Genus In Design | Oishwarya Sarkar Thesis 2020

GENUS in Design

Student: Oishwarya Sarkar Advisor: Phil Horton

Two years go, I entered my masters to find a path in architecture to follow in my work and life.

I am glad to say I found my space in design.

This thesis is my journey towards that vision.

Barriers between nature ecosystem and urban landscape

A city is a large human settlement. It is a permanent densely populated place where the primary income opportunities are non-agricultural based. Cities have designed sections for housing, industries, education, commerce and many other activities. Cities are also known to make its dwellers creative due to positive and green environment it is around.

Though cities have been placed within its natural sites and hinterlands, its transaction have not been equal. The road towards sustainability began with reducing carbon waste from our infrastructure to net zero carbon usage using renewable energy sources and finally towards positive energy infrastructure design.

But while the conversation about sustainability continues, the ideation of involving nature into the human society is left out.

Natural ecosystems came into existence before the human society and went through drastic evolutions to have food and organism systems that are highly compatible to its environment. These systems involve different tiers of organisms within the food chain with a keystone specie.

_PREFACE

Objectives Thesis Statement Thesis Anti-thesis

Synthesis Methodology Strategies

Demonstration Site conditions Urban proposal

Conclusion Thank you Biblography

_CONTENT

ANTI-THESIS The existing city infrastructure in the man-made society and its lack of interaction with nature.

The existing man-made design which have a linear life cycle and only dependent on the mechanical form of sustainability.

THESIS INTENT To study the working of an ecosystem’s relationship with its keystone species and replicate it’s principles into human architecture.

This is attempted in the form of an architectural project in an existing ecological corridor within South Phoenix.

THESIS To study the abundance knowledge of nature within the Sonoran Desert.

Extract design principles from various desert organisms to work on the design problems within various programs in the ecological corridor.

By following Biomimicry’s life’s principles, the project attempts to create a new way of living sustainably.

_THESIS STATEMENT

KEYSTONE SPECIES AND HYPERKEYSTONE SPECIES Keystone species are organisms whose functions affect the liveability of other organisms within its ecosystem. This term was first coined in the 1960s by Ecologist Robert Paine during his observation on the relationships between marine invertebrates of the intertidal zone. The term ‘keystone’ was metaphorically taken from the role of the keystone in an arch.

Keystone species have the ability to design with tools which are part of their body or techniques to create stable conditions. Its housing always cater to other organisms and have an afterlife in case of abandonment.

Like a keystone specie, humans design with tools that is created with the resources found in nature and invent techniques to upgrade its lifestyle. But why is it that keystone species have a positive change in the environment while human beings have the opposite?

In 2016, Bob Paine published a paper on “Hyperkeystone” species which was a play on the word “Hyper-parasite”. It is defined as “ a species that affects multiple keystone species across different habitats and drives a complex, potentially connected interaction chains.

Human exploitation along with non-tropic impacts have complex effects on target and non-target species within the interactive webs. Since the extinction of most of the large carnivores in the land ecosystems, the keystone species are under direct human influence. Due to this change, humans became a primary and dominant components of contemporary ecosystems.

_THESIS

Humans have exploited many organisms who have been identified as keystone species that control complex interaction chains. By targeting these species, we might deplete and compromise the function of keystone species.

This might create new interaction chain and change the existing roles of various species.

Shelter

Beavers

Wetlands

Nutrients

Keystone species

Functions

Birds

Fishes

Fishes

Primary Organisms flow diagram along with existing ecosystem

Human activities do not reciprocate the natural flow of the rest of the ecosystem. While it contains characteristics similar to a Keystone specie, it does not perform similarly.

_HYPOTHESIS

Hyperkeystone Species

?

?

Environment Nourishment

flood plain protection Nutrient rich soil

Keystone species

Ecological Foodchain

Beavers

Functions Beavers Dam

Secondary Organisms

Birds

Fishes

Frogs

KEYSTONE SPECIES IN SONORAN DESERT The keystone species observed in this project are Ironwood, Saguaro cactus, Beavers and Leaf cutter ants. Other organisms who do not fit the category of keystone species but are essential to represent desert climate adaptation are Social ants and Talus snails.

