart is currently the 6th largest trading partner with China.1
1 http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/leadinggreen/2008/10/walmarts-new-sustainability-ma.html
Carriers are in charge of transporting goods. Shippers own the goods to be

shipped. Shippers have the power to “dictate terms both for their suppliers
and their transportation providers.1
1 Bonavich, Edna and Jake B. Wilson. Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the Logistics Revolution. Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 2008.
Rising along Meyler St., San

Pedro, Ca
Approximate Elevation: 89’
above sea level
115
Port of LA/LB experienced a period of autonomy from government and for many
years acted like a private enterprise in competition with other ports. Adverse effects
on the local community of San Pedro developed due to expanding infrastructure
of port and burdened existing public infrastructure of local interstate highway
system.
Port of LA/LB Complex ranks fifth largest in world, behind Singapore,

Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.1
Discovering origins of
DeLanda’s anti-market
commoditization in recent
history. Reaons for being
(global) and an outcome
(local - San Pedro).
Feeding Homes
Web Feeding Desire out
117
Site Mapping: Topo light box >
Slides of San Pedro were isolated

only to be replaced onto the
topography of a site
119
I began with the desire to add luminosity to a site model, to
exhibit a two dimensional representation on a three dimensional surface.
The construction is simple. 2 x 2’s make up the topography of the site.
Holes bored through selected 2 x 2’s created cavities to place led’s within.
Wiring fell along the back surface and slides sat atop 4 pins each tapped
into a 2 x 2.
Fig x.x
Bored Cavity for LED placement
Fig x.x
(Clockwise) 40 wired LEDs,
Glue + 350 wood blocks,
Finished Product
A map has multiple entryways, as opposed to

the tracing, which always comes back ‘to the
same.’ [Deleuze & Guattari]
121
Slides placed on the 3 dimensional surface of the site (abstracted) at-
tempted to open new entryways despite their initial isolation by
light, image capture, and shutter speed. Slide locations either
correspond with specific locations where they were taken or make con-
nections between different areas of the city of San Pedro as a whole and
the port complex.
123
I had chosen a site...
but could not step foot on its soil
(Right) Screenshots
from material purchas-
ing
The brownfield site. North

Gaffey St., San Pedro, Ca.
I had planned to take led throwies, tape them to the inner surface
of a clear trash bag, blow the bag up and then toss them over the
barbed wire fence containing the San Pedro site. This site has
become a site of investigation but not a site in which to complete
a project.
I had been asking myself to throw LEDs, lithium batteries, and

rare earth magnets onto my site with no foreseeable chance of
reclaiming them after the experiment. This essentially told me
that I can not step foot on the site. Anything rare must not be left
unclaimed, right?
The lagoon/river ecosystems of northern San Diego county are

an unique occurrence in Southern California. I will not ask my-
self to leave items unclaimed here.
“A project once formed is completed by a choice of site.”

Martin Hogue
125
Site Modification:
Whoa!
This is a tomato farm

127
This is southern california
129
This is under state control
131
This is rancho margarita
133
This is camp pendleton marine corp base
135
Seeking to “occupy an ‘unmanaged landscape,’ free from the impo-
sition of orders that have been tied ever tighter by the hands of progress and the
military-industrial artifice that direct them”
Anthony Burke
10101010101010101010
1xc46732rjknffreljkf
erwkjfner475634832
efrkjh5i43873473483
1010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101
Striating military apparatus

behaving openly
Smoothness of sea
Current development models maximize
property road access either through a
street grid or, as in much of suburban
America, by snaking roads through sub-
divisions. Though this maximizes edge
length, the surface area of the roads
has increased exponentially, creat-
ing inefficient property to road ratios.
[SkycarCity UWM]
Dualistic thinking concept

model.
narrative Current infrastructural thinking serves the private. The po-

lar thinking inherent in asking society where it will go rather than ask-
ing where are things picking up speed leads to top down planned societ-
ies benefitting business plugging into a bottom up physical infrastructure.
The last two centuries have been about expansion. The Manifest Destiny
spirit of the 1800’s led to the construction of railroads spanning across
the continent by 1869. The 20th century’s cheap oil incited the spread
of the automobile and ultimately the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
The 21st century is already shaping up to be the digital infrastructure
age. The military lies at the heart of this shift. Military technology has
long made its way into civilian use, most notably as satellites. The mili-
tary will continue to develop this digital infrastructure. An infrastruc-
ture as ambiguous as the marsh and the sea is needed to fill the gap be-
tween military and civilian use in technology paid for by the taxpayer.
137
The sandy ocean floor meets the slurpy plane of the
marsh. The marsh/river ecosystem presents an interesting mixture of
natural infrastructure meeting the smoothness of the sea. While the infra-
structure of the marsh explicitly does the job of cleaning water for its en-
try to the sea, the daily ebb and flow of the tides as well as seasonal swell
action blur the boundaries between the two. Is the water fresh or is it salty?
The Golden State

California
Dharavi, the shadow slum
of Mumbai. Human gradi-
ent applied to determinis-
tic infrastructure
Camp Pendleton Marine Corps

Base
Base Housing
Tomato Fields
Santa Margarita River
Estuary
Interstate 5
Sea
Del Mar
Recreational
Beach
Is it land or is it sea?
[Peter Cook]
139
Los Angeles-ification
technicalities Camp Pendleton is the

breath between the continuous urban
surface of LA and Orange County, and
the sprawl of San Diego. Marine Corps
Base Camp Pendleton is often revered as
the saving grace from the impending Los
Angeles-ification of San Diego County.
The military’s hold on this land has
left it relatively undeveloped. Amidst
its 125,000 acres, there are only 3,800
buildings and 500 miles of road. The
military’s ownership of the land as the
only reason for area as undeveloped is a
slight oversimplification. Had the base
never been commissioned, the natural
geography of the area would have slight-
ly subdued development, much like the
restraint seen in Laguna Beach. A series
of small creeks and the Santa Margarita
River run through gorges as they empty
into the ocean. These gorges and the
mountains would incur a less develop-
able land relative to the valleys of LA
and Orange County.
The site sits within this larger geographi-

cal context just 2 and a quarter miles past
the Oceanside/Camp Pendleton border.
At Camp Pendleton’s north edge lies San
Clemente; northeast Cleveland National
Forest; and east Fallbrook.
LA/OC
Conglomerate
SITE
within larger Camp Pendleton Setting
141
My site is the daisy in the cracks. The scale is much larg-
er of course, but not galactic. This is still architectural, no cosmos.
Artificial surface suffocates the earth beneath it. Where vegetation grew wildly
before, parking’s pavement inhibits its growth. Boundaries apply.

