LIVING WITH WATER CED INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIO SPRING 2021 by CED 2021 Spring Interdisciplinary Studio

LIVING WITH WATER - SOUTH OF MARKET SAN FRANCISCO INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIO - SPRING 2021 RENEE Y. CHOW & TOMAS McKAY UC BERKELEY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

UC BERKELEY College of Environmental Design Bauer Wurster Hall Berkeley 94720

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG Faculty of Architecture Knowles Building Pok Fu Lam Rd, Lung Fu Shan Hong Kong INSTRUCTORS Renee Y. Chow & Tomas McKay ADVISORS Hadley Arnold & Kyle Pickett STUDENTS Chrisper Liu Dahan Xiong Emily Lynch Justin Yeung Mario Devora Mary Wan Peixuan Wu Qining Zhang Quan Li Weiji Huang Zeling Chen

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

LIVING WITH WATER

Introduction - Why Water? Studio Context - Why SOMA? Thinking with Water

1. NEW TOPOGRAPHY Urban Strategy Urban Watershed Podium Vertical Garden Complex Germinative Topography Upright Living Machine

10 14 18

30 30 42 50 62 72

2. THE WATER NET Urban Strategy Life in Armila Lack of Greenness The Valley A Growing Urban Water Parasite

3. URBAN WATER PELAGO Urban Strategy Acqua Alta Infiltrate Under the Bridge Urban Water Cell

80 80 88 98 104 110 118 118 122 128 138

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG AND UC BERKELEY

The challenges of climate change are part of our highly globalized and interconnected world. We can see similar effects all around the world, impacting numerous cultures with the same intensity. These challenges are especially noticeable in the shallow waters of bays, estuaries, and coastal areas. The Greater Bays Urban Resilience by Design initiative intends to bridge the Pearl River Delta and the San Francisco Bay to learn about the possibilities that design can provide for a more sustainable future. An unprecedent time with an uncertain future must open the way for new ways of thinking about design and adaptation. This initiative is a four-year multi-disciplinary project focused on comparative analysis and design collaboration between the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture and the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design.

These studios aim to improve the Pacific Rim urban resilience through urban policy, planning, and design to help these metropolitan regions adapt to climate change by becoming more energy-efficient and livable for residents. Water is at the center of these issues and will be used as the central tool for reframing design typologies and urban frameworks. The objective is to study, speculate, and offer prototypical strategies in areas of resilience planning and design that hold the potential to move the public discussion forward in both metropolitan regions. This book presents the body of work of the third Interdisciplinary Studio THE URBAN WATERSHED offered in Spring 2021 at UC Berkeley, led by Tomas McKay. The studio explored alternative building forms and public spaces part of larger systems that could address the

future of water in South of Market, San Francisco. This Interdisciplinary Studio was intended to be in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong, but the Covid-19 pandemic made travel infeasible and moved studio pedagogy to all remote. This forced us to develop a comprehensive online studio, with some loss in the collaborative character of a studio and its personal interactions and enrichment. We would like to specially thank HADLEY ARNOLD from the Arid Lands Institute, who helped us frame the problems and the theses that supported the students work. Her lectures and reviews were crucial to setting the direction of the studio. Our thanks as well to KYLE PYCKETT from The William J. Worthen Foundation, who helped us better understanding water and nutrients recycling in the build environment.

Acknowledgment

The research and design An anonymous private sponsor collaboration of the work presented in this book is made possible by the Our special thanks to Darrell generous support of: Chan and Ray Zee whose endless energies have honed the directions Lead Sponsor and potentials of this work. NAN FUNG GROUP Sponsor Contact: Ray Zee, Chief Designer and General Manager The faculty who led the 20-21 research initiative include: BLAKE’S Sponsor Contact: Darrin Woo Renee Y. Chow, UCB Tomas McKay, UCB CHUN WO CONSTRUCTION HOLDINGS COMPANY LTD Natalia Echeverri, HKU Sponsor Contacts: Derrick Pang, Gary Chou, Edward Yueng FARRON, AUGUSTINE & ALEXANDER LTD Sponsor Contact: Chris Lee THE LUK HOI TONG COMPANY Sponsor Contact: Darrell Chan

Spring 2021 UCB Students: Chrisper Liu Dahan Xiong Emily Lynch Justin Yeung Mario Devora Mary Wan Peixuan Wu Qining Zhang Quan Li Weiji Huang Zeling Chen

INTRODUCTION - WHY WATER?

STUDIO «Design, the art of putting constructs in an order, or disorder, seems to be human destiny. It seems to be the way into trouble and it may be the way out. It is the specific responsibility to which our species has matured, and constitutes the only chance of the thinking, foreseeing, and constructive animal, that we are, to preserve life on this shrunken planet and to survive with grace. »1

Ever since we first gathered as communities, humans have been drawn to be near water, both for water consumption and for transportation. When our settlements became dense, water quality became a crucial issue, and during the explosive population growth of the last two centuries, we have been forced to bring water from farther and farther away. Water infrastructure (for potable water and wastewater) along with car infrastructure, is probably one of the main modelers of contemporary cities. Today urban development struggles with the challenges brought by climate change, which requires

changes in our relationship with water. After decades of taking water supply and disposal for granted, we need to reassess water’s uses and threats in the near future of precipitation volatility, water scarcity and flooding. The underlying premise of this studio is that we need another revolution in water strategies, and the transformation will take place in both the private and the public realms of every city. This studio will explore new paradigms in integrating water systems with other urban systems, leading to transformed building typologies for mixed use. Water will be the primary lens, focused on increasing

water production in response to droughts, expanding water retention during storms, improving water quality, and increasing biodiversity. This will be the third year of sponsored multi-disciplinary research and design addressing the issues of urban resilience in cities that surround the Great Bay of the Pearl River Delta and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Living with Water

LOHA’s WATERshed Reimagines and Reactivates the LA River

THE PEDAGOGY

The first step in the semester is to understand where water is coming from and how water is moving through the city, throughout our own household to the city water infrastructure. Then we’ll engage in a series of design exercises to explore the many facets of water in a generative way. How can designers represent water movement, speed, and direction in both analytic and purposeful ways? This is followed by design exercises in water movement – flows, dissipation, and retention – at multiple environmental scales. Students are asked to begin their project by designing different types of water – potable, grey, black, storm, rain, and ground – as part of building and urban systems. These water design proposals are will be integrated with and transformed by the addition of other systems – access, dimensions, structures, foundations, facades, and materials.

