Constant dependence on groundwater, coupled with diminishing recharge capacity, make urban water bodies vulnerable. Many of these unacknowledged, often temporal water bodies are affected by untreated sewage and garbage dumping. As a result, they go through the cycle of negligence, degradation, and slowly diminishes to become an eyesore. With climate extremes and dearth of open spaces, there has never been a more urgent need to restore these damaged ecosystems than now. The studio explores ecological designs around these degraded urban water holding sites of varying capacity and wetness as potential catalysts to generate innovative social spaces. The studio shall identify and define a problem, then weave into complexity of contextual parameters along with programmatic offerings to establish a conceptual framework, that will reconnect these sites with people. Students will construct multi-dimensional problem and then craft adaptive solutions around these disturbed water sites that can be tested across adverse scenarios.
Studio Unit
Studio Process (Week 1to 16)
Module I: ABSORB _Changing Waters (L scale) The first module builds understanding and recording the dynamics of the site and preparing a water positive vision.
Module II: REFLECT _Connotations of water positivity (M scale) Moving along the framework set by the vision strategies, the second module focuses on water calculations, site programming, and design iterations to create a master plan
Module III: DISSIPATE_ Design responding to degree of wetness (S scale)
Detailing a part of the master plan with vegetation palette that responds to ground wetness and testing the resilience through seasonal and extreme fluxes
Design progress across modules demonstrating resolution.
