TEDGlobal 2009
Magnus Larsson: Turning dunes into architecture
Magnus Larsson: 化沙丘为建筑
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建筑系学生Magnus Larsson提出了用细菌和一种令人惊奇的建筑材料——沙子本身——来改造严酷的撒哈拉沙漠的计划。在此，他对这一大胆的计划进行了详细的描述。
Magnus Larsson - Dune architect
Magnus Larsson hopes to build new structures in the desert -- by using bacteria to turn shifting sand into a solid mass. Full bio
Magnus Larsson hopes to build new structures in the desert -- by using bacteria to turn shifting sand into a solid mass. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
It's a bit funny to be
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能够来参加这次大会是件很有趣的事，
00:17
at a conference dedicated to things not seen,
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因为这是一个致力于还未出现的事物的会议，
00:19
and present my proposal to build
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而且我将呈现一个创意，
00:22
a 6,000-kilometer-long wall
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一个将可在非洲大陆上筑起全长
00:24
across the entire African continent.
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6000公里的城墙的建议。
00:27
About the size of the Great Wall of China,
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这就形同中国长城的规模，
00:30
this would hardly be an invisible structure.
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因此它将成为令人难以忽视的建筑。
00:32
And yet it's made from parts that are invisible, or near-invisible, to the naked eye:
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然而构成它的部件却是不显眼的，或者说对肉眼几乎是不可见的，
00:37
bacteria and grains of sand.
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那就是细菌和沙粒。
00:40
Now, as architects we're trained to solve problems.
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如今，作为建筑师我们被教以解决问题。
00:43
But I don't really believe in architectural problems;
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但是我不太相信建筑学上的问题，
00:45
I only believe in opportunities.
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我只相信机遇。
00:47
Which is why I'll show you a threat,
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这就是为什么我要向你们展现一个恶兆，
00:49
and an architectural response.
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和一个建筑学上的回答。
00:51
The threat is desertification.
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这个恶兆就是沙漠化。
00:55
My response is a sandstone wall
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而我的回答
00:58
made from bacteria and solidified sand,
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是一条由细菌和固化沙粒建筑而成的城墙，
01:00
stretching across the desert.
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它将横穿整个沙漠。
01:04
Now, sand is a magical material
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在如今，沙子是一种不可思议的材料，
01:06
of beautiful contradictions.
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它充满着各种美丽的矛盾。
01:08
It is simple and complex.
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它简单却又复杂。
01:11
It is peaceful and violent.
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和平却也暴力。
01:13
It is always the same, never the same,
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它虽为永恒却也无常，
01:15
endlessly fascinating.
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它有着无穷尽的迷人魅力。
01:17
One billion grains of sand
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这个世界，时时刻刻都有
01:19
come into existence in the world each second.
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成千上万的沙粒在产生。
01:23
That's a cyclical process.
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那是一个循环过程。
01:25
As rocks and mountains die,
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岩石和山脉消逝之时，
01:27
grains of sand are born.
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沙粒于焉诞生。
01:29
Some of those grains may then cement naturally into sandstone.
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一些沙粒随后又自然粘结形成岩石。
01:32
And as the sandstone weathers, new grains break free.
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随着岩石风化，新的沙粒形成。
01:36
Some of those grains may then accumulate
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其中一些沙粒
01:38
on a massive scale,
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会大规模积聚，
01:40
into a sand dune.
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形成沙丘。
01:43
In a way, the static, stone mountain
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从某种程度上来说，静态的岩石山脉
01:46
becomes a moving mountain of sand.
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变成了移动的沙粒山脉。
01:49
But, moving mountains can be dangerous. Let me try and explain why.
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但是，移动的山脉是危险的。我来试着解释一下原因。
01:53
Dry areas cover more than one third of the Earth's land surfaces.
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地球表面超过三分之一的陆地处于干旱地区。
01:57
Some are already deserts;
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其中一些是荒漠，
01:59
others are being seriously degraded by the sand.
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其它的则被沙完全覆盖。
02:02
Just south of the Sahara we find the Sahel.
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就在撒哈拉沙漠的南边我们发现了沙赫尔。
02:05
The name means "edge of the desert."
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这个名字的意思是“沙漠的边缘”。
02:08
And this is the region most closely associated with desertification.
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这是和沙漠化联系最紧密的地区。
02:12
It was here in the late '60s and early '70s
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也就是在这，在六十年代晚期和七十年代早期，
02:15
that major droughts brought three million people
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干旱让三百万人民
02:18
to become dependent upon emergency food aid,
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只能依靠应急救援食品来生存，
02:21
with about up to 250,000 dying.
