Lights, camera, emergency : preemptive planning for disaster relief

Abstract

With increasing frequency and accuracy, the prediction of natural disasters and their effects are being charted. Their impendence is a certainty and yet we ignore the warnings, the lessons of the past, and the prominence of the future and do nothing to prepare for them. We respond with hurriedness, seeking to fulfill a need only once it has become a crisis. With each disaster time erases our memories and we stand unprepared for the future. Simultaneously, we sensationalize the trauma with imitations of it. Movies, books, newspapers all seek to retell the story of disaster in a more emotional manner. We remain captivated by the stories of triumph and loss. This thesis seeks to find an architectural solution to disaster preparedness, one that is in place long before the crisis, one that exists as an entity in its own right. What is it that a city needs both before and after disaster? Is it a place of refuge? Or organization? Urban environments cannot simply reserve space for disaster, instead this infrastructure should be in place and act as an assest to the land. The film industry has been growing rapidly in Louisiana, using its temperate climate and unique landscape to its benefit. This thesis proposes a new movie studio, with its technology, open spaces, and variable image transforming into the epicenter of disaster recovery: place of serenity and organization in the midst of great loss and sensationalism.