Should a vapor barrier really be a barrier?

"The goal is a dynamic vision, with systems regulated by processes of energy exchange, which exteriors that dissipate, consume, and capture energy: in short, complex organizations defined to manage energy through their formal characteristics, technical devices, and material definition, all at which evolve over time. A system that exchanges energy with the environment it is situated within... The goal is to define meteorological fields and landscapes of small scale. (Energies Volume 79, Issue 3, Amid Cero9)

This quote I believe exemplifies the goals of my project. Found within the Energies issue of Architectural Design, Amid Cero9 designs systems rather than simply architecture-- the goal of my project as well.

Because of Catie's timing of distributing readings to me, logical next developments to my project seem to jump at my from within the text of the journals. This week was the AD journal Energies. From looking at works from architects such as Sean Lally, Philippe Rahm, and Mark Dorrian, I have come to realize that the most important energy within my project is not water, but is in fact heat- transferred through water. The very different temperatures required through the various programs seen in my earlier diagram coupled with the idea of different levels of comfort enjoyed by humans (contradicting the idea of a perfect 72 Degrees and 74% humidity level) has compelled me to develop a system of heat transfer through the various piping supplies of water. 6 systems will be employed- a hot purified water system, a cold purified water system, blackwater system, purified-non thermally augmented water, brewing transfer system, and a greywater system. Each will transfer water at different temperatures. These systems will move vertically through the structure, and eventually exist as the heating method of the building when the construction of the building completes. I intend to redesign the lofts around a new organizational method based on thermal gradients, which i hope will redefine the way lofts are lived in.

These heat transfer systems, in their first stage, when snaking up the interior of the structure will condition the spaces to different thermal gradients. Comfortable areas will be chosen by the users based upon what temperature and humidity level seems most appropriate to them. I hope to end the dependence upon digital readings of temperatures which conditions a person to enjoy a temperature merely because it is the average comfort temperature of a human. In fact, I enjoy various temperatures throughout the day, based on my mood, activity level, and relative level of exhaustion. My body even requires separate temperatures. When falling asleep, my feet frequently are much colder than the rest of my body, and need to be warmed up before I can fall asleep.

These heating/ plumbing systems will transform and expand and contract while traveling up the structure based upon the demands of each program. In some spaces and floors, the plumbing systems will be minimal, in others the systems may be so massive that they may even develop into furniture or structural supports.

Based upon my analysis of the needs of each program, I have developed a diagram of the placement of each program in the structure vertically. (Unfortunately, because I am home in Alpena this weekend I do not have access to a scanner so I cannot scan any of my sketches in at this point) The brew pub will exist on the bottom floor, with various parts of the brewing process existing on other floors depending upon the relevant temperatures needed of the processes. The car hostel will be on the second floor. the cranberry bog will be on the 3rd and 4th floors. The fish farm will exist as separate tanks on the 3rd, 4th, and roof floors, and the pool/ hot tub will be on the top floor.

One part of the system that I am having issues resolving is the organization of the car hostel. This is certainly not the first time a designer has had difficulty fitting a parking structure that requires an 80 foot width in a 60 foot residential width space. I do not want the car hostel to be organized similarly to a parking structure, but it is very difficult to both allow cars to park and circulate. To merely develop a double helix type parking, I have to extend the floors 8 feet further on the east and west sides of the structure. Beyond hanging the cars off of the side of the building like I had sketched earlier, all other methods of organization of the hostel limit its potential to hold cars so much that it is unrealistic. Furthermore, in order to have the heating/water systems running through structure, the system will have to become gridded- something I am attempting to avoid. Perhaps it does not have to be strongly gridded. A metaphor for this would be the underlying grids of a journal or book layout- organization that is not always obvious, but can always has an underlying logic. I would hate to lose this aspect of the system, but are these requirements limiting my system too much, or do you think that I will be able to work and design through them?

Also I am considering using a ramp for access to the hostel. One that occurs outside of the

footprint for access to the 2nd floor hostel. A car elevator seems like a very small accessory that is merely an add on. A ramp is a larger piece of the infrastructure that will influence the entire design. After considering the car organization, I have come up with an interesting tangent. Although the cloud may not be able to develop a system of privacy for the hostel, perhaps the cloud can be brought into the car. I do not mean actually sucking up the cloud and bringing it into the car, but using an already occurring phenomenon- fogging up windows. When ventilation is not turned on in the car, the perspiration and water vapor given off by humans causes condensation to build up on the windows because of temperature differences between the inside and outside of the car. Fogged up windows could develop the privacy needed for the system to work-at least at night.

