Samantha HOLMES

Jeroboam

By Samantha Holmes Advisor: Simon Tickell

Thesis Statement

Standard Model of Expansion

Given the rising concern with California’s water supply, and the over arching rise in arid climate zones globally, it is time to re-imagine suburban housing to fit the demands of the delicate ecosystem of the American Southwest.

While American cities and urban sites have progressed immensely since the onset of the “green” revolution, there has been very little study of suburban sprawl and how to extend the branches of ecological thinking beyond city limits. More specifically, the Southern California city of Palm Springs, though modern in social mindset has done very little to progress with the ever changing ecological demands of the climate zone. Private pools, golf courses, and lawns are still highly valued by the masses in this growing city, contributing to a massive water shortage and putting the entire region at risk of

transitioning into an arid climate permanently. This thesis, Jeroboam, seeks to offer an alternative planning and living approach for the city sprawl of the Southwest as suggested by the theories of “Smart Growth”(the New Urbanism), “Eco-Planning and Design” (Ken Yeang), and modern theories on passive green design with nature. Seeing as Palm Springs is the very epitome of luxurious California sprawl and over consumption, the site is situated adjacent to the city to act as a foil and showcase the potential of modern planning and design.

The Natural Cycle Atmospheric

Earth

How do we contribute?

The water cycle in a healthy environment relies on healthy soil and ground cover to absorb and retain precipitation and filter it back into the under ground water reserve, or aquifer.

Sub- terrain

Sensitive Model of Expansion

Influence as Designers

What is Desertification?

Desertification is defined as land degradation in arid, semi arid and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.

The Developed Land Cycle Atmospheric

With human development, the water cycle changes.

Because much of the ground cover is removed and replaced with development, the soil is unable to absorb and hold as much water as a healthy environment. This causes most precipitation to run off of the unstable soil and flood. The remaining water sits on top of the soil and waits to evaporate back into the sky. This allows for very little water to re-enter the ground water supply and diminishes the size of the regional aquifer. At the same time, human development requires the tapping of ground water to provide domestic water to a community.

This double hit to the aquifer can cause a dramatic drying or a region with expansion of human occupation and is partially responsible for desertification.

Earth

Sub- terrain

Site Selection Los Angeles

The Coachella Valley San Diego

The United States of America

Southern California

The Coachella Valley

Areas at risk of Human Induced Desertification

Target Users Age Demographics > 75 13%

65 - 74 28%

Los Angeles, California

Very High High Moderate Low

< 35 6%

35 - 44 8%

45 - 54 18%

~ 41%

Retirement age

55 - 64 27% U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Survey Division, World Soil Resources

2010 United States Census

Palm Springs offers the opportunity for this project to stand as a model of sensitive expansion and sustainable planning methods.

Palm Springs

I chose Palm Springs as my final site because the area embodies many of the contrasting issues with the state at large. The town is situated in the heart of the Sonoran Desert and is thus suffering greatly in the state wide drought. The city has been home to a growing population in the last decade and has seen an increase in development, increasing strain on the already delicate environment.

Palm Springs

1.9 people

average household

2.8 people

average family size

$35,973

average income in Palm Springs

$50,500

average income nationally Damon Winter / The New York Times

At the same time however, the city as a whole markets itself as a desert oasis and home to extensive lush green golf courses. The area strives to feel healthy and over grown while it sits in the middle of a dying ecosystem. Turf lawns and deciduous trees are persuaded to grow in an area more fit to desert grasses and cacti. Sprawling boulevards require residents to drive everywhere and discourage pedestrian activity.

a Struggling Environment

Character Study a Modern Oasis

Planning Precedent Studies The Garden City

This precedent study gives a comparison to much of the modern planning values in the U.S. American planning attitude tends to embrace as much development as possible, as quickly as possible. Preservation of open land is regulated at the national level and remains a minimal concern at the town planning scale. Capitalism demands that we build further, newer, and bigger into “green fields”

SOMA Masterplan

The Three Magnets

ARCHITECT: Ebenezer Howard YEAR: 1898 LOCATION: The United Kingdom

~ 15% recreation

~ 50% residential

~ 5% industrial

ARCHITECT: Ken Yeang LOCATION: Bangalore, India

This is an important precedent study because it shows how the New Urbanism can be realized in with modern technologies and values. It is a great example of how a human development can interact with the environment without clearing the area and starting afresh. Using Yeang’s ideas about site analysis and study as a basis for future planning will help with the planing of the site in Southern California.

Mesa Verde

ARCHITECT: Unknown LOCATION: Mesa Verde, CO

This precedent is important to look at because it shows how humans dealt with the desert heat before modern technology.

