los angeles CALIFORNIA
Sci-ARC
Critic: Mark FOSTER GAGE, Melissa SHIN & Ryan WILSON

…This infrastructure network utilizes the expanding technology of piezo-electric energy harvesting while simultaneously increasing efficacy of existing turbine technology which has generically occupied the mid-west. The Piezo-Involex Valley takes the principle of damming and applies it to non-liquid fluid mediums, mitigating the ecological, political, and cultural consequences that characterize todays dams.

The initial example is located on Mt. Elbert in Colorado. The network is located in the Mountain States at the crucial point where the plains of the Mid-West meet the Rocky Mountains. This region is characterized by a wind belt which spans the entire length of the states formed by the collision of currents from the South, East, and West. The internal infrastructure systems then utilize the increased wind velocity occurring from the natural venturi effect caused by the mountain topography.

The increased wind currents pass through a network of cables spanning 10,435 feet. These cables are allowed to vibrate freely, creating an oscillation frequency transmitting mechanical forces to a generation system which converts mechanical to alternating current electrical energy. The Piezo wires span between three Involex towers with the central tower at 6,855 feet in height and the flanking towers at 5,185 feet. Each Involex tower has openings in 360 degrees which captures currents, funneling the pressure downwards into the internal ventilation shafts. These auxiliary shafts meet at the primary shaft shaped in a venturi section, creating increased wind velocity as pressure increases. State of the art turbines are placed within this venturi section in order to efficiently utilize currents from the ground level to one and a half miles in the air.