Images courtesy Texas Tech College of Architecture
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ditches, curb and gutter roadways, retention and detention ponds, and large storm sewer systems that channel runoff to the many tributaries, creeks, and bayous that ultimately reach the Port of Houston and the Gulf of Mexico. But with an elevation of 43 feet above sea level that rises inland only one foot per mile, and with high-content clay soil conditions limiting absorption, the ability to transport flood water is difficult at best and in many cases impossible. It is these very conditions that challenged the students to reconsider what it means to flood and the ephemeral nature of water in a place such as Houston. After meeting with the City of Houston’s director of public works, Michael Marcotti, for a brief lecture on the local government’s approach to infrastr ucture and f looding, student Jarod Fancher took the basic idea of infrastructure as a drainage mechanism to an
extreme. The streets of Houston were designed to channel water to adjacent bayous with the intention that flooding of the streets was desirable as a diversion to flooding residences and businesses. Fancher proposed recessed hybrid highways, super-sizing the idea of “street channeling” to the interstate. Diversion paths establish safe exit way from the interstate during flood warnings. His concept derived from a series of diagrammatic mapping processes that helped to identify current and
(preceding page) Jarod Fancher suggested using Houston’s existing highways as hybrid flood channels to lead water into adjacent bayous. (below) Peter Smuda’s concept for “catch, hold, display, use and release” involves buildings designed to accept runoff for graywater purposes, then channeling flood water through the downtown’s network of pedestrian tunnels.
projected water movement. The hybrid highway then leads water to the gulf. Peter Smuda took a more direct architectural approach with his concept for “catch, hold, display, use and release” in which buildings are designed to accept runoff for use as HVAC coolant and other gray-water purposes. While the filtration system would require more upfront cost, the benefits would likely prove to be cost-effective over the building’s life cycle. Smuda boldly proposes to modify Houston’s downtown pedestrian tunnel system by channeling flood water through segments located adjacent to the flood-prone areas of the central city. In an effort to address long-term sustainable uses of Houston’s floodwater, Tyler Gentry proposed an elaborate series of floodwater holding tanks that would siphon from adjacent flooded areas, filter the runoff, and hold for gray-water uses such as irrigation. The design of the structures would represent their function – similar to water towers and grain silos – with the intent to celebrate their utilitarian nature. Other students explored different tactics: Jared Rooker envisioned a recreational s y stem u si n g f loodwater s, wh ich wou ld broaden the marketability of Houston as a tourism destination for water sports such as canoeing and tubing; Matt Bartholomew identified bayou parks with a proposal to redesign these along with adjacent commercial areas for reuse of floodwaters; and Phillip Meador proposed a complete rethinking of the cit y’s urban fabric and its complex interweaving of neighborhoods based on the principles of Christopher Alexander. Overall, the students’ work represented a rethinking of Houston as a flood-prone city, a new way of considering the ephemeral nature of water. Their extreme concepts for the Houston Studio + Practicum are timely, having evolved simultaneously with the revision of codes by city officials that will allow for the use of catch basins in both commercial and residential applications to assist with periodic flooding. That’s a step in the right direction, yet more radical thinking may be necessary to devise long-term solutions for a twenty-first-century metropolis where older neighborhoods are burdened with archaic infrastructure and new development continues to consume vast tracts at the city’s sprawling periphery. MaryAlice Torres-MacDonald is an associate professor at Texas Tech University’s College of Architecture.
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