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Civic

A Dusty Reality

Ramifications Of A Sand Crisis

Five sand factories dot the coastal beach town of Laguna Beach, California. After noticing a lack of tourists, the homeowners took it upon themselves to replenish the pristine beaches through a bottom-up sand-making initiative. Their single-family home topology made it conducive to occupying the space between, beside, and adjacent to one another. The thesis looks at this proposal in 50-year increments. What does the beach look like in 2025 versus 2175? Rocks are brought in from local home development projects and pulverized into sand. As the years progress, factory workers occupy the homes they share close contact with. The owners grew weary of the constant sound, dust, and work necessary to preserve beaches and fled to other destinations. A dystopian future is produced, all in the act of preservation.

2025 the story starts as discreetly as possible. With basements and attics of residences being converted to miniature mining machines. A desalination plant, disguised as a lifeguard tower, is set up along the coastal edge, and pipes begin moving gallons of fresh water to residences up the hill. Workers start to arrive in buses disguised as VW beach buggies. Rocks arrive from local home redevelopment projects, slowly extracting the natural resources within close proximity.
year 2025: Drawing of the first sand factory embeded in the neighborhood streets of Laguna Beach
2075 As the machines grow, the residences start to shake and the sound becomes ear-piercing. Soon, the homeowners realize that their suburban single family home typology is conducive to occupying the empty space that exists between, beside and adjacent to one another. As the machines ramp up, Laguna quickly sets up an official noise ordinance. Machines are now only able to run on a 30 minutes on, 90 minutes off cycle.
year 2075: Drawing of the second sand factory embeded in the neighborhood streets of Laguna Beach
It's 2115 and the first cycle of the day is about to begin. Phase 1 had extracted all the rocks in close proximity. Now, large 100 mile long pipes have been set up, sucking rocks from the depths of the ocean floor. As the machines turn on, the conveyor belt shoots rocks from factory to factory. There are now 5 machines in total, the vibrating feeder, the impact crusher, the cone crusher, the vibrating screen, and the sand washing factory. This quantity and density of sand replenishment produces a large amount of soot, and it begins to accumulate on the structures themselves. As a result, the facades are built of a slick metal in order to collect every last parcel of sand created.
year 2115: Drawing of the first sand factory embeded in the neighborhood streets of Laguna Beach
In order to test my hypothesis of living with sand, I filled my apartment with two tons of sand
model
object showing sand moving from one location to another through pipes, simulating the sand refinement from one factory to another.
model in the natural enviroment
model on land and in the sea
3D model of the neighborhood in Laguna Beach, CA that the project is taking place
Process Work

More Work

Occupying The Third Space
Between Two Walls
Alternative Pathways For A Sea Voyager
drawing

Description

Five sand factories dot the coastal beach town of Laguna Beach, California. After noticing a lack of tourists, the homeowners took it upon themselves to replenish the pristine beaches through a bottom-up sand-making initiative. Their single-family home topology made it conducive to occupying the space between, beside, and adjacent to one another. The thesis looks at this proposal in 50-year increments. What does the beach look like in 2025 versus 2175? Rocks are brought in from local home development projects and pulverized into sand. As the years progress, factory workers occupy the homes they share close contact with. The owners grew weary of the constant sound, dust, and work necessary to preserve beaches and fled to other destinations. A dystopian future is produced, all in the act of preservation.

Credits

Michael J. Farris
Cara Liberatore
, Critic
Evan Farley
, Critic

Details

2022 - 2023
Laguna Beach, CA