Daisy, the bounded individual
and friend.
narrative We stratify the earth. Lay layer upon layer upon

soil, sand, and clay and then expect that after that, it will not
grow. But it does. The daisy grows through the cracks it forms.
The material of the earth is not submissive, but supple. We
call them weeds and spray them. The pesticide soaks into their
leaves and they die. Their seeds, however, do not leave. They
stay. A tree pushes through another crack. And if its roots are
strong enough, pavers are pushed aside, sidewalks are lifted,
and a flat plane becomes a hinge pinned around the root of an
elm. Yes, it can be suppressed, but no it cannot at all times.
[A] special system of direct in-

terregional highways, with all
necessary connections through and around
cities, designed to meet the requirements
of the national defense and the needs of a
growing peacetime traffic of longer range.
[what was needed per FDR]
143
My site is a result of the 1956 Federal Highway Act. It is the daisy too.
The daisy grows from a residual set in action. The residual of
infrastructure slivers. Where freeways converge; overpasses, on ramps,
and off ramps slide in and out of interstate surface leaving space slivers.
Not all residual is sliver.
Donut hole with radial
controlled donut
.Marine Corps Base site

bounded by interstate 5 and
railroad
narrative We live in a top-down world. Our nomadic ances-

tors roamed the earth in an open system. What they needed
was the world in front of them. Their resources, their nutri-
ents, their sustenance for survival passed directly from the earth
to the mouth. Today is much different. Our current thinking
favors predetermined control. Modern infrastructural think-
ing supplies these pre-lived events, this predetermined growth.
The smooth space of the earth has always been such. Enti-
ties flow in and out of each other, transforming, mutating,
growing. At a larger scale, it is all one surface. Today, the
federal highway system is all one surface. In 1956, the Fed-
eral Highway Act passed. incited by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The one degree of freedom of the tracks

takes priority over the two degree freedom
of the car. The left over is allowed to
be wild to exist in a quasi-natural state
bounded by interstate and train tracks.
[site specific sliver]
145
This site sliver is the result of an interstate rising above train tracks. These bound-
ing conditions have left the site to appear wild. It has regrown to its full
extent despite the edges of infrastructure around itv. Its history tells little of the tempo-
rary effects of such infrastructural endeavors. Only the noise of cars and the periodic
smell produced by passing trains cast a setting amidst automobiles and trains.
Bound site within boundaries

of Camp Pendleton Marine
Corps Base
how does infrastructure affect the democratic

nature of place / how is democratic participa-
tion experienced amidst infrastructure / what
boundaries does infrastructure impose / what
does physical infrastructure serve / what does
digital infrastructure serve
[beginning to ask site]
River Privately Leased
Extent Farmland
Train
Tracks
River
SITE SLIVER
I-5
147
24 hour site
passing cars
152
peninsula - island - bottom contour
154
passing trains
150
passing in car
148
149
Driving along boundary, the site is present as a passing. It reads like a
grove of eucalyptus trees and is. The interstate approaches, moves for-
ward head on and wraps around trees appearing to float over the interstate.
Until the bell rolls
on its greased axle,
the morning’s music
is not mechanical.
[Joa Suorez]
Photos taken on northbound

I-5 every 15 seconds Site in
Black from Point to
Scribble.
Looking into site from east
151
Video Stills of (Left) L.A.
Commuter Train Metrolink
Heading South &
(Right) Passenger Rail Ser-
vice Amtrak Heading North
the passing trains a train occasionally passes by the site along its
west edge. The adjacent tracks are controlled and operated by Burl-
ington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF). BNSF is the second
largest railroad network (24,000 miles in length) in North America
after Union Pacific (32,000 miles). The entire network moves more
intermodal (container) traffic than any other railway in the world.
The public rides along these rails aboard: a commuter train to
Los Angeles, the Metrolink; a passenger rail train covering the
entire country (the Pacific Surfliner covers the California coast),
Amtrak; a commuter train to San Diego, the Coaster (which
sleeps in the Stuart Mesa railyard directly north of the site).
153
(Opp) Video Stills of a 180º
Scene at Site Prow, Southern
End Overlooking I-5, BNSF
Railway, and Santa Marga-
rita River. In the distance to
the right is Del Mar Beach
area of Camp Pendleton
the “wild” site, where are the cars?

oh listen
the passing cars the cars are loud when they pass. They cre-
ate a rythmic roar. There are no surprises only a steady stream
of drivers. Minus the sounds of the car and the site is a much
different place. The sound serves as the only sign of its loca-
tion between to Interstate roads. The site offers a type of seren-
ity in its white noise of the passing cars and almost wild looking
site. Like the driver passing the site in a ‘serenity capsule,’ the
site is a relief. Unlike the unawareness that develops after driv-
ing for some time, this site asks that you be aware. All its facets
want to be exposed and they’re right there. Commuters heading
north to Orange County pass through Camp Pendleton everyday
along the I-5. With no traffic, it is a nice 30 minute scenic drive.
Follow the Cars. Stills Every

second. Southbound I-5,
West of Site
155
My site is a result of the 1956 Federal Highway Act. It is the daisy too. The
daisy grows from a residual set in action. The residual of infra-
Peninsula at Mid Tide State
structure slivers. Where
3/4 Mile from freeways converge; overpasses, on ramps, and off
Mean High
Tide Line
ramps slide in and out of interstate surface leaving space slivers.
Becomes Island
Island off Site between I-5 Northbound and Southbound
Rising Tide Markings
Becomes Bottom Contour

157
(Below) As the tide flees,
barnacles reveal themselves
and birds re-land. (Previ-
ous) “Drawings”marked the
changing water level.
peninsula - island - bottom contour
with sticks of 24,” I drew around the
sandbars edges at low tide. I chose an
island and a peninsula. As the tide rose,
the peninsula became an island; the island
became a bottom contour; and eventu-
ally both became bottom with high tide.
These drawings had already existed in

other forms. The site lies along an inter-
esting part of the Santa Margarita River/
Estuary ecology. This is an area of river
and estuary gradient. The ebb and flow
of the ocean’s tide makes its way into
this region, almost a mile from the mean
high tide line. Plinths of concrete and
a jetty below the northbound I-5 touch
the water here as the only man-made
constrictions of the ecology. Barnacles
encrust themselves along these hard
surfaces revealing the changing water
levels and the influence of the salty sea.
The low tide leaves once floating algae strung along salt grass.
159
large scale hydrology the Santa
Margarita Watershed covers 740
square miles. Its major water body
is the Santa Margarita River which is
formed by the confluence of the Mur-
rieta and Temecula Creeks (Opp. Top)
Dissimilarly, many major water bod-
ies make up the San Juan Watershed
to the north. Here, a series of creeks
and small gorges find their way to the
ocean. It covers 496 square miles.
To the south, the San Luis Rey Wa-
tershed covers 562 square miles. It
originates 6000’ above sea level in the
Palomar and Hot Springs Mountains.
< Hydrology >
161
National Wetlands Inventory Mapping Code Description
< Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats Classification
wetland classification flowing between:

