Silver Lake Reservoir Regeneration Plan by ken mccown

Abstract Silver Lake Reservoir is a 97-acre site embedded in the urban fabric of Los Angeles. It will be taken off-line as a potable water supply in 2008 due to pollution damaging the quality of the water. The new reservoir will be buried in Griffith Park to the North, while Los Angeles will leave the Silver Lake Reservoir completely full for only aesthetic purposes. While this reservoir sits full with 800 million gallons of water from the hundreds of miles of aqueducts that feed the desert, the nearby LA River discharges a million gallons of water a day, with about forty thousand passing by the tangent point to the reservoir. Through historical research, our project team found that the LA River used to feed the reservoir. The pipes still exist, offering opportunity to restore this link. The EPAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 303d list states that the Los Angeles River contains 43 pollutants. Los Angeles pulls water from Colorado River, while taking its own water, polluting it and discharging it into the ocean. This project turns the reservoir site into a water refinery, and a pollution ecology research center with a political water institute. Infrastructure used to be called public works; placing this waterworks in the fabric of Los Angeles gives it a civic presence. This public space can be used to shape the practices of water use, illustrate the ramifications of technology on our water resources, and shape water use values among California citizens. In 2004, the U.S. National Research Council released a document citing an alarming lack of planning for the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water sources. Dealing with water is an opportunity for architects and landscape architects to become leaders: shaping values and practices in public works. In this way, public space can be relevant to shared socio-political issues. The Silver Lake Reservoir project is a demonstration of this goal. How can we justify keeping Silverlake reservoir full of clean, potable water from the aqueducts, while polluting the Los Angeles River? Why send out 100 million gallons a day of tainted water to the ocean, while pulling in water from hundreds of miles away? Is it possible to use landscape design to create an awareness of the ramifications of technology on our natural resources? Can landscape design in public space provide opportunities to display not sustainable, but regenerative civic practices?

silver lake water refinery los angeles, ca 90039

aerial view of silver lake reservoir Silver Lake shown in within its Los Angeles context. Note the proximity of the Los Angeles River to the reservoir. The river originally supplied the reservoir. This plan reestablishes this connection.

Griffith Park

Taylor Yards

Silver Lake Reservoir

Elysian Park Echo Park Cornfields parks networks A series of parks; existing, proposed and speculative,

located around the Los Angeles River could be a functioning recreation and water regeneration system.

reservoir area comparison If made into a public park, the reservoir would

be the third largest park in Los Angeles at 97 acres. In a city that is parks deficient, a park embedded in the city fabric and readily accessible could create civic participation and identity.

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pollutant ecologies Pollutants from the EPA 303d list for the Los Angeles

River has a life cycle and pollutant ecology diagram. Selenium is shown here. The rooms in the canal convey this information to the public.

pollutant ecologies Each pollutant from the EPA 303d list for the Los

Angeles River has a life cycle and pollutant ecology diagram. A compound, tce is shown here.

pollution ecology narratives The project team researched each pollutant and in

addition to clarifying cyles, the team described the pollutantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relevance through narrative related to local communities. (image by gordon haines).

water out for city use sedimentation ponds step 1 phytoremediation canals polishing ponds

step 2

underground water storage (presently polluted uncapped)

step 4

step 3

water in from los angeles river

(approx. .75 mi., 60 million gallons a day)

(presently from Colorado River and California Aqueduct) Instead of using the Colorado River and California Aqueduct for supply, this scheme uses the Los Angeles River to keep the reservoir filled. A ring canal cleans the pollutants in the river water. After cleaning, the water storage is under a new cap, leaving the water above for recreation and aesthetics. The canal areas can be rented or purchased by local agencies, in need of areas to study phytoremediative and other treatment technologies.

water movement plan view, proposed versus existing

not to scale

raising the water level The project aesthetically improves the community

through the elevation of the water level. A new dam inserted into the existing reservoir creates this effect while providing insurance against failure of the dam on the south end of the reservoir from an earthquake.