To weave these systems together in a way that acknowledges the complexity of living with water, the studio will highlight the use of sections so that “nothing can simply be placed on the surface; the composition of the urban ground requires that structures inevitably extend deep into a complex mix of disturbed soil horizons, construction rubble, pipes, subways, utilities.” 2 In parallel to studio exercises, the design process is supported by guest lectures on water processes, recycling, and engineering. These lectures will help us form strategies for a new urban watershed, taking advantage of the possibilities of architecture and landscape architecture working together with water. These possibilities are explored through transforming the capacities of the plinth/podium system of San Francisco. New typologies address structural and material challenges,

in concert with precipitation volatility, in ways that extend the character of this area of San Francisco. The program includes housing, urban farming, light industry, public spaces, and other uses that emerge from site research with water as a guide and primary concern.

Living with Water

Aurthored By Zeling Chen, Qining Zhang, Crisper Liu, Mary Wan

STUDIO CONTEXT - WHY SOMA?

SITE AND PROGRAM

South of Market (SOMA) in San Francisco is a huge district, sprawling from the Embarcadero to Eleventh Street, between Market and Townsend. The neighborhood is a patchwork of warehouses, nightspots, residential hotels, art spaces, loft apartments, furniture showrooms and high-tech companies. Although a lot of building has taken place in recent years, it is still not densely developed. As such, the neighborhood is well positioned to accommodate needed employment, housing, and visitor facilities in the core of the city as wells as serving the greater Bay Area. It is also a neighborhood with a great history and a rich, ongoing, cultural heritage. As it grows and evolves over the next 25 years, SoMa can become a complete, sustainable, and vital neighborhood without losing what makes it special and unique today.

Due to the geological qualities of SoMa, infiltration is not the best solution for dealing with storm water. New regulations are in development for the area such as the Recycled Water Ordinance, which will affect any new building over 40,000 square feet. This makes SoMa a

good case study for understanding how new building organizations, landscapes and urban fabrics can contribute to a rethinking of ground uses and water.

Living with Water

Aurthored By Quan Li, Dahan Xiong, Crisper Liu

Aurthored By Peixuan Wu, Mary Wan

Living with Water

Aurthored By Peixuan Wu, Mary Wan

THINKING WITH WATER

INHABITING TODAY ARCHITECTURE IN THE ECOSYSTEM OR THE NEED FOR A SENSE OF TOTALITY

The discipline of architecture and its teaching is at a decisive and urgent moment. Health, social, and climate crises call for a paradigm shift in the design process. A challenge faces architects to broaden the scope of design, incorporating knowledge that previously was not at the forefront of the profession. Greater interdisciplinary effort is key so that our work is not confined to a distracted intellectual stronghold. It is also an opportunity for the discipline to open its field of activity and work possibilities, interacting more freely in the processes of city planning, the environment, and urban society.

forces of nature, intervening in or accelerating climatic, biophysical, and evolutionary processes on a planetary scale. The way human beings live together, which for millennia was the village, has become increasingly urban.

The challenge then is how to give back the hydraulic abilities of the non-urbanized water basin to the urbanized one. Otherwise, the effects of climate change and climate volatility will have an increasing impact. As biologist Janine Benyus tells us, "The conscious emulation Infrastructure has a connective of life's genius is a survival strategy role in a city´s life, but currently it for the human race, a path to a susdisconnects the web of the environ- tainable future. The more our world ment wherever it gets installed. Wa- functions like the natural world, the tercourses are intervened, ground more likely we are to endure on surfaces lose their infiltrating this home that is ours, but not ours capacities, ecological communities alone.” 4 are modified, and new species are introduced. Urban infrastructure Green infrastructure is about the has restricted and defined resourc- interconnected network of open es, which today are so affected spaces and natural areas (greenIt has been proposed that the by climate change and population ways, wetlands, parks, forest rehistory of the world since the growth that some of them (espeserves, and native vegetation) that industrial revolution has introduced cially those related to the urban naturally manage rainwater, reduce a new era for the Earth called The water cycle) are difficult to adapt the risk of flooding, capture carbon, 3 over time if they are underground and improve water quality. It is Anthropocene . Humans, through and depend on unsustainable mainconcerned with protecting, restormechanical, physical, and chemical tenance. ing, and imitating the hydrological processes on a large scale, have functions in the built environment. managed to interfere with the great

Living with Water

In cities and urban regions, this network can extend across the landscape and its architecture through elements such as rainwater accumulation, green roofs, tree plantings, permeable pavements and other drainage capabilities of urban landscapes.

When English botanist Arthur Roy Clapham coined the term “ecosystem” 90 years ago, Le Corbusier had recently published Towards a New Architecture. Here, Le Corbusier introduces what was to become his well-known idea of housing as "a machine for living in" where "baths, sun, hot-water, cold- water, warmth at will, conservation of food, hygiene …”5 are provided for a healthier and more complete life. When speaking of the machine, Le Corbusier referred to these operational qualities of the dwelling, from the function and rationality of the architectural order, but he did

Aurthored By Peixuan Wu

Aurthored By Quan Li, Peixuan Wu, Weiji Huang, Mario Devora

Living with Water

not define how that machine for living is provided with the necessary supplies. He partially takes it for granted that water and energy are connected to the house from the urban matrixes. That confidence in urban infrastructure, after several generations, ended up dissociating us from the environmental processes with which we previously had a direct link. Deep down, we continue to build in the same way we did 200 years ago. The materials and their techniques have been perfected and the way we use buildings has evolved, but the discoveries of ecological science have not really changed the way we design these buildings.

While some argue that we are just beginning the third phase of the Anthropocene (after the industrial era and the great post-World War II acceleration), in 2016 the Australian environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht introduced the term “Symbiocene.”

So where is architecture in the era of the Symbiocene? When the built environment can no longer be separated from the natural and living environment around it. In how the use defines the architecture , why do we not consider the inclusion of water and vegetation systems that increase biodiversity and combat Symbiosis is defined as the relation- the effects of climate change? ship between two types of beings, in which each provides the other Although urban planning is movwith the necessary conditions to ing in this direction and landscape continue its existence, which imarchitecture has already introduced plies coexisting for mutual benefit. these matters as part of the disci"As a central aspect of ecological pline, architecture is still in doubt thinking, symbiosis is based on with an urgent necessity of working the interconnection between life interdisciplinary. These challenges and living beings"7. Only recently can be summarized in three issues: has humanity not only understood scale methodology, systems-based By 1950 between 25 and 30% of the that we are part of a world we design processes, and the incorearth's surface had been "domesshare with other living beings and poration of water as a modeling ticated" and the transformation of therefore are actors connected to principle. the planet's hydrological cycles is the success of other species but evident in the enormous number of also - and what is more dramatic – dams built, especially in Europe and we depend on the success of those the United States6. other species.