[P] Palustrine - The Palustrine System includes all nontidal
wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, emergents, mosses or
lichens, and all such wetlands that occur in tidal areas where
salinity due to ocean derived salts is below 0.5 ppt. Wetlands
lacking such vegetation are also included if they
exhibit all of the following characteristics:
1. are less than 8 hectares ( 20 acres );
2. do not have an active wave-formed or bedrock shoreline
feature;
3. have at low water a depth less than 2 meters (6.6 feet in the
deepest part of the basin;
4. have a salinity due to ocean-derived salts of less than
0.5 ppt.
[SS] Scrub-Shrub - Includes areas dominated by woody veg-
etation less than 6 m (20 feet) tall. The species include true
shrubs, young trees (saplings), and trees or shrubs that are
small or stunted because of environmental conditions.
[R] Seasonal-Tidal - No definition given
and
[E] Estuarine - The Estuarine System describes deepwater
tidal habitats and adjacent tidal wetlands with low energy and
variable salinity, influenced and often semi-enclosed by land.
(1) Subtidal - These habitats are continuously submerged sub-
strate, (i.e. below extreme low water).
[UB] Unconsolidated Bottom - Includes all wetlands and
deepwater habitats with at least 25% cover of particles smaller
than stones (less than 6-7 cm), and avegetative cover less than
30%.
[L] Subtidal - The substrate is permanently flooded with tidal
water.
emtpying into
[M] Marine - The Marine System describes open ocean and
high energy coastlines with salinities exceeding 30 parts per
thousand (ppt) and little or no dilution except outside the
mouths of estuaries.
(1) Subtidal - These habitats are continuously submerged sub-
strate, (i.e. below extreme low water).
[UB] Unconsolidated Bottom - Includes all wetlands and
deepwater habitats with at least 25% cover of particles smaller
than stones (less than 6-7 cm), and a vegetative cover less
than 30%.
[L] Subtidal - The substrate is permanently flooded with tidal
water.
163
< program
starting with a farmer, a sergeant, a private, and a train

conductor
(right) Program notes

Coming and going
rather than starting and finishing; arrival/departure; destination that is
persistently claimed/unclaimed
But there does exist substrate

Substrate, the substance or layer that underlies something, or on which some process occurs

the process of substance
Although ends do not exist, substrate allows individuals to stop, to breathe, to collect, and watch “some process
[that] occurs” before them.
This is where the palm fronds in the sky fix the eyes upon themselves and the mind begins
the coming and going…
Coming and going in culture: we witness culture unfold upon itself through
substrate
The child stops to watch the train go by, at once to be fascinated by it and to also understand its move-
ment, the process of acceleration. The old man sits, crosses his legs, glances at the palm fronds, but this time he
observes. He watches the coming and going around him.
“Kleist, Lenz, and Buchner have another

way of traveling and moving: proceeding
from the middle, coming and going
rather than starting and finishing…
…They know how to move between things, establish a logic of the AND, overthrow ontology, do away with
foundations, nullify endings and beginnings.
They know how to practice pragmatics.”

-Deleuze & Guattari
There are gradients in this coming and going. Because as soon as that boy stops, he can begin again. The inclusion
of sedentary or passive spaces adds complexity to this understanding. The large sloping floor and stepped seating
of the opera induce the individual to sit. During the length of the opera the coming and going plays out in the mind.
The exchange between spectacle and viewer is engaged. And in the classroom, the student sits attentively. The
teacher speaks and knowledge is exchanged through this interface.
These are the spaces of substrate of the mind. Where the process of knowledge expands to the observer.
And so I plan to mount the teeter totter with the user. To engage in a mutual play. I write the play and the audience
rewrites it, I rewrite it and the audience writes it.
“Behavior is a dynamic process of feedback

between states of formation and adaptation.
It does not assume a center, a body; behavior
flows between agents and scales. Behavior
is not always measured in terms of action
and reaction, one to one, but can switch
from field to object and back again,
creating non-linear patterns of relations between micro and molar states.”

-Tom Wiscombe
This is pragmatics. It is process. The ends don’t justify practicality. The being set in action justifies practicality.
But we do not set, we become.
165
bibliography
Bonavich, Edna and Jake B. Wilson. Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the
Logistics Revolution. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008.
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169
intro/abstract
casestudy:sandiego
materialexperiment
Fig 1.2-14
Previous Formatting
Attitude
This series of spreads documents a ‘fine and

normal format’ incongruent with my mind, an
important corollary. I’m attempting now to sim-
ulate a more radical path, something in my head.
[series document]
171
Amidst the weirdness and differences between organisms and matter that so much complexity arises from, we
share so much in common. The common denominators make us real to each other and the differences build value.
173
The individual
the individual
1 point, this may represent an individual. On the right, an image from Leave it to Beaver, the quintessential
suburban white of the 50’s.
Described in…
Adding points
Birth & death
6 stages of life
(infancy, childhood, adolescence,
young adulthood, adulthood, old age)
2 and 6 points in an individual’s life. As multiple individual points, we locate them in space in relation to each
other. These relations build values.
A line through the points of the individual
Introduci
introduces time
ng time
Birth & death
Birth, some middle, & death
6 stages of life
Populating the line infinitesimally

Populating
A line is drawn through the points. In our culture, reading left to right we have introduced time. The points now
represent periods of time for that individual. They are now related in time and space. Time initiates change. The
infinitesimally
line is important because it attempts to describe a path through time, throughout life.
Populating the line infinitesimally

Populating
infinitesimally
What is the nature of the path?
If we populate the line with an infinite amount of individual points, we attempt to describe the human through
time. Perhaps, the infinite amount of points could be summed up from a biological perspective, but that is hardly
the totality of the human. What is the nature of that path? What has formed you? What has influenced you?
175
Rings as structure
Rings as structure
Essentially I am asking what is the condition of becoming? How can this be described visually and orally? A
set of rings encircles the line now as structure, the structures of lives; the institutions and identities ascribed to the
individual. The line is set in motion through the structures, but the structures are not so simple. They themselves
are extremely complex and must resolve their own identities as well.
Rings encircle the individual and the line
Rings encircle the individual and the line

The circles can be considered as circular plates with some thickness for they are not individual hoops to jump
through, but hold weight themselves. Fortunately, the plates are porous., but their porosity and size differs. There
are multiple ways to proceed. To manage these porous disks, the path becomes sinuous. The line through the rings
is no longer linear. Here is where the notion of linear time is abandoned. A single day during high school is not
as important as the day I met my fiancé. That is my own simplified example for abandoning linear concepts of
time. We can all relate to this notion of nonlinear time based on our own memories, our nostalgic notions of the
important things in our lives. And of course in a scientific way, we can look to the theories of Einstein to see that
time is not linear but relativistic to an object’s velocity relative to the speed of light.
The points have been removed. They are not accurate in describing the human. Asking now: what composes the
human? The cultural environment and what else?
Plates with thkness
Finding way through structures of society
Rings become porous plates with weights

(structures have their own identities and gravities to resolve)
The path removed
177
attractors and plates
A field of desire is introduced

(own sense of identity)
Single plate with
surrounding attractors
What we still lack is the individual’s own sense of self, of desire. Here, attractors are placed outside the structure
path. As if a field of desire constantly granting and exuding influence to different areas in space. Without these,
we succumb to plates we pass through and the identities they construct for us.
The difference in action between the attractors and the path is intersectionalism versus essentialism. The structure
uses reductionist practices to reduce the identities of multiple individuals to simple traits. All women are delicate,
submissive, and their power resides in their sexuality. This is the ideal, the essentiality of woman. This can be
extrapolated to mean all of earth in 1775 is composed of caucasoids, mongoloids, and negroids. And that the
United States’ population of over 300 million (305,934,895) consists of 16 categories plus three write in boxes
(US Census practices).
The attractors on the other hand take another route. While the ideal starts at the top assuming all is said and done,
intersectionalism emerges from below recognizing it is always moving and changing. As Jewelle L. Gomez
writes, perhaps it would be easier for us to acknowledge the many places where we reside if we could learn to
accept the basic, natural permutation that is our lives. We are perpetually defining and redefining our lives.
An aim here is to find states of equilibrium between the structures that define us reductively and our own desire.
Multiple lines of flight
Multiple paths, multiple lines of flight

