Manhattan Project
National Historical Park

Objectives: This studio, inspired by the work of previous studios, set out to leverage the intellectual and creative capital the ACRG had built-up to accomplish nothing less than establish the PGDP as part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Citing the ‘Four-E’s’ (Economy, Environment, Energy and Education) articulated in the Spring 2011 studio, and the economic uplift that a National Park brings to its region, the studio sought to make the case that inclusion in the park would be a perfect solution to Paducah’s predicament now that the plant had closed.

Outcomes: In consideration of the studio brief, students were struck by the idea that without remediation, the rate of decay of some nuclear waste could take as long as ten  millennia before the materials would be entirely safe. They were also particularly influenced by writing from The Long Now Foundation, established by Stewart Brand and Danny Hill in 1996, to encourage new kinds of longer-term thinking. They say to provide an alternative to today’s ‘faster/ cheaper mindset and to promote slower/better thinking.’ While students were decidedly in favor of the idea of Paducah’s inclusion into the National Historical Park, they were more motivated by questions introduced in previous studios, in particular, what it is to design at the speed of nature.

To explore this idea, the studio produced a two-minute stop-motion feature entitled Distant-Present. The stop-motion illustrates a span of ten thousand years, from well before the plant was conceived, through many eras of occupation, including a long stint as National Historical Park. The animation, including a musical score composed by the students, incorporates ideas present in every Atomic Cities studio, including longterm strategy from the first studio’s timelines, to the site becoming a regional transportation hub, and center of remediation technology, before ultimately returning to the region’s characteristic rolling meadows.