Hydro [lic] Regulation Michael Cormier
May 30, 2015 Studio Critic_Ted Ngai
Hydro [lic] regulation Michael Cormier Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture 2014-2015 B.Arch_Final Project Ted Ngai_Studio Critic
Project Statement
Our built environment has lost touch with the natural systems that it lives within. Structures are designed to exist within a site, yet they function independently of its environmental factors. This disconnect has brought about today’s current ecological state. As the discussion of building performance comes more and more to the forefront of the discipline, it is imperative that our designs begin to work ACCORDING to the natural systems they inhabit.
Context Our Polar Caps are Melting Earthquake & Tsunami Deaths in the past decade Volcanic & Hurricane Activity Increased significantly
400 Parts per Million = Current CO2% Global Warming
Temperature Rise/Rainfall Decrease warming Oceans Threaten marine Life Flooding Threatens Human Life
Extinction Crisis Ecological Web Will Have Snowball Effect Ecosystem Resiliency Relies on Biodiversity
Population Takes Animals Homes Communities Grow toward Unsafe Living Areas Food Shortages/Clean Drinking Water
Human Activity is the Cause of Global Warming The Byproducts of Manmade Systems Pollute
An Organism is Only as Healthy as its Systems
A Systems Depends on its Individual components
Context World
biosphere
Biome
Community
Population
Organism
Organ System
Organ
ecological hierarchy
Our current POPULATION consists of ORGANISMS that inhabit our communities, taking up our nutrients and giving off toxins. Thus, our BIOSPHERE is suffering. How can architecture begin to mediate the Relationship between ORGANISMS and their BIOME? The building is to become the ORGAN within the ORGAN SYSTEM we call a neighborhood. This ORGAN filters our given nutrients to detoxify our WORLD.
Organ: A grouping of tissues into a distinct structure that performs a specialized task.
Initial Research Fig. 3. “Occupancy Estimation in Commercial Buildings.” Chenda Liao’s Homepage. Accessed October 16, 2014.
Our buildings make up almost 40% of the energy consumption in our world. a significant portion of our world’s energy consumption goes into producing spatial conditions artificially (lighting, heat, air movement).
Why are we relying on electricity and mechanical devices to produce light and heat when we have the sun or cooling when have wind and water vapor?
Fig. 2. “Zero Energy Buildings: They May Be Coming Sooner Than You Think.” Thoughts of a Lapsed Physicist. March 30, 2014. Accessed October 14, 2014.
Initial Research the Monadnock building was constructed at the turn of the 20 century as the tallest iron-frame commercial building of its time. known for its incredible poche thickness in the walls, this building envelope comprises almost 20% of the building’s thickness, yet the envelpope mostly serves to seal off the interior from all the natural elements the building inhabits, forcing mechanical systems to condition the interiors. this is the style of design that causes buildings to use such a dramatic portion of our world’s energy consumption. th
17 % of building width dedicated to enclosure
Opaque Open Air
Preliminary Design
An aggregation of opaque materials is not able to achieve the responsive degree required to fluctuate with our living biosphere. This responsiveness will result from a permeable, breathing barrier with the capability to filter certain elements, while rejecting others. In such environmental times, a more organic response to changing climate is a must.
Preliminary Design
Modernizing the Envelope
The Elements
Outdoor Temperature Condition A
Outdoor Temperature Condition B
Reflectance
Dual-natured Outer Layer Absorption or Reflectance of Thermal Energy Depending on Needs
Humidity breathed in one direction
Absorption
Moisture-Bearing Powder
Light Penetrates Both Directions; System is Translucent not Transparent
Completely Permeable Inner Layer for Light, Moisture and Heat
Internal Moisture
Internal Temperature
Final Research
The Louver Experiment Initial Testing consists of the sodium polyacrylate polymer encased within 100% cotton fabric. Water is spritzed onto the system to simulate rain conditions or times of high humidity. The fabric absorbed the water for the first few minutes. once it reached capacity the polymer began absorbing.
Final Research Design Chalenges: 1. Improve method of sealing module 2. Improve polymer-surface area ratio in modules 3. Integrate module into a system 4. Find optimum membrane material
The application of water as well as the pressure of expansion within the polymer ripped the seams of the fabric enclosures.
after the seams had given way, one of the modules began to leak dry polymer.
Perfectly Dry status
Modules Expanded three times the original volume in wet conditions
Intermediate Design
top concerns of this series of studies were ensuring that the water reached all of the hydrogel and finding a responsive framework to encapsulate the dynamic system.
Formal Studies An intense investigation pursued the most provocative use of a fabric structure, while ensuring the hydrogel system still properly fluctuated under changing moisture conditions.
Intermediate Design
Intermediate Design
Individual veins bring water to each hydrogel muscle
Crack iced pattern allows for light to pass through while distorting views for desired privacy
Braided tube wrapping provides pulling/pushing action
Series .1
Intermediate Design
Functional Studies Moving from
looks-like to works-like
prototypes, this series explores how to create a reacting barrier to moisture levels. The hydrogel becomes a ‘muscle’ that opens and closes different series of louvers. While the system reacts directly to water vapor levels, it regulates ventilation based on humidity and daylighting in regards to varying dedgrees of transluceny.
Series .2
Series .3
Final Design
Final Design
Rain activates Wall System Hydro-filled condition acts as insulation
In heat the water evaporates from polymer Evaporation process releases heat, thus cooling the interior
Fabric-Polymer is translucent Allows natural light to flood interior
Spatial Conditioning While the exploration is heavily system-focused, it is ultimately with regards to the human scale. how does a person experience this wet walled space? As the barrier components evaporate how does the occupant react to the movement of the spatial boundaries? How does this form of cooling compare to that of central air?
Final Design
badwater basin Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin found in death valley, California. most commonly known as the lowest point in north america, this site also has the unique quality of water retention. having no outlets, water remains saturated on the ground until evaportation, leaving behind a salt crust.
Lightweight fabric hangs in a cloud-like manner over space
The flexible membrane moves with wind and allows it to penetrate the space
transparency floods the space with natural light
Final Design
Final Design
n
Final Design
The site pools most water to the northwest of the building’s footprint, with a majority of eastward winds. The poche of the envelope is thickest toward the west to absorb as much of the groundwater as possible and transfer it through the entire building before its eventual evaporation.
Final Design
Vapor Bath
Thermal Spa
Thinking of the space as a water gradient, the programs flow through the building as the water does. The thermal spa has the highest moisture content and sits within the thickest portion of the structure’s “Wet Walls.� It then recycles the water to the pool and from there to the mud baths. The dry sauna remains underground away from the hydrogel structure, while the vapor bath sits at the height of the building where all the heat rises and the highest moisture content collects before evaporation.
Sauna
Geothermal Concensators
Final Design
Pool
Mud Baths
Final Design
This study has been an exploration in finding a new building-to-site relationship. Given the conditions of today, it is clear we need a paradigm shift in the way our built environment uses energy. The quality of built spaces is enriched by the incorporation of natural systems to regulate a space, far more than artificial regulation. The resources used can all be renewable, thus saving the environment’s limited resources. Most of all, as we learn more about life and biological systems it makes sense that the built environment learns to adapt to changing conditions much like any other organism on the planet.
Final Design