In designing a sustainable community in the desert, it will be essential to understand how to create comfortable spaces with as little technological intervention as possible.

Looking at ancient desert dwellings gives some idea of how to effectively deal with heat without air-conditioning.

SOMA Master plan

Somewhere in between. Resources still drive the plan but a super imposed rationale heightens the effectiveness of the environment

THEATER

THEATER

BAR

Midterm

Kit Of Parts (4) Glazing Walls

cooling tower with flexible parasols

Bathroom Insert

(2) 12â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Long Insulated Walls

kit of parts

(2) 24â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Long Insulated Walls

Passive Cooling Tower

Kitchen Insert

Cluster Plan

Site Section

on site building platform

native drought resistant landscaping

Jeroboam

Site Plan

units and connecting path

soil

Site View

water catchment underlay

gabione site retaining walls

My initial solution to this complicated problem is seen on these pages. The solution involved a kit of parts shipped to the site and then assembled. This was to minimize time and water needed in the hot desert during construction. This kit of parts was to be assembled on site wall elements constructed out of gabion cages. This construction material would require significantly less water during construction than typical concrete foundations.

In order to maintain smaller unit sizes and still collect enough water for the residents of the community, site elements, or

Jeroboam, were designed to collect additional water during rain events.

The design intended for four or five units to be arranged within the site Jeroboam, and function together to collect and preserve enough water for the residents.

There were several criticisms from this presentation. First, is the density shown here really appropriate for the desert, being so hot, and for a sustainable community? The units appear to be fairly far apart without much shading, or water capturing provided in between.

The second, is it reasonable to suggest that a community of this size

is really going to share all of the water collected on-site together and somehow balance consumption across each household? Would it be better for the individual to collect and use water without regard for the larger community? Third, how much water is actually collected and used by each person in the community? And finally, how does this heavily regimented lifestyle begin to express itself in the architecture and experience of the site as a whole?

Technical Design

Second Floor Plan

Roof Plan - Drainage

metal roof light steel structure

-----

occupiable green roof

First Floor Plan precast hollow floor slab precast inverted â&#x20AC;&#x153;tâ&#x20AC;? beams

precast corbeled columns

Operable walls

steel channel support screen

Structural Axo

fixed walls

cast on site, tilt up concrete wall panels Green Roof Occupied Green roof

glazing system sliding screen steel channel frame precast concrete frame

Bedroom Kitchen Living Dinning

Purge Night Cooling

The primary method of passive cooling is night purge ventilation in conjunction with a thermally massive design. Stack ventilation (or mechanically driven ventilation) pulls cool night air through the opened screen facades, up and out a chimney. This cools thermally massive building elements and pulls hot air out of interior spaces. These thermally massive

Section thru Unit

Evaporative Cooling

element retain the cool for much of the next day and slowly radiate cool air over the course of the day.

In addition to this, for extra hot days, the units will have a mister at the top of the ventilation tower to provide evaporative cooling.

Passive Radiant Heating

A thermally massive design also allows the housing units to have inherent thermal heating properties as well. During cooler nights, the thermally massive building elements, warmed by the daily sun, will radiate heat back into the space

Rainwater Harvesting

The final mechanical purpose of this central cooling tower is to collect and channel water to the unit cistern. Light gauge roof structures over the precast units will funnel water towards the central area and drain to the cistern below

T.O. COOLING TOWER 30' - 0"

To address some of the concerns discussed at the midterm, I began, in the winter, to explore the individual units and kit of parts more closely. The kit of parts evolved into a pre-cast system of heavy structural members. This heavy frame has two systems of enclosure wall. First, a sliding system of perforated screens and second a tilt up concrete system of thermally massive, fixed walls

Above this heavy base, a light gauge roof structure captures and funnels water into a central court.

This also helps keep the concrete structures cool.

Level 3 20' - 8" T.O. LEVEL 2 19' - 0"

Level 2 10' - 4" T.O. LEVEL 1 8' - 8"

Level 1 GRADE -0' - 8" -1' - 4"

BASEMENT -10' - 0"

Blue Water Collection

The next question addressed in the technical design is that of the water lifestyle on-site. How much water is collected and how is it accessed and used by the residents

The Living Building Challenge recommends water consumption in residential projects to be 15 gallons of water a day per person. The average American uses about 100 gallons of water per day. Using this greatly reduced target water consumption as a driver for the design, each household in Jeraboam is designed to collect enough water on itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roof to sustain a 15 gal/day lifestyle at least. This calculation assumes about 70% efficiency in the collection system.