(own sense of identity in “the many places where we
reside”)
Even now this set of drawings can not define the complexity of identity. But isn’t that what is trying to be said,
that it cannot be defined. But it can be appreciated. Here is another group of images going one step further. We do
not go down only one path in our lives, but multiples. As French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and his counterpart
psychoanalyst Felix Guattari say in their book, A Thousand Plateaus, we are engaged in multiple lines of flight.
Here we see many paths structured with our porous plates from before.
The paths have become nonlinear, in fact even circuitous at moments. What appears loose like a scribble is actu-
ally a way to begin to describe these very complex issues of identity in time and space.
179
What is architecture’s role in this for me? Through a better understanding of the construction of identity, I not
only develop a geometrical language of meaning to build with, but develop a broader sense of architecture in its
totality. I am not concerned with the purity of architecture as an autonomous field if it does not test itself within
the built environment. Composed as such, architecture loses autonomy and becomes part of something much
larger including the fields of science, art, sociology, philosophy, mathematics, history, and popular culture; all in
real time.
181
landscape
C
P
landspace
183
WIN
TER
185
PROCESS
propagates reality
IF N
I CFTEI O
RNSATLRcreature
UCT U R E an infrastructure that infers
rather
S T U Dthan
I O 4from
0 0 explicit}
that refers
david j pearson
{to deduce
{camp or conclude
pendleton from
marine evidence
corps base, san and
diego,reasoning
ca}
Karen L a n g e
a n o v e r v i e w ( 1 8 6 )
w h e r e d i d t h i s g o ? ( 1 9 2 )
s i t e m a p p i n g ( 2 0 0 )
s i t e m o v e s + p r o g r a m ( 2 1 0 )
n a r r a t i v e s ( 2 2 8 )
positional/relational study (2 2 6)
p r o g r a m ( 2 2 8 )
m a t e r i a l / f o r m a l s t u d i e s ( 2 3 2 )
light 246
vegetated/structural integration 274
c a p s u l e s ( 2 8 4 )
g e s t u r e m o d e l 1 ( 2 8 8 )
187
Current infrastructural thinking serves the private. The polar thinking inherent in ask-
ing society where it will go rather than asking where are things picking up speed leads
to top down planned societies benefitting business plugging into a bottom up physical
infrastructure. The last two centuries have been about expansion. The Manifest Destiny
spirit of the 1800’s led to the construction of railroads spanning across the continent by
1869. The 20th century’s cheap oil incited the spread of the automobile and ultimately
the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The 21st century is already shaping up to be the
digital infrastructure age.
the issue
1. how does infrastructure affect the democratic nature of place/

how is democratic participation experienced amidst infrastructure/
what boundaries does infrastructure impose/
what does physical infrastructure serve/
what does digital infrastructure serve
an overview
clever idea - wrong answer
modern thinking
189
where
camp pendleton
[marine corps base]
Camp Pendleton is the breath between the continuous urban surface
of LA and Orange County, and the sprawl of San Diego. Marine
Corps Base Camp Pendleton is often revered as the saving grace
from the impending Los Angeles-ification of San Diego County. The
military’s hold on this land has left it relatively undeveloped. Amidst
its 125,000 acres, there are only 3,800 buildings and 500 miles of
road. At Camp Pendleton’s north edge lies San Clemente; northeast
Cleveland National Forest; and east Fallbrook.
san francisco
san francisco
los angeles
los angeles
sandiego
san diego
191
what
NOW home to 60,000 military family members; 322 species, 5 endangered or

near threatened;
NOW 90,000military
home to 60,000 daily workers; nudist beach;
family members; nuclear 5power
322 species, plant; or
endangered state
near
park; military training; interstate 5; burlington northern santa fe rail; the lastmili-
threatened; 90,000 daily workers; nudist beach; nuclear power plant; state park;
free-fl
tary owing river
training; in southern
interstate california;
5; burlington natural
northern wildlife
santa fe rail;corridor
the lastfrom mounainriver in
free-flowing
range. california; natural wildlife corridor from palomar mountain range.
southern
1769 Conquistadores arrive on Saint

Margaret’s Day
Luiseños Indians inhabit area living in huts

near water sources. Women gathered seeds, 1841-1882
roots, wild berries, acorns, wild grapes,
strawberries, wild onions, and prickly pear in
finely woven baskets. The men hunted deer,
antelopes, rabbits, wood rats, ducks, quail,
seafood, and various insects.
Sept 1939 WWII begins and in 1942 Marine
Corps buys ranch land as staging post for Pa-
cific operations.
2 Serves as Rancho Santa Margarita
193
potential space . potential realities
project gone about through autopsy [death through
removed culture and ultimate distillation of e
mation and manipulation of existing parts th
FICTIONAL CREATURE PROPAGATES REALITY
starting with a farmer, a sergeant, a
private, and a train conductor
where did this go?
a narrative was developed questioning presupposed

definitions of public/private and nature/infrastructure.
through the relationships of characters, new values
arose. relations build values.
overlapping jursidictions leave behind ____________,
potential space allows for the perpetuating complexity
of increasing numbers of jurisdictions
A CREATURE TO ROAM between the south edge of

the river and the southern end of the sliver.
(its critical territory).
AN ARMATURE DEVICE to remediate toxicity lev-
els of the last free-flowing river in California. Taking
samples of, analyzing data, transplanting those plants
raised in a tower.
A TOWER to observe, gather/distill information, ex-
perience the site, allow future jurisdictions to occupy,
raise plants, research natural infrastructural means of
solving big manmade infrastructural problems (at a
small scale).
removal of culture from present].

the synthesis of the
existing conditions and behaviors. the reani-
hrough the establishment of narrative.
195
A “creature” to move along
tracks and harness energy
from jersey barrier retrofitted
with small wind turbines.
The military has just announced ambitious plans for
the design and construction of a machine that will
roam the area between north and southbound Interstate
5 just north of the Oceanside/Camp Pendleton border.
It will conduct environmental tests and amend toxicity
as seen fit through the planting of native plants germi-
nated within its greenhouse. Using contemporary sci-
ence and military spending it will grow itself through
the collection of unwanted particles (CO2) into a series
of 3 dimensional fiber optic surfaces (19th ce. pointil-
lism no longer mocked leaves 2d space). The surfaces
will disseminate information based upon car velocities
(traffic) and particulate matter to commuters through
movement of the cables acting as a field and color. The
sliver lies along the stretch of land between Oceanside
and San Clemente known as Camp Pendleton Marine
Corps Base. Historical uses have varied from early Na-
tive American camps along water bodies to the Santa
Margarita Rancho. Its importance now lies at the in-
tersection of military territorializing and the last free-
flowing river of Southern California. The local com-
munities, the military, and various conservation groups
are working together in this unique project.
Skepticism has risen around the real motives of a mili-
tary caught between recent immigration laws and..
beginning
197
Early LCD creature development
functions
what does a roaming creature do here? remedy and
propagate reality. fictional creature propagates real-
ity.
early functioning of this creature strapped oversized
weighty antennae receptors, a gigantic screen, digging
legs, and a spiraling observatory platforms to a growing
“ball.”
it became:
functions: disseminate information of...

