"Falling Water Project "

Authors: Tahar Messadi, Leonard Bachman, Simone Medio, Porus Antia, Megan Compton

LB: I will try to restate our team's design for the studio project with some added commentary (not necessarily added value). The rest of Team Four should send corrections and protests as they see fit, and I don't mean Hopkins, Foster, or Rogers.

A POTTERY MILL ON THE RIVER
Team 4: Tahar, Porus, Megan, and Leonard

Wickedness
We began with the perspective that beginning design students would be looking for an answer to a problem (reductionist simplicity, dualist perspective). To that end we wanted to use the complex and indeterminate nature of sustainable principles to (re)frame the complex and indeterminate nature of design. The idea was to use a structural model from nature, such as a leaf, to explore biomimicry (connected, interrelated, harmonious, non-hierarchal). It might be that this model is actually articulated as a building element, but not necessarily.

Predicament
Adopting John Tillman-Lyle's principle of using form to capture flow, we set up a condition where flow could be manifested. The site would be on a pure rushing river and there could be an existing or proposed water wheel as the only source of energy. Given clues on how that potential and kinetic energy could be used to generate electricity and mechanical horsepower, the designs would have to spin potting wheels and bake clay as well as provide for occupancy needs. The clay is available on site, so it has to be dug in ways that shape the landscape. Earth, water and fire are all elements of the problem. Their flows are related and connected. Sound of water, smell and feel of clay, heat of oven, cool of spray, and all the senses are engaged. Yes, it is a kind of Oasis project too.

Evaluation
How well do the technical features become embodied in architectural features? How well does the form capture, modulate, and direct flow? How are form and flow related? Does the water leave the site as pure as it came? How are these questions bound up in the answer to other questions that arise out of the indeterminate nature of design and of flow?

Comment
We must avoid the chauvinism of techno-centrality, otherwise we only echo the self-referential studio-centric chauvinism that we wish to end. And Terri is right I think, it has to be beautiful and seductive. ======= LB

Overview:

Water Works:
Sketch and write outside reports on water, looking at water kinetics, light reflections, etc.

Embody these flows...for example:

Water flows...> Mechanical Energy ...> Electric Energy...> Heat...> Pottery...> Pottery Wheel...> Clay...>

Learning objectives:

1) The impact of natural elements and flows in buildings.

2) Become acquainted with the impact that natural forces have on architecture and become aware of reducing energy consumption.

3) Become aware of the layers that shape a context.

4) Develop a comprehension in the design of architectural sequence.

5) General understanding of the potential impact, both positive and negative, of water on internal and external environments.