Part 4 - Glorious California

The Bioshaft® Design Process – what is it and how it came to be?

Part 4 – Glorious California

 “Glorious California”, is the way that the character Sabina in Milan Kundera’s ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being” describes her arrival in this great state. This quote is from the movie version; I read the novel in Italian and don’t have a direct literary comparison. In the movie, when Sabina’s voice is heard saying this phrase, the image on the screen is of a very healthy, beautiful young woman on horseback riding on a Malibu stretch of beach with the Pacific Ocean in the background, an American Lady Godiva.  Although this was not the scenario that awaited me upon my arrival in Los Angeles, I found myself thinking that this was truly a glorious place. I was part of an incredibly gifted team spearheaded by Ken Smith, Steve Handel, and my direct employer Mia Lehrer. The team was working on arguably the biggest and most ambitious project of its kind in the nation, the transformation of the Marine Corps El Toro base in Irvine into a great park that included creation of a canyon system. I loved my job with its intense creative environment. In the eight week contractual period I produced a report on the recycling of the voluminous concrete that had formed runways and other materials from the deconstruction of hangars and other buildings. I was tasked with creating viable solutions for site furnishings, retention walls and habitat creation using the recycled material and teamed up with the lead biologist to produce the guidelines for habitat creation in the park. The sketches I produced for this project where later published in Landscape Architecture magazine accompanying an article on Steve Handel’s role in the Great Park.  I was particularly pleased when in 2011 I met up with Steve at the World Conference on Environmental Restoration in Merida, Mexico where these sketches were included in his presentation. At the same conference I presented my Bioshaft® design process.

In 2007, the Orange County Great Park Project team understood the challenges of attempting to create an ecosystem such as a canyon. The approach taken was to design habitat niches for targeted species rather than a general catchall ecosystem. Particular focus was given to habitats that were quickly disappearing and the endangered species of the region. We understood that a mature habitat took time to establish and our task was to set the conditions to kick-start the evolutionary process. To achieve these focused habitats we took many field trips into the surrounding countryside to study the natural environments where these eco niches persisted. I filled my sketchbook with drawings and notes that later I transcribed into potential designed habitats using the recycled materials. I began to study how this approach might benefit my own work with urban vertical watersheds. I saw how it could transform the design of green roofs into functioning targeted ecosystems and the role eco shafts would play. The eight weeks seemed to have flown by and I was somewhat saddened to leave the project, however in the meantime I had fallen in love with California and applied for jobs in the area.  California was like going home to Italy, a similar Mediterranean climate, similar hilly terrain that ended with ocean-side cliffs and where figs, citrus and grapes were common. I was hired by George Girvin Associates at their Ventura office; the company specialized in the planning and design of high end resorts. On my way to San Buonaventura (Ventura), named after a Franciscan, Tuscan monk, I played ‘Ventura highway’ by the Eagles to set the mood for the drive.

Ventura is a small city situated between Malibu to the south, Santa Barbara to the north with the Channel Islands in view to the west. George proved a wonderful employer, very talented and kind. My co-workers were a great bunch and the projects offered plenty of opportunities to explore and create. I was mainly involved with projects in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico. I rented an apartment six minute walk from work and ten minute walk to the beach. Used my car only on weekends and only if I needed to go out of town. My neighborhood provided all I needed, a farmers’ market a block away, a bakery just around the corner and plenty of restaurants and entertainment venues. Ventura’s East Main Street had been the setting for the street scenes in American Graffiti (1973) and the Busy Bee Café and Diner had kept the fifties décor and menu. The setting and the work was satisfying and my wife and I decided to make our move to California.  Once I settled into a daily routine I began to notice the scars even in this idyllic part of the world. I thought Ventura was not taking advantage of the potential of crafting a great downtown core, even though a great many people biked, the emphasis was still on car transportation. Only a small portion of the beach had been restored to native habitat and the river mouth was strangled by invasive reeds. There was a great amount of land dedicated to parking lots. At this time I also joined the Central California Chapter of the US Green Building Council and was in effect elected vice president for the advocacy committee. I began to develop concepts on my own time for a downtown Ventura based on a greener lifestyle and smarter water usage. It was here that the second watershed moment occurred on the road to the Bioshaft design process. I divided Ventura into civic blocks that would supply their own energy and treat their waste on site. I did not see a need for electrical power to be supplied through an outdated grid that wasted much of the energy produced. I envisioned the town becoming an independent energy coop that did away with money market-driven criteria, CEO’s, their salaries and parachute packages. My reference model was that of the Tennessee Valley Authority modernized to suit today’s needs. The parking lots became the core areas to place the infrastructure needed to achieve the goals.  This is when the renamed Bioshaft design process came into focus and when the goal was clarified in the treatment and reuse of water. What would an alternative scenario be if instead of using water to treat our waste we switched to a soil-based geochemical process system? How would this take physical shape and what where the elements needed for it to work? Before I had time to work on these questions the economic crash of 2008 was upon us. The workload at Girvin and Associates diminished, many projects were placed on undetermined hold and George needed to cut staff to keep afloat. Luckily for my wife and me, we had not accepted an offer made on our home and on a  sunny December day I packed my belongings and began the long drive back to Illinois; my California dream behind me.