While these organisms are of different species and function differently. All of them have shown few common characteristics which allows them to survive in the Sonoran Desert. For example, ironwood and saguaro have similar functions like insulation from heat, shading primary consumers and producers. However, Talus snail only cater to themselves with their gastropod shell. These shell insulates heat but at the same time retain water from the atmosphere and air circulation for comfort under the scorching heat.

Ultimately, in this project I will talk about the possible functions and patterns observed in these organisms which will be replicated to form innovative sustainable designs.

The keystone species usually maintains an hierarchy with their services. By studying its hierarchy, we can attempt to design for functions which will enhance the community without quantitatively calculating the parameters and results. Since, the functions have been displayed successful in other species.

_THESIS

For this activity, the ironwood tree which acts as a nursetree, an important part of the desert ecosystem, will be the primary keystone whose functions would be the basis to compare the other organisms with.

Social Ants

Desert Snail

Leaf-cutter Ants

Ironwood Tree

Saguaro Cactus

BIRDS OF THE PHOENIX CITY

Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Bendire’s Thraster (Toxostoma bendirei)

Nest: tiny nests held together with spider web Tree: exotic flowers, eucalyptus tree Man-made nest: hummingbird feeder Habitat: shrubs, riparian, mesquite bosque, chaparral

Nest: cup-like nests with twigs, grass and leaves Tree: bushes Man-made nest: telephone pole Habitat: agriculture, desert, mesquite bosque

Scott’s Oriole (Icterus parisorum)

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (Polioptila melanura)

Nest: basket-like nest of yucca leaf fibres, cactus fibers, Tree: open yucca and juniper grasslands Man-made nest: hummingbird feeder

Nest: small cup-shaped nests in a fork of a bush or tree Tree: low vegetation Man-made nest: building niches Habitat: shrubs, desert, mesquite bosque, chaparral

Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis)

Common Raven (Corvus corax)

Nest: hole in saguaro cactus or tree. Cavity unlined.

Tree: saguaro cactus, riparian trees Man-made nest: buildings Habitat: urban city, desert, riparian

Nest: abandoned nests of hawks and owls Tree: deserts (adaptable to different climate zones) Man-made nest: building sides Habitat: all type

Canyon Towhee (Pipilo fucus) Nest: bulky nests- twigs, grass and bark: placed near the ground Tree: desert slopes and vegetated gulleys Man-made nest: sensitive to human intrusions Habitat: chaparral, cliffs, desert, shrubs

BIRDS in South Phoenix

_THESIS

_THESIS

CONNECTION CHART This chart shows the connection between the ecological species studied with the general suburban typologies found in South Phoenix through six keywords.

These keywords indicate the main facilities needed to design a comfortable infrastructure in a desert biome.

Water have been a limited resource in the desert region. Water is an agent to quench but it can also be used as a cooling agent to create micro-climates within rooms. Can the abandoned preexisting hohokam canals be used to create a cool atmosphere along at alley of houses?

In desert cities, spaces which are mutually symbiotic help overcoming lack of resources in neighbourhoods.

Various white spaces are often found between buildings which could be potential space for collaboration

SHADE

COMMERCIALISM & COLLABORATION

_THESIS

Summer in a desert comes with intense heated sunlight which hinders people to walk or use the outdoors.

Shading can be multi-purposely used to possibly create a safe open area during dust storms and cater to the birds around the city.

WATER COLLECTION

Insulation is an important part of desert living. The skin of cacti are studied to find possible solutions for insulation other than the existing synthesis methods. Is green roofs/ walls the only solution as insulation which can possibly create vegetation?

LOCAL FARMING

VENTILATION

INSULATION While desert cities already consist of existing green spaces which are widely green lawns. Can the space be dually used? Can empty green spaces create opportunities for local neighbourhood farming that can be a naturally growing space both children and nature.

Ventilation is an element that can help in create comfort in closed spaces specially in summer. Is there a way of creating instances of cross ventilation without compromising the existing building typologies? The each plot design contribute to the microclimating of a neighbourhood?