Living with Water

Aurthored By Dahan Xiong, Emily Lynch, Justin Yeung

HYBRID ARCHITECTURE AND ITS SCALES

that their sizes require. Sizes that must be based on adaptive models in many cases, capable of changThe first step towards a hybrid ing over time depending on what architecture must be to understand periodical measurement systems its place in an interconnected seare telling. It is only logical that the quence or network. As proposed by local codes and land use planning Patrick Geddes, this relationship is of a community have clear goals of fundamental to fit the environmen- increasing biodiversity and eliminattal processes of larger scales - either ing flood risk that can be adapted of the local water basin or of the over time according to the goals entire world - with the possibilities achieved or new challenges. When that smaller scales can bring with it. the codes define what could be This effort must begin at the local build, they must incorporate what scale, not only in the acquisition life those buildings should sustain of materials but also in the underor even increase and what environstanding of ecosystems, the incormental challenges are involved in poration of endemic species, and building in a certain place. the tradition with which communities have historically dealt with the challenges that that specific place THE HYBRID AND THE SYSTEMS poses for them. For a successful relationship of This sense of wholeness must be scales, it is necessary to establish informed by an interdisciplinary the design process as a systems approach that allows the scales to process. Especially in architecture be addressed with the emphasis education, it is necessary to under-

stand the site as part of a greater interconnected system, not as something in isolation. The idea of a city today is related to an expanded grid, both physical and virtual, with effects that already disturb the entire biosphere. If we understand that the idea of a city's border does not exist and is rather an interdependence of continuities - between ecological corridors, riparian fringes, highways, water systems - then would be possible to not charge the street with all the infrastructure services that the city needs. In this sense, the interdependence of biotic and abiotic communities takes on a new depth and it is possible to understand the landscape (and the urban landscape as well) as the basis of an ordering and planning principle. A three-dimensional, changing, and interconnected land use criterion.

Living with Water

Architecture and the city are the pieces of an interdependent network, responsible for their part to achieve a balanced whole. The paradigm change in the conception of urban infrastructure is fundamental. "… ecological restructuring of urban infrastructure must include the management of water resources, waste cycling, energy generation, food production, and mass mobility. Paramount to both practice and pedagogy, infrastructure needs to be reintegrated and redefined as a sophisticated, instrumental landscape of essential resources, processes, and services that collectively underpins and upholds the ongoing, unfinished urbanization of the twenty-first century.”8 All construction must provide places for plants, shade, water infiltration and evaporation, and become part of the urban water circuit. Today architecture cannot remain disconnected from larger systems,

whether these are geographical, hy- mate change, present various ineffidrological, climatic, topographical, ciencies, such as their construction social, or environmental. and maintenance costs, and energy consumption. Yet centralized sysCentralized systems today, subject tems also present a unique opporto the stresses of growth and clitunity to develop a more efficient 25

Aurthored By Quan Li

and ecologically sustainable system in the urban water cycle.

delaying, and storing water flows should be within the vocabulary of architectural design. This is in line The urban systems of the future, with the modern vision of architecgreen, wet, flexible, and adaptable, ture as a discipline where the forms will be a result of good design, using are “in-formed” by the uses and strategies that incorporate connec- efforts required. A wall that receives tivity (corridors and continuities), loads is at the same time a fold and diversity (different solutions to the a division. It has a specific load and same problems), and redundancy a spatial load. Water must be a part (the duplication of infrastructure in of the construction project’s loads, complementary systems). 9 beyond the gutter and rainwater drainage. While the structural loads THE HYBRID AND THE WATER of the building remain the same, the environmental loads have There is no more urgent issue today changed, and one cannot wait for than water. It is the basis of the cli- codes to address the challenges. It mate and social crises. Today water is up to the architects themselves to shortages affect four out of every incorporate into the design process 10 people in the world10 and 90% their connection to global and local of all natural disasters are water-re- challenges. lated11. Practically no economic activity can be sustained without The pieces of the architectural water12. project must be challenged by The design of our built environment multi-purpose requirements. For must provide water with a sustain- some examples, foundations can able and living course. Directing, also be ponds, roofs can be gar-

dens, and sidewalks can be active filters. All the layers of a structure achieve an active role and a depth that creates and protects an interior but at the same time can nourish and enrich the exterior. Water storage, greywater recycling, and rainwater harvesting are examples of decentralized processes. These systems have been shown to improve water conservation, energy efficiency, safety, and adaptability to the local context13. This studio intends to bring to the class these urgent topics and to reframe the approach to the architectural discipline, incorporating a new language in the design process. Water availability, quality, supply and pass-through are the main drivers in this exploration. Design is the tool to draw things together and provide a sustainable and thriving future, for all of us who inhabit this world.

Living with Water

1 Neutra, R. J. (1969). SURVIVAL THROUGH DESIGN. Oxford University Press 2 Carlisle, S., & Pevzner, N. (2012). The performative ground: Rediscovering the deep section. From: http://scenariojournal. com/article/the-performative-ground. 3 Crutzen, P. J. (2006). The “anthropocene”. In Earth system science in the anthropocene (pp. 13-18). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 4 ED talk https://www.npr.org 5 Corbusier, L. (2013). Towards a new architecture. Courier Corporation.

6 Vörösmarty, C. J., & Sahagian, D. (2000). Anthropogenic disturbance of the terrestrial water cycle. Bioscience, 50(9), 753-765 7 Albrecht, G. A. (2016). Exiting the anthropocene and entering the symbiocene. Minding Nature, 9(2), 12-16. 8 Bélanger, P. (2016). Redefining infrastructure. In Landscape as Infrastructure (pp. 117-156). Routledge. 9 Leigh, N. G., & Lee, H. (2019). Sustainable and resilient urban water systems: The role of decentralization and planning. Sustainability, 11(3), 918.

10 World Health Organization / 10 Facts on Climate Change and Health / www. who.int 11 Wahlstrom, M., & Guha-Sapir, D. (2015). The human cost of weather-related disasters 1995–2015. Geneva, Switzerland: UNISDR 12 Haddadin, M. J. (2001). Water scarcity impacts and potential conflicts in the MENA region. Water international, 26(4), 460-470. 13 Leigh, N. G., & Lee, H. (2019). Sustainable and resilient urban water systems: The role of decentralization and planning. Sustainability, 11(3), 918

Living with Water

Aurthored By Zeling Chen, Qining Zhang, Crisper Liu, Mary Wan

WATER TOPOGRAPHY

Quan Li | Master of Architecture 2021 Peixuan Wu | Master of Landscape Architecture 2021 Mario Devora | Master of Architecture 2021 Weiji Huang | Master of Architecture 2021

Water Topography

ABSTRACT The centralized water treatment system housed in San Francisco describes a network of aging and deteriorating infrastructure, unprepared for a changing climate within the Bay Area. This infrastruc ture, coupled with an already dense area of development, begins to unravel the complications in maintaining a failing network system of water transportation.