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并夺去了总计大约250000人的生命。
02:23
This is a catastrophe waiting to happen again.
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这样的大灾难正伺机卷土重来。
02:26
And it's one that gets very little attention.
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但它却很少受到人们的注意。
02:29
In our accelerated media culture,
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在我们日益加速的媒体文化中，
02:31
desertification is simply too slow
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沙漠化是如此缓慢
02:34
to reach the headlines.
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而难以登上头版头条。
02:36
It's nothing like a tsunami or a Katrina:
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它一点也不像海啸或卡特里娜（飓风）：
02:39
too few crying children and smashed up houses.
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很少有哭泣的孩子和被摧毁的房屋。
02:44
And yet desertification
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然而，沙漠化
02:46
is a major threat on all continents,
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对所有国家都是一个主要的威胁。
02:48
affecting some 110 countries
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大约110个国家
02:51
and about 70 percent of the world's agricultural drylands.
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和全球70%左右的农用旱地都受其影响。
02:56
It seriously threatens the livelihoods
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它严重地威胁了数以万计的人
03:00
of millions of people,
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的生计问题，
03:02
and especially in Africa and China.
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尤其是在非洲和中国。
03:05
And it is largely an issue that we've created for ourselves
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很大程度上这个问题是我们人类自找的，
03:08
through unsustainable use of scarce resources.
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源于我们对稀有资源的滥用。
03:12
So, we get climate change.
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为此，我们得到了气候变化。
03:14
We get droughts,
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我们得到了干旱，
03:15
increased desertification,
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日益严重的沙漠化、
03:17
crashing food systems, water scarcity,
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食物系统崩溃、水资源短缺、
03:20
famine, forced migration,
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饥荒、被迫的移民、
03:24
political instability, warfare, crisis.
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政治动荡、战争和危机。
03:28
That's a potential scenario
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如果我们不严肃对待，
03:30
if we fail to take this seriously.
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那一切的不幸将在现实上演。
03:32
But, how far away is it?
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那么，它现在离我们有多远呢？
03:34
I went to Sokoto in northern Nigeria
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我试着去尼日利亚南部的索科托州
03:36
to try and find out how far away it is.
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寻找答案。
03:39
The dunes here move southward at a pace of around 600 meters a year.
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这的沙丘以每年大约600米的速度向南移动。
03:44
That's the Sahara eating up almost [two meters] a day of the arable land,
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撒哈拉沙漠每天几乎要吞噬掉一米的可耕地，
03:47
physically pushing people away from their homes.
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把人赶出他们的房屋。
03:51
Here I am -- I'm the second person on the left --
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我在这——左边第二个——
03:54
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
03:56
with the elders in Gidan-Kara,
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和Gidan-Kara的长老一起。
03:59
a tiny village outside of Sokoto.
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那是索科托州外的一个小村庄。
04:02
They had to move this village in 1987
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1987年他们不得不搬离了这个村子，
04:04
as a huge dune threatened to swallow it.
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因为一座巨大的沙丘正威胁着将它吞没。
04:07
So, they moved the entire village, hut by hut.
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所以，他们一间屋子一间屋子地搬走了整个村庄。
04:10
This is where the village used to be.
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这是他们村子曾经所在的地方。
04:12
It took us about 10 minutes to climb up to the top of that dune,
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爬到那座沙丘的顶部大约花掉了我们10分钟时间。
04:17
which goes to show why they had to move to a safer location.
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这说明了他们为什么不得不搬到一个更安全的地方。
04:20
That's the kind of forced migration
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那就是沙漠化所导致的
04:22
that desertification can lead to.
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被迫的迁移。
04:25
If you happen to live close to the desert border,
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如果你碰巧住在离沙漠边界很近的地方，
04:27
you can pretty much calculate how long it will be
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你几乎能计算还有多久
04:29
before you have to carry your kids away,
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你就得带着你的孩子离开，
04:31
and abandon your home and your life as you know it.
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遗弃你的房屋和生活，正如你所知道的。
04:36
Now, sand dunes cover only about one fifth of our deserts.
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现在，沙丘只覆盖了我们大约五分之一的荒漠。
04:40
And still, those extreme environments are very good places
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但是，如果我们想要阻止流沙的话
04:43
if we want to stop the shifting sands.
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那些极端的环境会是很好的地方。
04:46
Four years ago, 23 African countries
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四年前，23个非洲国家
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came together to create the Great Green Wall Sahara.
