It is becoming commonplace to hear the superlatives coming out of the Middle East and China in terms of infrastructure, but not this time. In preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the two peaks at opposing ends to Fitzsimmions Valley, Whistler and Blackcomb will be linked. In the ultimate aerial shortcut, a sky cab gondola has linked these two tips using only four support structures, converting a minimum one hour down-the-hill-and-up-the-lifts commute into an 11 minute ride. it is called Peak 2 Peak and it opens on December 12.

[Section through Peak 2 Peak gondola showing parabolic span.]

[Restraining the pull of 56mm diameter cables across the Valley.]

At just over 3 kilometers, it is the longest unsupported span. When the sky cabin reaches the low-point of its trip it is 436 meters above the creek and actually at the highest occupiable point above ground (at least until the Burj Dubai finally tops out somewhere around 700m).

[Wireframe of topography as it relates to all lifts. Peak 2 peak is in red.]

[The gears churning the 28 skycabs round and round in perpetual motion.]

Now, if you are thinking what I am thinking: What if this thing snaps? Well the cable is pretty strong so it is less likely to happen out of the blue than if it is triggered by something, such as an airplane. No worries, that is covered via a state-of-the-art OCAS, or Obstacle Avoidance Collision System developed in Norway. A radar is used to constantly scan the area for potential collision intruders. If, for example, an aircraft is detected, the radar alerts the system and immediately tracks the aircraft, calculates its speed, heading and altitude. If a collision hazard exists, the pilot is warned by flashing high intensity strobe lights and an audible warning transmitted over all aircraft radio frequencies.

[The skycabs were developed in, you guessed it, Switzerland, where the Alps have been an ideal catalyst for developing advanced aerial pods like the P2P.]

The world’s largest garbage dump is located thousands of miles from land.  Also known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Pacific Trash Vortex is an area of marine debris floating in the Pacific Ocean.  This collection of trash is characterized as a plastic-soup due the high concentrations of suspended disposable plastics that have been trapped by the spiraling currents of the North Pacific Gyre.

08-12-03: Trash Vortex: global gyre locations

The rotational pattern described by the North Pacific Gyre draws in waste material from the extremities of the North Pacific Ocean, including the coastal waters off North America and Japan. As material circulates in the current, the centripetal tendency gradually moves floating debris toward the center, trapping it in the circumscribed oceanic region. This action has produced unusually high levels of marine debris in the area.

08-12-03: Trash Vortex: The Independent

Charles Moore, an American oceanographer, discovered the trash vortex in 1997.  While taking a short cut home from a yacht race, Moore cut across the North Pacific Gyre, usually avoid by sea-vessels, and spent the following week swimming through the vortex’s trash-filled territory.

Like other areas of concentrated marine debris in the world’s oceans, the Pacific Trash Vortex has formed gradually over the last decades as a result of higher levels of marine pollution and the action of prevailing oceanic currents.

08-12-03: Trash Vortex Global Currents

The size of the affected region is unknown, but estimates range from 700,000 km2 to more than 15 million km2, (0.41% to 8.1% of the size of the Pacific Ocean). It is estimated that 80% of the material trapped in the vortex comes from land-based sources and the remaining 20% are sea-based sources such as ships and oil rigs.  Moore estimates that oceanic currents carry debris from the east coast of Asia to the center of the gyre in a year or less. Debris from the west coast of North America arrives at the gyre’s centre after approximately five years.

Beyond the astonishing bird’s nest featured at the recent Beijing Olympics was perhaps a more spectacular accomplishment: large-scaled cloud seeding. Chinese film and Olympic opening ceremony director Zhang Yimou cited rain as the largest threat to the opening ceremonies. To ensure a rain-free performance, 1104 rocket’s filled with silver iodide were fired into the smoggy skies of 21 sites surrounding Beijing. These rockets dispersed cloud cover and prompted rain to occur before the clouds could disturb the Olympic site. Baoding city, located southwest of Beijing, absorbed 100mm of rainfall during the opening ceremonies, effectively keeping the bird’s nest dry.

Cloud seeding is one of the oldest and simplest weather modification technologies that, after many years of unsuccessful attempts, have incurred a recent resurgence of research. Given the complexity of dynamic atmospheric changes, the results of cloud seeding are difficult to prove. This doesn’t seem to be discouraging China, however, which has set up The Beijing Weather Modification Office (a unit of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau ) that employs over 37,000 peasants that aid in rain production. In a water-deprived nation like China, every drop in the atmosphere goes a long way.

Cloud seeding operates on the water vapor within clouds. Water vapor is typically converted to water droplets through impurities known as condensation nuclei. What seeding does is inject impurities into the clouds that allow water vapors to coalesce on, creating droplets around the nuclei. Gravity can now pull these droplets from the sky to produce rain. Cloud seeding typically occurs with the injection of silver iodide or dry ice that is either fired in missiles from land, or dropped by air via small planes. It is important to note that seeding cannot make clouds but rather promotes rain production in existing clouds.

