Christopher
Montalvo-McCarthy



    

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Illegal Housing-WIP
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Design + Research Studio, Professor Christina Shivers, 2023
Plant Scherer and the American Petro-Landscape





Plant Scherer Energetic Systems - Consumption Scale Visualization

This experimental, three -axis, scaled, axonometric graph is a Grasshopper constructed drawing. It demonstrates the power, viability, and creativity that can be achieved in scripted representations of data. It uses open source Federal and private reports of production by the EPA, Plant Scherer, BNSF, and others to compile in a single graphic, a story about 20+ years of energy production and consumption.
5km, 7km, and 15km buffer regions.
These represent the respective levels of contamination for the region, as measured from other similar, unlined ash ponds.
Each of these maps compile data from State, County, independent watchdog, and federal reporting agencies. Assembled from various geo-referenced inputs in a single QGIS file, their output is in the form of shapefile and CSV tables which when referenced in Grasshopper, become the inputs for scaled, site-specific representations of raw data.

Audio Survey Field Kit

Methodology:


1.)  Pattern Data informs variegated print surface.
2.)  Prints contour and amplify (variously) the droning and disonant noise pollution.
3.)  Indexical data then affects rotational qualities of masonry acoustic/solar brise-soleils


Kit Design and Construction:

Detection through contact mics (Piezoelectric) and shotgun electrets (about the quality of a lavalier) wired for compression, recorded to cassette. Spheres and parabola’s chosen for reflective properties. Interior of clay bodies is glazed for aural reflectivity.

1.) Conical Ceramic Amplifier (Scattershot-Distorted)
2.) Tape Recorder/ File Converter
3.) Modular Compression Electret Mic Type 1
4.) Compression-Wiring + Typical Housing Condition
5.) Parabolic Ceramic Amplifier (Distance-Distorted)
6.) Spherical Hood + Hardwired Compression Piezoelectric Mic
7.) Modular Compression Electret Mic Type 2
8.) Spherical Ceramic Amplifier (Resonant-Contact)

Site Strategy Axon 

Site Condition Axon

*All Axons are constructed in Grasshopper, allowing for rapid drawing iteration of various proposed elements. This also permits functions such as adjusting and measuring the infill variations from the topographic mesh and automatically re-drawing the contour lines to match the proposed amendments.
Community Center: Ceramics Studio/Woodshop/Tool Library & Enclosed Venue

Parametric brick arcades dampen harsh Southern sunlight and absorb and reflect the droning noise of the highway and the intermittent bursts from the fire station. Using Class - C Flyash bricks produced from Plant Scherer’s recycled coal ash. Bricks are ordinarily  30% Flyash