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Geofutures Master of Science in Architecture Program at Rensselaer Architecture: Student Project Wins Second Place in Archinect’s Dry Futures Competition

2016-11-16T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Rensselaer Architecture

A Rensselaer student project from the Geofutures Master of Science in Architecture program at Rensselaer Architecture was selected as the second-place winner in the speculative category of the Dry Futures competition, sponsored by Archinect in 2015. The competition was designed to address the unfolding drought crisis in California. Archinect launched the competition in the summer of 2015, the fourth year of California’s ongoing drought, asking for bold design proposals that could mitigate the over-consumption of water.

The competition was divided into two categories: one for speculative projects and the other for pragmatic responses. The Geofutures “Urban Swales” project received second place in the speculative category. The project was conceived by Muhammad Ahmad Khan, a graduate student in the Geofutures Master of Science in Architecture program at Rensselaer Architecture as part of an advanced design studio conducted by Chris ...

Meet the architects behind the winning Dry Futures proposals

2015-10-24T09:41:00-04:00

While the dust has since settled on Archinect's Dry Futures competition, seeking pragmatic and speculative solutions to California's (ongoing) historic drought, we wanted to get to know the architects behind the winning submissions. How did they approach the competition, and did it alter their practice in any way?

Listen to each winner's reflections below.

Lujac Desautel of "Liquifying Aquifer," 1st place winner in Dry Futures Pragmatic category. Desautel is currently a fifth year architecture student at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Juan Saez of "Liquid Bank," 2nd place winner in Dry Futures Pragmatic category. Saez recently relocated to Los Angeles after working at STL Architects in Chicago.

Barry Lehrman of "Recharge City," 3rd place winner in Dry Futures Pragmatic category. Lehrman is a professor of landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.

Ali Chen of "Grassroots Cactivism," 1st place winner in Dry Futures Speculative categor...

"Lagoonous Assemblage : Antifragile Urbanism for a dry Los Angeles," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-10-02T11:30:00-04:00

Among the many writers of disasters and crisis – from Barthes to Blanchot to Ballard – there is a strain of thinking that rejects the normative and reductive assumption that a disaster must be met with an austere temper or melancholic pragmatism. Rather, disasters can breed their own wild creativity. The Lagoonous Assemblage: Antifragile Urbanism for a dry Los Angeles Honorable Mention proposal seems to take this direction, asking how the drought can be conceived of as an opportunity.

Lagoonous Assemblage : Antifragile Urbanism for a dry Los Angeles by Tanzil Shafique

The central question this project explores is how to turn crisis into an opportunity and the notion of antifragility gives a philsophical background to such design exploration agenda. It is defined as a quality of a system to benefit from exposure to disorder/stress/disaster, as opposed to resiliency which merely adapts to the stress. Can a re-invented urbanism be envisoned for Los Angeles that uses the drought as a pre...

"SEEDING MICRO-CLOUDS. Power Transmission Lines & WaterTransmission Surfaces," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-10-02T09:00:00-04:00

In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, there was a flurry of news about the Chinese government's attempt to seed clouds in order to engineer the weather. In fact, the technology – while largely considered imperfect – both exists and has been implemented. The SEEDING MICRO-CLOUDS. Power Transmission Lines & WaterTransmission Surfaces Honorable Mention proposal imagines a future in which existing infrastructure could be employed to serve as the base for a micro-cloud seeding operation to provide water to a thirsty California.

"SEEDING MICRO-CLOUDS. Power Transmission Lines & WaterTransmission Surfaces," by Cristina Jorge Camacho

INTRODUCTION. Why electric infrastructure is so important compared to water supply? How we can restore the natural balance? Cyberspace does not exist without electricity, humanity cannot survive without water. It is possible to take advantage of using electric grid for helping improve water resources. Transmission towers’ structure with an additional structural...