The self-described “city under the City” showcases an antiquated approach to water treatment.

In areas where density is yet to be developed reveals another issue: a high probability of strain to the current water supply system. In our proposal, rather than patching this aging infrastructure with the same kinds of relations, we present a decentralized system, capable of It is estimated that over 60% providing local water treatment of sewer pipes are 80 years old solutions. By decentralizing the throughout San Francisco, garnering 1000+ miles of infrastructure, a higher chance of being overreliability and localized resilienwhelmed during heavy rains. This cy within a given neighborhood sewer system is not only an issue becomes viable. In order to equally currently, but something that will resolve the likelihood of a denser increasingly fail with projected and more populous city, specialized sea level rise all across the Bay. “podiums” are developed, each The sewage system describes only relating to the context of their one portion of the entire SF water neighborhood. Serving as an area treatment plan, with its grey water for water catchment, distribution, treatment becoming equally as and treatment, this allows an vulnerable with age and establishment of grey + black water within the seismically active zone. treatment locally, while maximizing

rainwater catchment and minimizing water runoff. Utilizing the framework established by Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), our group explores the ideas of designing in accordance with the urban and natural environments. We acknowledge the established functionality of the city and its intricacies, yet also prepare for incoming climatic changes and fluctuations in population densities. Coupled with the idea of a decentralized network, we attributed the functionality of a Sponge City to disparate neighborhoods, each giving its own scale in accordance with availability of land. The limitations brought by our individual sites gave rise to very distinct solutions, all with a base framework of a decentralized water infrastructure interconnected to provide resiliency through partnerships.

System Typologies

Water Topography

Exploded Axon

Water Topography

Sector 1 Sections

Sector 1 Collage

Water Topography

Sector 2 Sections

Sector 2 Collage

Sector 3 Sections

Water Topography

Sector 3 Collage

Sector 3 Sections

Water Topography

Sector 3 Collage

URBAN WATERSHED PODIUM Quan Li

The water supply in the SOMA area and even San Francisco is not robust, facing risk of disasters if the city’s municipal water system is disrupted (Texas gives us a lesson). The source of San Francisco’s water supply is singular, and the municipal water pipe facilities are aging and prone to damage from geological disasters. In addition, the more frequent extreme weather makes the SOMA area more susceptible to flooding due to the dominance of , impermeable surfaces. Data shows that the low-lying areas of the SOMA area are threatened by urban flooding. My project is consistent with the goals of the group from the macro-level: 1. Enhance the resilience of the region to water resources. 2. Committed to delay water and expand watershed in the soma to reduce floods.

Continuing the strategy of group work, we have proposed some new water-holding terrains in the city that are scattered in various blocks and form secondary water infrastructure which creates new water loop recycle water stormwater. Based on the characteristics of specific areas, the new system will provide different programs and water supply schemes.

sponge, helping to delay water flows from a higher to the lower part of the city. And, below the surface, new public service facilities bring people back into this once-decayed space, giving them a new lease of life.

The new podium catches water from various resources, including greywater from surrounding residential uses, stormwater from The project is located in a block that the surface of highway and roofs, needs to be redeveloped under and runoff from under the highway. the highway that passes through All this water is then treated in the the SOMA area. This block provides building and re-distributed to the space for water infrastructure and neighborhood. has the potential to develop some entertainment program for the The flow of water in the building whole area (due to the SOMA Plan). also shapes the building itself. The middle of the podium is lower, conI propose a building as a new urban ducting water flow in this low point topography in the backward area for treatment. Below this point, near the highway that will collect, there are some vertical filters, facilrecycle, process, and redistribitating water treatment and storage ute the water infrastructure. The in the building. scheme is like a water-containing

Water Topography

The building appears to grow from the ground. The north-south division of the highway is de-emphasized with the corridors now connecting the north and south areas through the inside of the building. The productive landscape on the roof brings has the potential to bring income to residents and also serves as a huge park. Under the roof is an aquatic center; it is a place for people to relax and experience water, using water to create a new social space and entertainment space. This plan is likely to be replicated. In the future, I envision that more ground can be built along this highway, continuing to affect the surrounding areas as an engine of the city’s dispersed water infrastructure.

Conceptual Collage

Big Proposal

Water Topography

Site Analysis

Form Finding

Exploded Axon

Water Topography

Roof Axon & Roof Plan

First Floos Plan Axon & First Floos Plan

Sections

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Perspectives

VERTICAL GARDEN COMPLEX Peixuan Wu

With my group’s overall approach of decentralized water treatment system in separate blocks, I propose to create a vertical garden complex to replace parking lots in southeast corner in SOMA. This building can use grey water to sustainably irrigate layered gardens and can also play a role as an urban sponge to reduce urban waterlogging. This area right now is facing two problems related to water. The first one is partial inundation. Due to its relatively low terrain, sparse vegetation, and large area of impermeable paving, several blocks are at great risk of waterlogging when it rains heavily. But like other land in San Francisco, SOMA’s liquefaction problem is very serious and cannot support large-scale deep underground hard facility projects. In other words, there is a strong demand The second issue is that seasonfor soft green facilities to effectively al rainfall varies widely. Because residents depend entirely on the slow water and absorb water. municipal water grid as their main

water resource, and also because plants in SF cannot be watered thoroughly only by rainfall for a whole year, irrigation of plants

Water Topography

can be extravagant and wasteful. I share some calculations and data collection to make my analysis more persuasive.

stormwater and rainwater together, there are separated greywater system and rainwater system. The rainwater runs through the gardens for purification and then So, my strategy is to collect grey the eye-catching columns channel water from functional service units water vertically to underground like kitchens and bathrooms that water tank. Another water path then undergo several purification runs through pipes, inside beams treatments to irrigate modular gar- under each floor to be conveyed to dens with urban farms as the main hydrobotanic regeneration ponds, water source during dry seasons. In raised gravel bed for purification this way, there is self-sufficiency of and finally to its own water tank. irrigation water sources throughout The last process is reuse of filtered the year that can be maintained water for irrigation through beams as well as an urban sponge effect under the roof and vertical conveycan be exerted during heavy rains. ance in the gap of two columns. When there is too much rain or gray Based on that the water treatment water, water can be to the municisystem is combined with the strucpal sewer system. tural system, creating unique spatial pattern for each process. My concept revolves around vertical gardens to develop a living complex There is a spatial hierarchy based with apartments, restaurants, urban on these two sets of parallel water farms, markets, ecological swimtreatment systems to reconstruct ming pool. Unlike San Francisco’s the structure of living space: old sewer system, which mixes 1/ Rainwater treatment + Common-

ing: Funnel-shaped load-bearing columns collect, transport rainwater, and support the soil for vertical greenery as commoning site. 2/ Graywater treatment + functional rooms (kitchen, bathroom, restrooms, canteen, laundry) 3/ remain + Flowing space: In between the above two kinds of space is the flowing public space, which can be used as meeting space, leisure space and traffic space. Through this design, I hope to develop the urban vertical garden in a sustainable, self-sufficient way. This design pattern can also be applied to other neighborhoods in SOMA. The first step is to make use of the open space or the aboveground parking lot within the block and turn it into a functional vertical garden to form a sponge inside the block. The existing building is then retrofitted with an acupuncture-style grey water treatment system and connected to a vertical

garden, and the roof is developed with a green roof.