Columnar Cactus

ECOLOGICAL The organisms observed for this research often design their own shading elements that are extensions of their core body. These organisms often show multiple functions with these extended limbs.

Cactus cross-section showing the pleated form which counter shades the cactus itself.

Desert Snail

Ironwood

The membrane is made of two elements- Calcium Carbonate and eiphraym. It creates a thick outer layer and a thick air barrier which acts as a great insulation of heat.

Olneya tesota (ironwood tree) are deciduous desert tree. Its foliage arrangement and density change shelters multiple other local beings both in summer and winter.

_THESIS

CONVENTIONAL Conventional sun shading devices are mechanical equipment or textiles that are used either externally or in between the internal and external building space.

The primary objective is to create a comfortable internal environment.

_SHADE

ECOLOGICAL Desert organisms create multiple services within them to efficiently collect water during summer. Plants and animals have different methods to store water. While the plants direct the water collected, during rain and precipitation, to the roots. While animals collect water into its shelter when its cooler outside.

_THESIS

CONVENTIONAL Rainwater harvesting in water barrels and underground cisterns are two of the most common way of water collection. It is legal to collect any rainwater that falls in one’s land property. While this is a sustainable way of practicing water collection. It seldom rains throughout the year in the desert. Is there a method to collect precipitation from the air especially during an intense humid day through a building element in the infrastructure itself?

_WATER COLLECTION

ECOLOGICAL Desert organisms have adopted interesting strategies to communicate within a large group. For example the leaf cutter ants created a system where they locally grow a fungus by nourishing it. And in return the fungi nourishes the younger ants in the shelter.

_THESIS

CONVENTIONAL Phoenix might have various hubs for farmer’s markets for locally sources products. Local farming have slowly become part of the urban life with backyard vegetable gardens as a start.

The soil composition in Phoenix is predominately high levels of clay and lots of salt. Mid-September through early April is the prime garden season in this low-altitude desert. September and October are the best time to plant artichokes, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, lettuce, parsley, radish, spinach, and sugar snaps. With minimal protection from frosts, many of these vegetables will grow throughout the winter and into early spring.

_LOCAL FARMING

ECOLOGICAL Insulation in plants and animals are commonly noticed in the dry desert region. The observation in these species is quite interesting as different organisms dealt with the same issue differently. A common trait that all strategies had was the idea of using water as a cooling agent since evaporation of water cools down the surface.

Columnar Cactus

Desert Snail

_THESIS

CONVENTIONAL Insulation in human infrastructure is achieved by two ways: using buffer agents in between walls or by create a vegetative layer along the walls and roofs to reduce the interior temperature.

In suburban area, insulation with foam spray and foam boards that prevents infiltration between the interior and exterior conditions.

_INSULATION

ECOLOGICAL The skin of desert species similar to humans are permeable. Hence, it was more informative to observe housing structures of organisms to notice the dynamism of its opening according to the seasonal change.

_THESIS

CONVENTIONAL Ventilation is mechanically achieved with air conditioning in the urban desert cities. As the general climate during is too hot, air conditioning the house is the most common method.

But there seem to be less alternatives for natural and cross ventilation in suburban houses during the cooler months.

_VENTILATION

_THESIS

PHOENIX WITHIN SONORAN While the concept of human hyperkeystone species is not new. The planetary awareness of humans in a globalized economy is new. With great awareness about climate change, importance and study of keystone species and its interactive chains can help understanding what are the ecosystem consequences from these changes and what role are we required to play to integrate with the ecological interactive chains. It is noticed that humans have always been treated as externality and its effects are separated from other species and their interaction.

This is an opportunity to re-frame the ecological role of humans as a part of nature where its interaction with other species will create a positive effect in the ecosystem.