This consideration led me to think about how this will affect a residential environment. Without proper humidity ventilation, the same could occur-and does inside. When the construction of my site completes, and the heating/plumbing becomes the organizational concept for the lofts, humidity will play a large factor in the spaces- as it does in the project in phase 1. What if I could develop privacy in the lofts by using the same process in the cars. When people occupy the spaces and use spaces that are more private, and have higher humidity levels, the windows will fog up- creating privacy where it is needed. Spaces like bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchens will develop and collect more water vapor causing the windows to become less transparent. This could occur as merely a byproduct, or as a design of the window systems. I could develop 3 pane windows that have one air space as argon, and the other that is not in a vacuum, but will contain water vapor. When the humidity level of the space increases by the activities of its inhabitants, the inside of the windows will develop condensation--something usually very detrimental to the vapor barrier of a building. I believe that the design of the vapor barrier of the lofts will need to reconsider the usefulness of humidity in a building. Perhaps it should not be considered a barrier, but instead something that can transfer water between it. Maybe through osmosis?

I think that the next step is to start modeling these thermal gradients. I will start using (once I learn) Ecotect, and model various ways these heating systems can affect the spaces. I need to start becoming very particular about how heating can develop modes of organization. Furthermore, I would like to consider how my structure affects the weather conditions around it, beyond its footprint.

Questions I have:

Can the car hostel become a design developer, or is it too difficult to incorporate?

Ramp vs. Elevator

Opinions of design through fogging-up

How do you represent a cloud? Does it have a definitive edge or does it lack a true threshold? Why is it that when viewed from a far, it is a dog or castle, yet when flying through it, its edge is ambiguous. Is the only difference between air and a cloud a slightly soggier piece of atmosphere? What does my newly acquired program offer my project? What are the ramifications of creating clouds in my structure?

The most obvious feature of a cloud is that it is opaque. It offers a facade to my project, similar to the Blur building. It is also translucent at times. A cloud is constantly in motion, its boundaries and what it covers are always changing. Not only is it a facade, but a cloud is a wall--in the sense of partitions. When experienced from inside the structure, visibility may be very low, offering either privacy or obstruction, whichever is desired. This privacy, however could dissolve in a moment. A cloud always lets in the light though, it is the largest glow that can be conceived of, short of the moon of course. Its colors are constantly changing and its shade deepens and wanes.

Because of its composition, the inside of a cloud is continuously damp. Its humidity is 100%, and could be raining at any moment. This could cause problems for the uncovered steel structure of my site, I am not sure how this will play out as of yet. Perhaps some aspect of my design can embody itself around the columns beams and girders. The large mass of the cloud also will act as insulation, and keep my programs sightly warmer than the ambient air temperature. The cloud will also block some of the direct sunlight that would penetrate my site, yet at the same time it will be diffused and dispersed to a greater range than before. Light will be able to penetrate further into my site than before. This constant glow that will surround and engulf my site may even be able to be lit from within at night. I wonder how light would travel through a cloud from within? Will one light source make the whole cloud glow, or will it only appear from directly in front of the source. Imagine if my project turned into a big green glow at night, because of the diffusing of the cloud. If I can generate a cloud, can I also make lightning?

If I create a constant cloud on my site, will there be fewer clouds in the rest of New York City? How large of a cloud can I create? Can I control it? I believe the virtue of making a cloud is its unpredictability. I don't want to control it.

The cloud has required me to become more specific about the needs of my programs. In the last few days I have researched what is required of each program to be viable. This research has led me to make some adaptations. First of which is a switch from a Christmas Tree Farm to a Cranberry Bog. I learned that it takes 6 to 12 years to grow a christmas tree to its required height, which would be unrealistic for the small site that I have--each tree requires a 36 sq. foot space to grow on, and about 4 feet of soil depth for its root. Furthermore, running greywater through the farm would damage the trees. A much better program is a Cranberry bog. It has the potential to be a constructed wetland. Cranberries require Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium to grow--nutrients that are the most toxic in wastewater. Cranberries can survive in a large amount of water, in fact they require it. Cranberry fields are flooded on average 3 times a year, and need 7 to 10 feet of water to produce their fruit over their growing season. Ironically enough, cranberries need to be frozen in order to protect them from frost, so 2 of the three flooding periods that a bog undergoes occur in the winter. The third is used to harvest them. Additionally, cranberries can survive in low temperatures up to 34 degrees before they need to be frozen in their bog.

Fish farms were the next to be researched. I found 2 freshwater fish which can survive together and are tasty. The grass carp and rainbow trout. The rainbow trout is the main fish that I will grow, however the grass carp is also edible, and adds a helpful feature; it eats the algae that will grow in the tanks. There will need to be more than one tank to separate out the different aged fish. Rainbow trout will eat other fish up to a third its size. Most likely 3 or 4 tanks will be necessary. What might be useful is if the tanks are terraced between the different floor plates to facilitate easier transfer when the fish age, and to pour water between the tanks, while aerating it. An important aspect to fishes health is the oxygen levels in the water.