My objective is to make people aware of the presence of clean and unpleasant dirty water with indirect benefits like enjoying greenspace, less water cost and less waterlogging.

Site Plan

Water Topography

Site Analysis & Strategy

System Diagram

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Axon

Water Topography

Sections

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Renderings

GERMINATIVE TOPOGRAPHY Mario Devora

San Francisco’s aging water infrastructure not only shows deterioration in functionality as described by San Francisco’s Water Authority, but also reveals an antiquated system for delivering water. Currently, this requires expensive maintenance and gives no accountability in water resilience to local users. Germinative Topography puts forth an architecture intended to incorporate ideals of communal and decentralized treatment systems. This new neighborhood-specific integrated system would be deployed through an elevated topography where a more accessible water infrastructure is housed. Borrowing from rhizomatic plant networks , the extent and location of this new Germinative Topography is determined by the site’s specific current water needs and uses. Allowing this system to grow from one neighborhood into another gives feasibility to resiliency during long periods of infrastructural interruptions, while

By elevating the structure, a more

having the ability to remain independent when optimal. Germinative Infrastructure is a proposal seeking a more cohesive understanding of local water use through self treatment and larger redundancy structures.

accessible water infrastructure becomes apparent to the public, while eliminating costs related to demolition of roads + structures. As water is brought into the social realm, elevated public responsibility and interaction with water consumed is highlighted. Rather than submerging an integral part of urban

Water Topography

infrastructure, a platform is given, and new socially interactive spaces are carved out below. Relieving the ground level of concrete pipes, a localized sponge city mitigates the effects of heavy rainfall, all the while the platform above slows the flow of water, Wallowing more efficient capture. Layers are integrated into this platform approach, with the topography allowing the slow down of runoff water, filtering through sponge surfaces, and distribution through the interior of the structure housed at mid level of the current site. The wooden laced structure allows maintenance space for the water infrastructure, uncoupling from the idea of continual digging in maintenance. Once the ground surface is relieved of this, a third layer is freed to absorb left over rain or runoff water to be taken into the ground more readily. This ground surface becomes part of the public

tion. This integrated network visibly

Site Location

realm once again, activating the neighborhood through bio-swales and walking paths. Germinative Infrastructure proposes a new thinking regarding our interactions with water, reevaluating the archaic means of its transporta-

shares foundations while giving space for social interaction, putting forth a more resilient and sustainable framework.

Water Strategy

Water Topography

Structural Layout

Water Topography

Historic Retrofit

New Construction Minimal System Integration

Water Topography

Integrated Roof Assembly + Bio-swales 69

Double Skin Facade Filtration

Storage & Fog Catchment

Water Topography

UPRIGHT LIVING MACHINE Weiji Huang

Hotels are important economically to the city of San Francisco. Hotels are tied to tourism, which is one of the city’s largest private-sector industries. Hotels are also huge drivers for jobs, including hotel services, restaurants and public transit. Hotel taxes generate revenues for cities, which in turn, local governments can then invest in schools, to address homelessness and other public amenities. However, hotels are wasteful about water, and water waste is energy intensive. The site I explored sits at the north edge of SOMA, already containing three high-rise luxury hotels and apartments, with a total of more than 2,000 rooms. These three high-rises consume a total 350,000 gallons of water per day with an average of 200 gallons

per day for each room at an 80% occupancy rate. In terms of energy, the existing water paths consume require a mean of 2,300 kilowatt-hour per million gallons. This intensive energy requirement for water is threatening our environment. Overall, drinking water and wastewater systems account for approximately 2 percent of energy use in the United States, adding over 45 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.

back to the neighborhood. Three multifamily housing towers are proposed along with the new water system, densifying this area and providing a more stable water source for the neighborhood. Thus, I proposed a vertical version of living machine, which is also where the project name UPRIGHT LIVING MACHINE came from.

If hotels are important to cities, we need them to have less water waste, less energy consumption, while also benefiting our communities.

In this system, the waste water from the nearby buildings was conveyed to the septic tank on the ground level, and plumb to the top of the column, where the water was treated and distributed to each smaller water tank after treatment.

My proposal is to have an on-site water treatment and distribution facility on the current Yerba Buena Garden, where it collects wastewater from the nearby high-rises, treats it on-site, and distributes it

This vertical machine can also act as a main support to other programs, so the housing units and open greenhouses can grow around those columns. The spatial diagram in the bottom left corner shows

Water Topography

the aggregation of housing units in dark color, and the white space in between is open space for communal use and green houses.

buildings and multifamily housing projects.

Speculation We are having 34,000 hotel rooms Transforming the architectural form in San Francisco. If captured and of the city provide a new paradigm treated water for every hotel here, that make water systems visible in we can imagine how many more urban architecture. families will be sustained. And what if we did that in cities like Beijing? The current water system still plays Soul? Or Tokyo? a secondary role in a building, as an architectural element like green roof or a green façade. Or, water systems are too large to fit with other programs, like current treatment plants, which are far from our vision. This current approach renders the water system invisible and irrelevant to our daily lives. As the water supply becomes more and more demanding, positioning a de-centralized water system as a driver or main role in building might be a future course in urban architectural design, especially for intensive water-consuming public

Program

Water Topography

Sections & Sectional Diagram

Water Topography

Exploded Axon

Water Topography

Rendering & Model

THE WATER NET

Zeling Chen | Master of Architecture 2021 Qining Zhang | Master of Architecture 2021 Crisper Liu | Master of Architecture 2021 Mary Wan | Master of Architecture 2021 ABSTRACT Current Problems The urban water system of San Francisco is not resilient. In winter, it is challenged by storm flooding. According to the Storm Flood Risk Map produced by SFPUC, parts of SF and also SOMA are expected to have at least 6-inches deep flooding when facing a 100year storm.

