Fluctuating Markets is an early experiment in autonmous architecture. At first glance the market appears as a extensible tent structure which covers an active landfill site throughout its entire life cycle. Fluctuating Markets is also a systems for extracting valuable bio-gas from the landfill. These Bio-gases are the by product of decomposing organic matter under anaerobic breakdown. The gas is collected through a network of inflatable columns covering the gas-exhaust ducts. The amount of collected gas and its commodity value held within in the networked structure are constantly monitored and calculated according to the world energy market and projected ambiently on the roof membrane.

Through a process of constant self-contemplation the market is able to become self sustained and financed. Dynamic data drives the structure through the price of gas and its current availability. If the price of its gas is less valuable its network is able to hold back and creates an artificial scarcity much like the the cannier Green Capitalists of PG and E scandal as a means to increase returns. An internal AI (Artificial Intelligence) is able to dispatch gas when its columns are ready to sell.

This project was an intensively driven through an indeterminate design process. I began with of study of 'flow' the process of creation in itself. This was a particularly a challenge to architecture because of the resistance to measurement and time dependency.

As a medium to visualize and study 'flow' I created a hypothetical bakery on the roof of our apartment. Carlos Rodriguez, a partner in the initial phase of the project and I began by covertly pouring batter down the incline of the roof; baking a loaf and capturing the process through a photographic study.

Two sets of photos where taken through out the baking process, one to watch a this viscous mixture cascade down the roof then a second set capture the baking process at longer intervals. Aerial reconnaissance photos where taken at two different intervals and analyzed to construct a three dimensional model over a period of 4 hours to create an analysis of the undertaken transformations of the flow.

Images where analyzed using a height field extraction techniques, where large coagulations are shown in the the greater intensities luminance. This data was used to generate a kinetic model describing the release of energy as time elapsed. I found that the thickest bread occurred where shingle tabs had overlapped, trapping in heat in layers of asphalt roofing. As an architectural element the model was placed on a landfill site because the release of energy parallels our roof, where energy is stored in layers.