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The Industry of Mankind, and the Start of the Anthropocene

Thermal Fields of the South Dakota Badlands

The Thermal Fields

As fossil fuels began to run out while energy loads only climbed, explorations into other means of power became advantageous. Geothermal energy was traditionally a source of power that required perfectly located underground aquifers that would superheat water to create steam. An unfortunate limit that made geothermal rare, at least until engineers began to ponder why they couldn’t located these aquifers anywhere they wished. This is the question that lead to Enhanced Geothermal. A technology where an open landscape is fracked open and pumped full of water making geothermal possible in nearly any location. While this would solve the growing energy crisis, there are always consequences.

The Western Interior Seaway

Fracking and pumping the South Dakota Badlands full of water, opened up unforeseen networks of underground cavitation. Engineers lost control of the water and it began reacting with calcium in the limestone and sandstone landscape. Soon geysers began to sprout in rapid succession and water trapped underground was let loose upon the land. Significant parts of the central United States flooded over in a shocking return of the Western Interior Seaway, an ocean that hundreds of millions of years ago spread across the United states.

The Anthropocene

Geological concepts such as geyser growth and the return of great seas were once reactions that took nature millions of years. Today humanity through the use of advanced technologies can both force and accidently cause equivalent changes to the geological world in a timespan of not millions of years, but single years. This is a division in world history, the dividing line between geological epochs, the previous halocene, and the current Anthropocene.

Platform 29 @ The Harvey House

Hotel train stope for guest loading & unloading

Loading/Unloading

When the Mezzo-Liner pulls up at Platform 29, train passengers become hotel guests and their excursion into the badlands begins. Luggage is sequestered from the train and taken through an underground passage to the hotel along with anyone who can’t make the trek up to the hotel on foot.

Platform 29 is designed to making the loading/unloading experience as smooth as possible. With on-site restrooms, ramps, elevators, and awnings to shield guests from inclement weather.

Endemic Garden

Not just respect, but improvement upon nature, is at the core of the New Harvey House design. The landscape should appear as if it was never complete until man put architecture upon it. At Platform 29 that means terraced levels of rammed earth construction made from local sedimentary materials. What isn’t traversable space is left as natural gardens.

Only endemic plantings are considered here, so all the Rocky Mountain Junipers, Snakeweed, Great Plains Yuccas and Grasses you see here are local.

Technical Design

At foot of the Great Plains connection to eroded cliffs, winds can get heavy. This poses a design challenge for a number of reasons. Falling rocks can damage the platform and the awnings built for guest sun/rain cover, are a sitting duck for winds attracted to surfaces with high area and little mass.

Therefore to resolve the rocks, hydraulic adjustable nets positioned towards the cliffs can catch falling rocks, while the awnings have an automatic and motorized cable system for retraction.

The Path Trek

1/2 mi hike from Platform 29 to the Gatehouse

Eroded Buttes & Pinnacles

South Dakota’s Badlands are know for the intense contrast between sprawling grasslands and heavily eroded sedimentary terrains. Before reaching their lodgings at the Harvey House, guests will traverse the terrain of the badlands in a short walk that will immerse then into the land.

The Bow Bridge

The untouched landscape of the Badlands is interrupted by Anthropic geyser intrusions. Just like the plains below, water is decimating these parts too. Fortunately for the guests, a bridge spans over the geyser terraces and carries them into an old mining tunnel.

The Geyser Fields

Not even the cliffs are safe from Anthropic geyser intrusions

Geyser Deformation

Land leading up towards the Harvey House was chewed up during the Anthropic flooding. Geyser stacks and water channels now deform the space with as much vigor as an advancing tide upon a sandcastle.

The site is a beauty however and many guests travel here just for this unique site.

Bisected Space

At the center of the Geyser fields, an elevated deck bisects the whole zone on axis. And this likely won’t be the last bisection either. As the geysers continue to advance, more decks will need to be inserted to keep guests close enough to admire this new landscape, but not so close that they’re tripping into the pools.

The staff isn’t so burdened however, as a large service road loops around the fields down to Platform 29, for quick and easy access between the train and the hotel.

The Gatehouse

Gateway to the New Harvey House

Respite Along the Path

Not only a gateway, the gatehouse features guest amenities. Restrooms, seating, and a drinking fountain are located here to help relieve guests trekking up from Platform 29.

The Water Tower

A landmark water tower vertically anchors the space between the Geyser Fields and the Gatehouse. Functionally the water tower also helps collect and regulate the water spilling out from the geysers. Hot water and steam alike are collected to help energy needs at the hotel. Excess materials are sent away in a large pipeline that connects with the Thermal Fields energy system.