particulate matter
auto velocity
sample water toxicity
remediate areas of tox-
icity
program: 3d surface service of 12000 ft. cubed, surfaces of fiber

optic cables
with a critical territory of:

river+south of river sliver bounded by interstate 5 lanes
north and southbound
beginning functions of a cow

199
Early Mass Study
coupling the freeway and railroad surfaces
the tower determines the information from each surface.

information disseminates from its surfaces through ex-
posed human activity and the creature/armature/tower
relationship.
beginning architectural gestures

201
NCTD Maintenance Yard
Game Warden
Singh & Sons Farm
Endangered species
management zone
BNSF Railroad Cal Trans
Del Mar Beach

Lifeguards
Camp Pendleton
Oceanside
Overlapping jurisdictions within

site vicinity
what are these jurisdictions?
THE GAME WARDEN patrols the Marine Corps Base

ensuring animal and military training activity don’t con-
flict. The warden heavily uses a trail beneath the inter-
state that cuts through the site.
SINGH & SONS FARM grows tomatoes on swaths of
land both east and west of the interstate. Farming ac-
tivities occur most in early spring (tilling and sowing )
and in late summer through fall (harvesting).
THE NCTD MAINTENANCE YARD washes, repairs,
and overhauls existing Coaster and Sprinter commuter
trains of San Diego County.
THE ENDANGERED SPECIES MANAGEMENT
ZONE protects the breeding and hatching ground of the
California Least Tern and Snowy Plover.
THE DEL MAR BEACH LIFEGUARDS patrol a rec-
reational portion of this area of coastline mostly offlim-
its. Summer sees a high volume of people descend onto
this beach. Their jurisdiction ends at the southern edge
of the Santa Margarita Rivermouth.
THE BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE RAIL-
ROAD owns the railroad tracks running through and 2
feet from the ties in both directions perpendicularly al-
though they are responsible for the maintenance of the
property from the tracks to the adjacent surfaces (I-5).
CAL TRANS is responsible for the construction of the
interstate and road system and bridges of California.
this series of overlapping jurisdictions allows a unique public/private relationship

to exist. oddities from overlapping jurisdictions have developed allowing such be-
haviors as nudism, water fowl hunting, animal trapping, and pesticide laced water
disposal to occur. the site is clearly overtaken by “caretakers.” how do i reconcile
these?
203
Camp Pendleton
interstate 5 (8 lanes) + railroad a sliver of land emerges 3/4
(1 track-2 proposed) miles north of the CamPen/OS
border. the sliver begins to
disappear with the topography
of the santa margarita river
Oceanside infrastructural sliver
and eucalyptus trees. the
multiple overlapping jurisdic-
tions at the sliver’s meeting
point with the santa margarita
estuary have allowed an
important part of ecosystem to
beach recreation area / harbor be overlooked. as a result
abnormal behaviors occur.
Interstate
interstate 5 (8 5 (8 +lanes)
lanes) railroad+ rail-
a sliver of land emerges 3/4
open
open space
space farm
road
(1 (1proposed)
track-2 track, 2 proposed)miles north of the CamPen/OS
infrasctructural
infrastructural sliver sliver multiple overlapping jurisdic-
downtown
downtown os OS military installations
beach
beach recreation
recreation area/harbor
area / harbor be overlooked. as a result single
single family
family residential
residential water treatment
open space farm commercial / base retail common space amidst

residential (camPen)
land use
interstate 5 (8 lanes) + railroad a sliver of land emerges 3/4

(1 track-2 proposed) miles north of the CamPen/OS
interstate 5 (8 lanes) + railroad a sliver of land emerges 3/4 and eucalyptus trees. the
(1 track-2 proposed) miles northinfrastructural
of the CamPen/OSsliver multiple overlapping jurisdic-
border. the sliver begins to tions at the sliver’s meeting
disappear with the topography point with the santa margarita
of the santa margarita river estuary have allowed an
and eucalyptus trees. the important part of ecosystem to
infrastructural sliver beach recreation
multiple overlapping area / harbor
jurisdic- be overlooked. as a result
tions at the sliver’s meeting abnormal behaviors occur.
(8 lanes) + railroad a sliver of land emerges 3/4 beach recreation area / harbor important part of ecosystem to
proposed) miles north of the CamPen/OS be overlooked. as a result
open space farm
border. the sliver begins to abnormal behaviors occur.
ural sliver multiple overlapping jurisdic- open space farm
downtown os military installations
eation area / harbor be overlooked. as a result downtown os military installations
single family residential water treatment
farm
farm single family residential water treatment a sliver of land emerges 3/4 miles north
commercial/base
commercial / base retail retail of the
common space CamPen/OS
amidst border. the sliver be-
gins to disappear with the topography of
the Santa Margarita River and eucalyptus
common space amidst tres. the multiple overlapping jusridic-
os military
military installations
installations
commercial / base retail common space amidst
residential
residential (CamPen)
(camPen) border + land use tions at the sliver’s meeting point with the
estuary have allowed an important part
of ecosystem to be overlooked. abnormal
ly residential water
water treatment
treatment
border + land use behaviors occur.
205
l / base retail common space amidst
Air Routes Land Routes
Leases (non-military use) Live Fire & Maneuver
CamPen Land Use Amphibious Training

how is the earth moved across?
military use
in a larger sense the entire area of camp pendleton expe-

riences military activity whether by land, air, or sea. a
maneuver corridor runs along the trail cutting through
the site. here soldiers march, jeeps wrangle, and tanks
trek. further east into the mountains, live fire erupts.
this series of maps shows the varying amount of motion across the terrain of camp
pendleton by land, air, and sea.
207
user groups?
300-322 species (the highest category of Ca Species Di-

versity) inhabit the Camp Pendleton Area.
California Cougar- Cleveland National Forest and ne

CamPen. Near threatened and protected in Ca
Mule Deer- Cleveland National Forest and northeast
CamPen; some potential fawning in north west Pendle-
ton (San Onofre). Least concern
Gray Fox- Cleveland nat. forest and northeast CamPen.
Least concern
Brown Headed Cowbird- wetlands mostly, San Mateo
Creek and Santa Margarita Estuary. Least concern,
birds from north that migrate in winter
Western Bluebird- Cleveland National Forest and north-
east CamPen; San Mateo Creek. Least concern, birds
from north that migrate in winter
California Gnatcatcher- coastal ranges of Pulgas to San

