This post will be a day off from the daily grind of
being an architecture student. In the
spirit of Halloween, this post will be a cosmic high-five of two things I
love…. Architecture….and zombies. Happy
Halloween!
“They‘re not afraid!
No matter what we do,
no matter
how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid."
How
do you fight
nature and the elements?
They have no
fear, they’re neither
alive nor dead,
and their power ranges from
a small trickle to
an onslaught of almost immeasurable power. The
first cognitive thought
that
went through modern
man’s
mind, his first instincts, was how to battle nature.
For man,
food was a battle against nature
for energy. Mating was
a battle against nature to live
long enough to produce and rear
a child and to endure the sun, wind,
rain, and snow to start the process anew.
The process of fighting against nature was a process
of eliminating his fear
of an unstoppable force with
no fear. The culmination
of man’s fight
to survive was the innovation of architecture. When the first walls and roof were erected,
man had created space; and
with that space he was able to look this power in the eye,
on his own terms and with no fear. On
the horizon, however, lies a new authority that
has thrust fear deep into
the psyche of mankind. This assembly is neither alive nor dead,
and
it is incapable of
fear, and in
popular culture it is
known as the walking dead.
In this day and age, the leading authority on zombie phenomenon is the author Max
Brooks
who, through his research
and
analysis,
was able
to teach the world how to combat this threat
for our survival through proper
weaponry,
preparedness,
and defense. However, we must go
one step further
to truly endure; we must overcome
our fear to truly be masters
of our domain again.
To overcome fear, one must control
the way we perceive fear through
our five senses. What we see, hear, touch, smell, and
taste are the building blocks for our perception
and the key to controlling fear.
There is no better
tool in man's arsenal than architecture for to this
task.
Through architecture, we can
design our own
built environment to our
advantage and overcome our fear of the
undead in a post-zombie apocalypse.
The
first sense that most people
identify with is
that
of sight. What we see in
a space and how we perceive it
can greatly affect
the
user of that
space. The way a king sees his subjects or the way the rock
star sees his fans is greatly affected due
to the space that they view them
from. To gain the elitist perspective,
the space should be designed with there being a primary user of authority and a secondary, submissive
user. A minimalist example
of the elitist space would be a lecture hall. The space is
intended for a teacher, in a dominant role, to be the primary user
of the space while the students are the submissive secondary users (Nielsen 38).
There are three key
components that must be addressed for the space to work
properly: the area of
authority, the submissive area,
and the barrier.
The first component, the area of authority, is usually a smaller space than the submissive area with a complete line of
sight of the entire surrounding
area. In the lecture hall, it is
the
stage on to which the lecturer
stands. In his perceptive, he sees everyone. Transversely, the submissive
audience can only perceive
the speaker.
The space between
the two areas is the barrier
component that conjures the safety that the
lecturer needs to command
the room. The last is the submissive area full of masses that creates
the assertiveness that the lecturer needs
to exist in the dominant role. This system can
be
applied on a scale ranging from
an
entire site to a single room. For example, when the designer chooses a site the area should have some sort of natural
barrier be it: deep
enough water to
obstruct a zombie’s
path, canyon walls
that cannot be climbed,
the top of a mountain,
or frozen tundra
that would freeze the
undead. It
is integral for
the user to be in a position of dominance.
It can further be applied
into the structure itself. A fence or
an elevation
change that will
put the user out of reach where he can see them
but they can
only
see him will begin
to empower the user to the point that
fear will no
longer
become an
issue. The more barriers the designer puts
between the authoritative
space and submissive space the
better “but” not everyone is as lucky to
have
a
house on stilts, atop a mountain,
surrounded by cliffs, or a raging river. Most likely the user will
be within earshot of the walking dead,
which brings us to the next
sense to be tamed.
Similar
to sight, man’s perception of hearing can easily be used against us
to live in a state of fear.
The oppressive
country of North
Korea pumps propaganda over loud speakers twenty-four hours a day, all week long on the border between North and
South Korea to not only
instill fear into the residents of South
Koreans to stay out, but
also to implant the fear in the North
Koreans to stay in. Not
being able to control
the
sound around, especially over a long period
of time, will cause a
person to crack under pressure. During the interrogation process
of Al Qaeda prisoners, loud
music was played over
extended periods of time
as a form of torture
in an attempt to get
the
prisoners to talk. In
the case of the undead,
the constant droning of the zombie moan
will,
overtime, drive any person mad. The ability of the user of
the space to have control over such
noises will give power to him, thus changing their perception of the
situation. While the
user won’t have the
ability to
control the zombies,
he will have the proper architectural
acoustic design to control: when,
where, and
how long he will be subjected to sound.
Currently there are several different
methods
in use to control sound.
One possible option is sound barriers similar
to the ones used by civil
engineers
to deaden the sound
of traffic on the highway.
Another idea, is designing a space with
irregular angles
to create a proper acoustic
pattern outside the exterior
walls.
Also,
the use of plant material
such
as shrubs, trees, or ivy could be used in conjunction with
any other
sound dampening device.