_ANTITHESIS

PHOENIX CITY Arizona is one of the most urban states in US. Phoenix was one of the two most populated cities in the State. It has been illustrated as the “oasis civilization” in the West America due to its urban development amidst its previous image as a state of farms, ranches and isolated mines. When Phoenix was first founded by developers and boosters. After the Hohokam Indians vanished from the Salt River Valley in the central Arizona by 1400. The new settlers expanded the Hohokam irrigation system and created a blooming city within the desert. The land was nourished due to the huge and wide canal system which supplied water for at least two hundred miles. Phoenix for a long time was dependent on its farmland, industries and mines. The city’s vision was to transform the past American’s style of living and to be create a modern, progressive American city. But from 1960’s, the vision fell apart. With the relaxation of federal power on individual, the city started question all its developing thinking if the vision really saw the identity of the state. Many individuals offered their own plans which were moulded into a single perspective. The new vision was to build a twenty-first century desert city that involved the issues of form and culture, but most importantly tackle the challenges of the location.

_ANTITHESIS

During the early twentieth century, major changes in transportation and economy growth diverted the initial vision of Phoenix. While it was attempting to create a built-out walking city, it was completed changed due to the introduction of street cars. This change largely converted the then walking streets of suburban Phoenix into automobile lanes. Phoenix is also a city where large population of Hispanic immigrants have settled over the times notably at South Phoenix due to the construction of the Southern Railway route. This create an inequality of wealth and public services between the North and South Phoenix.

PHOENIX CITY, 1960s

PHOENIX CITY, 1960s

GEOGRAPHY While Phoenix was being transformed into an urban desert civilization. Most of the land’s past was covered or drastically changed to fit to the aesthetics and typologies of East America which cause a vast deviation from creating its own vernacular infrastructures. While researching through the history of Phoenix settlement pre and post urbanization, it was clear that the landscape of this desert city was not always naked and burnt. Around ninety years back, Salt River was a branched river with heavy water streams, it was used to fill the Hohokam canals. Phoenix was also a city of trees during the early 19th century after a developer’s vision of building modern canals which was aided by the Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The company planted trees along the roads. This created a dense shade at a long stretch making long walks possible during the summer times.

Phoenix’s topography has been plain with occasional sandy hills in-between the town and the Salt River passing through. This made Phoenix a potential ecological environment for desert habitation and migratory birds.

_ANTITHESIS

SALT RIVER, 1930s

SALT RIVER, 2020

STRIP MALL The strip malls in Arizona are usually L-shaped or a linear shaped building form. Phoenix consists on commercial corridors along the city both vertically and horizontally. Most of these complexes positioned in from of a main road or a group of malls within a neighbourhood. While the mall’s surrounding context usually is isolated from its form which the stored are chosen according to the needs of the community.

The intervention of the strip malls which are highly popular in American Suburbia is usually to make the space more green and using parts of the space as community gathering which can act as parks for the kids o play. The space can also be change its configuration to create a community garden which would increase and attract the existing but lost ecology of the city.

_ANTITHESIS

L-shape retail strip

linear retail strips

All the activities are in closed space.

Outdoor display is maximum of 300 square feet.

Infrastructure is limited to two stories and of 25 feet height.

Parking : 1 car per 300 square feet.

Construction: Concrete construction Glass storefront Brown color palette

Landscape: Run-off collection through retention pits Varied local cactus and trees Planters and mounds between the road and parking.

_ANTITHESIS

25 ft

generic retail strip mall corner

SUBURBAN HOUSING The suburban houses and neighbourhoods in Phoenix are homogeneous in their looks.

The houses are usually for single-family houses on individual lots. The houses is designed to use solar panels and rain water collection on the roof. While all the suburban houses look indistinctively similar, it lacks usage of the existing and forgotten water canals located around the Phoenix valley. Also the consideration of connecting the south mountain to the city at the edge without disturbing the habitat.

_ANTITHESIS

abandoned canal behind a resident

typical residential housing

Set back: Front 15’ Back 15’ Side 10’ External: Not connecting to main structure Max. height: Two stories, 30’

Construction method: Wood stud walls and floor Clay roofing tiles Stone cladding/cement texture finish

Landscape: Desert landscape consisting of sand Water retention pit Desert native plants

30 ft. wood stud walls with slope roof

_ANTITHESIS

INDUSTRIAL The industries in Phoenix are best described as clusters of small and medium-sized businesses working with similar technologies.

