Constructing Nature

Abstract

Water is arguably the most crucial element of life, but as life is a delicate balance, water becomes detrimental in just moments, destroying the life it helps to create. As we develop in the modern world, we are not free of the strains of water. Droughts, Floods, and Hurricanes, cause thousands of deaths yearly, and those are just examples of immediate impacts of water, we will see the real power of water in our lives as millions are displaced due to sea level rising and the pollution or over extraction of water. As the world and local governments move to develop sustainable designs to counter the effects of climate change, politicians controlled by the slow movement of legislation and are deterred as society questions the necessity of policies as people do not see the more significant impact and anticipate the effects shortly. The duty falls on those who are closer to the design, those who can affect it at almost an immediate level. As design and construction adhere to meet more LEED and other sustainable design protocols, they fail to step back and not ask only if this is sustainable for the purpose but also to ask if this is sustainable for the environment. As we have developed a society, the assumption that we will create situations that will support themselves without influence from nature. Creating these environments that attempt to replace the natural ones, those that had existed for hundreds of thousands of years become are displaced and destroyed in a matter of decades creating the imbalance we see in climate change.The goal is creating a system that is sustainable as it marries the natural environment with that of the built architectural one. What if design in the 21st century started to restore the native ecosystems as it evolved and supported those usable for humankind? How can a system develop around water, influence that in the built environment? It was the posing of these questions which lead to the development of this thesis, constructing nature.