In summer, it is challenged by deepening drought. 85% of water usage in SF depends on Hetch Hetchy watershed, thousands miles away from SF. California is facing continuously deepening drought in this decade, and the State Water Board is asking for reduction of water usage in cities, including SF. The Bay area is not threatened by water when necessary.

Master Plan

Intention The project proposes a set of water infrastructures, localizing water,

The Water Net

and bringing more diversity and resilience to the urban watershed by collecting, storing and using storm water. Elements Hierarchy 81

First, space under the highway is transformed into a constructed wetland for slowing water. It is a place to hold excessive storm water, provides water to surrounding area in dry season, and also serves as a park for people to play with water. Through analyzing the slope of streets, water towers are placed nities. Bridges also serve as linear at the low points of each block to effectively catch street runoff, then parks, providing new ways to expetreating and storing the stormwater. rience the community. Next, some primary bridges move water between water towers and constructed wetlands. To keep sufficient water supply in different blocks, secondary bridges move and distribute water into the commu-

Bridges extend into podiums, becoming a new topography, supporting water related programs, and providing open spaces for community.

The urban strategy is a methodology. Instead of designing the city directly, this is a proposal for a set of elements following a set of rules. The city is metabolic all the time, as is this water infrastructure. It is open to grow both inside (generating more connections) and outside (expanding to new blocks) in the future.

Conceptual Axon

The Water Net

Formation

Water Sequence Diagram

Optimized Section

Sections

The Water Net

Sections

Section Perspective

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Longitude Section

Collages

LIFE IN ARMILLA Zeling Chen

Armilla has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically and spread out horizontally, end in taps, showers, spouts, overflows. ……Nymphs and naiads live in water found it easy to enter into the new aquatic realm, to burst from multiple fountains, to find new mirrors, new games, new ways of enjoying the water. ——— Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino The project is an architectural scale development of an urban strategy. It expands the water portfolio, using storm water and gray water instead of depending on single water resource. Formally, the project uses water as the structure, not only shaping water, but also flows of air, light, circulation, publicity, privacy and etc.

ing of programs that include an elementary school, a market at the ground level, housing units and offices on upper level and kinds of public spaces scattered.

The project is located north of the constructed wetland proposed in the urban design project, consist-

In the history of cities and buildings, water infrastructure is always hidden from sight, eliminating the

opportunities of raising awareness of how to manage water more efficiently. In the project, by designing the water sequence first, the form and space follow accordingly. The water system starts with the same form of urban water infrastructure, grows from simple water pipes into set of heavy structures to hold loads

The Water Net

of water. It opens at roof top becoming rain gardens, rotates at bottom for space continuity, expands at middle as open water storages and public spaces. Referring to WSUD (water-sensitive urban design), the project is less dependent on municipal pipe lines. Storm water and gray water are reused to increase the water resilience of the project. Since climate in SF varies a lot from season to season, the project works seasonally. In winter, storm water is caught and treated by roof gardens, stored within open water storages, and when necessary these waters will be further treated and reused by residences and offices. In summer, SF has almost no precipitation, so gray water would be used instead to irrigate roof gardens or treated underground for reusage. Thus, there would be no water appearing in open water storages in summer.

The heavy structure is the critical element in both plan and section. It not only holds water, it also holds the circulation, spaces left between them are for programs. Pieces on lower level, in the long direction, hold public circulation and define spaces for market and school. Pieces on upper level, in the short direction, hold private circulation, housing units and offices. The slabs holding these pieces are open water storage and public spaces. The water levels in open water storages vary within in the year. In winter, with a large amount of storm water, water becomes entertainment, with all open water storage full of water, passing from slabs to slabs as waterfall, being the background of daily lives. In winter, with almost no precipitation, water becomes something more practical, when open water storage goes empty, some of them can hold activities such as outdoor theatre.

People are able to feel the scarcity or abundance of water changing over time. In this sense, the school program becomes symbolic, and the project makes the knowledge of water more educable. In this project, water is tightly related to structure, implying a hierarchy of material to distinguish components holding water or not. The parts holding water are built in concrete, brutal in its size and finish, in contrast to those elegant wood components not holding water.

Existing Water Infrastructure

Proposed Water Infrastructure

Formation

The Water Net

SF Climate Diagram

Water Sequence

Exploded Axon

The Water Net

Section Perspective

The Water Net

Section Axon

Ground Floor Plan & Section

The Water Net

Detail

LACK OF GREENNESS Qining Zhang

In the SOMA area of San Francisco, the vegetation coverage rate is less than 10%, and most of the ground is paved. As a result, winter rainwater falls and directly flows as surface runoff. Rapid water scours and scrapes the land, resulting in waste of water resources and soil erosion. At the same time, the lack of green landscape also worsens the living environment of residents. During the summer months, capturing water from San Francisco’s frequent fog could provide additional water efficiency. Together, the water collected by winter rainfall and summer condensation is purified and filtered for use in local hydroponic vegetable factories. Through a combination of tourism and vertical agriculture, the project er storage facilities. The scheme will add new green infrastructure uses the flowing roof to plant flowand jobs to the city. ers, forming a continuous artificial landscape and improving the local The original functions on the site living environment. The three-diare mainly flower market and flow- mensional agriculture where visitors

Site Analysis

can pick their own can be carried out on the ground. There are also cafes and restaurants that serve the community. The sunken plaza at the bottom serves as an area for public events and exhibitions.

The Water Net

SF Climate Diagram

System

Section Axon

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Perspective

Renderings

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Sections

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Ground Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

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Third Floor Plan 103

Section

THE VALLEY Crisper Liu

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Within my group’s overall approach of an extendable water network system that helps decentralize the water supply in the SOMA district, I propose a renovation of the area along the highway under which the wetland park and reservoir is located. Mimicking the natural landscape, the project Valley mainly focuses on the process of catching, cleaning and restoring the water. As mentioned in our group proposal, according to the State Water Board, the water usage in SF highly depends on the distant Hetch Hetchy watershed and the water supply will be partially inaccessible to the residents if necessary during droughts. The California Department of Water Resources also warned this year that the state’s largest 154 reservoirs are at 50% of overall capacity which is considerably low. It puts districts that are far from water resources at risk. As we can see in the map, there is no

Rendering

local reservoir in SOMA that could be a water resource to the neighborhood, so I find it important to develop one in the proposal. Given the Storm Flood Risk Map by San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the area is also under threat of inundation caused by sea level rise and storm surge. Meanwhile the local population is relatively dense in

San Francisco which makes the local community very vulnerable to water shortage or overflow of water. The project elevates the living space to avoid being damaged by the flood and provides an infrastructure that can both mediate the flooding and store excess water for use in drought seasons.

