Joana Rafael is an architect and researcher working on ecological issues related to pollution and contamination in buildings and territories, with a particular interest in the material conditions of construction and environmental contamination. Her research investigates the materiality and limits of physical infrastructures in relation to Earth systems, as well as human–nature relations mediated by dynamics of human impact, with particular attention to radiological contamination. In parallel, she develops a practice of collaboration with artists, research and writing, as well as consultancy on projects in the fields of architecture, art, and ecology. Joana has taught courses related to Contemporary Culture at institutions including ESAP, ISCE Douro, Central Saint Martins, and the University for the Creative Arts. She is a member of CEGOT and CEAA, and co-founder of REFINERY BOARD. Joana holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Culture from Metropolis, as well as a Master’s in Research Architecture and a PhD in Visual Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London. She also obtained a specialization certificate in Healthier Materials and Sustainable Construction from Parsons School of Design. She is currently completing a Master’s in Visual Arts Education. Alongside her academic work, Joana is a farmer.
Keeping in Reserve
Rethinking Earth Crises Through Acts and Architectures of Reservation
PhD thesis DISSERTATION, Visual Cultures, Goldsmith, London
This thesis concerns architecture and engages with redefining its relation to acts and structures of reservation, posited as causes of, and as solutions to Earth crises – i.e. crises related to human-induced threats to, or arising from, the planetary environment. Here, what is meant by “reservation” is the production of (and the) arrangements to secure and keep apart – i.e. in reserve/s – things perceived as threatening to humanity or vital to its survival. In addition, the term here refers to another aspect of reservation - the expression of doubt regarding the efficacy of such arrangements.
This thesis contends that despite being intended to act as architectural solutions, agents or safeguards for the future and safety of (human) life on the planet, by failing to respect the inescapably interconnected nature of the environment and the reciprocity of its processes their extensive, cumulative and temporal qualities – reserve arrangements exacerbate rather than lessen the problems they set out to address. These assimilate the very structure and pattern of crises they attempt to resolve and keep morphologically reproducing the ill effects of threats - thus, not only exposing architecture and the reserve's fragile limits but, ultimately, cementing them as fictions.
This argument is made in relation to attempts to guard and defend against three categories of threats from Earth crises: destruction and danger; depletion of natural and artificial resources; contamination and pollution. These are read through ‘voiced reservations’ from the fields of Arts, critical theory, Earth (and social) sciences, radical ecology, speculative philosophy, cultural studies, architectural theory and even science fiction, which offer theoretical means to reflect on general laws of acting upon the planet and in relation to the future. Problematizing the construction of the planet through the logic of the reserve, this thesis calls for new methodological engagements.
online at: https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/22734/1/VIS_thesis_RodriguesJS_2017.pdf