ARCH-4980.2 | Jeremy Carvalho, Adjunct Professor

TROPHIC EXCHANGES
The Modular Reefscape

TRAVIS LYDON

Focusing on this notion of aggregation and assembly, the provisional research into coral growth patterning has driven a large interest in adjacencies between modular components and the spatial potentials of modular juxtaposition. The trophic reef is the catalyst which informs the modular aggregation strategy, as arhitectonic application of the system begins to mirror the relationships and cross-pollination of many organisms within the reef. The manner in which these systems communicate with each other is uniquely similar to that of the feedback loop.

The question then becomes one which speaks less to the ‘what’ and regards much more the issue of ‘when;’ at what point is design relegated to problem-solving, and when does one construct larger problems for these systems to further conceptual ideals. Rather than simply providing an answer to a pre-existing question, this involves understanding the potentials within layering, nesting, and networking these systems to further development.

The conceptual ‘edge condition’ is observed as a critique,referring to the manner in which the ‘edge’ itself is analyzed; rather than simply execute an action such as protruding or differentiating the edge in the examples of the pier and boardwalk typologies, the true ‘design’  entails understanding simple actions created within the larger order of of inherent relationships. Intentionally creating a hard-edge boundary condition calls upon the system to forcibly re-negotiate that edge in a variety of ways, whether decomposing its ‘layers’  or separating it in section, as here it implies creation and re-creation of the edge with respect to its functional applications and re-purposings.

These simple ‘rules’ generate a rather profound system which begins to self-operate, as the inherent layering of additional systems is exceedingly due to the relationships established within the system, and have less reliance on the ‘crutch’ that is designer and his unique ability to ‘say what goes.’ Functioning with a ‘kit-of-parts’ assembly mentality, layering therefore only creates a further integration of the developed network within the scheme with relation to its individual parts and is blurring the ‘edge condition’ more with every subsequent introduction to the system.