Water Branching
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Wet Thread and Glue Models Using water’s natural properties as an adhesive agent or an external pressure, minimal paths are revealed for structural and organizational optimization through “self forming processes”.
WHY? The study of branching systems have always focused on structural performance. Explorations of it originated from Gaudi’s catenary hanging model to Frei Otto’s studies of the tree structure, wet wool studies and developed to Konrad Wachsmann’s space frame, all searching for minimal paths and structural optimization as a means of methodology. Frei Otto broadened the study to using hydrolic and pneumatic pressures as an external force for “self-organizing” or “self-forming” processes which resonates with the formation of limestone caves – a natural phenomenon that can also relate to the branching system. Recent projects like Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque gave the branching system a new typology for exploration in its relation between the column and the slab. Formal and spacial expressions become less repetitive as the branching system begins to reconfigurate itself in different scales and dimensions. Discourse on branching systems take on new variations that no longer only answers to structure but involves organizational, spacial or performative considerations. Andres Jaque’s installation COSMO uses the branch system as an organizational method that can collect water and store them for cleaning and honestly reveals the process of water cleaning to the public. This thesis will investigate in using water’s natural properties as an adhesive agent or an external pressure to reveal minimal paths for structural and organizational optimization through “self-forming processes”. A new branching system is formed which becomes a construction methodology and organizational system that reveals the process of handling, collecting or storing water in a building or in a city.
WHAT? This thesis hopes to create a localized water infrastructure that can be publicly accessed and used in a dense neighbourhood or city. The site to be chosen will be situated in dense urban cities like Hong Kong or Tokyo, where clean water sources are imported or nationally distributed and concerns for water pollution and shortage are visible. The thesis will transform the site into a localized water system where the process of water treatment is visible to the public and makes water distribution more efficient. The development of the project will be compared in 3 scales. First, the machine scale – an investigation of the variations of branching systems and its efficiency. Then, the architectural scale – an exploration of how the structural system can run parallel with the water-processing infrastructure or water-related programs. Lastly, the urban scale – a projection of how the infrastructure will react in the city and its consequences. Images shown above are examples of water infrastructures in the city which have become obsolete over time. This thesis hopes to highlight the importance of these water structures that can bring vital change to the living of the city.
HOW? Step 01: 3 model typologies for investigation of the branching system and testing its efficiency Bibliography Theory: 1. Otto, Frei, B. Rasch, and S. Schanz. Finding Form: Towards an Architecture of the Minimal. Berlin: Edition Axel Menges, 1995. Print. Technique: Current: |