They are usually historic looking and immobile. Under the structure the product is designed with further sophistication accordingly. In the current practice, the whole team is located in the same building to communicate and create a more holistic approach. The industries are majority located at the periphery of the salt river at South Phoenix region with a small group around the Deer Valley Airport.

It is very interesting to find industrial land zone which facing it’s back up to the Salt river and potentially creating a barrier between the local residents along that region. While the salt river drastically narrows down after the Tempe town lake. The river is yet to experience extreme pollution from the industrial zone around the lake. Since, the infrastructure handle less intense work producing limited waste products.

The main intervention for this typology would be creating an interactive barrier between the industrial site and the river edge.

Other inventions includes proposing green covers for the existing ecological corridor and good ventilated infrastructures to reduce the use of active cooling.

_ANTITHESIS

3/15/2020

13 E Pioneer St - Google Maps

13 E Pioneer St

3/15/2020

Stehl Corp - Google Maps

Stehl Corp

metal exterior warehouse style structure

Image capture: Apr 2019

© 2020 Google

Phoenix, Arizona Google Street View

3/15/2020

2706 E Chambers St - Google Maps

2706 E Chambers St https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4174681,-112.0729515,3a,90y,144.24h,88.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s76NZ-K0mYoUUnvBwze3goA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

1/2

metal exterior warehouse style structure Image capture: May 2019

Images may be subject to copyright.

Andrei Petrov Photo - May 2019

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4161367,-112.0706982,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipPHx8waLEqDrW-CAPe7WDaCvUWhdImlt6CmVSHF!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleuserc…

pre-cast concrete/wood stud structure

1/1

Indoor space with outdoor display Max. building height 56 ft Setback: 30 ft all sides

Construction: Pre-cast concrete structure Steel column construction Aluminium metal exterior

Landscape: Located along pedestrian walk of minimum 15 feet wide. It is a combination of sidewalk. The planter should be 7.5 ft wide at parking corner.

56 ft

construction: pre-cast concrete tilt up

_ANTITHESIS

_SITE

SONORAN DESERT AND ITS HABITAT The Sonoran Desert covers approximately 100,000 square miles and includes much of Arizona and California along with the state of Sonora in Mexico.

The visually dominant elements of the landscape are from two elements� legume trees and large columnar cacti. The desert also consists of around 2000 species of plants, 550 species of vertebrate, and unknown thousands of invertebrate species.

The main keystone species in the Sonoran Desert consist of the Ironwood trees, Saguaro Cactus, Triangular leaf bursage, Kangaroo Rat, Hummingbird and Beavers. Various desert species largely depend on these keystone species for shelter and food.

For instance, Kangaroo rats cut down grasses and eat seeds on the ground to help maintain a balanced habitat for the other species. Their houses can change its form according to the climate for better air circulation and protection for predators. This trait help protect other small animals in the desert.

The desert ecosystem have many inter-connectivities which are mutual or parasitical to help them survive the heat and overcome the low water availability of the land. Saguaro cactus acts similarly where its leave are forms in the shape of thorn to reduce water evaporating and also acts as a shading device for its body. But for the small cacti to survive, they always try to reside under a nurse tree which give them nutrients and an amiable temperate to survive the hot waves of summer.

In conclusion, the desert organisms live in a highly cohabited manner where the keystone species somehow act the main mother species to make way for the other species to use its resources and its strategies. Ultimately the keystone species maintain balance in the ecosystem by restraining growth of particular species or flourishing another specie.

Eradication of such an important specie can create imbalance in their food cycle which will take years to come to normal.

SOUTH PHOENIX

local market South Phoenix is currenty a land with great potential in accessing the best of the Sonoran desert along with the advancement of the urbanscape. This portion of Phoenix was not well developed during the 19th century after the establishment of the southern railroads. This restricted the quality of services and infrastructure in the land failing to mirror the developement of Downtown Phoenix along the same time. The settlement of South Phoenix is well-scattered along the land which can provide propective planing towards a synanthropic environment.

_SITE

housing

ECOLOGICAL PARAMETERS These parameter help in deciding the design conditions required in enhancing the already constructed infrastructure in place. By combining the ecological corridors, mountain elevation and green spaces it is possible to strategically possible urban redesign that can be achieved through mild infrastructure changes.

