Waste Water Works WASTE WATER WORKS
Finbar Charleson BA(Hons) Architecture
Water Flood Risk Areas The Stockport Borough links Manchester with the Pennines, and a result, it is subject to a number of complex Urban and Rural conditions. This thesis is concerned with water security in the borough and beyond. Analysis of cycles and networks have given rise to points of stress, compounded by changes in climate.
Water Polution Levels
Program Waste Water Treatment is supported by peripheral, outward facing programs. Laboratories analyse the waste as well as explore the posibilities of water treatment. Offices ensure the day to day running of the plant and the bodies wider activities, whilst the canteen, auditorium and botanical gardens work to include the community in the processes.
WASTE WATER WORKS
RESEARCH
LABORATORY FIELDWORK MONITORING STATIONS
TREATMENT
CORPORATE
BIOLOGICAL REACTORS
OFFICES MEETINGS
FILTERS HEADWORKS
CONFERENCES
Machine
Pretreatment
Wetlands
Seperation
Processor
Disinfection
Effluent
Influent Sludge
Sludge
Clean Drinking Water
Ash
Electricity
Time + Space The scheme sits between the largest brick built structure in Europe and one of the first shopping precincts in the UK. The ages of the surrounding building stock varies greatly. Within the immediate context, however are positioned a number of disused industrial relics. The scheme brings these ageing infrastructural elements to life through rigorous reprogramming.
Waterway The River Mersey was subjected to unprecedented industrial activity throughout the 20th century. Efforts to assimilate the complex relationship of ecology and industry are embroiled in a body of water, underused and underappreciated.
Access to street level from West bridge.
Roof Plan
1950s Kwik-fit garage adresses the street and the river front.
Pedestrian walkway passes underneath the viaduct, sheltering the Processor.
Constructed Wetlands
Pedestrian thoroughfare
Neighbouring warehouse cons. c. 1900.
Regents house; 1980s tower block.
Viaduct The largest brick built structure in Europe, Stockport’s biaduct stands as a proud symbols of the town’s integral role in the industrialisation of the North-West. Various measures to expand and adapt the structure have ensured it’s relevance after nearly 200 years of service.
Long Section
Site Plan
Street From Heaton lane, the facades are retained. Transient programmes are now transformed, however, to accommodate the treatment of raw sewage. Views into the labs at ground level create an open and public identity.
Basement Plan
Ground Floor Plan
First Floor Plan
South Elevation
Second Floor Plan
South Elevation
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Plant 1. Meeting Rooms 2. Main Office 3. Research Laboratory 4. Laboratory Delivery 5. Headworks 6. Disc Filters 7. Second Garden 8. Aerobic Digestion Modules 9. Third Garden 10. Fourth Garden 11. The Processor
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Building 1. Meeting Rooms 2. Main Office 3. Research Laboratory 4. Laboratory Delivery 5. Headworks 6. Disc Filters 7. Second Garden 8. Aerobic Digestion Modules 9. Third Garden 10. Fourth Garden 11. The Processor
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Waterfront The treatment works are organised around the expulsion of clean water generated, from within the tanks and constructed wetlands, into the River Mersey.
Processor The processor is central to the environmental strategy of the scheme, with all energy being produced by the combustion of the biomass material produced by Stockport residents.
Sludge
Clean Drinking Water
Ash
Electricity
Tanks Mechanical filtration systems provide the initila stage of cleansing. Montiored within a control room, blowers ensure the system is aerated, keeping the biological reactors animated by algae, custraceans and fish.
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Adaption The primary technological driver lies in the ability for the building to respond to changes in levels of influent. Polystyrene pontoons house
Atrium
The connection between the comfort levels of the laborotories, offices, cafe and assembly space with the biotechnological systems is crucial. Variations in comfort are gradated to ensure a seamless transition from anthropophilic environments to those driven by process.
Public
Process
Permanent botanical garden
Waterfront access, incl.