Onofre. Endangered. Frequents dense coastal sage
scrub, non-migratory
Least Bell Vireo- small slivers, one near SMER. Not
threatened in general but endangered subspecies in
Coastal Ca
Cactus Wren- throughout CamPen. Least concern
Orange Throated Whiptail Lizard- speckled on CamPen
coast. Data deficient
Arroyo Southwestern Toad- nearly nonexistent. Endan-
gered and fully protected
California Least Tern- Endangered. SM Rivermouth
is only natural nesting site remaining in CA besides 2
remnant colonies.
the species that make the lists of concern, endangered, threatened....
209
Santa Margarita River and Tidal
N Marsh - Predictable Motion Study 500ʼ 1500ʼ
Unpredictable marks plus sound device introductions to re-

cord hatching of least tern and snowy plover eggs
how is the earth moved across?
ecological patterning
the movement of nearby organisms, machines, and molecules leave

traces of their presence despite their predictable or unpredictable na-
ture.
What moves, the periodic, predictable motion over the surface of

the earth.
tides: ebb and flow twice daily (exceptions 3-5 days/month); range:
-1.6’- to 7.1’+
trains: 50 passenger/freight daily traveling through sliver
least tern: wiggles butt in sand, lays egg. and beach is off limits march
1- september 15
crops: harvested in fall, tilled in early spring
interstate 5: morning commute to orange county, evening return
How will I move across it?
sound devices spaced every 50’ record egg shell cracking frequency,
which is relayed to tower.
creature, armature, tower, offramp + vehicle popouts for viewing site
from car
How have others moved across leaving evidence of unpredictable

movement?
211
Offramp
Tower
Pop out parking to view sea

the first site moves
a tower placed atop a slope rising 36’ from the river’s

northern bank provides access at 36’ for drivers-by ap-
proaching from the offramp and at its base connection
to the river. an offramp entering the sliver at the prow
of the hill. the addition of two new lanes, one popping
in and out corresponding to clearings in the trees for
views to the ocean.
armatures emerging from the base of the tower connect-
ing to the inside through the plants on tracks.
bioswales absorb surface runoff of interstate slowly
cleansing the water they take in before meeting the
river. potential for new jurisdictions. what endangered
species will inhabit these bioiswales?
Armatures
Bioswales
213
Gestural programmatic section study
tower program
the tower houses offices for the multiple jurisdictions responsible for
the area’s well being.
tracks moving small greenhouse orbs growing plants run through the
building
a space to view the horizon. a creature to fill that space viewing the
horizon. a creature to leave that space viewing the horizon. a space
to upload information, to gather, distill it, and disseminate it to the
commuters.
a place to view the river. experience site. to watch traffic and watch
the creature.
research labs to study plants appropriate to toxicity remediation
offices for a game warden, a water fowl hunter, a farmer, a marine,

an EPA official, a Cal Trans official, a North County Transit District
official, the association of pesticide lobbyists.
offices for potential jurisdictions, for the perpetuating complexity that

is bureaucracy. offices without function for the time being, occupied
as such, scab spaces.
215
tower relationship to armature device
BIOSWALES AND SOUND DEVICES
=epa [new jurisdiction]
an odd relationship exists between what can be and what might be. The bystander asks what might
be. An active agent asks what can be set into action. The value of a bioswale is the ability to cleanse water.
Sometimes it becomes habitat. So what if the least tern sets up shop on a bioswale. Does the epa get involved?
Let’s give them a “potential” office. {The value of a bioswale next to a least tern nesting site presents possible
relationships}
This architecture of potential space. The narrative of potential reality.
The totality of the bioswale can not be understood without adjacent entities. A least tern inhabits the
swale (builds nest --` bringing egg, cracking egg and life). The epa creates/extends the endangered species
management zone to the freeway, to the underpasses.
BREEDING TAKES PLACE ON

SALT FLATS.
volumes, contours, landscape within the sliver

what is the most we can do outside of the sliver with the
use the sliver, love the sliver
multiplicity of office spaces to occupy jurisdictions. Perpetual bureaucratic complexity

machine.
Relations build value. Relation to the whole, broken into the parts, beyond the parts.
What else builds value?
217
high tide
an armature emerges from the landscape floating and touching down lightly along the river
ecosystem. toxicity levels are continuoulsy treated and plant remediation is performed
where high levels of toxic elements occur. the adjacent farm’s pesticide laced water
(flows into river at night) and interstate surface runoff require constant oversight in
this endangered species managment zone.
the armature recedes into the landscape and up into the tower where small plants are
germinated and raised to young health in glass orbs which follow a tracking system of
the sun.
glass orb greenhouse
low tide
elevations
device movement based

upon areas of remediation
plan
219
THE CASUAL EGO DRIVER
All I want to know is why there? I drive over this bridge everyday staring at the sea
until the brush and eucalyptus intercept my view. Actually, the only place I slow is
this stretch. I look mostly at the sea, but occasionally to the east up into the moun-
tains and gorges that the river recedes into. I’m waiting for the dust storms. The
caution orange sign along the hill filters the view of the tomato fields. It states:

CAUTION:
PERIODIC DUST STORMS
REDUCE SPEED
I doubt that’s why I slow. But the building, my god. It’s halfway to the middle of
nowhere on this stretch and a third of the way past Oceanside. It’s either bustling
with the movement of some glass shapes moving steadily or dead like the other
few buildings on base seen from the 5. I can only tell they’re glass because of the
marching glowing dots of light as the sun strikes in early morning. I wouldn’t say
I don’t like the building, just curiosity I suppose. Like all military buildings my in-
terest peaks as I wonder what the hell goes on inside them. But this one, I’m eager
to know what it is cause it actually tells me something. Those glass shapes…
personal accounts221
THE MARINE
My only opinion: this is us. I report to my government. My duty has brought me

here, but it started in another time. My boys in Iraq, they’re fascinated. I don’t
say much on duty. Don’t need to. We’re here observing. Somehow it’s a greater
purpose. They restructured military service to the environment. It seems odd, I
know, but you know what, what the hell, why not? Life’s weird. Here now, but my
campaigns took me all over and I can say we’re not all that different and I’m talking
about all life. These least terns down there, they mean something, little breeding
creatures, this river last of its kind in California. So all this stuff, it’s good.
So ya I’m proud. I may not be on the frontline with a bullet hose in hand, but some-
thing’s happening here. Things are changing. And fuck look at this structure, it does
things I don’t understand, houses things I peer in at and the best thing for me, I’m
here on duty with people from all walks. We’ve got civilians of all kinds: a biolo-
gist, botanists, a CalTrans guy, a railroad dude, techy guys, and all kinds of people
walking through.
“Corporal!”
“Yes, Sergeant Major!”…trail to oblivion
223
THE MIGRANT WORKER
Ah el norte, no es todo que pensaba, pero

no hace falta. Gano dollars y estoy con-
tento, dinero para mi familia y regreso.
He trabajado en otros lugares pero aquí
es diferente. Veo una diversidad de vida
que no ves en los estados unidos al lado
de las granjas. El ejercito tieno muhco
aquí. Ellos son extraños, no le meto en
sus problemas. Tiene una mente diferente
que la mía. Sus acciones son sospecho-
sas pero cuando hablamos, son amables.
Pero, ahora me da igual. Además hay
la carretera, el tren, el mar, un estuario,
especies de pájaros, y el viento. Me en-
canta el viento del mar. Ah basta! Adíos
y un saludo, ándale a ti.
225
THE RESEARCH SCIENTIST
I’m finally doing the kind of cutting edge research I always wanted to. We
are unlocking the genetic code, the secrets of plants that have been around
for ages. We are back at our primordial roots looking for answers when man
foraged and hunted. Little did we know the answers lied in the food we eat,
our very own sustenance. We have discovered three plant species and two
migratory birds thought to be extinct, all within this sliver. A sliver between
2 freeways for god sakes! Plant life has truly become our salvation, it has
become real life, amidst us. And it is not so as some grand narrative... I must
return to work.
227
positional/relational program study
35,000 square foot tower
horizon/upload space:creature to fill the horizon, men to take it away
meeting space: following horizon activities
spectator’s disjunctive space: see river, see traffic, expe-

rience site, alternative horizon of I-5 surface
massive strutural core: splitting below to support structural ringed re-

peating floor plates above
circulation: spiraling from below
229
Circulation gesture
program
35,000 square foot tower
12-15 150 sq. ft. jurisdictional offices: 9 known + 6 unknown