_SITE

mountain elevation

existing ecological corridors

existing green spaces

natural and man-made parameters combined

MAN-MADE PARAMETERS These conditions create the possible extent and scope of development for the project. It shows the possibility to use the exiting canal which are at use or abandoned canal as prospective wildlife or nature corridors to increase the interaction between the different species.

_SITE

parks, lawns and golf courses

hohokam canals

SRP canal system

unified diagram

CONTEXT PARAMETER The adjacent diagrams convey the ecological parameters that are considered for design. These graphics shows from the left upper corner anticlockwise, (a) site context , (b) ecological corridors, (c) Bird sighting, (d) Landuse of South Phoenix.

Legend Residential Commercial Green space Industrial Private green space

SOUTH PHOENIX

PRE-REQUISITES The factors in the diagram shows the three requisites that are required to provide design solutions. These pre-requisites take into account the site different, the building type and the strategies that can be designed from the past geography and present ecological species in the land.

_SYNTHESIS

Typology

+

Strategies

Keystone species Framework

+

Site border condition

=

Design solutions

STRATEGY FOR SPECIES INCLUSIVE DESIGN Connecting all the typologies to the hotspot strip going through the city’s abandoned canals and underground through pervious paving along the city,

_SYNTHESIS

pervious pavers hotspot strip catchment flowing towards the salt river

METHODOLOGY The diagram seen to the side was the process formed to create a sequence to the possible process to design architecture with Biomimicry

_SYNTHESIS

Site Analysis Past ecology existence of the site

Anti-thesis

Thesis

Building standards of the city

Study organisms of the existing ecosystem in the site

Landuse and ecology study of the urban site

City’s vision development

Functions of keystone species

Functions derived from the community and land geographical history

Context study

Grid of possible strategies : Functions vs Building typologies

Grid of possible strategies : Functions vs Urban space interactions

Demonstrate on specific site conditions

Industrial Commercial Residential

Corrugated roof facade.

Facade cooling with water pipe infill which can cool the building from beneath.

Create water flow through the form of the structure from of to Earth.

Shade from sunlight and dust through layered filtration in open space.

S.C.A projec the pr of the regul

Forced precipitation Counter shading technique. with its own building elements.

Water collection

_SYNTHESIS

Creating shelter parks for the native species at the river banks the junctions of inter-city green paths.

Creating outdoor playfulness with neighbourhood urban farming.

Shade

Local farming

In

Function vs Typology Grid 1 Hotspots and species rejuvenation.

A.L.E.S ct using rinciples ermallation.

Snail’s skin concept for air permeable water proof roof and wall connections.

nsulation

Ventilation

Co-habitation with animals and birds beside the salt river.

Neighbourhood collaboration initiative with local farming and accessible open spaces during summer.

Unit to unit modular which is responsive to creating microclimate yards.

Commensalism

Collaboration

Keystone framework: Residential

_SYNTHESIS

Activating abandoned water canals

USE OF NEGATIVE SPACES

Revaluating water pipes

Forced precipitation Counter shading

TECHNIQUES

Mesquite & Riparian habitat

Microclimate between units

USER GROUPS

UNIT TO UNIT ARRANGEMENT

Keystone framework: Retail strip malls

_SYNTHESIS

Keystone framework: Industrial

_SYNTHESIS

Building - Building Grid 2

_SYNTHESIS

Lo l ca

retail strip mall

s

m

ar

Local produce Block recreational

nf

ba

ur

Community security Water Waste management

Service Shaded area Water retention zone Energy (solar power) Water collection for the block industrial

housing

Building - Water source Grid 2

_SYNTHESIS

water source

riv er lt

Sa

Soil moisture retention Microclimating

em

t ys

ls

industrial

na

Housing river bank wildlife Microclimating

Ca

Roof water collection

Roof water collection Habitat enrichment

housing

Building - South Mountain Grid 2

_SYNTHESIS

em

t ys

ls

na

Ca

south mountain

Potential food and water source for wildlife

housing

SITES SELECTED The sites are selected by acknowledging the site boundaries and the landuse of the South Phoenix.

