Weave;

These images Show parametric experiments done by Aranda / Lasch, using sine and cosine equations to create different set of weaves. Changing the equations result in changes in the form of the weave and the system of interlocking.

these are some of the case studies from pamphlet "Aranda / Lasch ,Pamphlet Architecture 27,TOOLING. Princeton architecture Press 2006."

Since the site has deep connections with silk route and silk trade, process of silk making was studied and weaving is an important part of it.

"Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn called the warp and weft of the loom and turning them into cloth."

Some young practices have used the concept of weaving and have used parametric sine and cosine equations to construct space. One example of these practices is Aranda / Lasch.

"Weaving is the synthesis of two different systems, interlocking in order to give self supporting to their combines whole."

"Weaving produces strength by combining two weak systems in a reciprocal pattern."

Richter Weaving Device;

The Richter weaving device works on the principles of cause and effect. The project "Variance, Alliance and Deviance" by Neil spiller proved to be a good case study for critical, time based architecture of cause and effect . In the context of a constantly changing ecology it was intriguing to explore this approach of design. While explaining this project he states:

"Architects must design in the second aesthetic of logarithm. This is an aesthetic of programmed possible outcomes or forms that is concerned with the provisions of inputs manipulated to produce varying outputs."

The concept of a set of inputs which could be manipulated to produce different outputs and using these outputs to construct a project was inspiring and relevant to this thesis.

"Natural and machine ecologies form a palimpsest of possibilities. The new architecture must respond to the spectacular genus loci of specific sites. Each place is a deep tapestry of space time vectors."

"... an ecology somewhere between building and landscape."

I liked the idea of using events at one site to create architecture on another site or even using events as a construction tool for architecture. This makes the architecture constantly evolving, time based and even out of control in some circumstances. Richter weaving device, worm device and the events form the formwork of the vessel. They are an essential part of the system. Since the architecture is in a phase of construction through most of the year (every year), the formwork needs to be constantly in place. These processes of construction and in habitation occur simultaneously.

i was going through a research paper which showed how jute like threads can be produced using wood, resin and water.the worm device produces these jute like threads for the richter weaving device which is connected to the river in a way that it spatially maps the flow of the river. it uses water speed, direction and turbulance as parametres for mapping.
this is a draing for richter weaving device.

drawings of worm device

using the narrative a system has been developed. this system is fed by the locals, as if theyd feed the silk worm and as a result it would produce a weave by the end of the process. this weave will be a spatial map of the river over the period of 6 months and this spatial map acts as a vessel which acts as an escape boat. when trigerred by the vibrations in land , the vessel will start to float over ground allowing the rocks to roll beneath it in case of a landslide an keep the dwellers safe.
important part of this system is the worm device.

sketches of richter weaving device producing the vessels along the river.

using the process of silk making considered "worm," "man" and "the weave" and based the design of these components to produce the vessel; which in this case is the weave itself.
important parts of this system are the worm device, richter weaving device and the weave.
worm device is fed branches of tree form the enviroment and it uses the energy of water, to operate.resin & pulp from the branches of coniferous trees and water are the ingredient to make jute like threads which later will be used by the richter weaving device to weave the vessel.

parametre sensing device

these are some process drawings i started to make of this device in water which informed the construction system about the river speed, turbulance and direction.

i started to explore possibilities of spacially mapping the river(using water speed, direction and turbulance as three parametres for contruction) over the year to produce a vessel which might help the villagers save their lives in case of landslides. the river remains frozen form november to january. and landlides are triggered by high precipetaion during the months of august september and october. the slot of six months in between can be used to produce the vessel, this vessel should be ready to use in august.
the spatial map/ vessel will be in form of a weave;
"weaving produces strength by combining two weak systems in a reciprocal pattern."
Aranda / Lasch, Pamphlet Architecture 27, Tooling, Princeton Architecture Press.
i started to design devices which sense the turbulance, direction an speed of water, in order to inform the production of the vessel.

i started to experiment with weaving and the sort of spaces it would create both inside and outside..

i collaged the process of silk making into one drawing, in order to visually communicate the narrative. it was also my intention to play with perspectives to add absurdity. it was extremely important to keep the essence and feel of the silk paintings in the drawing. i enjoyed working on this drawing and am pretty content with how it turned out.

showing a woman weaving cloth from looms of thread using a device

showing a process of weaving from the loom

Silk painting showing looms being made delicately, from threads extracted from the cocoons, using a machine*

Silk painting showing the process of separation of the worm from the cocoon Silk painting showing looms being made delicately, from Using warm water

Silk painting showing the worms being laid and fed on trays

NARRATIVE

The narrative to this project is in "the process of silk making in Manchu, china." This book discusses the process of silk making in the context to old Chinese silk paintings. These paintings were done on silk using natural pigments and using a style similar in concept to miniature paintings in the Indo- Pak region. These paintings tell stories of how making silk was an activity of the community and how everyone from children to old members of the village worked together to produce silk. People had their own personal silk units in their homes and the family members worked on making the cloth together.

Silk painting showing collection of silk worms from the trees

A certain set of relationships can be established using this data:

· Earth quakes occur regularly in and around the site, this can be seen from table 1

· Table 3 shows patterns of landslide occurrences, showing that the landslide season keeps slowly shifting but it can safely be concluded that landslides mainly occur during July, August, September and October. From table 5 we see that even though there is no shortage of precipitation throughout the year most of the rainfall occurs during April, May, June, July and August. And connecting table 2 and table 5 we can see that heavy rain during these months act as a catalyst to these landslides.