500 sq. ft .upload/horizon
800 sq. ft. meeting horizon
2,000 sq. ft. spectator’s disjunction
100 sq. ft. traffic eye
6 1,400 sq. ft. research laboratory clusters
3 400-600 sq. ft. conference rooms
3 communal lounge areas to be developed
150 sq. ft. cold room and equipment room per research floor
5,000 sq. ft. botany/plant research center
1,250 sq. ft. lobby public entry
5,000 sq. ft. observatory penthouse with exterior roofscape
2,000 sq. ft. lounge with kitchen
1,000 sq. ft. hi-tech media and tele-conference
1,000 sq. ft. library
1,000 sq. ft. audio room
800 sq. ft. lecture hall
basement facility for loading

loading dock and storage; bathroom facilities per code; interior/exte-
rior circulation/stairs/elevators as required
organized plant orb track circulation
231
tower study
perched into the hill, entering above and below, public from “pri-
vate” freeway where we learn publicity of interstate, spiraling acen-
sion from private military space, looking at the sea, looking at cars, mind-
ing the river, appreciating flatness of estuary, no longer just driving by.
233
material/formal studies
235
system integration: self-or-
ganized plant/wax blend
237
intensive difference: self-organized plant (left) and
emergent wax formation (right) + intuitive wood
structure between & within
239
gycol soap plant ball
intensive difference wax/plant integration

self-organized blends
by hand with matter + some reaction
plant experiments became study models, became orga-

nized parts to build from, became organized tension to
blend.
i searched for an avenue to morph the pre-self-orga-

nized plant matter with new self-organized wax/water
temperature reaction.
these became self-organized blends.
241
helix soap hand mold
wax hand mold
styrofoam section early lcd creature

beginning gestures
by hand: intuiton + instinct studies
from a helix a blurob emerged, but it lacked

surface.
from styrofoam, a collage arose.
molding cooling wax and soap, i folded with

my hands
243
drawings done concurrently
drawings pushed certain ideas creating parts for later con-

glomerations and ideas for emerging behaviors to come.
245
atrium study
247
stop
methods
the interpretation of light
The basic phenomena of light became a motive force in

formal/systems development. The first study involved
a specific naturally occurring lighting condition. The
light quality of the inside of a breaking wave’s unique-
ness lies in the reflection of the water and the complex
curving, moving, and transforming surfaces of the wa-
ter.
The second investigation arose out of need. The need to

reinterpret 3 dimensional analog models (pp. 238-244)
2 dimensionally and digitally. A flat bed scanner served
as the tool to accomplish this. Through the passing of
a linear beam of light, the scanner describes a 3 dimen-
sional object with color value.
249
4 5
6
3
2
1
9
9 7
Circulation gesture
8
drawing system based on light
a way of drawing developed to mimic the light quali-

ties of the inside of a breaking wave
1. define curvature desired

2. define origin point (center of mass of curve)
3. horizon line based on origin point
4. draw vertical from origin point
5. draw line between intersections of curve (1) and vertical (4); curve
and horizon (3)
6. opening defined (use to determine envelope, coverage, facade
quality)
7. bisect opening into equal parts. extend bisection to curvature (sta-
ble light region defined)
8. draw line between horizon and curve intersection and vertical and
curve intersection (directed light defined)
9. connection determined locally (based upon circulation, meeting
points, view to river, etc.)
251
253
255
257
layering
transforming the draw-

ings allowed another
level of interpretation
and intuition to emerge.
asking questions of form
scaled and rotated and movement guided de-
cisions in replication,
rotation, scaling, etc.
capsule build
scaled successively every 2
how can growth be “scaffolded”
265
receding in space
entering 3d
digital space
267
elbow symmetry
269
bull symmetry
271
sociological
intensity
study (pp.)
273
How does this become physical again?
275
CNC machined
mold derived
from Rhi-
no studies
Holes drilled
through the
mold allow
thermoforming
of PolyEth-
ylene Glycol
277
Thermoforming, the process of heating a thermoplastic material and shaping it into a
mold, produced a skin based on the shape of the CNC mold. This mold derived from the
plant/wax/light study exhibited characteristics of a living integrated structural system.
The thermoforming process provides varying levels precision in relation to the mold.
Parameters, such as temperature, material, and duration effect the detail achieved. The
PolyEthylene Glycol skins indicate these level of detail. Above, the resulting skin
was less precise than below. The disadvantage of the more precise skin if the appear-
ance of the holes used for the vacuum the machine uses to suck the plastic to the mold.
279
Spray Adhe-
sive + MDF dust
Spray Adhesive + MDF

dust/plaster mix
Duotone spray paint

By first creating a mold, an infinite number of skins can be produced. This allowed
not only an investigation of the different levels of detail the thermoform process
can attain but also the materiality, I myself could produce from this very manufac-
tured material process. The intent was to create the look and spatial experience
of a structural system integrated with a living vegetated wall. Thus, an MDF dust
produced this effect best under the parameters of lighting conditions and overall bi-
zarreness. a spray paint application revealed the effects of an opaque surface.
281
the new false ground surface of
the earth/vegetated roofscape
283
skin in light
285
office capsule production
287
The perpetuating and ever-mutating changes of jurisdictions and
agencies of authority requires an architectural vessel reflective of
those behaviors. Capsule offices open and close depending on
boundary changes and arising responsibilities. Tendons extend
from a structurally laced core. When new office space is needed,
the tendons contract around structural steel ribs fabricated off site
and put in place by tower personnel.
289
east facade
disjunct space horizon window/plant track/

structure compression
gestural model 1
291
office/atrium/research lab relationship
terminus of path at entry: ends at

horizontal window looking south and
elevator/plants to above
This first building gestural model at 1/8” began defining relation-
ships between spaces and site. Key strategies developed here were:
primary public vertical circulation occurs within the atrium; research
labs flank its western edge for peripheral light; office spaces of the
jurisdiction as well meeting spaces flank the eastern edge; offices
become capsule like spaces gradiating from the structure decom-
pression. They open/form/close depending on office space needs.
293
relationship to culvert
295
MODEL
F EETRASK T
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david j pearson
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san diego, ca}
Karen L a n g e
s i t e m o d e l ( 2 9 6 )
f i n a l w o r k i n g m o d e l ( 3 0 0 )
entry/atrium 306
spiral ramp 312
capsules/tendons 314
research labs 322
observatory penthouse 328
program below/structural core 334
s y s t e m s ( 3 4 2 )
297
The final working model scaled at 1/4”began with a base constructed in a way to
further understand this relationship of multiple systems. Its goal was` to ultimately
build a site model of tectonic quality that revealed unseen relationships. The struc-
tural dowels presented a field condition acting upon the site. They create a relation-
ship to what is below that the mentality of a single surface can not produce.
process: beginning field condition
299
301
Final working model
casting shadows
303
Caretaker tower
Eastern facade: office capsules shown
305
Fictional creature propagates reality
307
Public entrance on north view to interior atrium volume and above
library space
309
Atrium in plan: a continuous staircase meets a succession of ramps at each floor,
rising another foot to meet the corresponding floor.
Entry path with spiraling ramp to river’s edge on left; elevator

straight ahead and horizon upload space and reasearch labs to
right 311
Views rising along atrium counterclockwise
313
The Ramp descends beneath a horizontal window
facing the site sliver and interstate to the south.
Not far below, the change in river depth can be
seen dpending on the tide.
Spiraling ramp from river level looking into entry/atrium space.

