Freud drew an analogy between the structure of the human mind and the rigid and complete archaeology of Rome – layers of repressed and buried memories, the present over-determined by submerged earlier structure. In contrast, Auckland’s volcanic geology is one of movement, flow and eruption, into which the transitory style and functions of architecture are loosely fitted. In our Anthropocene era, the furnaces and the forges of the industrial revolution are themselves but domesticated volcanic processes. We could substitute site planning for a more telling mapping of volcanic thermodynamics and process-oriented design protocols – for example, using the heat signatures of the processes of making and dwelling in the city instead of master plans. From a meteorological position, the city of Auckland appears as thin surface clusters of crystalline growth and coral- like formations upon extended volcanic beds. As an architectural proposition, the geo-philosophy of Auckland’s volcanic field conditions allows for these curious analytic models, however geo-philosophy also welcomes a projective mode of design. The geo-philosophy of Auckland’s architecture would include design thinking around found and invented micro-climates, the fertility of slow-moving soil (and the magma engines beneath), the proximity and pressures of the oceanic and the changeable winds that create dynamic weather systems – all unorthodox but geologically-informed design generators and design parameters.
c
6 See Arthur Kroker and Marilouise Kroker, Critical Digital Studies: A Reader . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.
1 The formal device of the field condition as organisational diagram is rendered a simplification in light of this pressure-based geological topography in Auckland, rich with contingencies of historical and geological fact. See Stan Allen, ‘Field Conditions” in Points and Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City , NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. pp 90-103 2 For a better understanding of this fascinating geological field condition, see the study by Ernest J Searle, City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland . revised by Mayhill, R D; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964 3 See Gregg Lambert, ‘What the Earth Thinks’ in Ian Buchanan and Gregg Lambert, editors, Deleuze And Space . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp 220-234
7 For an introduction to the earliest readings of the location of Maori culture in the volcanic landscape, see R C J Stone, From Tãmaki-makau-rau to Auckland . Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2001. see also Ian Smith’s chapter, pp 367-380, in Geoffrey Clark, Foss Leach and Sue O’Connor, editors. Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes . Canberra: ANU E Press, 2008. for a brief theory of the Auckland geological landscape, see Albert L Refiti and Anthony Hoete, ‘Sites Pacific’ in Anthony Hoete,editor, Reader on the Aesthetics of Mobility . London: Black Dog Press, 2004. pp 228-237 8 See Ian E M Smith And Sharon R Allen, Auckland Volcanic Field Geology, vol. 5 , by the Volcanic Hazards Working Group of the Civil Defence Scientific Advisory Committee, online at: http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/ Science-Topics/Volcanoes/New-Zealand-Volcanoes/Volcano-Geology-and- Hazards/Auckland-Volcanic-Field-Geology.
4 Mark Bonta and John Protevi, Deleuze And Geophilosophy: A Guide And Glossary. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p 76
5 Manuel De Landa, ‘The Geology of Morals’ in A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History . Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000. p60
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