What would also be nice would be a platform from which to fish in the mature fish tank. When I was younger my parents my twin sister and I to a fish farm, where we were able to cast rods into the farm. We did not even need to bait the hooks, the fish were so eager to eat anything. It was a fun way to experience fishing as a young child who requires instant gratification. My father quickly stopped us however, when he realized how much he was buying in fish after we hooked the 7th fish in a minute.

The last program that was researched was the beer brewing process. It is a very complicated process with around 12 steps. It uses varying temperatures throughout its process, most of which pertain to water. This could be used as a design parameter throughout the project, by linking up similar temperatures of water. A diagram is provided below. I chose to brew a lager because it requires the lowest temperatures during its fermentation, conditioning, and storage.

What I am beginning to realize about this project is that no longer are the programs relegated to individual floors. In fact, they need to be intwined, perhaps ambiguously so. They gain the most through their marriage and symbiosis. I most likely need to change my mode of representation for development. Perhaps to either axon or a combination of plan and elevation/section. Should I become even more specific of the amounts of water needed with each process? Does my project still involve the later metamorphosis into a residential unit? if so, is the cloud still present? I also need to develop exactly what a car hostel is. Do the cars have an attachment that allows them to be slept in, like a car tent?

If I do develop it this way, it will not likely be specifically a tent. Perhaps seats need to be removed from the car for it to be habitable, and the removed seats become a part of the rest of the program, such as a lounge area, only possible when residents are around? Perhaps the cloud provides privacy between the cars?

I need to continue to develop the representation of this project. That may be one of the most important aspects of the project. I should each day try to represent it in a different way. I also need to develop more complete drawings. The attachment to the sewer system needs to be shown and developed as seen above, as well as the surrounding buildings and atmosphere. I am very excited that I am able to work in this way. I am very interested in pushing my drawings to their fullest potential. I am also interested in further developing the project conceptually. All of a sudden those two readings have become significantly more relevant. Actually I am a bit unsure of what would develop the project conceptually, and what would merely be an architectural decision. I think the next step would be to begin working in the other 2 dimensions. They will inform my process more. One issue that I am beginning to deal with is how to transfer the cars between floors. The average size of 4 elevator shafts is 17' x 13'. I would only be able to fit cars in this size space. Furthermore, the cars would practically have to parallel park to get into the space. I must not forget that my project offers me the potential to expand beyond my floorplates. It just seems awkward to do so with such a large and cumbersome mechanism that would be needed to hoist cars.

Cloud Harvesting

Above are just a few sketches developed for my midreview. It has been about a week since my last post, and I have been thinking a bit about my project's development so far. In the beginning stages of my development, I had an interest in my project having an involvement in the weather, and an influence in the region in which it exists rather than simply its site. I may have developed something that addresses these interests-- a cloud. I want an additional program of my project to be cloud harvesting. Besides simply having a closed loop process of obtaining water from users and returning it to them purified, I want and should gain water from other sources-notably the clouds. I am not interested however in waiting around for it to rain, or even generate a programed rain dance. Instead I want to make my own clouds--inside.

Taking cues from the Blur building, and looking through their beautiful book Blur: The Making of Nothing, Diller and Scoffidio created a cloud enveloping their architecture through spraying mist. I want to take that idea one step further. I want to make a real cloud, or at least fog. My ambitions in generating a cloud are to use it to capture water from the atmosphere and purify it to disseminate it to the city. A larger goal is to use this system to capture the particulates that cause smog and acid rain.

In order to create a cloud, several steps must be taken. Essentially the way to create a cloud is to raise the humidity of the atmosphere to 100% by lowering the ambient air temperature to the dew point temperature. Also particulates such as dust or salt must be added to the atmosphere for the water vapor to coalesce upon something and condense. Within my site, I could use the floor slabs as cooling units by running cold water through or around them. The slabs will lower the warmer air temperature around the site (hopefully) until the local air temperature reaches the dew point. Additionally, I could use misters to help raise the humidity level in the air. From there I add particulates to the air such as dust, iodine, salt, or other miniscule minerals upon which the water vapor coalesces. Lastly, silver idodide or salt--minerals similar in structure to ice-- are added to the cloud to induce the fall of rain, a process called cloud seeding. The rain collected to the clouds would then be collected on the slabs, and channeled to a purifying system- be it christmas trees, fish farm, and brew pub, or by other means, then transferred out of the system to the city, or back through it.

After looking through Infranet Lab's website today, an important thought occurred to me about my project. The project will need an overflow area for when the site has too much water to handle in the system. Perhaps this exists as a pool? Maybe it is an area that reveals and hides itself depending upon the amount of water in it? Maybe it is like a toilet, and when fills up too much has a kinetic change? (In the case of a toilet it stops filling up)