JUNE 2014 Civil T HE M AGAZINE OFEngineering THE A MERICAN S OCIETY OF C IVIL E NGINEERS AquAtic Sensation ALSO: BRIDGE RESTORATION SEWER RENEWAL LANDSLIDE MITIGATION ce0614p991.indd 1 5/27/14 1:20 PM S N NEW 2 OTE * * ace, released in 1999, were ing sand dune—this one of goals are the establishment Noted filmed. Called Mos Espa in approximately 30,000 m³, of an ecological museum the movie, the set is located Gasmi explains. Recently, at the site and, eventual­ Use the Force in the Sahara approximate­ a heroic effort—what else ly, a hotel and facilities for . or a Wheel ly 17 km from the tourist would the Star Wars saga events and entertainment. Loader! town of Tozeur. require?—involving con­ AS IF THE evil Galactic A popular destination for struction equipment man­ Emperor and his Imperial Star Wars fans from around aged to move the dune to Water, Water— Storm Troopers, the vicious the world, Mos Espa still another sector about 500 m From the Air Sand People, and assorted features roughly 20 flat and from the site of Mos Espa, IT MAY NOT be indoor alien creatures weren’t bad domelike structures that for safeguarding the area for the plumbing, but a proposed enough, now the sand it­ the most part are made of next few years. But some towering framework of self is threatening the area wood and gypsum, along of the sets were damaged bamboo and a perforated in which young Anakin with other set pieces that and will now have to be re­ fabric promises to harvest BELOW Skywalker grew up before cover an area of roughly 110 paired, explains SaveMos­ potable water directly from turning to the dark side by 120 m, explains Nabil Espa.org, a website and the air via condensation, po­ as Darth Vader. That site, Gasmi, Ph.D., a geographer blog launched by Tunisia’s tentially sparing villagers as any fan of the Star Wars and geomorphologist at Tu­ Chamber for Development in mountainous regions of movies would know, is nisia’s Université de Sousse. of Oasis and Sahara Tourism Ethiopia the need to trudge the desert planet of Tatoo­ But the desert is encroach­ to raise funds for the preser­ several hours each day to col­ ARCHITECTURE AND VISION, ine—in reality an aban­ ing and threatening to bury vation and restoration of the lect water from sources that doned movie set in south­ the fragile buildings. A site. Among the chamber’s in some cases are less than ABOVE; western Tunisia at which particular threat is posed salubrious. Called Warka scenes from Star Wars Epi- by the shifting bulk of a Water—after the Ethiopi­ sode I: The Phantom Men- barchan—a massive, mov­ an word for the Ficus vasta, NABIL GASMI, [38] Civil Engineering j u n e 2014 ce0614p38-39.indd 38 5/27/14 1:38 PM S N a large fig tree critical to the coun­ manship seen in basket weaving. NEW 2 OTE try’s ecosystem but now disappear­ The fabric within the structure * * ing—the tower was designed by could collect as much as 100 L Quoted Architecture and Vision, an in­ of water a day from the fog that ternational design firm based in forms in mountainous regions, When We think about threats to the Bomarzo, Italy. Reaching a height which means a single Warka Wa­ of 12 m but weighing as little as ter tower could meet the drinking environment, we tend to picture cars 80 kg, the bamboo structure, when water needs of about 30 people, and smokestacks, not dinner. But the folded, could easily be transported explains Arturo Vittori, the direc­ by animal to remote village sites tor of Architecture and Vision. truth is, our need for food poses one in Ethiopia and other developing Six prototypes of the Warka countries and within a few hours Water tower have been construct­ of the biggest dangers to the planet. could be assembled by inhabit­ ed. The project has been devel­ —JONATHAN FOLEY ants there using only hand tools, oped in collaboration with the “A Five­Step Plan to Feed the World” according to information from Ethiopian Institute of Architec­ National Geographic Architecture and Vision. A net of ture, Building Construction, and May 2014 tensioning cables will stabilize the City Development; Addis Ababa tower against strong winds. University; and other organiza­ In addition to bamboo, the lat­ tions. Architecture and Vision is the World’s problems are never ticework tower could be con­ refining the design, Vittori notes, tidily confined to the laboratory or structed from rope, wire, or other and a larger version has been de­ local materials. Its triangular, dou­ veloped in collaboration with the spreadsheet. From climate change bly curving form was inspired by Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, to poverty to disease, the challenges the traditional Ethiopian crafts­ in Lebanon. of our age are unwaveringly human in nature and scale, and tic panel. Nanoparticles attached to this panel scatter light in much engineering and science issues are the same way that the earth’s at­ News mosphere scatters sunlight. The always embedded in broader human primary objective of the technol­ realities, from deeply felt cultural Bites ogy is to brighten road tunnels, n All aboard! According to a malls, hotels, hospitals, et cet­ traditions to building codes to May 8 report from ChinaDaily. era. The panels will be market­ political tensions. So our students com, China plans to build a high­ ed through CoeLux, a Università speed railway to the United States. degli Studi dell’Insubria spin­off. also need an in-depth understanding The proposed route would start n Good news on the job front: in China’s northeast region. It civil engineering ranks fifth of human complexities—the would cross Siberia and the Ber­ among science and engineering political, cultural, and economic ing Strait to Alaska, and from occupations slated for growth over there it would enter Canada and the 10­year period from 2012 to realities that shape our existence— then the United States. The proj­ 2022, according to a new report as well as fluency in the powerful ect also proposes a 200 km under­ from the U.S. Bureau of Labor sea tunnel. According to China­ Statistics, The U.S. Science and En- forms of thinking and creativity Daily.com, however, the details of gineering Workforce: Recent, Current, cultivated by the humanities, the project are yet to be finalized. and Projected Employment, Wages, n Here comes the sun! Imagine and Unemployment (www arts, and social sciences. a world devoid of cloudy, drea­ .fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43061 ry days. Thanks to technology .pdf). The report reveals that an —DEBORAH K. FITZGERALD developed by Paolo di Trapani, average of 12,010 jobs for civil Professor of the History of Technolo­ Ph.D., an associate professor of engineers will become available gy and Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of optics and experimental physics each year, 5,370 of them from Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at at Italy’s Università degli Studi growth in the profession and the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dell’Insubria, it will take just the remainder from replacements. Opinion (“At MIT, the Humani­ flick of a switch to obtain natu­ ties Are Just as Important as STEM”) ral daylight. The technology uses + To read more, visit The Boston Globe white light­emitting diodes, www.asce.org/cemagazine. April 30, 2014 which shine through a clear plas­ j u n e 2014 Civil Engineering [39] ce0614p38-39.indd 39 5/27/14 1:38 PM.