[Cloud seeding airplane in Beijing via china-briefing.com]

Sciencedaily.com reports that scientists are predicting increased drought, flooding and forest fires due to global warming in the next two hundred years. Reduced freshwater and more intense droughts will encourage desertification that impacts the amount of vegetative density. With less vegetation, increased runoff will also instigate flooding. Already highly valued freshwater is on its way to becoming one of the world’s most precious resources.

[Desertification: present and projected]

[Freshwater Consumption: present and projected]

What is promising about the nascent research on cloud seeding is that it can promote rainfall in drought-stricken land as well as reduce flooding by dispersing rainfall over a larger landmass. As weather-monitoring devices increase in precision and can more accurately predict and map the complex network of atmospheric changes, perhaps we will develop an acupunctural approach to fertilizing the atmosphere to cultivate water and reduce the environmental impacts of global warming. Without more research and understanding of our atmosphere, however, cloud seeding could do more harm than good.

Maya and Mason are participating in talk20 toronto (edition #3) which is based around the release of the Alphabet City publication (no.13) titled FUEL, available now in bookstores. It happens tomorrow (Friday, November 28).

It takes place at University of Toronto, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at 230 College St starting at 4:30pm. Drinks and food will be available.

The lineup includes: Ron Dembo, Kelly Doran, Chris Hardwicke, Robert Kirkbride, Maya, Imre Szeman, Geoff Thun, Kathy Veikov, and Mason.

Quantifying the impact of human habitats on animal habitats is complex and ever-shifting. Only when a freak incident of a bear, or wolf, or deer wander into our developed environment - and a strange tussle between fumbling law enforcement officers and a primal instinct-driven beast ensues - are we reminded on our habitat overlaps. Urban wildlife (rats, pigeons, squirrels, etc.) is one version of adapted coexistence, though more frequently wildlife ends up inadvertently quarantined or cornered. Josh Keyes‘ paintings simultaneously acknowledge this conflict and propose terraced territories of frictionless micro-habitats.

[Josh Keyes, Interlock #1 (2006)]

As reportage continues on the GGADO, or Great Global Amphibian Die-Off, it is difficult to speculate on the outcome of such an extreme loss within one branch of species, such as amphibians. To put this in perspective, 12 percent of all bird species and 23 percent of mammal species are threatened with extinction compared to 35-50 percent of the world’s 6,300 amphibian species. About 100 amphibian species have disappeared since 1980. For comparison, a single species of amphibians would naturally go extinct after about 250 years.

This is primarily driven by the successful spread of the chytrid fungus, climate change, and environment disruption. In response, a proposal for an Amphibian Ark, similar to the Arctic seed vault, is gaining momentum. This would entail regional “biobanks” affiliated with the conservation departments within zoos and other related organizations. A kind of 21st century cabinet of curiosities  - in this case housing frog sperm.

[Josh Keyes, Hoop (2006)]

Our contrasting habitats are interlocked in a nebulous way, with the borders redrawn each morning; Animal habitats often in a perpetual defensive retreat, or just confused and surrounded by an overnight track development. The fringes of this contested border usually mediated by controlled programs such as reserves, zoos, and wildlife parks.

[Josh Keyes, Interlock #2 (2006)]

Josh Keyes discovered viaBryan Boyer’s Reader

Related Post: Convergent Species

If you are within earshot of New York sometime before the remainder of the year, do not miss Keller Easterling’s “Some True Stories: researches in the field of flexible truth.” It runs from Nov 18 - Dec 23 2008 at the always reliable Storefront for Art and Architecture. Easterling and her collaborators chart the convenience of deviance, highlighting the lure of swimming in the dirty waters of political persuasions.

Immediately, I am reminded of the current piracy off the Somalian coast as a reminder of some of the by-products of these flexible truths. The recent hijacking of an oil tanker from Saudi Arabia’s state-owned shipping line, Vela International Marine Ltd, that is carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude valued at $110 million is a reminder of the power of pirate polity. There have been some 70 pirate attacks in and around the Gulf of Aden so far this year. Of course there really is no government in Somalia right now, so pirating seems like a great option. Aaargh…

[Saudi Arabia's oil tanker Sirius Star was the largest hijacking in history.]

The pirate minefield off the Somalian coast.

Ed’s note: Although discovered after the fact, BLDGBLOG and the Lab were in the same headspace yesterday… they have a fantastic overview of piracy, live(!).

InfraNet is pleased to announce a new publication venture in collaboration with Archinect, and with support from the Graham Foundation.

