Symbiosis | Aasish Janardhanan | International Architecture Awards 2019

Can we predict Earthquake?

No. Neither the USGS nor any other scientists have ever predicted a major earthquake. We do not know how, and we do not expect to know how any time in the foreseeable future. An earthquake prediction must define 3 elements:  1) the date and time, 2) the location, and 3) the magnitude.

Animals and earthquake preparedness

THE idea that animals can forecast earthquakes is not a new one: the notion occurred to the Romans. For more than 2000 years, people have reported unusual animal behavior just minutes or hours before powerful seismic events. But now, a new space program could be about to provide the facts to explain such stories.

The scientists detected disturbances in the ionosphere – the layer of the earth’s atmosphere which contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons and can reflect radio waves – which started two weeks before the earthquake. Animals can sense these differences thus act abnormal to these changes thus helps scientist to monitor these changes and record. Animals respond to these changes in atmosphere differently in time.

Nowadays, the research work on animals for disaster mitigation is getting its pace and momentum.

Design proposal_ the idea

As we know that Many complex parameters affect the severity of an earthquake, including extrinsic factors, such as site conditions, soil composition, and topography, as well as features that are intrinsic to design, such as building weight and height, which influence its inertia force and natural period of vibration, respectively. Because of their highly complex dynamics, seismic activity is often regarded as a purely scientific field of knowledge, best handled by engineers and geologists. Linking architecture and earthquake is one of the challenging tasks faced by current world.

The Project tries to build a platform in which some specific animals (birds as initiative) helps in predicting earthquake. The challenge is to create or develop a symbiotic environment where humans can take advantage of animal capacity of predicting earthquake. Birds visiting the specific location noted and is monitored for the task by providing their preferable habitat. These habitats attract birds. The monitoring center provides researchers and scientists to wok and observe in real time the movement and abnormality. Monitoring center is supported with capture center, banding area and bird watching tower.

Landscape is acting as an infrastructure where architecture becomes mere supporting element for the ecosystem. The system is versatile and flexible, which grows and expands in time. In future, more animals are monitored which supports the ecosystem with a hope that one day there will be a day when we get earthquake warnings in our smartphone one or two days prior so that we can act accordingly, saving thousands of lives.

Architect: Aasish Janardhanan
2nd – Category: Landscape Design
Project Location: Umbria, Italy
Country: Italy