*sigh* While that competition is a fascinating design exercise, it's
rather pointless for 2 reasons:
1. nothing is "leak-proof" (or fool-proof, or anything-else-proof)
2. the chances of any government approving the siting of such a
facility in such a location is about the same as those of my winning
the a national lottery 5 times in a row (at most).
Wouldn't it have been more fruitful to use whatever resources were
expended on that competition to do something a little more feasible?
Cheers.
Fil
On 27 March 2011 16:10, Ann Thorpe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Derek,
> I also heard about this project from a public artist who may have been
> involved, Mierle Laderman Ukeles. She described it as a Department of Energy
> project regarding how we should mark nuclear waste storage facilities so
> people would understand them as 'harzardous' thousands of years into the
> future. Sorry I don't have any more of a source than that.
>
> In a related project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists held a
> 'Plutonium Memorial Competition' soliciting hypothetical proposals for a
> leak-proof and securable but highly visible dump for the world's growing
> stockpile of plutonium. This article in ID profiles the winning proposal--to
> site the thing on the mall in Washington DC because, 'It could be easily
> policed there, while silently reproaching lawmakers for their shortsighted
> nuclear policies.'
> http://www.id-mag.com/article/2003_Annual_Design_Review_Concepts_Best_of_Cat
> egory/
>
> Best,
> Ann
>
>
> Dr Ann Thorpe
> .....................................
> Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
> Wates House, 22 Gordon Street London WC1H 0QB, United Kingdom
>
> +44 (0)77 1747 1606
> .....................................
> book: The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability (www.designers-atlas.net)
> blog: http://designactivism.net
> twitter: @atlasann
>
>
>
>> Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 22:15:16 +0100
>> From: Derek Miller <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Does anyone remember: NASA, 1980s, Hazmat, the future Š
>>
>> I've looked. I can't find it. My compound question is: Does anyone remember
>> what this was, and if so, can you point me to a primary source:
>>
>> Sometime in the 1980s I read a piece about how NASA had commissioned artists
>> (designers?) to try and imagine a future some 10,000 years ahead. Their job
>> was to find a means of communicating that the ground "here" was hazardous and
>> people shouldn't go here. They shouldn't even visit let alone stay, grow
>> crops, etc. The artists were to take almost nothing for granted. Languages may
>> have evolved. Libraries destroyed. Our physical appearances may have changed
>> somewhat. The basic brief was to try and communicate to such people. It may
>> have been Discover magazine (U.S.) and they printed the paintings and ideas
>> and analyzed them.
>>
>> Won't get into a discussion on this until my memory is refreshed. But if
>> anyone remembers this, I would be grateful.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Derek
>>
>> _________________
>> Dr. Derek B. Miller
>> Director
>>
>> The Policy Lab
>> 321 Columbus Ave.
>> Seventh Floor of the Electric Carriage House
>> Boston, MA 02116
>> United States of America
>>
>> Phone
>> +1 617 440 4409
>> Twitter
>> @Policylabtweets
>> Web
>> www.thepolicylab.org
>
--
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
|