120 Hours - "A Dystopian Sea World"
Created by Ella Wheatley, Namon Thongsuwan and Abid Farhan in September 2020
"120hours is an architecture competition for students, arranged by students. For 10 years they have challenged students all over the world to solve a complex and socially relevant assignment in only five days: 120 hours."
THE BRIEF
"People have always dumped undesirable objects in the ocean. As if the sea was a blank void where things could disappear. But things do not vanish just because they are hidden from humans. The ocean is being filled with plastic packages and “disposable” products. They move through unknown worlds of submarine ecosystems. We know less about the deep oceans, than outer space.
If only we knew. If only we could see. Then maybe we would change."
"Create a place that increases awareness of a problem that your object is – or can become – a part of, whilst inspiring yourself and others to take action. Location: At a meeting point between land and water (any body of water is acceptable: it could be a lake, a water tower, a river, the ocean, an estuary or a sewer system)."
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The key aim of our proposal is to create a space which inspires an emotive experience for the user, educating the public and inspiring change in littering behaviours. Often, humans don’t see the atrocious impacts of their careless actions, perceiving the sea as a “blank void where things could disappear”. We aim to change that.
Based in Brighton, England, an underwater walkway takes the user on a journey not only through the sea, but through the lifespan of discarded litter. The infinity form of the structure mirrors the Mobius Loop, as well as being representative of the almost infinite lifespan of discarded plastics.
Members of the public place discarded beach litter into a pneumatic tube, which pushes the litter through the cavity between the transparent interior and exterior wall layers into the deepest part of the structure. As well as being a key element of the experience, this creates an active change to reduce litter on the beach. As the user travels through the building and under the water, the walls become more filled with beach litter, and thus the sea becomes less visible. The journey through the walkway becomes increasingly dark, both literally and metaphorically.
