THE WALL OF THE DESERT A huge wall crosses the ocean of sand, a wall that separates, divides, a military line dotted with fortifications, a lone human trace in the arid desert, a landmark in the infinite dunes... And this wall of sand sustained by men drew a faint shadow, born from reliefs and depressions, which protects from the wind, a shadow that captures the faint humidity of night. And under it, slipped a beginning of life, the first plants of the desert ! And if that wall was a land of opportunities, if we decided to inhabit it, if we used the sand, its reliefs, to protect us from the wind and to help us retain water, If we manufactured an inhabitable shadow!
A LINEAR ECOSYSTEM BETWEEN HEAVEN AND DEPTHS
We could inhabit the wall ; make a linear island in the ocean of dunes. On the surface, an agronomy that fights against desertification. A network of shadows and windbreakers, plants of the sands.
Structurally, an ecosystem of SHADOWS, a growing architecture network, manufactured using what is found locally : sand, sun, underground water that will be recycled, the wind sculpts that sculpts and animates, the night, time, and a calcifying bacteria that is the spark of the process: the famous BACTERIA Sporosarcina Pasteurii that turns sand into stone !!! It would be a city that filters winds to put them to a better use, a perforated city thought of as a shadow landscape. A city shaped by the wind. A city that we can invest in freely, where nomads can migrate to depending on the seasons ; sometimes above ground, sometimes below.
In the depths we can find a GROUND ecosystem that works on water cycles and nutrient cycles. In this universe at constant temperatures are cultivated microalgae, vegetables, and mushrooms, We keep a the water from the deep aquifers in a recycling loop. One can also recycle the air. You can also find shelter underground when the desert becomes hot and hostile. Between the surface and the depths we notice SYNAPTIC CONNECTIONS - paths for men, optical networks that lead light to underground cultures... a sort of pre-urban mycelium... In this linear space, the habitat doesn’t have a fixed position.
A PROCESS Nomad construction manual : It is a process, It starts with a textile - a light, transportable, and inflatable bubble, in the spirit of tents. These can be brought from the city, or knitted/polymerized on site from hydrocarbons found in the desert. This work can be performed by automated machines. These inflatable structures serve as templates to produce the tubular shells.
Unfold the bubble and inflate, Orient properly according to the wind, Take the famous calcifying bacteria and mix with sand, Extract some water from the deep layers, Mix the bacteria + sand + water + hydrogel. Let the mixture react, Wait overnight, Project the mixture onto the inflatable bubbles,
Let the bacteria do their job, Leave it to time, Repeat as often as necessary, When the desired thickness is reached, When the shells are hardened, When the wind brought enough sand to feed the bacteria, When everything is cooked and dried by the sun, You can deflate the form, And start again, a little bit further.
Prepare the mixture to desired consistency, Repeat again and again, It is built as a patchwork... We can make connections, assemblies, We can forge connections above, below, which extend the length of the wall.
The catalyst is the bacterium That will transform the sand to stone. Textiles will be the support. The wind will be the driving force. The night will be the moment. And Time, the duration.