· Table 2 shows the composition of the terrain and rock size categorization. We can see that there is large percentage of loose particles and rocks on the surface which make the surface volatile.

· From table 4 we can understand that the river remains frozen in December and January.

TABLE 5: This table displays precipitation and cloud cover data (accumulated till 2007) accumulated by the Meteorological department of Pakistan

TABLE 4: This table displays temperature and wind speed data of khaplu accumulated by the Meteorological department of Pakistan

TABLE3: This table shows documentation of landslides(occurring in 2007) in and around Khaplu, as compiled by the Geological Department Of Pakistan.

TABLE 2: This table shows the breakdown of composition of the terrain with respect to the size of rocks, as surveyed by the Geological Department Of Pakistan.

TABLE 1: This table shows the data regarding Earthquakes in Khaplu, (from 2002-2007) as compiled by the Geological Department Of Pakistan.

The site is an old Buddhist settlement by the name of Khaplu which lies between the silk route (Karakoram highway) and River Gilgit. River Gilgit is one of the main tributaries of river Indus.
Karakoram highway is the highest highway in the world. It was built in 1986, due to the collaboration of China and Pakistan. It is situated on the old silk route. Silk route and silk have been deeply linked since 520AD. During this time silk was the biggest export of China. Silk was exported to Europe and other parts of the world through a network of silk routes. This route was the one which connected central Asia and China with the Arabian Sea. For decades the process of silk making was kept as a highly guarded secret by China.
Khaplu traces its origins to Buddhist monks from Tibet travelling on the silk route and settling down there. They have preserved their culture ever since. Unlike other remote preserved cultures they are very open, hospitable and welcoming since they are used to seeing tourists and travellers retiring in the village during their journeys.
Since Khaplu is at the altitude of 1459m and it is such a difficult terrain the government has not proven dedicated enough to provide them with electricity and natural gas as a source of energy. This leads to an increase in cutting down trees and resulting in deforestation. Meanwhile when land is stripped of its cover it becomes loose and crumbly and on top of that this is a seismically active area. Thus frequent landslides occur in and around this village. In order to deal these forces of nature they tend to construct light weight temporary homes which are easier to rebuild after a disaster, rather than to shift their village elsewhere and abandon their land which is very important to them. Although loss of human life still occurs regularly. We can understand the frequency of earthquakes, their location and magnitude in the site over the past five years, by referring to the following tables

The environment around the site is very energetic; River Gilgit (one of the main tributaries to River Indus) flows by it. This river is frozen for two months of the year while being active during the rest of the year. Khaplu village relies on the river for drinking water irrigation and energy.
This project deals with various aspects and attempts to answer questions such as:

How is this architecture site specific?
What kind of future ecologies might emerge from this system?
What type of occupancy is suitable for areas prone to landslides and earthquakes?
If this active environment is provided with appropriate set of tools, can it create its own architecture?
How is a cyborgian system a better choice than manmade system for a site which is highly restless?
Is it better to impose preconceived architecture on the site or is it better to let the architecture emerge from the environment?

INTRODUCTION:

This project explores an environment which is constantly changing due to natural influxes. As the terrain is constantly evolving any attempt to inhabit it in a static manner would not be sustainable. Research has been focused on a highly restless environment in the Karakoram Mountain Range in Pakistan which connects various environmental forces and inhabitants. This part of the world is geologically active and is prone to earthquakes and landslides. Naturally the question arises whether it would be easier for the inhabitants (due to these natural disturbances) to relocate and live elsewhere? In order for them to stay in their area, is it possible for them to interact and coexist with the ecology of the area and the various events occurring throughout the year. The objective is to connect seasonal natural occurrences in a harmonious way resulting in new possibilities to inhabit such difficult conditions in the near future. This project will try to extract architecture which is time based and constantly negotiates between the landscape and the inhabitants, making its just as important in the present as it would be in the future.
It is an attempt to devise tools by which nature will construct its own architecture, keeping an intimate connection with the inhabitants of the settlement and documenting the events spatially. These tools will act as a bridge between the environment and the people who dwell in it. This approach is essential to keep up with the shifting terrain, spatially mapping the climatic events of the site and reducing casualties in natural disasters. The project does not intend to solve all the problems but it will act as a gateway to new design approaches and possibilities in a developing country like Pakistan.
A set of questions were aroused in Housing and Culture After Earthquakes by Yasemin Aysan. these questions are relavant in this landscape aswell.

“How successful are the investigations into safe building? How suitable are permanent houses that are provided by governments or agencies for accommodation of the homeless? To what extent are resettlements accepted by the people they house?”

Aysan, Yasemin. Housing and Culture After Earthquakes, Oxford Polytechnic, (1987)

After studying the climatic data a certain set of relationships can be made. Landslides occur more frequently during the months of July, August, September and October. These landslides are also connected to the monsoon season in this area during July august and September. The rainfall erodes the surface cover of the mountains resulting in loose rocks eventually slipping and sliding down, endangering human lives. During this period the entire basic infrastructure required for human inhabitation on the mountains and village dwellings are destroyed.