Microcosmos

Parker Albanese

Thena Tak    Sara Stevens    Chad Manley 

This thesis explores how wondering about tiny beings might expand architectural thought by creating a dynamic methodology that critically engages and is inclusive of otherness. It is an inquiry through listening and through productive imaginaries in search for attunement with the more-than-human world. It wonders how re-wilding our imaginations through new modes of abstraction might encourage an architectural method that listens to and is attuned with the flux of interactions at our feet, rather than drowning them out. The act of wondering—that is, recognizing, inquiring, and imagining the lives of these small beings—asks us to operate within a domain of receptive uncertainty rather than one of quantification, consequently freeing us from the prejudices that bound architectural thought. 

This project aims to reintegrate people and stories back into Burns Bog, Delta in recognition of its darker histories through a series of interventions that follow a gradient of scale and familiarity. It considers how embedding ourselves into the slowness of the bog may allow us to become attentive to its tiny world and aware of the consequence of our presence. 


TINY, ELEVATED GARDENS ADAPT TO THEIR LOCAL SITING.

TINY, ELEVATED GARDENS ADAPT TO THEIR LOCAL SITING. 

DEVIATIONS IN THE MAIN ROUTE LEAD TO AN ISOLATED PEAT BENCH, FULLY SURROUNDED BY FLOODED PEAT MINES. WHEN PEAT IS MINED, IT IS LEFT ALONGSIDE THE DITCH SO THAT IT CAN DRY OUT. WHAT’S LEFT BEHIND IS A GRIDDED LANDSCAPE OF NARROW WALKWAYS AND PITS

DEVIATIONS IN THE MAIN ROUTE LEAD TO AN ISOLATED PEAT BENCH, FULLY SURROUNDED BY FLOODED PEAT MINES. WHEN PEAT IS MINED, IT IS LEFT ALONGSIDE THE DITCH SO THAT IT CAN DRY OUT. WHAT’S LEFT BEHIND IS A GRIDDED LANDSCAPE OF NARROW WALKWAYS AND PITS. 

COLLAGE OF THE HISTORY OF BURNS BOG. THE PEAT, EXTRACTED AND REFINED TO CREATE MAGNESIUM, WAS USED EXPLICITLY FOR INCENDIARY BOMBS IN WWII

COLLAGE OF THE HISTORY OF BURNS BOG. THE PEAT, EXTRACTED AND REFINED TO CREATE MAGNESIUM, WAS USED EXPLICITLY FOR INCENDIARY BOMBS IN WWII

BURNS BOG HAS THREE MAIN ENVIRONMENTS CONFINED BETWEEN URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND REFUSE: BIRCH FOREST, SWAMPY AREAS WHERE PEAT MINING HAS OCCURRED, AND PRISTINE, UNDISTURBED BOG

BURNS BOG HAS THREE MAIN ENVIRONMENTS CONFINED BETWEEN URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND REFUSE: BIRCH FOREST, SWAMPY AREAS WHERE PEAT MINING HAS OCCURRED, AND PRISTINE, UNDISTURBED BOG