Landscapes of Waste Re-examining the Solid Waste Landfill

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To my parents for their unending support in all my endeavors.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Bachelor of ArchitectureUndergraduate ThesisAdvisor: Erin Putalik

2012-2013

Allison Miller

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Experiencing the GeologicEarly DrawingsAnthropocene Approx.1945- present

Abstract

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17PURPOSE

INTRODUCTION

Artificial Landscapes: The Hackensack MeadowlandsReal and Imagined Topography

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SITE

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Museum of Past and Contemporary RubbishSketches and Orthographic ProjectionsAn Architecture for Reconstructing Terrain

Anatomy of a LandfillArtifacts: An Investigation of Section

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1921

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FICTIONAL EXCAVATION

PROPOSAL

Object Distribution: Area Calculations Process: Excavation, Sorting and Analysis, Display

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1August 2012. Battery 223Cape May, NJ

2Experiencing the Geologic

Acts of geology, weather, and cli-mate create and destroy terrains in mere instants and over epochs.

Humans are playing an increas-ing role in the material creation and erasure of landscape. Domes-tication of crops, building of cit-

ies, mountaintop removal, nuclear waste storage, shoreline reclama-tion, introduction of invasive spe-cies... the list goes on. Just as the Hawaiian islands were created by the accumulation of molten rock from volcanic eruptions over mil-lions of years, developers in Dubai

are piling millions of tons of fill into the ocean to make an island in the shape of a palm tree. The human potential to operate at a geologic scale, in both producing and eradi-cating place, now rivals natural systems.

Introduction

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4Consider the earths history as the old measure of the English yard: the distance from the kings nose to the tip of his outstretched hand. One stroke of a nail file on his middle finger erases human history. -John McPhee

The boundaries between epochs are defined by changes preserved in sedimentary rocks. The rock record of the present does not yet exist, so the question is, will our stratigraphic layer be signifi-cantly altered from the previous?

On the opposite page are whimsi-cal early drawings considering the legible traces of geologic time

(media: pen and ink, goache, wa-tercolor)

Early Drawings

Introduction

5A geologic epoch with no precise start date. Significant human im-pact on climate and ecosystems. Coined by Paul Crutzen. Rise of agriculture. Deforestation. Ce-ment. Combustion of fossil fuels. Coal, oil and gas roused from the earth. Extractions and emissions.

Operation crossroads vaporizes bikini atoll. Deep geologic re-positories. Pacific trash vortex, a swirling gyre of marine litter and plastic. 6.7 Billion humans +. Palo verde nuclear power plant. Three gorges dam. Fresh kills landfill. Las Vegas. Dubai.

-Friends of the Pleistocene

AnthropoceneApprox.1945-present

Introduction

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7Artificial Landscapes: The Hackensack Meadowlands

Geomorphic Character: the char-acter and personality of a place revealed in the expression of the landform: we read into the geo-morphology of our landscape the dreams and ambitions of our cul-tural aspirations and values.

-Civilizing Terrains: William Rees Moorish

Site

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5 mi

madeland

wetland

1966. New York metropolitan area and surrounding wetlands

Source: Waste Management, Regional Plan Association, New York

Since early European settlement, attempts have been made to drain and fill the wetlands in order to evict mosquitoes and turn this po-tentially valuable real-estate into usable land. By the mid 1900s, all canal and diking endeavors were deemed failures. With a growing

population in the surrounding area, the land became an indiscriminate dumping ground of unwanted de-bris. After a time, this practice be-gan to fill in the wetlands with the thousands of acres of accumulated waste. The shaded regions of the map represent wetlands that have

been built up into solid ground through the accumulation of vari-ous kinds of debris, primarily large amounts of municipal solid waste.

Site

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The site is Keegan landfill in the Hackensack Meadowlands of northern New Jersey. The area is of particular interest because of its geographical proximity to Manhat-tan which at one point transported the majority of its waste to the Meadowlands. Keegan landfill

officially began operations in the 1940s with most of the landfilling occurring in the 1960s. A pe-riod of inactivity occurred between 1972 and 2009. Today it is an ac-tive solid waste landfill.

Solid Waste Landfill Regions

Keegan Landfill

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(Left) South entrance of Keegan landfill.

(Bottom) Trash on the side of a service road in Keegan landfill

A dump has no glamour or sex appeal. It marks nothing but the mundane. It lies on the fringe of a city as an archive of the rejected materials of our culture. The New Jersey Meadowlands is the closest open landscape to the urban mass of Manhattan, just two miles away.

Covering around 35 square miles, it is similar in size, and orienta-tion, to its urban antipode. Unlike the highly designed and managed space of the city however, the mod-ern Meadowlands were formed more by incident, accident, and happenstance.

Site

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Active solid waste landfills are in a continual state of construction. Traditional topographic drawings are incapable of chronicling the fluctuating terrain. Therefore, an invented type of topographic representation is necessary to com-municate the impermanence of the

ground condition. This drawing combines real topography lines with imagined ones obscuring the past, present and possible future forms. 5 mi

madeland

wetland

250 ft

Real and Imagined Topography

Site

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This thesis examines how architec-ture can reveal and articulate the hidden material conditions of a solid waste landfill. The contents of the site are examined by a process of fictional excavation through the act of drawing. Real, imagined, and somewhat peculiar object adjacencies unfold to inform the spatial narrative of the museum.Garbology: The study of a society through the analysis of its waste.

MVS [Monstrous Visual Symbol]: The largest mon- uments that a so-ciety builds for itself.