Staircase ramp and capsules lie above.
315
Ramps to research labs beneath struc-
tural tendons serving office capsules
317
View from double story library space looking back into atrium with capsules to left
Capsule relationship to asending atrium ramp/staircase circulation.

A series of plates connect to the landings to service the capsules and
library space. The library space sits above the north entry welcoming
the public. The live trace growth steel columns/plates extend to the
capsules and support the library space.
319
321
Structural tendons recede to a structural
helix core where force is transmitted to
the spiral ramp
323
Looking into research lab entry from
ramp adjoining staircase
325
The staircase ramps, elevator landings,
and expanding vegetated structure con-
verge at the entry to the research space.
327
Peripheral light from the atrium to the east filters into the research lab space. Research
lab offices, digital labs, and conference rooms receive filtered light through the veg-
etated strucutural west facade.
329
The terminal capsule sits across the atrium from the
public observatory penthouse.
331
The vegetated wall envelopes the structural facade (in white). The
west facade meets a vegetated roof above. The roof is interlaced
with translucent concrete pavers creating unique lighting condi-
tions depending on the time of day
Stairs lead to an accessible vegetated roof
The top floor maintains the connection to the entry

333
via a wall of glazing facing the atrium
The north facade sits adjacent to a row of existing eucalyptus trees at
the top of the hill. These trees demarcate the entry to the tower and
filter the view of the interstate beyond. 335
View up void of spiraling ramp compos-
ing structural ringed core. Plant track
runs down the middle vertically
337
Worm’s eye view up structural spiral
ramp core. Core meets program below
to define water treatment pools.
339
Holding tank
Structural member from atrium meeting below View towards descending stair entry to below
Program below the ground plane includes water treatment and clas-
sified military operations. The tower’s proximity to the river allows
connection to the river and the water table providing water for the
building as well as pulling in toxic water from the river to treat.
Building, farm, and railroad maintenance yard water all passes
through this facility before its discharge into the river.
Series of stairs descend to water treatment

and classified military operations
341
343
When both the vegetated roof and fa-
cade reach their saturation point, ex-
cess water is diverted down the west
face to the culvert which serves as a
natural bioswale to cleanse the water
before reaching the river.
Blue scuppers allow the vegetated wall’s excess water to drip

down along the west face of the building, creating occasional
sheetings of water during periods of above average moisture.
During periods of drought, the scuppers collect water each night
when the dew point is reached, much like an upside down um-
brella or a canopy of trees in early morning.
Facade gutter
Vegetated wall system with integrated scuppers
345
West facade
347
For the open plan required for plant research labs, the structure
is pushed to the atrium as a structural steel webbing and to the
facade on the exterior. Vierendeel trusses within the floor plates
carry loads to the vegetated/structural facade and allow underfloor
interstitial space. This facade blends with a vegetated system that
minimizes the western heating load and afternoon glare.
Vegetated wall-structural integration
Structure sans vegetation
Perforated metal screening
Live trace growth/steel base pilings extend-

ing up along atrium as columns and trusses
The structural system emerges around the south independently,

where it becomes 3 dimensional and ties into the steel base/live
trace columns and atrium steel webbing via trusses across the curv-
ing ramps on the eastern side. To minimize heat load, a perforated
steel screen partially covers the south face and extends below from
the vegetated wall to cover the first floor.
349
Vegetated/Structural system expanding toward elevator core and
linking into live trace growth columns via trusses embedded in floor
plates.
351
David John Pearson
STUDIO 400
K LANGE
2008-2009
California Polytechnic State
University San Luis Obispo
Thank You Karen
353

Fictional Creature Propagates Reality Undergraduate Thesis by David J Pearson

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INFRASTRUCTURAL PUBLIC/PRIVATE EQUALIZING

INFRASTRUCTURAL PUBLIC/PRIVATE EQUALIZING

infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structures

How does infrastructure affect the

very beginning As individual and societal relationships formed,

mapping site, mapping history/anti-market 108

1. how does infrastructure affect the democratic nature of place?

change My experience is now world-around…I have been op-

Circulation in modern western society is a byproduct of the exchange of re-

In some places we have circulation and we have no public space. In

From An Interview with Manuel de Landa

port of los angeles - 1872

We have chosen to structure the earth, to do so in an attempt to better partition

At a larger scale, the earth appears as two surfaces, the moiré of

1924: the Bureau of Public Roads is called upon to investigate the

1 A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Pp. 474-500.

4 U.S. Department of Transportation website (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/index.htm)

(Above) Natural strata of Laguna Beach,

4 U.S. Department of Transportation website (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/index.htm)

On a typical cold November day of 1942 the sun’s appearance is decreas-

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials declare:

The standards include a minimum of four 12-foot wide travel lanes, a

We live in a top-down world, meaning our infrastructure is deterministic rather

6 U.S. Department of Transportation website (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/index.htm)

Geography is the medium of infrastructure. Why is the medium so unknown to us?

7 Skycar City, p.33

0.0000 - 0.0035 0.0736 - 0.127

0.00336 - 0.0062 0.128 - 0.224

0.0063 - 0.0135 0.225 - 0.380

0.0136 - 0.0203 0.381 - 0.768

0.0204 - 0.0305 0.769 - 1.669

0.0306 - 0.0464 1.670 - 11.90 km3/person

National Roadless Map

Detail view of semi-rigid/semi-pliable

Developed in order to test an ongoing conceptual model in the physical.

Step One: Pour water in Step Two: Pour water out

Step Three: Observe resulting self-organization

origins and followings The idea for these experiments

Lars Spuybroek investigates the self organizing tendencies of mate-

In an attempt to elaborate upon the fourth phase Spuybroek explains,

1. Cut stems from open system of plant of 6-7” in length

Jar 2: PM from front of Parable Christian Bookstore, Marsh St.

Jar 3: PM from San Luis Trust Bank, Marsh and Osos

description Jars 1 and 3 demonstrated the best results. Jars 2 and 4

Proposed site installations at LA River and Kuwait

The resulting plant matter was placed on a

Weave with perpendicular 3rd element of Jar 1

Santa Margarita River

(Left) Plant specimen removed from container

desiccate or live: Despite the high humidity of the hu-

Peppermint and Gingermint zip tied Semi desiccated

Gingermint Living due to intact roots

1.5 Months Later: the Zip tied

What will the structural system essentially be?

results the frozen ball, although not very

through our increase in knowledge by means of an informing internet , decisions

Theory of Open Systems in Physics and Biology. Ludwig

A semi-pliable/semi rigid plant structure “ball” with roots

(Left) Recently completed CCTV building

through a thorough understanding of specificity and indeterminacy.

A looping liberator or a looping propaganda

The CCTV building sits near

the production of television “in a loop of interconnected activ-