Mirrors in the Desert
Is renewable energy environmentally sustainable throughout the process of its production?
Mirrors in the Desert examines the environmental paradoxes of renewable energy infrastructure through the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California's Mojave Desert. While large-scale solar installations aim to reduce carbon emissions, their extensive reflective fields and supporting infrastructure also transform desert landscapes and ecological relationships.
The project investigates the conditions obscured by energy-efficiency metrics, including land occupation, ecological impact, and the microclimatic consequences of infrastructure. By reconsidering the relationship between energy production and the desert environment, it explores spatial strategies that recognize shade, microclimate, and habitat alongside technological performance.
Mirrors in the Desert questions whether sustainability can be measured through energy output alone, proposing a broader understanding of environmental responsibility grounded in spatial and ecological relationships.
QGIS mappings brought species distribution, mortality records, tower locations, and migration paths into the same field, while a narrated film reconstructed the landscape through nonhuman encounters.
This shift produced two linked strategies. The Mega Trap identifies how the existing solar field concentrates risk. The Micro Sanctuary reuses dormant heliostats to create shade, retain moisture, and support small habitats around the towers. By reorganizing existing infrastructure rather than replacing it, the intervention works through both perception and ecological repair.
Is renewable energy environmentally sustainable throughout the process of its production?
Mirrors in the Desert examines the environmental paradoxes of renewable energy infrastructure through the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California's Mojave Desert. While large-scale solar installations aim to reduce carbon emissions, their extensive reflective fields and supporting infrastructure also transform desert landscapes and ecological relationships.
The project investigates the conditions obscured by energy-efficiency metrics, including land occupation, ecological impact, and the microclimatic consequences of infrastructure. By reconsidering the relationship between energy production and the desert environment, it explores spatial strategies that recognize shade, microclimate, and habitat alongside technological performance.
Mirrors in the Desert questions whether sustainability can be measured through energy output alone, proposing a broader understanding of environmental responsibility grounded in spatial and ecological relationships.
QGIS mappings brought species distribution, mortality records, tower locations, and migration paths into the same field, while a narrated film reconstructed the landscape through nonhuman encounters.
This shift produced two linked strategies. The Mega Trap identifies how the existing solar field concentrates risk. The Micro Sanctuary reuses dormant heliostats to create shade, retain moisture, and support small habitats around the towers. By reorganizing existing infrastructure rather than replacing it, the intervention works through both perception and ecological repair.
Project overview
Project image sequence
Sunlight reflected by heliostat
