Drawing [with / as / by ] karst

Emily Wildfong

Thena Tak    Carol Ramsey    Fionn Byrne    Joanne Gates    Ozayr Saloojee

Drawing is the initial act of architecture.

Line drawing has become an anthropogenic tool for architects to understand and record the world, yet these lines rarely occur in natural phenomena.

In order to represent spaces that are beyond the human, this exploration seeks to reframe architectural drawing in relation to the geologic and ecologic forces of the earth.

This project explores the spatial ecologies of the karst forest ecosystems on Vancouver Island, testing architectural drawing conventions that learn from karst, and become fluid in their depiction of edge, scale, and time.

THE AMPHIPOD WELCOMES YOU TO A MICROSCOPIC BUFFET. DON’T EAT THE GREEN ONES THOSE ARE HIS FAVOURITE.
A 5:1 projected section cut through a water filled crack in epikarst.

THE AMPHIPOD WELCOMES YOU TO A MICROSCOPIC BUFFET. DON’T EAT THE GREEN ONES THOSE ARE HIS FAVOURITE.

A 5:1 projected section cut through a water filled crack in epikarst

WATER FINDING ITS OWN WAY THROUGH CRACKS OF A 1:50 SECTION CUT THROUGH THE FISSURES OF THE EPIKARST

WATER FINDING ITS OWN WAY THROUGH CRACKS OF A 1:50 SECTION CUT THROUGH THE FISSURES OF THE EPIKARST

KARST’S SQUISHY MOSS SKIN. THIS TOOK FOREVER. PLEASE TOUCH IT.
A 1:1 Plan drawing showing the vegetation active both above and below aground level

KARST’S SQUISHY MOSS SKIN. THIS TOOK FOREVER. PLEASE TOUCH IT.

A 1:1 Plan drawing showing the vegetation active both above and below aground level. 

BEHIND THE LITTLE DOOR? ANOTHER WORLD THAT’S JUST AS COMPLEX, BUT TINIER.
1:100, 1:10, 1:1, 10:1. Trying to see multiple scales at once, just like karst

BEHIND THE LITTLE DOOR? ANOTHER WORLD THAT’S JUST AS COMPLEX, BUT TINIER.

1:100, 1:10, 1:1, 10:1. Trying to see multiple scales at once, just like karst. 

A LICHEN IS A TEAM, AND THE TEAM IS EATING ROCK.
Remove the lichen, destroy the rock. Remove the thread, destroy the page.

A LICHEN IS A TEAM, AND THE TEAM IS EATING ROCK. 

Remove the lichen, destroy the rock. Remove the thread, destroy the page.