Abstract
Driving substantial, measurable, and meaningful action on climate change requires us to think outside the bounds of conventions and employ design in new trajectories. As the era of dependence on fossil fuels comes to an end, replaced by renewable energy sources and virtual connectivity, we find that many of the extensive infrastructures and systems that were integral to supporting our oil-dependent lifestyle are becoming obsolete. The oil industry has been one of the most environmentally invasive enterprises with extensive networks to extract, transport, refine, and dispense oil all around the globe. Examining the decommissioned settings of an oil-dependent era was the focus of a capstone interior architecture studio. The studio sought to define new trajectories for the abandoned structures of a fossil fuel economy. The sites we addressed were: Oil Platform Holly (Santa Barbara), Williamsburg’s Bayside Oil Depot (Williamsburg, Brooklyn), ExxonMobil Building Formerly: Humble Oil Building (Houston), and The Packard Well Site (Los Angeles). Working towards resilient design narratives, the studio reimagined these colossal petroculture artifacts employing interior architecture’s inherent adaptive reuse capacity. The various sites created a fertile ground for intervention and issued a comprehensive set of imaginative narratives for our impending future.
Presenters
Rana AbudayyehAssistant Professor, College of Architecture and Design, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design
KEYWORDS
Adaptive reuse, Resilience, Future narratives, Fossil fuel, Design pedagogy
