TONGABOVE
Adaptation and Resilience to Help Connect, Adapt
and Prepare for the Worst
THE SITE: The Sustainable Glasgow Landing Hub sponsored by The City of Glasgow.
November 2, 2021
CREATOR: Jakob+MacFarlane, Paris
ASSOCIATED ARTIST: Uili Lousi, Tonga
PROJECT PARTNERSHIPS:
Jakob+MacFarlane, (France)
OHAI, Government of Tonga, (Tonga)
Supporting Partner: Global Climate Uprising (USA)
The City of Glasgow
TongAbove is a film showcasing the design and plan to rescue island nations from rising seas due to climate change.
Created by Jakob+MacFarlane, http://www.jakobmacfarlane.com/ and Uili Lousi, Tonga-based visionary artist and environmental activist, President of OHAI, Tongan organization for climate change awareness and official representative of the Tongan Government to COP24). http://www.ohaitonga.org/
With the sea levels rising due to climate change, a number of Pacific island states, including Lousi's homeland Tonga, are threatened with disappearing under the sea in the future. Without a way to relocate them elsewhere, they are developing a response to this extreme condition, using nature as a way forward. Based on the idea of a coral reef and learning from the corals capacities as resilient structures that evolve over time, they are proposing a new urban landscape that replaces the one that is too fragile.
The Global Climate Uprising Festival brings to COP26, a partnership of international climate change and environmental organizations, educational and cultural institutions, artists, and activists to present their work in climate change research, advocacy, and new solutions through the power of media, art, and technology.
JAKOB+MACFARLANE architecture|urbanism|design|research is a multidisciplinary and multicultural architecture agency based in Paris, France. Since its first projects, Jakob + MacFarlane architects has been oriented as an experimental laboratory in architecture focused on environmental transition and digital culture. The agency's interest in programmatic and urban social innovations where the passion for construction and innovation is manifested in projects such as the Orange Cube in Lyon and the Frac Centre in Orléans among a few examples. The agency is involved in a research on links with the technicality, the materiality of each project to anchor each them in their temporal relationship and site. They are regularly invited to participate in conferences and juries in prestigious institutions such as the Architectural Association of London, the Centre Georges Pompidou or the Monterey Design Conference Their projects have been exhibited in museums around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, 2003) at SFMOMA (San Francisco, 2004) at the Museum of Architecture (Moscow , 2000) to the Artist Space (New York, 2003), Carnegie Melon (USA, 2001) at the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, 2004) at the Centre Pompidou, the Pavillon de l'Arsenal (Paris), the Bartlett School Gallery (London, 1997) as well as international architecture festival Orleans / Archilab (1999, 2001, 2003).
Uili Lousi OHAI Incorporated is an internationally recognized artist, activist and government leader. OHAI Tonga is a non-governmental organization dedicated to addressing the adverse effects of climate change and promoting resilience and capacity in Tonga and the Pacific. OHAI works with the community, donor partners, and government to initiate and promote climate change mitigation activities and youth involvement and capacity building. OHAI projects focus on advancing knowledge about the impact of climate change in Tonga and the Pacific Ocean, promoting food security, working with youth groups to address climate change related issues, responding to natural disasters, and celebrating Tonga's treasured culture and art. Climate change is altering environmental conditions in the Kingdom of Tonga and other small island developing states in the Pacific Ocean. Oceans retain much of the heat reflected back to Earth, and warming ocean temperatures cause water to expand, which raises sea level. Some small island states, especially those on atoll islands may need to relocate or disappear as a result of land loss due to the increase in sea level Ocean acidification increases with warming waters and threatens marine ecosystems, including coral reefs and marine fisheries "Warm ocean water also provides fuel for cyclones, and in recent years, warmer waters have increased the magnitude of cyclones. As the strength of these storms surpasses the current classification system, the need for a new category 6 cyclone is being considered (Masters 2019). Stronger storms have significantly greater potential to threaten lives, create extensive property damage, and damage food crops (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2013; Pacific Climate Change Science Program 2016). Air temperature is increasing and precipitation patterns are becoming more unpredictable. Small island developing states contribute less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, yet they experience a disproportionate degree of negative consequences as a result of climate change (United Nations Development Programme 2017)
PARTNERS FOR THE GLOBAL CLIMATE UPRISING FESTIVAL INCLUDE: Geoversity, CityKids, TaskForce, Jakob+MacFarlane, Uili Lousi/OHAI, NASA, Africa Next Gen Climate, Georgetown University, Norwegian-African Business Association (NABA), World YMCA, Sèmè/ The International Knowledge and Innovation City in Benin, ILeadClimate, African Leadership Institute, The Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme, The Sustainable Design School/George Mason University, Earth Day.Org, and Future Coalition.