Post-Oil Environments
Post-Oil Environments acknowledge the changing environmental conditions as a direct result of burning fossil fuels. They describe the current transition-period away from carbon-dependency towards a collective ecological awareness of human-based climate change.
The burning of fossil fuels has become a spatial regime demanding transformations of the built environment. Post-Oil Environments link climate change directly to the burning of fossil fuels rather than to the western processes of industrialization and mass-consumption, as these phenomena could have been powered by sustainable sources of energy that emit fewer greenhouse gases. The following projects approach these transformations through design, focusing on typological studies in context of resource extracting industrial cities along the Texas Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
> Oswald Jenewein
> University of Texas at Arlington
>> College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs
> University of Innsbruck
>> Institute of Design, Department of Spatial Design
Context
>
In 2017, Oswald Jenewein established the Post-Oil Environments Studio at the College of Architecture Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. The research and design work focuses on both the scale of architecture and the city along the Gulf of Mexico, especially Texas.
The Texas Coast is a symbol of the Industrial Age: on the one hand largely undeveloped and sparsely populated, on the other hand an icon of oil-based cities depending on the economic power of the fossil fuel industry and tourism. The drilling-oriented industry along the shore has shaped the coastal environments ever since the mid-19th century. The coastline has been altered to allow for heavy industry and major seaports. The economic success of many cities directly relies on the resource-based industrial production.
While the impacts of climate-change on the Gulf have become more visible in the past two decades, human-based destruction of fauna and flora off- and on-shore has caused severe damage to the natural and built environment. The following projects address the future of urban landscapes along the Texas Coast. The research and design projects are based on typological studies, aiming to define and design solutions for future (urban) developments within the discipline of architecture. This disciplinary approach is informed by and connected to community outreach projects and interdisciplinary collaboration within and beyond the academic world.
The research investigations span from a general history of human settlements to fossil-fuel-based industrialization to globalization in the information age and end with developing speculative future scenarios. The Gulf of Mexico is approached as common ground between Mexico, Cuba and the United States. It serves as a prototypical territory for resource-extraction with geopolitical impact.
>
ENGAGEMENT
Engaging with local experts, communities, institutions, universities, NGOs and private stakeholders is both a premise for the design and research projects as well as a key-method in the Design Thinking process. Special thanks to all the collaborators of the past years.
Establishing long-lasting partnerships and bringing back project outcomes to the local communities is important. In addition, a variety of events, from lectures to exhibitions, help to support the process of exchanging thoughts and raising awareness.
DESIGN
>
The design projects address a set of changing climate conditions, strongly connected to the feedback and information gathered while meeting with experts and local communities in the field. Methodologically, each design project starts with a typological analysis of the given (urban) context to understand and respect the given architecture of a place.
The general goal is to mix existing building typologies with infrastructural typologies to then combine and transform these types into a hybrid typology that best fits a future scenario within the context of a Post-Oil Gulf Coast.
>
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions are an important outcome to summarize and present projects to and beyond an academic audience.
Visual Communication of background information, research findings, the design projects and scenarios is a fundamental part of the process.
The exhibition designs generally aim to be spatial experiences for people to walk through and to become part of the projects. In addition to architectural drawings, the use of contemporary digital media complements the communication of project narratives through visualizations, animations and videos.
Coastline Morphologies
Exhibition
Arlington Museum of Art
In May 2018, students exhibited their research findings on the project "Coastline Morphologies" at the Arlington Artist Expo at the Arlington Museum of Art. The aim of the exhibition was to raise awareness of the relationship between oil and human settlements in the community.