The sites are either adjacent to another landuse plot or an existing canal. The idea is to design generously with the existing structures in place which would help create a smooth flow of natural habitat city which will be habitable by both humans and migratory birds.

_DEMONSTRATION

1 2 3

4

5 Legend Residential Commercial Green space Industrial Private green space

Site condition 1 Design Strategies

Site Assessment Building to Building Residential

Microclimate Water collection through precipitation Evaporative cooling Hotspot path for birds Urban vegetation Self shading Roof and wall ventilation

_DEMONSTRATION

Site condition 2 Design Strategies Site Assessment Building to Building Building to Water Commercial Residential

Microclimate Water collection through precipitation Local urban farm Potential hotspot canal zone

Thermalregulation Perforated shed Water collection

_DEMONSTRATION

Site condition 3 Design Strategies

Site Assessment Building to Building Building to Water Commercial

Microclimating and vegetation shed through layered shading

Local urban farm potential with water face parks

Thermalregulation Stacking floors for more green space Potential vegetation hotspot gathering

_DEMONSTRATION

Site condition 4 Design Strategies

Site Assessment Building to Building Industrial Residential

Use of water collected to go through the building to cool the structure during summer.

Potential hotspot canal zone

Ventilation Water pipe cooling

_DEMONSTRATION

Site condition 5 Design Strategies

Site Assessment Building to Building Residential

Use of water collected to go through the building to cool the structure during summer.

Potential hotspot canal zone

Ventilation Water pipe cooling

_DEMONSTRATION

COMMON STRATEGIES

_DEMONSTRATION

ro hyd cs

obi ph ace urf

Regular building mass

Atrium - Heat

Forced precipitation - Water collection

Raised roof - Ventilation

Roof venation - Water collection

Green Shed - Shade

Porous walls - Ventilation

second floor plan

first floor plan

floor plan

First floor plan

Second floor plan

SUBURBAN SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE

_DEMONSTRATION

road

road

INDUSTRIAL WAREHOUSE

_DEMONSTRATION

local farm parking

retail shop

local farm

retail shop

retail shop

parking

site plan

RETAIL STRIP MALL

_DEMONSTRATION

green shed

CITY VISION

_DEMONSTRATION

e broadway rd

central ave

URBAN CONTEXT

_DEMONSTRATION

salt river

south mountain

During the process of discovering the methodology, I discovered various factors that are considered towards the planning in both microscopic and macroscopic. It was seen that the use of keystone species functions towards infrastructure is not a far-fetched idea. It does changes and brings out a different design process which is more informed of the climate and the nature around. During the design process, readily available materials and present technology were considered to make sure the design solutions were not implausible. The thesis heavily worked on generating an approach towards Biomimicry in Architecture.

It also contains various initial strategy ideas that are possible to be incorporated in the present desert typology.

While the thesis was procedure heavy, the next step to this journey would be to design details to the strategy and discovering the science behind it. The thesis may have pictured a possible synanthropic vision. It still lacks various sections of design which can holistically incorporate and provide to the neighboring species.

In conclusion, it is seen that hypothesis of the amalgamation of other species with human species is certainly a future that have been researched on and maybe a different biomimetic approach might help in taking a step towards this discovery.

_CONCLUSION

The process of design and the ideology of the thesis certainly brought up the conversation about the change of urbanscape designing within cities and possible policy changes that can incur a more holistic sustainability approach.

The study should consider the possibility to working with hard and soft boundaries around the city and the possible travel routes for the wildlife within the city to maintain the hotspot strips and corridors. It should also consider to provide towards human health and in studying the possibility of how flora and fauna can help incorporate the human value within the cityscape through design.

This study would not be possible without the enriched Sonora habitat that have inculcate a deeper and genuine appreciation for the desert that I never thought was possible.

I would like to thank Phil Horton, my faculty advisor, Michelle Fehler and Adelheid Fischer, my committee members who have advised and taught me throught out the process.

I would also like to thank all the professionals and fellow biomimics who have helped me throughout the thesis who took time to meet up with me and helped.