[bracket]
www.brkt.org

[bracket] is an annual publication documenting issues overlooked yet central to our cultural milieu that have evolved out of the new disciplinary territory at the intersection of architecture, landscape, urbanism and, now, the internet. It is no coincidence that the professional term architect can also now refer to information architects, and that the word community can also now refer to an online community. [bracket] is a publishing platform for ideas charting the complex overlap of the sphere of architecture and online social spheres.

Seeking new voices and talent, [bracket] is structured around an open call for entries. The series will look at thematics in our age of globalization that are shaping the built environment in radically significant and yet unexpected ways.

The first issue is titled On Farming is to be released in Fall 2009.

Please see the website for a description of the call for entries, schedule, and how to be part of future mailings. And please pass this on to anyone you believe could be interested to participate or submit ideas, designs, or texts.

Thank you,
InfraNet Lab Editors
Mason White
Lola Sheppard
Maya Przybylski
Neeraj Bhatia

Picking up on the intermittent series of student projects, here is a project by University of Toronto M.Arch graduate Alice Wong titled Transitional Landscapes. Alice began her research on the hypnotic optics of highway commuting. She selected the highway 427 and Highway 401 knuckle interchange in Toronto as a case study in new possibilities for occupying a smooth (transitional) space. Eventually finding a way to intervene in this hyper-logical, engineered context by inserting a secondary route of new programs and experiences.

[An analysis of the optics and experiences of the commuter.]

Wong writes:

The research begins with observing changes in our transitory experience and analyzing them among varying types including converging/diverging transition, sectional transition, and directional transition. The site of interest is located by the interchange between Toronto’s provincial highways 427 and 401.

[Sense of speed is relative to sequence, rhythm, and pattern intensity.]

[A study of 'missed exit' re-routing in the knuckle identifies the possiblity of a secondary route connecting the loose ends.]

The scale of this high-speed interchange, and the complex layers and depth of field, seemingly presents an inherent problem in its accessibility to adjacent landscapes due to extreme friction between the fast and the slow. Employing the formal language of the highway and the concept in speed-transition curves; this thesis embarks on creating a new system of speed deceleration loops along the gap between the road and the landscapes by forming a “Super Roundabout (power of 10)” for vehicles to circle within the interchanging moment.

[To connect these loose ends, a trefoil knot is a useful analogy to seamlessly stitch the three highways together using decelerating zones.]

[Injecting service programs into the trefoil loop, creating a 'super roundabout'.]

The Roundabout(10) is design to serve for traffic calming and speed control, and allow for increased capacity and accessibility. The occupation potential in the loop system, on the other hand, will allow for servicing and designated programs for convenience, and also suggests the “mediating passage” as the ideal place to be part of a transitory experience.

[Aerial view looking west toward Pearson International Airport.]

[Studies on how to inject services along the roundabout loop.]

[Sketch models and out-takes.]

[International Shipping Trade Routes] via UNEP/GRID-Arendal

Sky-rocketing global transport costs have effectively offset all the trade liberalization efforts of the last three decades. The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the United States has risen to $8,000, compared with $3,000 early in the decade, according to a recent study of transportation costs. Big container ships, the pack mules of the 21st-century economy, have shaved their top speed by nearly 20 percent to save on fuel costs, substantially slowing shipping times.

While this is certainly not the end of globalization, economists speculate that it may signal a return to more regional manufacturing and economies. Companies are increasingly seeking to limit global shipping costs. Instead of seeking supplies wherever they can be bought most cheaply, regardless of location, and outsourcing the assembly of products all over the world, manufacturers would instead concentrate on performing those activities as close to home as possible, in what is termed the “neighborhood effect”.

Naomi Klein, the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism points out that “the Wal-Mart model is fuel-intensive at every stage, and at every one of those stages we are now seeing an inflation of the costs for boats, trucks, cars. That is leading to a rethinking of this emissions-intensive model, in terms of growing foods locally, producing locally or shopping locally.

All this suggests new patterns of international trade, and new regional economic, production and transportation hubs. Thomas Friedman’s world may well be unflattening. However, the recent economic crisis affecting the US and world markets suggests that for now, the world still contains a few bumps.

As the Census of Marine Life works towards its first comprehensive report in 2010, already a whopping 150 new species have been tallied. In a recent report, research along the Great Barrier Reef, and more specifically 3 islands, have resulted in the discovery of several new varieties of soft corals, amphipod crustaceans, and tanaids (shrimps).

[A luminescent ctenophore discovered off of Heron Island.]

[Sabellids, or fan worms, found at Heron Island.]

[A variety of green seaweed found Heron Island.]

About 36 house-like plastic boxes have been positioned within the Lizard and Heron Island region to assist in monitoring species over the next decade and beyond. Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) will observe patterns and rates of recolonization of marine life over the duration of the census.

[The coral-skirted Heron Island.]

[The more mountainous Lizard Island.]

[Census of Marine Life map of 17 key project areas. The 3 Australian islands are within the CReefs expedition area.]