PROJECT NARRATIVE

Water is the impulse of every ecosystem and essential to the flow of energy on the planet. Its importance is proven in places such as Iowa, where agriculture thrives. However, its destructive power and contrasting lack of water can wreak havoc on both natural and human rhythms.

Across the globe, communities and ecosystems are suffering from the effects of water scarcity, and as populations grow in these areas, so does the need to shelter them. In Iowa, waterways are heavily polluted due to agricultural and urban runoff, inefficiently siphoned away or mismanaged, resulting in flooding. In West Ames, at the intersection of Lincoln Way and Dakota Avenue, a remnant of the natural landscape suffers from the negative effects of humans’ poor water management.

To open the minds of the community to protect and improve our waterscapes both locally and globally, we are proposing WICK, a center to showcase and develop strategies to generate, conserve, and manage water in new ways. On the site, over 23 million gallons of water fall annually, draining from impervious surfaces into the wooded site. Rather than blocking this flow, WICK hovers above the landscape on dual cores, straddling natural drainage routes. Inside, collected water is used in the toilets and conditioning system, while some are purified for consumption and inhouse hydrology research purposes. Additional water is extracted from the air via exterior fog-collecting mesh baffles and micro ridges on the surface of the ETFE facade, capable of collecting additional water in humidity and fog events.

WICK represents the charge towards a future where architecture responds more radically to the urgent water scarcity and flooding crises that we as a society must confront rapidly. Through the uncommon features of our proposal, we hope that the community would look at their most precious resource in a new light.

Thousands of acres of farmland and scattered remnants of native landscapes empty their water into streams and rivers, all converging within the city of Ames, shown here in red. The Skunk River and Ioway Creek represent the highest volumes of water passing through this area before heading eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. Clear Creek flows near our site, entering the larger waterways at the point of con gestion, causing frequent major flooding events

HUMIDITY LEVELS

Common of the midwestern United States’ continental climate, humidly levels peak in the summer months where high temperatures and tranpiration from corn prodcution and other vegetation put more water vapor into the atmosphere. It is of note that humidly levels remain fairly constant all year, meaning water vapor collection has opportunities throughout the year.

CIRCULATION sion of the multi-use trail through our site connects to JAX

VEGETATION OVER TIME

100 years ago, dense vegeta+ tion was limited to a small grove of trees near the strea,. Over the following decades, farmland was slowly allowed to become forest. Large, old trees are found in darker green areas, with smaller and often invasive shrubs occupying lighter colored areas.

APARTMENTS

CORE Apartments + Wyndsor Terrace are two high profile housing develop+ ments. The CORE complex is a recently built strucutre with imposing presence on the pheriphery of the site.