proposed water level new cap existing water level new dam reservoir excavation fill on east side

cleaned water for recreation cleaned water for city use new dam superfund site fill on west side

existing reservoir edge

reservoir cross section

water level and new insertion diagram

no scale

existing reservoir

proposed reservoir

water level

from neutra vdl research house II

bridge

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ORES CONTAINING OTHER ELEMENTS

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plant gurney

information rooms

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clean water recreation

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!NATOMY 4OXAPHENE IS AN INSECTICIDE CONTAINING OVER CHEMICALS

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P h y t o r e m e d i a t i o n

canal cross section A ring walkway on the dam accesses levels containing research,

meeting and demonstration rooms with interpretive materials illustrating pollution ecologies and abatement techniques. The bridge and canal isolate people from toxic materials being remediated, while rooms give information on the materials and processes involved.

Large areas are hard to get in site design. Linear pods (6â&#x20AC;&#x2122; x marginalized, with little spaces remaining. Researchers need example, round test pods can test exposure, while linear forms 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;)can be purchased for research in canal tiers. These spaces to discover the role species types, light, topography and (shown in last image in row) can test for depth of water as it pods reflect what designers find on sites: the landscape elevation play in remediative processes. Test pods can have relates to phytoremediative capacity for pollution abatement. several configurations of landform for experimental purposes. For

landform test pods for canals

model views

not to scale

poplar row

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feet

ramp

plant gurney P h y t o r e m e d i a t i o n

landform and plant height testing

drop in plant test tank

spectroscopy mounds n e w

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pl ant Pa le t tes inside the canal On the left, scaffolds are research areas for architectural

facades. On the right are the landform test pods. The base channel of the canal is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;polishingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the water after remediation in the test pods.

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forty eight feet

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pollutant pods

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inside canal The movement system to the canal displays the cycle of pollutants.

The bridge floor encases the prime suspects in water pollution in a gabion floor. One gabion may contain brake shoes, which can release zinc into water systems.

The test pods below the bridge can show the plants that remediate the zinc. The interpretive rooms can further explicate this process of zinc remediation; the pollution ecology is legible through this system.

maintenance barge information entry

plant gurneys

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barge view The working refinery. A barge removes test gurneys on the

outside face. The inside canals are wider than a bobcat to facilitate the creation of different earth forms for study.

birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye view of north end of reservoir

view along walk to exotics garden with paving showing yearly rainfall amounts

ivanhoe reservoir

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exotics gurney

exotics guerney

water flows down through gabion filled with trash into water refinery outside

view inside of dam to phytoremediation garden/water refinery

cypress tree row

mel chin - revival field The first

phytoremediation landscape project is an art experiment. A collaboration between artists and scientists studies plants and rates of pollutant removal in this installation. ( photos and images by Walker Art Center and artist copyright).

dam wall

north end of reservoir A platform

connected to the dam inside of the Silver Lake Reservoir is an area to study and observe pollution ecologies and their remediative emergent or submergent organic ecosystems.

water refinery emergent

water refinery submergent

rhizofiltration

reservoir water level outside stainless steel â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gurneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the gurney Walking on top of

the dam next to a Cypress row, a verdant garden planted with the exotic plants of typical Los Angeles landscape appears in the distance. Upon entering the garden, a descent through to the plane below (pictured right) reveals the landscape to be delicately perched upon a stainless steel plate, supported by leaking pipes into a cracked floor. This experience alludes to Los Angelesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; arid environment. The landscapes of the city are a thin veneer of vegetation stitched to the ground with irrigation systems.

drainage/supply pipes/columns kathryn miller and michael honer - desert lawn The artists take water from the

aqueduct, racing towards desert sites, and polluting industries with a lawn on a gurney, kept alive by an intravenous water supply. (images kathryn miller).

project team research Claire Goode Tavi Perttula Tori Kjer Jaime Yamashita Angie Megert design Ken McCown

with

Kevin Hinders Andy Wilcox additional studies by

Ceanatha La Grange Leslie Lum