Lexicon

Abject
Accretion
Actant
Aeration
Aerobic
Algae-boosted
Animal
Anthropomorphism
Anti-Continuous Construction
Apocalypse
Aquaculture
Aquanaut
Ark
Artificial Intelligence
Autopoiesis
Assemblages
Asymmetry
Atrophy
Attraction
Autarchy
Automata
Automation
Autosymbiosis
Bambassador
Bathyscaphe
Bioconurbation
Biomedia
Bionics
Biosphere
Biotechnique
By-product
Capacity
Actant
Coisolation
Composting
Conservative Surgery
Consumer Envelope
Consumption
Continuous Construction
Conurbation
Correalism
Cultural_Memory
Cybernetics
Cybertecture
Cyborg
Dispositif
Diving Saucer
Dross
Earthship
Ecocatastrophe
Effluvium
Egosphere
End-use
Entanglement
Eutopia
Feedback
Foam
Folk
Gadget
Garbage House
Green Cyborg
Heuristic
Hoard
Holism
Homogenization of Desire
Hostile
Human Affect
Hybridized Folk
Hydroponic
Hyper-Materialism
Information Economy
Inner Space
Interama
Intra-Uterine
Maque
Megalopolis
Min-use
Mobility
Monorail
Multi-Hinge
Non-Design
Oceanaut
Oppositional Consciousness
Organic
Ouroboros
Panarchy
Parasite
Perceived Continuation
Permanence
Place
Prototype
Post-Animal
Reclamation
RI: Data Farms
RI: Garbage and Animals
RI:Shipbreaking
RI: Toxic Sublime
Sampling
Scale
Sensing Structure
Simulacrum
Simulation
Soft Energy
Spaceship Earth
Submersible
Superwindow
Symbiosis
Synthetic Environment
Technocratic
Technological Heredity
Technological Sublime
Telechirics
The Sublime
Thermal Panel
Actant
Thing-Power
Thinking Machines
Tool
Toxic Withdrawal
Turbulence
UV-Transparent Film
Vibrant Matter
Waste
Work

UV-transparent film

UV-transparent film, ethylene tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE), is used as the main material to build the huge bubble in the Eden project: “three layers enclosed in frame and pressurized with clean dry air to form a cushion-ideal for this type of enclosure” 1. The main reason for choosing this kind of material is about climate controlling and minimizing energy use, because “maximum use could be made of the rock’s (south-facing) heat storage capability”, light and sun transmission can be maximized for plant growth and heat loss is minimized through the fabric via using this material2. Most of the energy from sun was able to transit through the ETFE cushion, and it also has a better insulation at night3. Climate control and minimizing energy are really important for the Eden project, because the two huge enclosures intend to form a “nature” biome for housing thousands of plant species. The film becomes the boundary for the human-made biome, and is also the most direct layer between the inside and the outside. How does it work will affect whether the project will be successful and sustainable. The Eden project brings us the possibility to create a sustainable environment which is difficult to exist in the original. It gives us the potential to solve the problems between human and environment which is changing continuously in the future.

1.Chris Barrett, Andy Bascombe, Mark Bostock, Hugh Collis, Geoff Farnham, and Alistair Guthrie, “ Creating the Eden Environment,” in The ARUP Journal, (January 2002), p.3.
2. Ibid.
3.Chris Barrett, Andy Bascombe, Mark Bostock, Hugh Collis, Geoff Farnham, and Alistair Guthrie, “ Creating the Eden Environment,” in The ARUP Journal, (January 2002), p.10.