The Water Net

The area is also short of permeable surfaces which will cause the gradual pollution of underground soil if not cleaned. Thus, the roof garden for urban farming and the wetland park will play an important role in water cleaning after they are collected from the top and the surrounding of the building. Additionally, according to the local community, the SOMA district has a history of diverse cultures, but not enough open public space with vegetation for social activities. So the project seeks to provide a platform and playground for the local residents to communicate and celebrate the rich cultural atmosphere.

with the streets. To slow the waterflow from draining out too fast and to clean the water, the project extends the landscape from the top of the two buildings on both sides of the block to the wetland down below with a zigzag shape. The ramps where local residents can do urban farming are made long enough for the vegetation to filter the water. The project also tries to address the lack of public recreational space in the neighborhood by opening up the ground floor that connects the street and the wetland to accommodate various social activities. Considering that future sea level rise and storm surges might eventually cause the inundaAimed at reactivating the area tion of the area, the ground level where the oppressive highway and the housing units are elevated, crosses over, the project introduces creating another layer of landscape a new topography that enlarges the underneath the building. A market space under the highway for the space that uses locally harvested wetland park and a new building ty- vegetables is located at the bottom pology that blends in the landscape offering a space for people to share of the wetland but also connects the self-produced food.

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The project could be considered as a prototype that can be replicated along the wetland beneath the highway, so the valley in the city extends and becomes a place for people to gather and celebrate the water and vegetation.

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Perspective Section

The Water Net

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Roof Plan

Exploded Axon

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Plans

The Water Net

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Renderings

A GROWING URBAN WATER PARASITE Mary Wan

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This project serves to bridge the existing separated, wasted, and underdeveloped urban spaces through a growing water infrastructure within The Water Net. With multiple low income housing units, community gardens, and water recreational spaces ( e.g. public baths, constructed wetland parks etc.) built in the system, this project creates a new landscape to facilitate water commoning within the SOMA neighborhood, ensuring a stable and affordable clean water access to underprivileged families in the area.

egy that can be replicated throughout SOMA and make better use of wasted/underdeveloped places on site.

distribute clean water to and from the Water Towers, while also acting as support for stairs that enable circulation across each of the block that contains different programs. In this new landscape, water proThey also serve to hold and water cesses are translated into a new ty- hanging plantations, through the pology of architecture, interpreted reuse of grey water produced by by a hierarchy of structural elethe housing units. The thinnest layments - from heavy to light. Beer is series of fog collectors that are ginning with massive volumes, mounted on the thinner columns, thickened 5’ slabs are placed on the first to serve as water catchment roof of each block to contain soil specifically during the winter and for rainwater catchment, while months but also a shading device 5’ by 5’ water columns are placed to the housing units. Last but not for structural support and also least, the whole system is blocked water storage. The ground level of out by three activated ground plane In addition to the existing system each housing block is also thickened as constructed wetlands for on-site of elements in The Water Net to contain a semi-underground wa- water filtration. Last but not least, (e.g. Water Tower, Bridges, Added ter cistern that is accessible to the the bridge itself is sectioned into Volumes on Podiums), this project community. 20’ by 20’ elevated wa- three levels, with the top level servseeks to add another dimension in ter storage tanks are also plugged ing as an ecological corridor that rebridging the larger mega-structure into the system for additional routes people into the project and into local neighborhoods. Primarily water storage. The second layer of into experiencing the infrastructural focusing on the expansion of the thickness in the system is defined processes of water. bridge volume into urban interstitial by a frame of thinner columns that spaces, this project creates a strat- contain water conveyance pipes to

The Water Net

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Perspective

Hence, the result is a new meandering sequence circulating between ` the “heavy” and the “light” - a dark and tranquil experience in the public baths and underground cistern to engage with the different senses of water, as well as a bright and lively stroll amongst the greens and vegetation. Axon

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Roof, Rendered Plan

South Elevation

The Water Net

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Water-process inspired Structural System - Heavy to Light, Exploded Axon

Ground Floor Plan 114

Second Floor Plan

The Water Net

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Sections

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Renderings

The Water Net

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Renderings

URBAN WATER-PELAGO

Emily Lynch | Master of Architecture 2021 Dahan Xiong | Master of Architecture 2021 Justin Yeung | Master of Architecture 2021 ABSTRACT Group form // Solid + Void Group form is a way of organizing solid and void that puts both at equal footing. The solid contains volumetric programs like living, working, and the collection and storage of water. The gaps suggest the conveyance and usage of water as elevated walkways with gardens, doubling as transport for humans as well.

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Commoning - a system of Clusters

Site Plan

We imagine a de-centralized network of “commoning” that occurs at the neighborhood block scale. Smaller groups have local controls that are unique to their micro-culture. This also reduces the infrastructure that would be required to transport water across large distances in the city. Finally, redundancy and de-centralization reduces the risk of system-wide failure. This system of commoning would oper-

Urban Water-pelago

ate at both the single-building scale (collection) to the larger group scale for operations like treatment that require expensive machinery. The City of Open-Air Living The city of flexible living is a new paradigm of urban life. It grows out of the pandemic conditions in which the importance of resilience and flexibility became ever more clear. Interiors were overly crowded and lacked access to the outdoors. Street levels prioritized vehicles and left pedestrians without space to safely walk through the city with a healthy radius of social distancing. In-person socializing, work, and education had to be halted due to a lack of infrastructure that supported open-air interaction and prescribed distances between individuals. Our proposal considers not only how to develop an independent urban water system but also to simultaneously support a healthier

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Perspective

Axon

& more flexible city with increased access to green space and open air at individual, neighborhood, and community scales.

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The city of San Francisco is fortunate to reside in one of the most comfortable climates on the planet, so it is also quite easy to imagine how increasing open air space will have a clear benefit to quality of life in general. These new structures can provide the city with space for urban agriculture, decentralized markets, public parks and walkways, as well as education pavilions.

and structural logic of the design. Rainwater can be used on-site prior to treatment for toilet flushing, urban agriculture & gardening, & air conditioning. When speaking in terms of group form - these take the role of solid units. Horizontal Intervention // Void To convey excess rain water to neighborhood-shared treatment mechanisms to purify for potable water, we must also employ a horizontal system that will operate at three scales: the individual resi-

dence, the neighborhood block, and the community level. This system of elevated pathways provides new surfaces for urban agriculture and gardening to take place at individual residences and at the block scale. These pathways convey and filter water through interaction with plant species before terminating at central loci of green parks that act as a larger social gathering place, including a market and other open-air programs.

