1 LLANO ESTACADO OBSERVATORY

The soapweed yucca is an integral part of this regions ecosystem. It is dotted along the high plains, suppporting many prairie animals, specifically the yucca moth. The moth and the Yucca have a symbiotic relationship where the plant serves as a place for eggs to be laid and provides for young moths, and in turn the moths polinate the plant.

This land features much more desnse ecological systems than it leads on. Within this diagram, sensitive ecologies are mapped throughout the site, with targeted building sites based through the lens of rewilding spots where invasive species are at their worst. With the effected areas being targeted by damming, row crops whose seeds had blown over from nearing farmland would be flooded out while supporting the natural wildlife with an adequate and stable source of water.

This project takes the form of three dams situated along the yellow house draw, with a private research space located upstream, an uninhabitable dam located centrally, and a community gathering space located downstream. Each dam is defined by a 12’ by 12’ regulating grid, submerged four feet undergorund to allow life to grow back and thrive above after constructed. Below each dam there are channels underneath the rammed earth structure to allow passage of water. Within the inhabitable dams, the spaces are carved to resemble the burrows that provide shelter to a majority of the aminals in this region.

The idea of damming an area for preservation would normally be counter-intuitive, but in the case of this site, the area that the water will occupy is overrun with row crops and lacking wildlife since it was recently donated farmland.