On average, there are 32 million tonnes of diluted storm sewage discharged into the River Thames annually, mostly through the combined sewage overflows (CSO’s) found underneath many of London’s bridges. There can be up to 60 discharges a year. Thames Tidal Strategy proposed the Thames Tunnel, which would capture the flows of storm sewage from 34 sewer overflow points along the River Thames; one of these points being located underneath Blackfriars bridge where the ‘river’ Fleet runs into the Thames. If the proposal is successfull, The tunnel will run approximately 32 kilometres (20 miles) through the heart of London, and up to 75 metres beneath the River Thames, broadly following the path of the river.

Although shallow, the River Fleet was once wide enough to accommodate a fair amount of shipping.However, by the 16th century, it had become almost completely clogged up with rubbish and raw sewage. There were increasingly desperate attempts to clean it, all doomed to failure. Sir Christopher Wren even got involved at one point and the lower part of the river was widened into a canal, while the section north of Holborn to the City wall was covered over. Unfortunately, the new canal still acted as a sewage-magnet and the stench became steadily more obnoxious.

In 1732, the authorities admitted defeat and bricked the whole thing over from Holborn Bridge to Fleet Street, and later from Fleet Street down to the Thames. But the river fought back. In 1846, it burst out of its brick casing and engulfed the streets above in a tidal wave of raw sewage……….

In Zambia, the economy is down, the price of fertilisers up and Zambian farmers are tapping into sewage for their vegetable gardens.They will puncture the sewer pipe as it traverses a vacant lot and use the raw sewerage to water and fertilize their vegetables, at the risk of dysentery, typhoid, gardiasis, infectious hepatitis and salmonella…

sewage tapping

My initial thoughts for the site are the disused piers to the west of the current Blackfriars railway bridge, London. They are in fact the remnants of the original London Chatham and Dover railway bridge.

The next stage of the primer has involved thinking about the ‘life box’ system in more detail. I believe the strength of the proposal lies in the extended network itself;  and, has led me towards exploring cyclical and closed loop systems where each micro-environment’s output becomes anothers input. The Biosphere ll experiment is example of one of these regulated environments which occurred in Arizona in the 1970′s. The experiment, and the unprecedented efforts made to ensure the system was kept enclosed, has made me question the practicalities and purpose of such a system. Realistically, one would never be expected to live in say Biosphere II apart from if it were for the purpose of scientific research. As long as each component of the micro environment offsets another’s output then a community doesn’t necessarily need to exist within a closed environment.

The image above explores the symbiotic relationship of different components within a system. For example, organic waste produced from living quarters could be converted to produce both CO2 for plants and mechanical energy. Through aquaponics, fish and crustaceans could fertilize the water for plants and crops which in turn oxygenate the water for the fish…. Individually, each component is function less. But when combined a system of PROSUMERS is created.

Philips Design Probes is a community dedicated to ‘far-future’ research initiatives which is believed to become the creative force behind innovative products that will one day become mainstream.

I stumbled across this video today and I am so glad I did. I want to describe it as one of those magical moments but for the fear of sounding cheesy i won’t. For me, the video totally optimise’s the essence of not only what I want my primer to portray but, what I want my thesis to be based on/around. I can almost imagine my thesis being apart of this very video- featuring as an architectural response after what they refer to as the ‘home farming unit’ or part 3 of the film. Sorry for the length of the film, but for me it was (possibly) the best 9 miniutes and 53 seconds I will have this year.

Friday morning to discuss ‘dressing the pit ready for the crit’- how does 10:00am sound? George and I spoke briefly to Wassim yesterday about some ideas we had and it would be good to discuss with you guys. As the pit is relatively tight on space we need to think about where people are going to pin up and what furniture/ props will be needed.

Over and out

A