The Rise, Fall, and Impending Reincarnation of Norman Fosters
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The Rise, Fall, and Impending images courtesy of images courtesy of Google Maps (comparison Apex Landfill vs. Freshkills Landfill) Reincarnation of Norman Fosters’ Harmon Tower: How U Las Vegas has the opportunity niversity of Nevada Las Vegas, to set a new precedent in con- struction waste management through architectural autopsy Glenn Nowak U Josh Lopeman niversity Libraries (implosion to make way for CityCenter Las Vegas) University of Nevada Las Vegas Apex Landfill Fresh Kills Landfill INTRODUCTION Las Vegas understands excess as a cultural BURN IT BURY IT SEND IT imperative, but it is still learning about waste’s along “The Strip” illustrates a hyper-condition honor (or ominous title) goes to Apex Landfill Burning Man is an annual gathering of tens of After $9 billion of research, development, and For sixty years, the town of St. Thomas laid role in its urban/suburban ecosystem. While Fresh as a backdrop for reinventing a paradigm of of Las Vegas, Nevada—the country’s largest thousands of people in the Black Rock Desert of partially constructed containment areas within below the waters of Lake Mead. The Colorado Kills Landfill in New York is closed, Apex Landfill waste management and ecological issues. While landfill. Currently, it matches Fresh Kills’ 2,200 Northern Nevada. “More like a city than a festi- the mountain ridge just 100 miles north of Las River gave rise to settlers inhabiting the area of Las Vegas is the nation’s new largest dump one can easily argue against the environmental acres but includes room to expand to 12,000 val” it promotes gifting, self-reliance, leaving no Vegas, Yucca Mountain represents one of the along the bank around the turn of the last cen- equaling its Big Apple counterpart in area (2,200 instability of the “build it up, tear it down, build acres. At the height of operations, Fresh Kills trace, and participation among its ten principles. world’s most studied pieces of geology. After tury, but as the water levels rose with the con- acres) and exceeding it in daily refuse (+15,000 it up again model”, it may be necessary to recon- received up to 13,000 tons of garbage per day. With particular interest in leaving no trace, being the topic of discussion since 1983, it struction of the dam, the Colorado consumed tons/day) during times of the city’s rapid expan- sider the commas in a contemporary condition. Apex routinely hit 15,000 tons during the eco- Burning Man also attempts to leave a site bet- was finally defeated in 2009. We boast the the small town. For several decades, reunions sion including construction and demolition debris. They provide a moment to pause and a time to nomic boom preceding the recession. Fresh Kills ter than it was found. CityCenter’s connection largest landfill but loathe the biggest nuclear of the townspeople were reminders of mankind’s In anticipation of one of the world’s most costly reconsider our actions and reactions toward exceeded the height of the Statue of Liberty by to environmental design, brownfield redevelop- dump. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu said, relationship with the Mojave Desert. With water and contentious court cases surrounding modern architectural life cycles. several meters and might have become the high- ment, and sustainable urbanism might suggest “Yucca was supposed to be everything to every- elevations that haven’t been seen since shortly architecture, we are examining the circumstances est point on the East Coast if it continued opera- that The Harmon essentially functions as “the body, and I think, knowing what we know today, after the coming of the dam, St. Thomas is once that have led up to CityCenter’s situation with the To reestablish the status quo, an overview of tions. Apex quietly fills a valley surrounded by burning man” of Las Vegas Boulevard. Whether there’s going to have to be several regional again on dry land. The second coming of the impending implosion of Harmon Tower, designed iconic Las Vegas demolitions was revisited. The mountains, which shield views from travelers on ceremoniously engulfed by flames or adapted areas.” Similarly, $9.2 billion CityCenter was town calls for consideration, but its context falls by Foster + Partners and constructed by Perini predecessor, the implosion, and the property Interstate 15. The layered growth of garbage is to smolder on site in a scheme to repurpose the envisioned as many things to many differ- outside of the consciousness of most citizens, Building Company, without having ever opened today are presented as a means of recogniz- set to continue for the next 200 years based on tower as a co-generation plant. The Harmon ent people. Ultimately, it took the creation of a today. It has been “out of sight, out of mind” for its doors to the public due to unacceptable rein- ing what the population sees but more impor- current dumping rates. could not only harness energy from its own “city within a city” to help the public recognize over half a century, and its original construction forced concrete columns. Before absolving to tantly of suspending our understanding of what demise but also develop clean energy from the that Las Vegas was a city with center(s) before wasn’t significant enough to cause major con- bury The Harmon, we analyze the opportunities is happening behind the scenes; including how While doing calculations to determine the antici- waste produced by its fellow facilities. Like the CityCenter. As strides are made toward clean cern for its loss. The significance of The Harmon for lessons to be gained in removal from its cur- the debris was managed, where the waste was pated weight of the Harmon Tower’s debris centerpiece of Burning Man, The Harmon stands renewable energies and disarmament of nuclear has captured the attention of a global audience, rent condition. As its fate is all but determined (a taken, and a sense of the materials’ economic upon arrival to Apex Landfill , I was reminded of to symbolize the need for leaving no trace after weapons continues, reliance on the promise of and the integration of its demolition with the court date is set for the summer of 2013, and the equivalent in the marketplace (if had it been con- the film, “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, the follies of the future have run their course. Yucca’s mega-storage subsides. It can func- drying of Lake Mead may signal the synthesis judge has approved the demolition of the tower…), sidered as a resource). Mr. Foster?” tracing Norman Foster’s quest to tion as the “boutique” storage facility of the of natural ecologies with constructed systems. we want to exhume the reinforcement buried improve the quality of life through design. There federal government. Like the downsizing and Whether a somber tool for the relative measure- within each column in lieu of exploding the entire FRESH KILLS VS. ApeX LANDFILL was a realization, at that moment, that archi- apparent “defuncting” of the boutique hotel, ment of water levels or a cold reminder of the structure in order to construct a virtual “as built” Nearly all demolition debris from Las Vegas tectural redesign, reduction, or redevelopment one could still argue for and against life safety depths design has traversed, a tower site within model for postmortem study. Through careful implosions has been trucked from The Strip of demolition, waste management, material surrounding the Yucca Mountain nuclear Waste the trenches of the slot canyons would allow for autopsy of the architecture, calculations and sim- to Apex Landfill about fifteen miles north of economies, etc. could play a more profound role Repository. inhabitation and evaluation amidst the water/ ulations based on the exact placement of rebar (or the valley where it sits amongst the garbage in improving quality of life than any fireworks land; a great learning tool. lack thereof) could help determine the relation- picked up from area households and businesses or fanfare (associated with most other Vegas ship between fear of building failure and indisput- twice weekly. To provide a better sense of the implosions) and possibly even more than the ini- able evidence of its breaking point. nation’s largest landfill, a comparative analy- tial building design itself. sis with Fresh Kills Landfill of New York City DYNAMITE AND DeSIGN is offered. Once touted as the largest landfill, The ensuing explorations do not seek a solu- Over the last several decades, Las Vegas has Staten Island’s Fresh Kills Landfill servicing tion to the problem but invite more provocative matter-of-factly imploded architecture to make New York City was established in 1947 and proposals of how architecture can elicit greater way for the next generation of architecture grew to a staggering scale before it was closed consciousness of contemporary conditions. (occasionally only a single generation into the in 2001. At 2,200 acres it was coincidentally life of the structure), The lifecycle of building the largest man-made structure. Now, that 14 New Constellations New Ecologies 101_1: Waste(lands)+Material Economies 15.