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Server

Part 2 Project 2009
Alastair Parvin
 University of Sheffield | UK
SERVER
Plan for an Autonomous Motorway

Although to most of us they are invisible, we are all dependent on a few highly-complex, energy-intensive systems which ensure the continuous supply of food to cities. The increasing concentration of those systems and the first effects of global peak oil production will mean we can no longer afford to take them for granted.

Rather than settle for the price-hikes inherent in the ‘local production’ solution, Server speculates upon whether we can redefine what is actually meant by the term ‘local’.
The project takes a section of the M1 motorway in the Midlands and investigates its redesign as a self-sufficient farming system; a belt of knowledge-intensive agriculture, producing no waste and consuming minimal external resources. Based on existing processes, prices and capacities, it begins with the production of biodiesel from algae, and the residual biomass which is used as a cattle feedstock. These become the generators for a more complex choreography of mutually-supportive programmes.

The result constitutes a challenge to some of the narrow political dichotomies which currently dominate green politics, and hints at a profound shift in the way that we, as citizens and consumers, relate to the rural landscapes, communities and infrastructures upon which we depend.



Alastair Parvin’s project SERVER, proposes an Experimental Agricultural Belt (EAB) along an 8 mile stretch of the M1. Alastair developed his brief as a provocative re-examination of the role of architectural design in the context of global environmental change, resource depletion and financial crisis. The project proposes a radically different approach to sustainability issues from that usually offered by contemporary design culture. It suggests farming as a ‘world-view’ and architecture as the business of farming resources. Server architecture is usually ‘the architecture of stuff before it arrives’. In this project SERVER is acutely aware of the interdependencies of the UK built environment. It therefore engages with the wisdom of farmers and the skills of agricultural workers allowing a particularly resilient point of departure from which to explore our relationship with resources, technology, economics and the processes and people that nourish our cities. Alastair’s proposal investigates the entire UK in terms of a possible Industrial Evolution. He has developed an extraordinary and precise taxonomy of species as well as an innovative approach to field structures, fuel farming and knowledge intensive agriculture. The project harnesses inventiveness and design at both strategic and local scales, transforming the M1 and inspiring a new kind of motorway citizenship. Starting with just 8 miles, it anticipates an ongoing industrial experiment in self-sufficiency in the infrastructures and economies that cities depend on.

Dr Renata Tyszczuk
Tutor(s)
Dr Renata Tyszczuk
Mr Satwinder Samra
2009
Oil and Food crisis : The case for a large scale agricultural experiment in the way we feed cities.
Development of the plan based on existing processes and capacities.
Algae farming: Replacing the food vs fuel dichotomy with a doubling-up of productive land.
The fuel field provides high-protein organic feed and water for a herd of 3200 cattle.
In one day, a cow can produce around 500L of methane per day through belching. Cow farms experiment with means to harvest this with the same deliberacy as milk.
The field structure is adapted to accommodate other server programmes, bringing in rent to mitigate the capital cost to the farmers.
Exploded anatomy of the server belt.
Server becomes an ex-urban belt of mutually-supportive industrial and rural activity.
Experimental Agriculture Areas exploit surplus manure and algal fertiliser in pursuit of high-yield, knowledge-intensive farming.
All programmes within the belt broadcast on short-range FM frequencies. The belt therefore becomes a 7-minute museum - encouraging a form of motorway citizenship.
From oil-dependent conveyor belt to industrial ecology - producing no overall waste and making no major demands on external resources.
Taxonomy of Species: Classification of man-made types according to processing functions.
Watford Gap Service Area: Our capacity to farm mobility rather than mine it implies a new freedom to redefine what we mean by 'local'.
By shifting our relationship with food and energy, Server generates - and absorbs - cultural choices which have hitherto been seen as mutually exclusive.
Satellite view of the Server belt and surrounding farmland.
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