Desert Space Competition The objective of the competition is to generate design concept proposals that engage the challenge of creating an effective universal warning sign/permanent marker for the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mt., Nevada. The purpose of the warning sign/marker is to deter intentional or inadvertent human intrusion or interference at the site and to effectively communicate over the course of the next 10,000 years (the projected duration of the volatility of the waste) that the integrity of the site must not be compromised in any way in order to prevent the release of the radiation contained within. Proposal The main idea behind the proposal is to concentrate on two distinct features of the Yucca Mountain area: 1. extreme sunlight, heat 2. possibility of earthquakes The aim is to turn the features imposed by nature into basic principles of the warning sign. At the same time these features can be also seen as criticism pointing to the use of Yucca Mt. as a nuclear waste deposit (e.g. using an area with a high risk of earthquakes as deposit for dangerous substances). site specific interventions: 1. Use of extreme heat (even hotter than the normal temperature) to define an area precisely (see picture above). 2. Use of sound/vibration to create an unpleasant feeling when entering the area (e.g. low frequency waves - near the body's eigenfrequency - approx. 7,8 to 10 Hz) - see picture below Realization: the complete area is to be covered by reflectors so that sunlight is being reflected and temperature increases. Low frequency sounds resp. vibrations can be generated on the site by a system which we know as "thumper" from the movie picture "Dune" (see picture below). The magnitude of the artificial earthquakes is 4.1 "like in a film": The concept takes movie props as elements for the warning sign. Thus it's imaginary realization is free from physical limatations (e.g. everybody knows that the thumpers worked in the movie picture "Dune" without explaining details like energy supply, etc...). The reflectors are often used in filmproductions to increase light. References to the world of movie-pictures also raise the question of how real the nuclear waste deposit project is for the people involved (is it real or only a movie?) Furthermore the tangible aspects of warmth/heat and sound/vibration are universal and detached from any linguistic/visual concept. fwinkler UCLA