"The Ocean Above Us," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-10-01T11:30:00-04:00

In the face of events that exceed our capacity for comprehension, humans tend to invent myths and stories that render things palatable. The passage of the sun across the firmament, the surge of the oceans in a storm, the crash of thunder that follows the flash of lightning – these all have been attributed to the actions of gods, demons, etc. Even when a more precise or scientific answer is available, humans tend to rely on these stories to help explain complex phenomena to children. What stories will humans of the future invent to understand our time of ecological crises? The Ocean Above Us Honorary Mention proposal takes the form of such a fable, sited in a speculative future in which humans reach to the skies to quench their thirst.

The Ocean Above Us, by Jake Boswell

“The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical r...

"Playing with Fire: Golf takes a new Course of action," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-10-01T09:00:00-04:00

Consuming disproportionately-vast quantities of water for the recreational pleasure of a small (typically elite) group of people, golf courses often become a first line of attack during droughts. But what if they could be appropriated in order to help mitigate the effects of a water shortage? The Playing with Fire: Golf takes a new Course of action Honorable Mention proposal is a proactive – incendiary, even – reimagining of the the role of golf courses in Southern California.

Playing with Fire: Golf takes a new Course of action, by Mark Faulkner

Fire has historically been a regular and natural presence in California’s environment. As the landscape becomes drier the threat to residents grows. Fire suppression can lead to greater fire catastrophe further down the line as fuels build up. The Wildland Urban Interface will continue to expand and California needs to plan for increased fire presence and to consider fire as a factor in design.

Golf Courses have become a key recreation for re...

"The Continental Compact," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-09-30T11:30:00-04:00

While the current drought is likely linked to larger issues like climate change, California has always had cycles of dry and wet seasons, as well as regular drought periods. But, for thousands of years, the inhabitants of the region were (for the most part) able to survive times of water scarcity – in part because there was, frankly, less of them. As anyone whose seen Chinatown knows, Los Angeles as we know it today is only possible because of the massive projects that pipe water in from out of state. While this was undoubtedly an infrastructural feat, it was also a policy one. The Continental Compact Honorable Mention considers historical hydro-policies in order to imagine radically different futures.

The Continental Compact by Ian Caine, Co-Designer, Derek Hoeferlin, AIA, Co-Designer, Emily Chen, Illustrator and Researcher, Tiffin Thompson, Illustrator and Researcher, Pablo Chavez, Illustrator.

The drought crisis in California is first and foremost a political crisis. Decades of pub...

"Growing Energy from Waste: a natural twist on Direct Potable Reuse," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-09-30T09:00:00-04:00

Long abandoned to the shadows of architectural thinking, the proverbial "throne" of the house – the toilet – is beginning to make a bit of a comeback, taking a central role in last year's Venice Biennial, and making an occasional appearance in Archinect features. While it may upset our lingering Victorian sensibilities, toilets – and what they flush – are an integral aspect of the contemporary house and the modern city. In the context of a drought crisis, these water-vaccuums take on a different hue. The "Growing Energy from Waste: a natural twist on Direct Potable Reuse" Honorable Mention submission reexamines the toilet and its contents within a larger framework, proposing using existing algae technology to treat our wastewater.

Growing Energy from Waste: a natural twist on Direct Potable Reuse, by Prentiss Darden and Algae Systems LLC

In Southern California, we fill our toilets with water that has traveled over 400 miles, consuming great amounts of energy and emitting carbon dioxid...

"Hold the Salt," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-09-29T11:30:00-04:00

One of the great ironies of the California drought crisis – or at least one that's repeatedly mentioned – is that the thirsty state borders the theoretically-endless water reserves of the Pacific Ocean. But, of course, closer examination reveals that a) desalination is no simple task and b) the saltwater, in fact, poses one of the great challenges to our water reserves, constantly threatening to leach into aging infrastructure. The Hold the Salt Honorable Mention submission takes the tenuous relationship between salty and fresh water as the starting point for an expansive proposal involving large-scale infrastructural rehabilitation and conversion.

Hold the Salt, by Erik Jensen and Richard Crockett

California’s water system depends upon a fragile balance of inbound saline water against outbound fresh water from the state’s watersheds. This tenuous and shifting watermark of salt intrusion is continually maintained with aggressively engineered systems controls. This year California w...

