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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with a dark black streak in the right side of the image and a spider-like growth of algae spreading across the streak in all directions.
Sprinkler and Capillary Crust by Tom Niu
Student Gallery M.Arch

Saline Dreams, Owens Lake National Monument

401 Advanced Topics Studio
2019

This project involves the ecology and aesthetics of Owens (dry) Lake, a large site in eastern California of major environmental, historical, political and infrastructural significance. (It is also the largest source of dust pollution in the U.S.) The design problem imagines arguments, in the form of visual albums, for the creation of a new national monument to this gigantic Anthropocene landscape.

Related Faculty
 Jason Payne
Related topics
 Media, Ecology, Infrastructure, Sustainability
Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with predominantly blue and white coloration on the left and rust on the right.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with red pigmentation. Blue and green splotches like leopard print in the span of the red pigment.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with rippled surface like a lake in the wind. Underneath the rippled surface can be seen a mixture of green, yellow, and rust pigments.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with thin vein of white pigment in a vast expanse of black and rust color. In the upper portions of the image there are splotches of green algae growth.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with cloudy mixes of orange, rust, blue, and green colorations.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed showing short ridges produced by tilling the surface of the lake. In the top right of the image green liquid pools between the tilled hills of the lake bed. Largely white and grey in pigmentation.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with varying degrees of red coloration and cloudiness.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with blue pigmentation and a thick streak of brown pigmentation on the right side of the bed.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed with white and tan coloration on the left side that fades to brown in the middle and rusty clouded tones on the right.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed. Blue pigmentation appears in most of the image with the top of the photograph capturing vegetative-like growth that appears to be grass and shrubs. A brown vein of pigment cuts diagonally from the bottom left of the image to the edge of the vegetation.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed. Blue pigmentation appears in most of the image with the top of the photograph capturing vegetative-like growth that appears to be grass and shrubs. A brown vein of pigment cuts diagonally from the bottom left of the image to the edge of the vegetation.
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Aerial photograph of dried lake bed ith pink and green pigmentation. A eafoam green color dominates while a arker forest green exists on the eriphery of the image. Pink pigment is onfined to oval sporadic growths.
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Aerial photographs of dried lake bed. Organized in a pop-art fashion with gradual changes in pixelation exhibited in nine images organized in a three by three grid. Blue and red pigmentation transitions to orange and green from top left to bottom right.
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  1. Tom Niu
  2. Tom Niu
  3. Tom Niu
  4. Tom Niu
  5. Tom Niu
  6. Tom Niu
  7. Eric Lin
  8. Eric Lin
  9. Eric Lin
  10. Eric Lin
  11. Eric Lin
  12. Eric Lin
  13. Eric Lin
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