| Architecture maintained an ongoing dialogue with the environment and one of the basic and purest elements of nature is water. Water emphasizes the features of architecture in a very particular way. In our era where water is domesticated and less appreciated, this thesis seeks to invite people to explore the emotional, mystical and experiential aspects of the water. Source will be a space to explore water and get inspiration from it.
The project is located in Long Beach area, where LA River meets the ocean. The prime location and great views of the ocean and river will add to the excitement of the place. The atmosphere of the ocean and marine layer will play a part in the exhibits. The location of the site was critical, because it’s the meeting point of fresh water and salt water, and programs are taking advantage of having both waters in the context.
Besides having experiential qualities for appreciating water, the project will create an educational platform for informing people about environmental and ecological problems that water carries.
Part of the program will be dedicated to LA river history. La has been in a very particular relationship with its river from the time it was founded. La river museum will be a place to share stories of LA water history. There is a small stream opened up from the river through the site. This stream will showcase the LA River before getting channelized and it will try to bring back the lost spices of LA River into the site.
The program is closely working with the environment (mostly related to water). Tides will change the size and shape of the public gathering spaces and will inform people about the high impact and great energy that water caries. It will be a visual record of how water moves during the day. For that reason I chose concrete for the material and the mark of water will be mapped on concrete and it will be a visualization of movement and time.
There are 2 strategies and elements implemented into the project.
The first is filtration strips which are basically artificial wetlands, located on LA River and through phytoremediation process cleans the rivers water before sending it out to ocean. Because the site is located on the end point of LA River it gives this opportunity to clean the water right before entering to ocean. I believe that this strategy can be prototyped and later on implemented on the 51 miles of the river. There will be stepping to control the speed of the water. (Stoss, )
The second strategy is collecting the rain water from the site and also the filtered water from the new stream and storing it in underground storage and using that stored water for irrigation of coastal parks.
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