On the interior of
the building, double or triple
pane glass
could further be used in conjunction with sound proofing on the
interior walls.
There are infinite
ways that sound could
be handled in the design of the space.
As long as the user is in
control of the sound, his perception will be that
he is
in the dominant role. However,
another method of
sound elimination
is the actual removal of
the zombies themselves,
which moves us onto our next topic,
the
sense of touch.
Above all, when it comes to
the
undead, the sense of touch
is the toughest sense to tame. The fear
of rotting, dead fingers grabbing, teeth ripping flesh from
bone, and the eventual rise as one
becomes another soldier in the undead army is the true nightmare everyone fears. However
with the help of architecture, the user’s perception of touch
can be altered
to the point that
they have no fear.
The act of zombie removal
can be as dangerous as
mowing the lawn.
The true
power of zombies
doesn’t lie in
one; its lies in many.
By designing bottlenecks
into a perimeter, the user would
be able
to whittle thousands of zombies down to just one at a time. With a properly designed system, you
can
easily regulate the flow of
the zombies. Case in point, Rick Grimes
in the Walking Dead series,
with only one arm and
the assistance of only a few
people, was able to wipe out hundreds of the undead because
of a single weak point
in his walls (Kirkman 17). Instead
of all the walls collapsing, the undead
funneled
into one single point and they were dispatched easily. Facing the
undead
is an absolute must to survive in a zombie apocalypse;
they
are going to keep coming until they are disposed of,
and they must be disposed of. The thought
of being able to just wait it out in a house, a mall, or a military base is an unreal scenario as has been observed on numerous
occasions.
A few examples of these failed
scenarios are: the mall scenario
from George Romero's or Zack
Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, the military
base in Romero's Day of the Dead, and
the farm
house
depicted in Night of
the
Living Dead. The act
of getting into close quarters
on a daily to
weekly basis and easily dispatching the undead with the use of architectural
design
methods sets the user one step
closer to overcoming their fear. Now
that pressure has been
taken
off the fence, the task of body removal
is at hand.
As a result of being surrounded
by
rotting, dead bodies,
the sense of smell in
a zombie apocalypse is put to the test.
Our sense of smell, alerts us to
death and disease and
our natural
reaction is to remove ourselves
or remove the smell. To attain
the role of dominance over
the undead, the site or a system
of the site must be implemented
to ensure that the
smell is managed properly.
One of the most common methods used is burning of the
bodies, but proper site design
must be taken into account to
upkeep proper sanitary procedures. Depending on the site, issues such
as size, logistics, and wind direction can change the design
of the space.
Another common method is burial, either in mass
or individually of the
bodies. Depending on
the size of the site and
the security system burial may or
may
not be a feasible solution. The problems of labor and space are a high cost
but the benefit of a spiritual
space for the users
of the site for solitude and
reflection
may
outweigh the
work
put in. An alternative method
that may be used is the use of
lye (Trahan).
While it may not
be
fiscally possible, lye in
high concentrations
has been used to accelerate the
decomposition process
to create a bio-diesel to fuel
machines on the site.
As
a result of having the
sense of smell under
control by the user, daily tasks
such as food preparation
become easier.
Generally speaking, the sense of
taste is not usually something that is brought up when architectural practices
arise. However,
proper site and
building planning of water collection, food
preparation and,
cultivating areas is paramount
in a
land inhabited
by
the living dead.
Similarly to
preparing
to have enough food
to wait out a snowstorm, making sure you are well stocked
with food while surrounded
by
the undead is very important.
Having enough canned food
is only a start when it comes to proper preparation.
To ensure there is no
fear
of starvation or thirst, a
self sustaining food
and water system should
be an integral part of the
site. If the site is not
nearby a fresh water source,
then some sort of water cistern should be the number one priority for
the site design,
as lack of water can kill
the
user within days. Once a working water
system
is in place, the site should
have crops on a rotating system
to make sure the soil is fertile enough
to grow
the next year. Also, having some sort of
livestock should be put into
the equation. While having
cattle
would be ideal, it isn’t
necessarily feasible. Having smaller animals
such
as
goats or chickens
would suffice for the user
of the site. Once a food and
water system is properly designed
in the site and set
in place, the perception of the sense of taste,
or the fear that
there will be nothing more to
taste, will no
longer be an
issue to the user.
In conclusion, the
end product of this manifesto will be the
new evolving style of architecture in a new
post zombie apocalypse. The look of this new style is not
driven by form;
it is solely driven by the function
of mankind to live its new
life with the undead
free from
oppression and unabashedly standing in
defiance without
fear. The keystone in
this new enlightened society will
be heavily thrust upon the shoulders of
the architectural profession
to employ all their knowledge of spatial
tectonics to alter the
perception of this generation. As we stand inside our new
built environment surrounded
by
this new tempest, we will look down upon the undead, we won’t
hear
them as they are pushed
away, and we will enjoy the taste and
smell of the rain as humanity weathers
another storm.
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