Bio-remediation Park
Biomodules housed in concrete tanks
Procession
The public route through the building and into the treatment plant is defined by the etail between concrete and timber. The visitor follows the timber truss up to the plants, cafe and offices, or down to the auditorium.
Laboratory
3. Heat Exchanger
Raised access floor
Lab ventilation ducts
Ventilation riser
Assembly The assembly space references the network of underground caves and tunnels throughout Stockport. Massive in construction, it is a place for convention; the assembly space serves the purpose of strenghtening the social networks within the wider dialogue of water security.
Mass Timber and concrete house the outwardly facing programme, with a network of stairs and ramps connect the three floor and the outside. Visitors enter the atrium with a clear view through to the Mersey.
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Tectonics The building envelope connects three datums at the south facade; water/footpath level ground level Long site with a small south face.
1st floor/planting level. An iterative process of modelmaking helps to design such an envelope. (fig.1)
Detail Insolation increased by sloping the south facade.
A structural system is required to support the landscaped roof of the assembly space, whilst achieving the desired lightness of glazed and terracotta clad elements. A timber frame connect with the ventilation and cladding system, then insulated and grooved to drain. (fig.2)
Assembly space protrudes to meet GA requirement.
Multi-level landscping meets circulation needs.
1:200
1:20
Ascension
The route up the facade is either via the slope or the steps, whilst the terrace sits between the two.
Treatment Tanks The treatment tanks operate as the circulatory system not only for the site, but for the surrounding homes of 18,00 peple. Pumping and cleaning sewage across the concrete walls, they are home to millions of tiny creatures with dozens of plants species. Based on current advanced systems for compact treatment, they are a barometer for the ammount of excrement being produced in Stockport as well as the type of pathogens therein.
Machine
Pretreatment
Seperation
Disinfection
Effluent
Influent Sludge
Constructed Wetlands Constructed wetlands allow for the circulation of water on the site, taking the influent from the tanks safely to the river. The design development of the Biological reactors has incorporated flexibility in level changes. Concertina structures can mediate according to the ammount of waste received, whilst the plants will act as a collective barometer of the types of nutrients passing through.
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Wetlands Detail Section
Construction The timber diagrid works with the concrete frame to establish a dual structural language.
Timber
Concrete
Tectonics
The hybrid programmess are linked by a single timber megastructure supported by a series of concrete tanks extending below ground to accommodate the millions of litres of influent passing through the site.
Greenhouse Above the treatments tanks sit a network of lamitated timber beams connected by cast alluminium nodes.
Short Detail Section
Permeation
The groundfloor facade is fully glazed, allowing pedestrians to see in through to the laboratories, whilst fenetration in the offices are optimised for solar access and heat loss reduction.
1. 80mm Terracotta rainscreen
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Alluminium soffit DPM 100mm Rockwool insulation Vapour barrier Steel node construction Laminated timber beam
2. 600mm contiguous piling
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Hardcore 400mm reinforced concrete DPM 200mm rigid insulation Vapour Barier Alluminium ventilation channel 3. Hardcore
500mm reinforced concrete raft DPM 250mm rigid insulation 70mm concrete 20mm floor screed
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Node
Material
The primary structural system in the building is that of a laminated timber members, joined by steel Nodes. These components are linked to produce a diagrid for much of the timber frame. Although it is a less dense material, timber is far preferable to a steel frame for the production when the embodied energy is reviewed. Through the lamination of timber, it is possible to achieve the desired wide spans of the atrium and assembly space.
Structure
The diagrid has been extended to the facade as a single structural language emerges: the timber megastructure. Connection nodes were established to accommodate the intersection of floor planes and cladding systems. The structure is communicated internally as all members and connections are exposed.
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Public An active facade benefits the surrounding area, by fening up views into the ground floor to the public. An interesting justaposition emerges as people are potentially walking past the building, whilst their own excrement is being tested for pathogens just meters away.