The ring of cultural keystone
Jiajun Ni
Celebrate Scarcity: Water Harvesting as Cultural Keystone
As Phoenix’s population has been increasing intensely in recent years, the city is facing a potential water crisis because of the over-extraction of underground water and a gradual decrease in water supply from Colorado River. To solve the crisis, Phoenix has promoted water saving lifestyles for citizens and built aquifers to capture stormwater and floods. However, these decisions are not inherently sustainable since they are too costly and centralized without enough considerations on different community contexts. Therefore, we need to rethink the water-efficiency system that is zoomed into the community level.
This thesis explores a water-collection model that is driven by both landscape features and community engagements. By building physical and social connections between community members and the water collection, we can create resilient culture and landscapes that help to promote water efficiency. The thesis is also a manifesto of connecting urban populations back to the natural landscapes that enhance people’s environmental awareness for generations.
Overlapping Civilizations
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The collage of current civilization and Hohokam overlapping on the land of Phoenix.
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The thesis concept of promoting water harvesting and using practice as a community culture.
Flood map of Phoenix
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The map shows the flood zones and proposed opportunity site my thesis is focusing on.
Community analysis and solutions
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The mapping shows the opportunity zones and proposed collection system.
Water operating system
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The diagram of gray water and rain water collection structure of the community.
Community plan
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Overview of the whole community with designed system.
City wash collection subcenter
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Zoom-in plan view of the city wash collection subcenter with program list.
City wash perspective
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The perspective view of the city wash collection subcenter in monsoon days and clear days.
Community garden collection subcenters
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Zoom-in plan view of the whole community garden and community center layout
Community garden perspective
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The perspective view of community garden in monsoon days and clear days.