Strata Gate

A notable quote from legendary geology author, John McPhee, is cast into the Strata Gate. A gate that itself is formed into abstracted layers of geological strata. The quote reads:

“If you free yourself from the conventional reaction to a quantity like a million years, you free yourself a bit from the boundaries of human time. And then in a way you do not live at all, but in another way you live forever.” -John McPhee

The New Harvey House

Lodgings @ the Shallow Sea

Brutalism & Nature

The architecture of the New Harvey House is a blend of manmade brutalist forms, and a natural connection to the site’s ecology. This is reflective of the philosophy of the Anthropocene.

While it may seem odd that brutalism and nature mix, it is quite the opposite. Brutalism exposes materials into their found state in nature, concrete is a raw stone, metals are left rusted and patina’d, and wood is only minimally treated. Further, the rectilinear shapes of brutalism make nice plantings for endemic foliage, that are themselves watered by deep rooflines placed to redirect rain water to the plants.

Axial Forms

The entire layout of the New Harvey House is ordered along a linear axis. Pathing and circulation follow a direction, with architectural forms similarly oriented along the vast horizon of the nearby Shallow Sea.

Simplicity and legibility of an ordered floor plan is often a pre-requisite for brutalist design, and that is certainly the case here with the linear forms. Additionally this ordering principle, contrasts the natural landscape and frames it in a means complimentary to Anthropic concepts.

The Shallow Sea & Calcinated Shelf

Entry at the front of the New Harvey House is oriented to take advantage of a inlet in the newly created Shallow Sea. Guests who wish to see this new natural wonder will be exposed to some of the best possible views from here.

Meanwhile, the rear end of the New Harvey House, follows a large cantilevered rock form shelf that was formed by hard water solidifying. Underneath the Calcinated Shelf, the hotel pool and spa are placed for a fantastical undersea grotto atmosphere.

The Ammonite Grill

Both fine-dining dinners and informal brunches are hosted at the Ammonite Grill. A restaurant named after the ammonite fossils found locally in the badlands, a sign that this place was once underwater beneath the Western Interior Seaway.

Guests dining here are treated to grand vistas of the new seaway, or if weather is unpleasant, indoor dining is available as well.

The Lobby

Check-in and lounge

Lounge & Nooks

Significant design work went into ensuring that the lobby is a place that feels inviting and comfortable. Grand displays of lodge like wonder are instead saved for the Organ Hall. Instead the lobby collects guests and gives them a place of rest and contemplation after their walk up from Platform 29. There are many spots to lounge here with additional nooks above the space for more privacy.

Stone Carved Atmosphere

Rather than fully grading the space here, some local rocks in the floor and fireplace were kept in place and carved around to incorporate nature into this interior space. Antiquities and trinkets found locally in the region are on display here as well, and the suspended light above tells the history of the land through silhouettes.

The Guest House

Your place of lodging

Vertically Split Elongated Wings

Guest rooms are placed down a long hall that follows the axial span of the Calcinated Shelf. Rooms are stacked vertically between two levels, and staircases loop up and around with outdoor decks in between.

This vertical orientation with shared outdoor decks creates a gradient of privacy. Guests enter into the hall going from a public to semi-private space. The outdoor decks further inform a sense of privacy, by softening the guest transition between their private rooms and the rest of the hotel.

Exterior/Interior Connection

Like the soft transition between public and private spaces, the guest house wing aims to blur the line between interior and exterior. The rooms are completely enclosed, so when guests exist their rooms into the larger guest wing, roof panels retract to bring in sunlight, and vast views of the horizon spanning Shallow Sea, are exposed by cuts in the walls.

The Organ Hall

Discover the Mysteries Hidden in the Architecture

Mysterious Architecture

Entry into the Organ Hall inspires wonder. The space is cavernous and overwhelming. Entrance from the lobby is located at the two topmost levels of the space, so that when users wander in they don’t see the floor but instead a large pit descending down into something mysterious.

This mystery won’t be spoiled here, watch the video for the full experience. But when the space unfolds, all the odd architectural forms and spatial arrangements will come to life.

Inverted Spatial Presence of a Cave

Ordering of forms and penetration of light mimics the vertically dropping nature of stalactites in a cave. Geometry cascades down from the top here, rather than cascading up from the ground. Inversion of the expected spatial presence of bottom heavy buildings at ground level.

Nooks, Coves, & Vantage Points

All throughout the Organ Hall are small little nooks and crevices. The ground has subfloor seating carved in, stair switchbacks have big rounded landings for small gatherings, the sides of the hall are flanked by viewing areas, and the rear of the hall features little fireplace nooks for reading and enjoying drinks.

The Organ Hall is truly a unique hall with show-stopping things to sea, don’t miss out.