The term was coined by Roland Fletcher, an Australian archaeolo-gist. He speculates that as a soci-etys motivating ideals undergo change, so do its MVSes. Over the centuries man has poured his resources into the construction of temples, cathedrals, bridges, and

skyscrapers. However, by far the biggest MVS of contemporary American culture is a garbage re-pository. (Right) New York City skyline from Ke-arny, NJ

Abstract

Purpose

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Anatomy of a Landfill

Leachate: A liquid that has filtered through the landfill. It consists pri-marily of precipitation and a small amount of toxins.

1. Prepared Sub-grade: The na-tive soils beneath the landfill are prepared as needed prior to begin-ning landfill construction.

2. Compacted Clay: Forms a bar-rier to prevent leachate and gas from escaping the landfill. There is a natural layer of clay at the bottom of the wetlands making it a good location for landfilling.

3. Geomembrane: A thick plastic layer typically constructed of a special type of plastic called high-density polyethylene.

4. Leachate Collection Layer: A layer of sand, gravel, or a thick plastic mesh called a geonet that collects leachate and allows it to drain by gravity to the leachate collection pipe system.

5. Leachate Collection Pipe System: Perforated pipes, sur-rounded by a bed of gravel, transports collected leachate to specially designed low points called sumps. From there, pumps remove the leachate to leachate management facilities for treatment.

6. Waste: As waste arrives, it is compacted in sections called cells. One new cell is created for every day of dumping.

7. Daily Cover: At the end of each

day, the cell is covered with six to twelve inches of soil. This reduces odors, keeps litter from scattering, and deters scavengers.8. Composite Cap System: Com-posed of compacted clay, geo-membrane, and a drainage layer to prevent excess precipitation from infiltrating the landfill.

9. Protective Cover: Composed of cover soil, top soil, and cover vegetation. Provides additional moisture retention, prevents ero-sion, and beautifies the surface.

(Left) Imagined Section of a Landfill

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Artifacts: An Investigation of Section

A fictional excavation is conducted through the act of drawing. By taking a series of sections through a fluorescent lightbulb and a hubcap at intervals of every few millimeters a new understanding of the object arises. This documenta-tion mimics the act of excavation,

uncovering an unknown object whose form is revealed as the dirt is removed, layer by layer.

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24Fictional Excavation

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A compelling analogy can be made between a landfill and a museum. Whereas a museum is a container for objects we deem possess great value, a landfill contains items that essentially have no value at all. However, both of these institutions have the capacity to provide insight

on the societies whose material cul-ture is housed there. The museum will include a place in which to sort, display, analyze, and store the col-lected material excavated from the landfill.

A Museum of Past and Contemporary Rubbish:

(Right) Interior perspective of plastic bottle display

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Sketches and Orthographic Projections

The establishment of a Cartesian coordinate system over a site is an archaeological convention that functions to create points of refer-ence from which the extracted ar-tifacts can be mapped on to. This idea is repurposed to create a spa-tial system in which the artifacts

can be deposited back into. This se-ries of abstractions of the archaeo-logical grid into three dimensional, inhabitable spaces investigate the different ways this system can be adopted so that diverse objects can spatially coexist.

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An Architecture for Reconstructing Terrain

The building is oriented in the car-dinal directions mimicking the con-ventions of an archaeological dig. It is long and thin in order to achieve the widest cross section through the landfill, cutting through each decade of active operations. It is primarily underground, displacing an enormous amount of landfilled material which is then rationally re-constructed on display racks within the museum. Light enters the sub-

terranean space through a series of rectilinear punctures in the roof. The punctures are of various sizes and heights in order to construct a new terrain that is evocative of the spaces below. The inhabitable roof platform is on level with the exist-ing terrain highlighting the pro-gression between the haphazardly and the meticulously constructed ground.

5 mi

madeland

wetland

250 ft

Proposal

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Rendered plan concept

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Perspective of inhabitable roof

Proposal

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South elevation of public entrance

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A section through a light well and an ex-cavation

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Object Distribution:Area Calculations

The objects are distributed through-out the building according to their primary material type; ceramic, glass, textile, metal, wood, plastic, and paper. The amount of square footage assigned to each material in the building correlates with data of how much of that material

should be present in the landfill.

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Research Center:

Loading Dock + Initial ScreeningSorting LabsData Analysis Center

Artifact Archive:

CeramicsGlassTextileMetal WoodPaperPlastic

Excavation:

= 9350 ft 2

4650 ft 22850 ft 2 1850 ft 2

= 59294 ft 2

0.5% 3.1% 7.3% 6.5% 4.5% 23%26%

= 5831 ft 2

Total = 74475 ft 2

Proposal

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3.1% Glass0.5% Ceramics 7.3% Textiles 4.5% Wood

6.5% MetalResearch Center

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26% Plastic 23% Paper

(Top) Longitudinal section(Bottom) Material distribution map

Proposal

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(Top) Rendered longitudinal section(Bottom) 2nd Floor plan

Proposal

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Excavation

There are two active excavation sites within the museum. These function to supplement the material collected in the original excava-tion of the waste displaced by the building.

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The material is first sent through an initial screening process that is modeled after landfill mining systems. It involves using a series of trommel screens, air sorters, and magnetic separators to do the primary sorting. Then a team of sorters goes through the remainder

categorizing and documenting the material. Finally, an array of scien-tists, statisticians, and sociologists use the data extracted to advance their research on the society that created the waste.

Sorting and Analysis

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Display

A level of categorization occurs on the shelves where the material is arranged in relation to how deep it was found in the landfill. In this way, the relative position of strata is preserved. All quickly decay-able organic material has been excluded from the range of objects

displayed.

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3.1% Glass

(Right) Rendered plan of display areas for glass artifacts

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Inspirations:

Friends of the PleistoceneLong Bets

Center for Land Use InterpretationCivilizing Terrains: by William Rees Morrish

Robert Smithson

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