Before designing an environmental center for the Clean Water Coalition, I felt it was important to study the natural purification process water undergoes. When water carries dirt the sediment collects in lower areas as well as in corners. The studies below show sediment collects in a series of different situations. These studies were conducted by designing certain features that might be important in the site design and then melting wax with dirt to see where the dirt collects. An early design decision I made was to make the entire site an artificial wet land park. This is because wet lands are a natural purifying system of water and as sediment collects the wetland will change. The layout of the buildings, paths, and land areas within this wetland evolved through the studies below as well as the diagram to the left. The diagram to the left determined the placement of buildings, interior walls, exterior walls, and depressions in the wetland landscape. The driving factors in the diagram to the left were determined by surrounding factors of the site, including drainage, pedestrian flow, vehicular flow, the 10 year flood plain, views, and topography.
design research on sedimentation
massing studies