36,500 gallons

7,500 gallons

10 ft tall

water of an average american (per year)

living on

20.5 gal 10 4.5 1/2 1/2 5

(5 min. Shower) (Washing Dishes) (Personal Hygiene) (Hydration) (Other)

saved each year

2,600 sq ft roof = 7,500 gal/yr

Cistern Size

(20.5 gallons a day)

water captured by each

$461

Household

11 ft wide

In addition to each housing structure collecting enough blue water to support one person at 15 gallons/day, the site is designed to collect additional water. This grey water offsets the highly constrained blue water use of the inhabitants. It is used for quality of life aspects of Jeraboam such as small gardens, the central greenspace and plunge pools when enough water is available.

Roof Catchment

municipal supply when inadequate rain supply

Grey water cistern and site element

constructed wetland

Unit Cistern

105,500 gallons from site collection

Blue water system beyond

Parking Structure

Site Grey Water Management Blue water system beyond

Grey water cistern and site element

Site container for water catchment and soil stability

filter/purifying system(s)

overflow

Constructed Wetland

Water Harvesting

Building Grey Water Management

33,000 sqft = 800,000 kWh

$3,800 saved/year per houshold

$130,000

collected a year

saved/year across the site

Solar Panels

Charge Controller

Appliances

System Diagram

Battery

energy produced on site

10o tilt

40 eui energy of an average household

Although water has personal significance in the project, analysis proved it not a great monetary driver for the design.

Not much money is saved by the user even with drastic cuts in consumption. In order to offset this extreme change in water lifestyle and provide monetary intensive for the project, it is only natural, in Southern California, to harvest solar power for electricity.

The average household in the Southwest uses about 40 EUI. By designing the roof structure to tilt at the appropriate angle, each housing unit can provide about 750 SF of solar array at the correct orientation. In addition to the unit roof structure, parking canopies have been designed to collect solar power as well. With only these partial roof arrays, the project can generate about 800,000 kWhs of energy a year. This equates to about 39 EUI per household.

Energy Harvesting

39 eui

Final

With the passive strategies explored in the technical design, the final presentation looks back at the site development of the project. Orientation to solar and wind, subtle level changes, and larger circulation through the site are addressed. This is also where the design uses the in depth analysis to enhance the experience for those living in a Jeroboam.

These slight level changes, derived from the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topography, provide a natural channeling process for the harvested water.

Parking lot runoff and collected Jeroboam water filters through a series of contained rain gardens and site elements, mixing with the resident grey water, until it eventually permeates back into the ground at the central green space.

This process drives the design of the experience throughout the site. The resident enter the site through a meandering drive, parking under a shaded canopy, and proceed his or her Jeraboam. Descending down several steps into the sunken courtyard, the resident passes by a raised container garden housing a precious cistern below. Plans thrive, indicating a full cistern below.

Light from a neighborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s living room trickles though the closed metal screen concealing the room beyond. Soaring roof canopies, three stories above, shade this secret inner sanctum from the scorching desert sun and protect the community within all year long.

The resident enters his abode on a raised platform and peers down into the cistern below, a reminder of his important lifestyle. This central element to all the houses acts as a totem of the community at large. The level is high, although

Grey Water Use

Blue Water Use

Roof Co

llection

Grey W ater Tank Blue Wa

Roo

ter Tank

f Col

lectio

n

Roof Co

llection Roof Co

llection

Site Co

llection

Site Cistern (Grey Water)

Filter System

Site Cistern

Individual Cistern (Blue Water)

(Grey Water)

Site Cister

(Grey Wa

n

ter)

Individual Cistern

Constructed “Wetland”

this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always the case, and adds a soothing cool to the spaces surrounding.

Proceeding through the house, the resident slides open the perforated screens in his own living room to let in the quickly cooling twilight breeze. Passing the cistern below again, and ascending the stairs, the resident moves up to the bedroom perch above. Here the screens are always open to the mountain view beyond and tonight is no different. The resident walks out on the adjacent green roof and lounges into a cushioned chair.

Just below, on a paved plaza, two children play by the larger reservoir below. Water is just visible from the perch above, another reminder of the currently abundant resource.

Further down, couples stroll through the central community park and admire the blooming foliage of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;wetlandâ&#x20AC;? on their nightly stroll. A sense of calm radiates from the community and life is good for those in the Jeroboam.

Samantha Holmes’ quotes to live by in Thesis “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

- Douglas Adams “Sadly, it is much easier to create a desert than a forest” - James Lovelock “I couldn’t figure out how to save the world with Architecture so I pinpointed a couple of key issues and gave it my best shot.”

-Samantha Holmes