Ateya Khorakiwala, “Shells and Silos: An Epistemic Accounting of Instability and Cracks”

e-flux Architecture presents “Shells and Silos: An Epistemic Accounting of Instability and Cracks,” a lecture by Ateya Khorakiwala at e-flux on Thursday, December 5 at 7pm.

In India in the 1960s and 1970s, civil engineers recommended and designed reinforced concrete thin shell warehouses to absorb the unpredictable excesses of grain production from the so-called Green Revolution. At the same time, agricultural economists recommended reinforced concrete silos as technologies to store food grains as a mode of famine protection to fortify the economy from unpredictable scarcities. As such, a kind of science of grain storage developed (largely around wheat, but also rice), and a “gray architecture” consisting of warehouses, godowns, and silos was called in to manage—to stabilize—the value of grain in its commodity form. This talk examines the architectural and infrastructural objects that embodied the different epistemic anxieties of engineers and economists. If civil engineers equated constructional expertise and efficiency with thin shell concrete structures to achieve their goals of food storage, then economists asserted that silos enabled grain to flow through the country. Infrastructure is often imagined as the thing that creates the conditions for the economy to flow; in contrast, in this talk, I’m concerned with infrastructure’s work in stabilizing value, particularly cement and concrete’s work in stabilizing the price of grain.

“Shells and Silos: An Epistemic Accounting of Instability and Cracks” is presented as part of e-flux Architecture Lectures, a monthly series inviting researchers and practitioners to discuss timely issues in contemporary architecture, theory, culture, and technology.

For more information, contact program [​at​] e-flux.com.

Accessibility
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program [​at​] e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator that leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the event space and this bathroom.