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联合起来建造撒哈拉沙漠长城。
04:52
A fantastic project, the initial plan
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一个项不可思议的工程，它最初的计划
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called for a shelter belt of trees to be planted
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是种植一条西起毛里塔尼亚东至吉布提
04:57
right across the African continent,
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贯穿非洲大陆的
04:59
from Mauritania in the west, all the way to Djibouti in the east.
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防护林带。
05:03
If you want to stop a sand dune from moving,
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如果你想要停止沙丘移动
05:05
what you need to make sure to do is to stop the grains
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你就必须确保能够阻止沙粒
05:07
from avalanching over its crest.
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从沙丘顶部崩塌下来。
05:10
And a good way of doing that, the most efficient way,
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有一个很好的也是最有效的方法
05:12
is to use some kind of sand catcher.
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就是用某种沙子捕手。
05:14
Trees or cacti are good for this.
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树或者仙人掌就不错。
05:17
But, one of the problems with planting trees is that
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但是种树面临着一个问题，
05:20
the people in these regions are so poor
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那个地区的人太穷，
05:22
that they chop them down for firewood.
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他们把树砍倒当柴火了。
05:24
Now there is an alternative to just planting trees
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现在，除了种树然后指望着它们别被砍掉
05:28
and hoping that they won't get chopped down.
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我们有了另一种选择。
05:31
This sandstone wall that I'm proposing essentially does three things.
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我所提倡的岩石长城从本质上做了三件事。
05:34
It adds roughness to the dune's surface,
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它增加了沙丘表面纹理的粗糙度，
05:37
to the texture of the dune's surface, binding the grains.
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把沙粒粘结在一起。
05:40
It provides a physical support structure for the trees,
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它为树木的生存提供了物理支撑结构，
05:43
and it creates physical spaces,
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它还在沙丘的内部创造了
05:46
habitable spaces inside of the sand dunes.
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可供居住的空间。
05:48
If people live inside of the green barrier
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如果人们居住在这道绿色的屏障内，
05:51
they can help support the trees, protect them from humans,
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他们就能帮着照料这些树，保护它们免受人类
05:54
and from some of the forces of nature.
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和一些自然力量的破坏。
05:56
Inside of the dunes we find shade.
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在沙丘里我们能找到阴凉的地方。
05:59
We can start harvesting condensation,
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我们开始收获（沙粒的）凝结，
06:02
and start greening the desert from within.
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并开始从内部将沙漠绿化。
06:04
Sand dunes are almost like ready-made buildings in a way.
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沙丘已经差不多有点像现成的建筑了，
06:07
All we need to do is solidify the parts that we need to be solid,
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我们需要做的只是固化所需的部分，
06:11
and then excavate the sand,
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然后挖掘沙子，
06:13
and we have our architecture.
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构筑我们的建筑。
06:15
We can either excavate it by hand
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我们既可以用手挖掘
06:17
or we can have the wind excavate it for us.
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也能让风来帮我们。
06:19
So, the wind carries the sand onto the site
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风把沙粒搬运上来
06:21
and then it carries the redundant sand away from the structure for us.
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再把多余的沙从我们的建筑上搬走。
06:26
But, by now, you're probably asking,
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但是，到现在，你们或许会问
06:28
how am I planning to solidify a sand dune?
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我打算怎样把一座沙丘固化呢？
06:31
How do we glue those grains of sand together?
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我们又怎样把沙粒粘合在一起？
06:34
And the answer is, perhaps, that you use these guys,
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答案就是，或许，你可以用这些家伙，
06:37
Bacillus pasteurii,
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巴氏芽孢杆菌，
06:39
a micro-organism that is readily available in wetlands
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一种能从湿地和沼泽中
06:41
and marshes, and does precisely that.
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轻松获取的微生物。
06:44
It takes a pile of loose sand
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它带着一堆疏松砂岩
06:46
and it creates sandstone out of it.
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并能用它们制造砂岩。
06:49
These images from the American Society for Microbiology show us the process.
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这些来自美国微生物学会的照片向我们展示了这一过程。
06:53
What happens is, you pour Bacillus pasteurii onto a pile of sand,
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所发生的是，你把巴氏芽孢杆菌倒在一堆沙上，
06:57
and it starts filling up the voids in between the grains.
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它开始填充沙粒间的间隙。
07:00
A chemical process produces calcite,
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由一个化学过程产生方解石，
07:02
which is a kind of natural cement
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方解石是一种天然的水泥，
07:04
that binds the grains together.