Vertical Intervention // Solid The intervention will include two tactics: retrofitting already existing, low density buildings and the creation of new structures at presently empty lots. Both of these tactics will be centered around the collection and filtration of rainwater, a service that will inform the formal

Axon

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Axon

ACQUA ALTA Emily Lynch

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Context Adapting to Rising Tides, a project commissioned by the San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission, estimates that areas of SOMA, San Francisco will experience flooding as high as five and a half feet by the year 2100 when considering sea level rise coupled with periodic storm surges. This risk of flooding can be partially explained by the extensive landfill that has dramatically altered the shore area and historic wetlands of the peninsula. Wetlands provide natural filtration of the watershed before it enters the Bay waters as well as acts as an absorbent buffer to changing tidal levels. They also are home to table. Additionally, the site is the one of the most biologically diverse current location of the SOMA flower and densely populated ecosystems. market, an economic institution that was founded by Japanese The site for this project sits at the immigrants around 1900. Unfortuedge of where the former wetlands nately, the current complex built met the shore area, and experienc- in 1950 is a series of single-story es risk for both flooding and high buildings and parking areas that levels of contamination in the water alienates pedestrians at the street

level, and the market has been slated for demolition to construct a new commercial development. Proposal: This project proposes a landscape dedicated to the filtration of water through a constructed wetland with occupied programs raised sixty six

Urban Water-pelago

inches above the current elevation in relation to expected flood levels by 2100. The buildings that occupy the site will capture and slow rainwater through angled surfaces at the roof level and distribute it throughout the building to housing units, open office spaces, and the ground level SOMA flower market. For levels 2-5, the “wet” programs of the housing units such as the kitchen and bathrooms are located adjacent to the pinwheel structural core that distributes collected rainwater for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and gardening. Gray water will also be collected within this system to be conveyed to primary filtration before being released to the constructed wetland for secondary filtration and later onsite reuse.

building. Public circulation occurs at two levels, the outer perimeter in relation to the market as well as an inner circulation that is punctuated by large plazas that run along the constructed wetland. A series of open-air pavilions utilize this second-level platform as a roof to cover areas of public bathing and changing rooms that further animate the public dimension of the ground level and contribute another layer of how visitors can interact with water through the act of immersion.

production of flowers to contribute to the ground-level market. This can Primary filtration tanks for the gray also benefit from the filtration and and rain water as well as its storage reuse of water within the site rather are readily visible throughout the than consuming large quantities of circulation, where visitors are edu- potable water from the city system. cated about water catchment and Finally, it suggests opportunity for reuse merely through its ubiquitous integration within my group’s larger presence. framework of elevated walkways that serve the dual purpose of cirThe ground level of the project The second-level elevated platform culating water across neighborhood includes the SOMA flower market will provide additional surface area blocks. along the outside perimeter of each above the ground level for the

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124 Forth Floor Plan

Formation

Urban Water-pelago

125 Ground Floor Plan

Longitude Section

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Axon

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Renderings

INFILTRATE UNDER THE BRIDGE Dahan Xiong

ased on the consideration of the two dynamic spaces of water treatment (capture, convey, storage) and human activities (residential, market, green space), l proposed the concept of urban canopy. 128

For water, there is an added layer of roof form between the space under the bridge and the ground to capture rainwater which slows the speed of water reaching the ground, and uses gutters to guide the construction and distribution of the canopies. The gutter is combined with the structural column to convey water, allowing the water to irrigate or to be stored underground for green plants (greening roof or ground landscape). On the ground are placed the “Bad weather pools” for the water storage and management in heavy precipitation seasons. They are also skate bowls or playgrounds when the amount of water is low, but with the tunnels on the ground

they could accumulate the water delivered from the roofs and sent the water to the underground water tanks or to irrigate the landscape nearby. For people, the system is like a suspended ceiling for the ground space, using the green plants on the roof as a buffer for air pollution and noise caused by the highway. Different spatial forms and structural placements are used to create a richer urban public space to improve the density and spatial quality of the district. Also for different usage of the roofs, the structures are designed into three types and thickness: a. metal panels are only for water catchment; b. precast concrete slabs and soil surface to carry the plants growing; c. wood and steel platforms for residents to get on and also provide a pavilion. For future development, this is a space typology that can be

Urban Water-pelago

replicated and put into use as a product, which we can work in architectural or urban scale. It is a special, landscape and architectural product not only for this specific under-bridge spaces, but also for other places to deal with water issues like flooding, catchment for drought areas and water recycling for different city. It raises people’s public awareness of water issues while improving the quality of public spaces as well.

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Residence Typology

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Site Analyse + Conceptual Diagram

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Section Diagram

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Roof Plan

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Exploded Axon

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Typology Iteration

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Ground Plan

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Details

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Details

URBAN WATER-CELL Justin Yeung

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SOMA is completely reliant on the city’s water network and does not make use of any local rainwater. This makes SOMA prone to problems if there are failures in the urban water system and contributes partly to the flooding in the area. Moreover, the site also suffers from the lack of public space given the wide range of occupants.

through and get treated immediately. Treated water is then stored at the bottom of the module. The middle part of the module is where most human activities will take place, hence where water is consumed. Eventually the consumed water will pass through the treatment plant of the module below.

When several modules are stacked (M), the water flows downward within the modules andthe water recycling process is repeated. It treats both rainwater and greywater and forms a decentralized water loop. The modules are iterated into generally give types, housing, vertical farming, office, green roof, and ground unit. Programmatically the housing, vertical farming, and office In each module (S), there is the pro- units have different ways of aggrecess of water treatment, consump- gating and can be further combined tion, and storage. The upper part together. They are then sandwiched of the module is a treatment plant, by the green roof and ground units. where the received water will pass The intention of the project aims to slow water by introducing an architectural prototype that is composed of modules that are each a water recycling process. The use of the module is inherited from the groupform logic from the group proposal, meaning the entire network is performing different functions at different scales.

Urban Water-pelago

As a whole (L), the architecture forms an artificial topography sloping down towards the two entrances, and with the ground forming another smaller topography as a public plaza. The topography on the ground is partly sunken as a water-absorbent public space, which can be used normally as a public space but also a reservoir during flooding. The large vacant areas adjacent to the architecture are transformed into grass paving with the carpark placed underground to reserve another area to help collect water run-off and perform water-filtering.

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Site Situation

Generally, the project recognizes water as a global issue. Therefore, the ambition of adopting a modular and prototypical design is that it can be adopted in not just SOMA but also many places in the world that are facing similar threats. Unit Model

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Exploded Axon

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Roof Plan

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High Level Plan

Low Level Plan

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Detail

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System

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Section

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Renderings

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Model

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