"Freshly Squeezed- Survival on the Fringes," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-09-29T09:00:00-04:00

Part and parcel to the image of Orange County in the popular imagination, the suburban tract home is a ubiquitous, popular, and oft-derided element of the Southern California architecture vernacular. The Freshly Squeezed: Survival on the Fringes Honorable Mention proposal crafts an extended timeline for this housing typology, revisiting its history and imagining its position in a speculative future marked by natural disasters and resource scarcity.

Freshly Squeezed: Survival on the Fringes, by Robert Alexander

For 60 years, the Orange County suburban tract house has been a model real estate product for living and consumption in Southern California. Thousands of homes were built following this model of development: large single family houses (2000 to 4000 square feet), built of wood frames with stucco and generally occupying the center 50 to 60 percent of their lots. These houses demonstrated efficiency in their construction and in their ability to sell quickly, but were usually design...

"APART, WE ARE TOGETHER," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-09-28T10:09:00-04:00

Coping with California's drought and ensuing water restrictions have been stressful for everyone in the state, but some bear that stress more heavily than others. In Apart, We Are Together, the state's most affluent members will manage to detach the water infrastructure from everyone else to continue buying water at whatever cost, while the lesser-haves must get by with whatever's left, resulting in a drastically divided California.

APART, WE ARE TOGETHER, by El Hadi Jazairy and Rania Ghosn

California will not be homogeneously dry. Its main geographic challenge is economic and political.

With 21 spots on the list of 30 neighborhoods with the highest percentage of million dollar homes, the taxpayers in these zip codes will pay for desalted water, a cost nearly twice as expensive as the rate for imported water was. They will ramp up their infrastructure to convert salty ocean water into drinking water to quench their long-term thirst. (Don’t worry about the intensive energy needs of such...

"HydroForest," an honorable mention in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-09-28T09:09:00-04:00

Used in some of the world's driest places, fog-catchers can turn atmospheric moisture into potable water, effective on scales small and large – it's used by the South African Namib Desert beetle as an evolutionary trick to stay hydrated, and by a Chilean brewery to make beer. The HydroForest Honorable Mention proposal calls for a community-run fog-catching system in the famously foggy San Francisco, where residents can be responsible for their own moisture-trapping canopy in a local public space.

HydroForest, by Difei Chen and Ted Ngai (Advisor, RPI)

The HydroForest is a project that attempts to address climate change, namely the water crisis in California, through a crowd sourcing urban intervention strategy of implementing low-tech fog collectors to create what we call Community Owned and Managed Public Space (COMPS). This strategy takes precedence in how urban trees are managed in many cities, where residences can take responsibility of a tree pit in front of their properties and c...

"Analogue Sustainability: The Climate Refugees of San Francisco," 3rd place winner in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-09-16T14:00:00-04:00

Analogue Sustainability: 'The Climate Refugees of San Francisco,' by Rosa Prichard

The project is sited on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. The scheme tackles the Californian paradox of too much vs too little water. While the area is in a state of drought, San Francisco Bay is still at risk of flooding both from seasonal heavy rainfall and rising sea levels. The project is an inhabited flood defence wall that wraps around the island, housing those displaced by rising sea levels in the bay. A field condition of maize is planted over the island to draw out the radiation remaining from the island’s naval occupation. The island becomes a self-sustaining system, where analogue technologies that hark back to industrial mechanisms are used. The island offers a celebration of a more simple and natural way of life, in contrast to that of San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Sustainable systems of water purification and energy production become central to the building. The burning of the maiz...

"Grassroots Cactivism," 1st place winner in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-09-16T14:00:00-04:00

Grassroots Cactivism, by Ali Chen

California is entering the fourth year of an epic drought. Urban households have reduced water usage by 25%. However, legislation does not apply to farmers, while 80% of the state's water usage goes towards agricultural production. A large percentage of that water goes towards crops that feed livestock. Efforts to conserve water need to target these water-intensive aspects of the farming industry.