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能把沙粒粘结在一起。
07:06
The whole cementation process takes about 24 hours.
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整个粘结过程大概需要24个小时。
07:10
I learned about this from a professor at U.C. Davis called Jason DeJong.
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我从加州大学一个叫Jason DeJong的教授那里学到了这些。
07:14
He managed to do it in a mere 1,400 minutes.
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他成功地在1400分钟里完成了这个实验。
07:18
Here I am, playing the part of the mad scientist,
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在这，我扮演起了这位疯狂的科学家的角色，
07:20
working with the bugs at UCL in London,
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和这个疯子一起在伦敦的伦敦大学学院工作，
07:24
trying to solidify them.
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尝试着固化它们。
07:26
So, how much would this cost?
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那么，这个项目要花费多少呢？
07:29
I'm not an economist, very much not,
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我一点也不像个经济学家，
07:31
but I did, quite literally, a back of the envelope calculation --
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但是，我做了一个——照字面来说的——封底运算……
07:35
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
07:37
-- and it seems that for a cubic meter of concrete
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看起来一立方米粘结物
07:40
we would have to pay in the region of 90 dollars.
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要耗费我们90美元左右。
07:43
And, after an initial cost of 60 bucks to buy the bacteria,
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最初我们需要用60美元来买细菌，
07:46
which you'll never have to pay again,
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之后你就不用再为细菌花钱了，
07:48
one cubic meter of bacterial sand
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那样算下来的话一立方米带细菌的沙子
07:51
would be about 11 dollars.
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大约是11美元。
07:53
How do we construct something like this?
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我们该怎么构建想这样的东西呢？
07:55
Well, I'll quickly show you two options.
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我这就为你们展示两种选择。
07:57
The first is to create a kind of balloon structure,
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第一是创造一种气球一样的结构，
07:59
fill it with bacteria, then allow the sand to wash over the balloon,
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把它装满细菌，然后用沙子磨洗它，
08:03
pop the balloon, as it were, disseminating the bacteria into the sand and solidifying it.
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冲击它，可以说就是把细菌散播进沙里去固化它。
08:07
Then, a few years afterwards,
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等过几年，
08:09
using permacultural strategies,
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从长远打算，
08:11
we green that part of the desert.
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我们把那部分沙漠绿化。
08:14
The second alternative would be to use injection piles.
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第二种选择是用喷桩。
08:17
So, we pushed the piles down through the dune,
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我们把喷桩插进沙丘里，
08:19
and we create an initial bacterial surface.
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再创造一个原始的细菌表面。
08:22
We then pull the piles up through the dune
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然后把这些喷桩从沙丘里拔出来。
08:25
and we're able to create almost any conceivable shape inside of the sand
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以沙为模子，
08:28
with the sand acting as a mold as we go up.
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我们几乎能在沙丘内部创造任何我们想要的形状。
08:32
So, we have a way of turning sand into sandstone,
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所以，我们有了一个把沙变成砂岩的办法，
08:36
and then creating these habitable spaces inside of the desert dunes.
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能在沙丘内部创造可居住的空间。
08:40
But, what should they look like?
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但是，它们该是什么样子的呢？
08:42
Well, I was inspired, for my architectural form, by tafoni,
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嗯，我的建筑形态让我有些激动，它是依靠风化形成的，
08:47
which look a little bit like this, this is a model representation of it.
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看起来有点像这样，这是它的一个模型。
08:50
These are cavernous rock structures that I found on the site in Sokoto.
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这些是我在索科托州建立的洞穴岩石结构。
08:53
And I realized that if I scaled them up, they would provide me
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我意识到如果我把它们像鱼鳞一样排列起来，它们就能为我提供
08:56
with good spatial qualities,
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很好的空间质量，
08:59
for ventilation, for thermal comfort, and for other things.
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无论是通风，温度还是其它事。
09:02
Now, part of the formal control over this structure
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现在，在正常控制范围内，这些结构的一部分
09:05
would be lost to nature, obviously,
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很明显会被自然侵蚀掉。
09:07
as the bacteria do their work.
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那些细菌起作用了。
09:10
And I think this creates a kind of boundless beauty actually.
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我想着确实是创造了一种无尽的美。
09:13
I think there is really something in that articulation
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在这里的确有一些东西
09:16
that is quite nice.
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是非同凡响的。
09:18
We see the result, the traces, if you like,
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我们看到了用巴氏芽孢杆菌来把沙漠
09:22
of the Bacillus pasteurii being harnessed to sculpt the desert
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雕刻成人间乐土的结果，
09:25
into these habitable environments.
