Water as Life

"Innovation does not consist in loading a building with technology and complicated systems but in developing simple, passive, yet sophisticated means that can be easily communicated to the people who use it and are intuitively operated." - Francesca Galeazzi, Arup Associates, London


Thesis Statement

The number of people who lack access to safe drinking water suffer and are killed needlessly from curable waterborne disease every day are daunting; nearly half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. Architecture has the potential to integrate crucial water collection and storage strategies to make a significant improvement in this growing global phenomenon.

Strategies

1.     Develop multifunctional building components and spaces with sensitivity to vernacular and cultural implications.

In a slum condition, it is essential that all building elements have multiple functions. Efficiency is absolutely crucial to the success of the building: efficiency of resources, of materials, of space, etc. For example, there are no separate spaces for sleeping, eating, washing, and leisure as in North America. It is instead more suitable to design spaces for living, resting, and washing that allow for flexibility of space and of use. It is also crucial that the tactics used are sensitive to both the vernacular and cultural traditions of the site.

2.     Integrate and enforce connectivity of resources.

It is necessary for architecture in impoverished informal urban settlements to be completely void of active systems, and to collect or provide adequate resources for a building’s occupants. Informal urban settlements lend themselves to interconnected networks and systems. These systems can range from the intangible to the tangible, from social capital, to natural resource management. It is critical for all members of a community to combine their efforts to ameliorate living conditions for the whole community.

3.     Maximize surfaces for water and vapour collection.

The collection of water is typically limited to horizontal surfaces. I propose utilizing both the horizontal and vertical surfaces of the building to maximize the collection of rainwater and fog. Fog harvesting is being most widely practiced in South America, though there is experimentation in South Africa. Through the use of meshes and textures surfaces, the potential volume of fog harvested per square meter of surface area in South Africa can surpass 50 litres per day in the winter.

Architectural Precedents

Druk White Lotus School - Arup Associates

This precedent project located in Ladakh, India makes use of "innovative, clever low-tech" design strategies in the design of this school. The school is located in a fragile ecosystem, so the site strategies implemented achieve a nearly zero-impact system for water, energy, and waste management. In addition, the buildings are designed to celebrate Ladakh culture while being simple to build and operate using local materials.The specific tactics I am taking from this precedent are the design and arrangement of the compost toilets. The compost toilet block is clad with metal and painted black causing it to heat up and fumes to rise, which keeps the toilets well ventilated.

Grotão Community Centre and Park - Urban Think Tank

This precedent project located in Sao Paolo, Brazil integrates water collection and retention strategies into the site design at every level. The project fundamentally expresses a belief in universal access to infrastructure, water, sanitation, lighting, and public space. Each building element has a dual purpose and the project acts as a beacon to the peripheral community.

Thesis Precedent

Rachel D. Pressick

Architecture & Legitimacy: Strategies for the Development of Urban Informal Settlements

2010

Pressick’s thesis posits that for those engaging in constructive acts within the informal settlement, any architectural intervention must be a result of the preservation of the integrity of the informal fabric; a strategy that legitimizes the settlement’s density and scale, ensures the urban poor’s stake in the city, and maintains the settlement’s underlying networks that are vital to the life of the settlement.

Pressick’s thesis is most useful in her analysis of urban informal settlements at a variety of scales and contexts. She looks at the causes of urbanization and the effects that globalization are having on these informal settlements. She also uses an interesting strategy of categorizing architectural precedents and applying them to her intervention as networks (communal sanitation), lines (mixed-use warehouse buildings), and points (programmed amenities). I appreciate her urban design perspective in tackling the issue of improving informal urban settlements. Though the thesis does not focus specifically on the collection and storage of rainwater, Pressick implements a variety of applicable strategies throughout her proposal, from communal sanitation blocks to storm water management. Her bibliography has also proven to be an invaluable basis for my research.