California's unique arid and mediterranean climate plays host to a variety of indigenous species. Among these is the drought-tolerant nopales cactus, otherwise known as the prickly pear. It has existed as a food source in local culinary traditions for many centuries, and is also commonly used as fodder for livestock in times of drought.

There is another lesser-known use of the nopales: its pulp acts as a cleaning agent for water. Locals in Mexico have often dumped the water used to cook cactus into polluted rivers and streams. The 'mucilage' or inner cactus ...

"Liquid Bank", 2nd place winner in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-09-16T14:00:00-04:00

Every drop counts

Liquid Bank, by Juan Saez

Liquid Bank confronts California’s drought from both a local and global perspective. The project addresses the relationship between domestic water consumption and the global water crisis with the development of water related infrastructure in emerging countries. Ultimately, the project aims to address California’s drought emergency situation by causing a behavioral shift amongst California residents.

Liquid Bank is a platform (app and website) that offers a system of rewards and incentives that encourage users to use water responsibly in both their domestic and corporate life.

Users sign-up for a profile at LiquidBank.com and begin earning the Liquid Bank’s digital currency, Aquo. Users can earn Aquos through implementing a variety of water-saving habits: installing low flow shower heads or faucet aerators, incorporating container gardening or drought resistant plants, reducing their household water bill or, as an enterprise, developing a plan...

"Recharge City", 3rd place winner in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-09-16T14:00:00-04:00

Recharge City, by Barry Lehrman

Recharge City evaluates pragmatic options for recharging the groundwater in Los Angeles County by recycling the 502 million gallons of water that is dumped by Hyperion Treatment Plant and the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant into the Pacific each day. This is enough water to quench the thirst of 5 1/2 million people.

To identify plausible sites for recharge, this project undertook a holistic mapping of the water infrastructure for the metropolis - ultimately collecting data from over 50 local, state, and federal agencies.

Recycling water is a necessity for Southern California to survive, so how can this massive infrastructure project to close the water loop create a better city for us to live in?

Barry Lehrman is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. You can view the Recharge LA project website at www.rechargela.org/.

Click here to see the other winners in both the Pragmatic and Speculative categories!

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"Liquifying Aquifer", 1st place winner in Dry Futures Pragmatic category

2015-09-16T14:00:00-04:00

What if the Valley could have multiple wells placed around the city in contingent locations for maximum water replenishment back into the Aquifer?

Liquifying Aquifers, by Lujac Desautel

The story of water in the San Fernando Valley is the by-product of the American frontier to the West and the seemingly unattainable ambitions to protect the mythicized image of lush palm trees and turquoise swimming pools. But, the illusion of water is on the cusp of extinction.

The San Fernando Valley is conceptualized as an archipelago of islands characterized by the infrastructures that sever its own territories. In between these forgotten corridors are the conduits, transportation networks, and energy easements that are a crutch to the livelihood of the Valley.

The largest of these corridors, the Tujunga Wash cuts the valley in half by a 13 mile artificial river that sends every drop of water to the Pacific Ocean. Its adjacencies are anything but monotonous, rich, poor, industrial, mega malls, and th...

"Urban Swales: Subterranean Reservoir Network for Los Angeles," 2nd place winner in Dry Futures Speculative category

2015-09-16T14:00:00-04:00

Urban Swales: Subterranean Reservoir Network for Los Angeles, by Geofutures @ Rensselaer School of Architecture / Muhammad Ahmad Khan (student); Chris Perry (program director), Ted Ngai, Fleet Hower, Kelly Winn, Lydia Xynogala (program faculty). Acknowledgements: Evan Douglis, Dean of the Rensselaer School of Architecture.

Urban Swales proposes a series of medium-scale urban excavations throughout the City of Los Angeles, micro-reservoirs that, in addition to collecting periodic storm water runoff for remediation, storage, and redistribution to local communities, provides a new typology of shaded “urban caverns” for human as well as nonhuman forms of occupation. As such, Urban Swales not only functions as a distributed form of water management infrastructure, the general ambition of which is intended to relieve the city’s excessive dependence on imported water, but a new form of public space and wildlife refuge as well.

Located at select intersections throughout the city, these “swal...