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如果你喜欢，也可以说是痕迹。
09:27
Some people believe that
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有人担心
09:30
this would spread uncontrollably,
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这种传播会不会不受控制，
09:32
and that the bacteria would kill everything in its way.
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那些细菌会杀死它们碰到的任何东西。
09:34
That's not true at all.
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那绝对是错误的。
09:36
It's a natural process. It goes on in nature today,
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这是一个自然过程。它现在也在自然界中进行着。
09:38
and the bacteria die as soon as we stop feeding them.
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一旦我们停止喂养细菌，它们就会死去。
09:41
So, there it is --
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所以，这些是——
09:43
architectural anti-desertification structures
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用沙漠本身建造的
09:46
made from the desert itself.
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建筑学上的抵抗沙漠化结构。
09:48
Sand-stopping devices, made from sand.
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来自于沙的阻止沙前进的设备。
09:52
The world is likely to lose one third of its arable land
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到本世纪末，全世界有可能失去
09:55
by the end of the century.
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三分之一的可耕地。
09:57
In a period of unprecedented population growth
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在人口数量空前飞涨
10:01
and increased food demands, this could prove disastrous.
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食物需求日益增加的时期，这几乎是个灾难。
10:03
And quite frankly, we're putting our heads in the sand.
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坦白说我们正把目光投向沙漠。
10:07
If nothing else, I would like for this scheme to initiate a discussion.
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如果没有什么其它的事，我想为这个计划开始一个讨论。
10:12
But, if I had something like a TED wish,
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但是，如果要我在TED许一个愿，
10:14
it would be to actually get it built,
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我希望它能被切实地建造起来，
10:16
to start building this habitable wall,
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开始建造这条可以居住的长城，
10:19
this very, very long, but very narrow city in the desert,
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这座很长很长，但却很窄的沙漠之城，
10:23
built into the dunescape itself.
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建在沙丘自己体内。
10:27
It's not only something that supports trees,
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它不仅能承载树木，
10:30
but something that connects people and countries together.
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更能将人和各个国家联系在一起。
10:34
I would like to conclude by showing you an animation of the structure,
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最后，我想给你们展示一个这个结构的动画，
10:40
and leave you with a sentence by Jorge Luis Borges.
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并送给你们一句博尔赫斯的话。
10:46
Borges said that "nothing is built on stone,
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博尔赫斯说：“没有什么是建筑在岩石上，
10:52
everything is built on sand,
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任何东西都建于沙子之上的，
10:56
but we must build as if the sand were stone."
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但我们必须把沙子当作石头来建筑。”
11:01
Now, there are many details left to explore in this scheme --
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现在，这个计划的许多细节还有待进一步研究，
11:05
political, practical, ethical, financial.
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有政治的，实用性的，道德的，经济的。
11:10
My design, as it takes you down the rabbit hole,
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我的设计——将带领你们深入“兔窝”——
11:15
is fraught with many challenges
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在现实中充满了
11:19
and difficulties in the real world.
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困难和挑战。
11:22
But, it's a beginning, it's a vision.
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但是，这只是一个开始，一个展望。
11:26
As Borges would have it, it's the sand.
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如博尔赫斯所说，这是沙子。
11:30
And I think now is really the time
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我想，现在是把沙子
11:33
to turn it into stone. Thank you.
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变成岩石的时候了。谢谢。
11:36
(Applause)
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（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Magnus Larsson - Dune architectMagnus Larsson hopes to build new structures in the desert -- by using bacteria to turn shifting sand into a solid mass.
Why you should listen
Architecture student Magnus Larsson wants to turn some of the most deserted and harsh landscapes on the planet into habitable structures. How? By turning loose sand dunes into solid architecture using bacteria. A team at UC Davis has been looking at the microorganism bacillus pasteurii to solidify the ground in earthquake-prone areas. As Larsson puts it, "All I did was to deliberately misapply their technology ... and to pump up the scale, and turn it into a 6,000-km-long wall that's made of sand and protects against sand."
After talking with Jason DeJong at UC Davis and with Stefano Ciurli, a b. pasteurii expert at the University of Bologna, Larsson put together a team at University College London to grow the bacteria and attempt to solidify sand. His Holcim Award-winning proposal is a complement to the Green Wall Sahara shelterbelt, being planted across the African continent. Larsson is now investigating how to bring the project to the next stage: a 1:1 scale prototype.
Magnus Larsson | Speaker | TED.com