#parainfrastructures

"Encase your legs in nylons, Bestride your hills with pylons O age without a soul; Away with gentle willows And all the elmy billows That through your valleys roll." – John Betjeman, ‘Inexpensive Progress’, 1966

Exotic Pylon | Often called a ‘blight on the landscape’, the humble electricity pylon has been the subject of a recent spate of competitions to rethink its design. But what is really at stake when we do away with the pylon’s classic form? Are we missing the chance for a more ‘communicative’ infrastructure?

Photographer: Simon-Denison Author: Charles Holland [Quaderns contributor]

Manufactured Landscapes - a feature documentary by Jennifer Baichwal

Repository: A Typological Guide to America's Ephemeral Nuclear Infrastructure by Elizabeth Ellsworth & Jamie Kruse In the absence of a permanent facility for the disposal of nuclear waste, ephemeral and mobile storage structures have been built throughout the United States. These structures exist to temporarily isolate and contain nuclear materials until more enduring facilities can be constructed. Our research contributes to the development of a visual typological guide to this provisional and largely unknown nuclear infrastructure. We consider structures designed to temporarily contain nuclear waste, such as dry casks, cooling pools and storage tanks, and mobile infrastructures designed to transport waste between sites. Presently, humans have virtually no models for how to design and maintain infrastructures capable of safely containing nuclear materials for the millions of years necessary. We aim to address this overlooked topic directly and communicate it to diverse audiences through an aesthetic, accessible work.

Cambridge Talks VI - Over: Architecture and Atmosphere

Cambridge Talks is an annual spring conference sponsored by the Ph.D. Program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning at Harvard University, dedicated to the exploration of interdisciplinary topics that engage issues of space.