Deformation Histories - Tidal Gateway Part 2 Project 2007 Jonathan TalleyKarl SingporewalaLouise Knights University of Brighton | UK Deformation Histories is a response to the future redundancy of the Thames Barrier, which is set to become ineffective by the year 2030. The piers form a gateway which actively dissipates the wave-intensity and height of a tidal surge before it reaches the barrier.Each pier is a large auditory volume of crystalline gothic-inspired echo chambers with a dynamic core that expands/contracts by absorbing surrounding water. This constantly changes the internal surface and auditory qualities of the chambers. Through this absorption/dispersion cycle sound is created and reverberated, becoming a warning system for London by creating a symphony on the water. Set in a portentous context – one of increasingly bleak and ominous climatological forecasts – this thesis project, located east of the City of London in the Thames River, reconsiders the impending redundancy of the Thames Barrier to deliver an accomplished and innovative solution to all soothsayers.The project – the result of a thorough synthesis of detailed research methods (archival, study trips to The Netherlands and external consultant consultations) and speculative drawing techniques – invests architectural ideas in the city at a strategic and infrastructural level, posing questions of scale left normally to the rationale of civil engineers. The drawing is the subject, object and site of the work articulating the project at a range of scales that zoom from 1:50,000 to 1:20 in the complex, varied and immaculately presented set of final drawings.