_THANK YOU NOTE

Walker, J. M. (n.d.). The impact of Biomimicry on Sustainability. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/36648928/The_ impact_of_Biomimicry_on_Sustainability The History of the North Central Corridor. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.historicphoenix.com/historic-districts/northcentral-corridor/history-north-central-corridor/ Kaplinsky, J. (n.d.). Biomimicry versus Humanism. Retrieved October 20, 2019, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ abs/10.1002/ad.212 El-Zeiny, R. M. A. (n.d.). Biomimicry as a Problem Solving Methodology in Interior Architecture. Retrieved October 20, 2019, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812031928 Jeong, A. (2019). Anthropocene in the Geomorphology of the Sonoran Desert (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University).

Omrani, M., Lian, Z., & Xuan, H. (2019, August). Effects of the courtyard’s geometry in dig pit underground dwellings on the room’s daylighting performance. In Building Simulation (Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 653-663). Tsinghua University Press. https://studiogang.com/project/national-aquarium-blueprint Alp, A. V. (1991). Vernacular climate control in desert architecture. Energy and Buildings, 16(3-4), 809-815.

Grimm, N. B., & Petrone, K. C. (1997). Nitrogen fixation in a desert stream ecosystem. Biogeochemistry, 37(1), 33-61.

Schade, J. D., & Fisher, S. G. (1997). Leaf litter in a Sonoran Desert stream ecosystem. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 16(3), 612-626.

Hadley, N. F., & Szarek, S. R. (1981). Productivity of desert ecosystems. BioScience, 31(10), 747-753.

Sagie, H., Morris, A., Rofè, Y., Orenstein, D. E., & Groner, E. (2013). Cross-cultural perceptions of ecosystem services: A social inquiry on both sides of the Israeli–Jordanian border of the Southern Arava Valley Desert. Journal of Arid Environments, 97, 3848.

Herce, M. F., Martorell, C., Alonso‐Fernandez, C., Boullosa, L. F. V. V., & Meave, J. A. (2014). Stem tilting in the inter‐tropical cactus E chinocactus platyacanthus: an adaptive solution to the trade‐off between radiation acquisition and temperature control. Plant Biology, 16(3), 571-577.

West, C. J. (2007). Workforce development in the context of organizations, leadership, and postmodern thought (Doctoral dissertation, University of Phoenix).

Olivier, B. (2007). Postmodernity, globalisation, communication and identity. Communicare: Journal for Communication Sciences in Southern Africa, 26(2), 36-55.

_BIBLOGRAPHY

Schmandt, M. J. (1995). Postmodern Phoenix. Geographical Review, 349-363.

Turner, R. S. (2002). The politics of design and development in the postmodern downtown. Journal of Urban Affairs, 24(5), 533548.

York, A., Tuccillo, J., Boone, C., Bolin, B., Gentile, L., Schoon, B., & Kane, K. (2014). Zoning and land use: A tale of incompatibility and environmental injustice in early Phoenix. Journal of Urban Affairs, 36(5), 833-853.

Drezner, T. D. (2011). Cactus surface temperatures are impacted by seasonality, spines and height on plant. Environmental and experimental botany, 74, 17-21.

Chel, A., & Tiwari, G. N. (2009). Thermal performance and embodied energy analysis of a passive house–case study of vault roof mud-house in India. Applied Energy, 86(10), 1956-1969.

McMullan, R. (2017). Environmental science in building. Palgrave Macmillan Education.

Costanza, Robert, Graumlich, Lisa, Steffen, Will, Crumley, Carole, Dearing, John, Hibbard, Kathy, . . . Schimel, David. (2007).

Sustainability or Collapse: What Can We Learn from Integrating the History of Humans and the Rest of Nature? Ambio., 36(7), 522-527.

Hendry, A. P., Gotanda, K. M., & Svensson, E. I. (2017). Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences.

Sullivan, A. P., Bird, D. W., & Perry, G. H. (2017). Human behaviour as a long-term ecological driver of non-human evolution. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1(3), 0065.

Seymour, V. (2016). The human–nature relationship and its impact on health: a critical review. Frontiers in public health, 4, 260.