An Integrated Hydrological System for Arid Climates
Nicolas Cabargas Mori (M.Arch)
Andrew Haas (M.Arch)
Miguel Rus (M.Arch)
2012 – 13
COLLECTIVE ECOLOGY is an investigation focused on addressing the intensifying metabolic demands of growing urban populations by approaching the city as a dynamic complex system. It places emphasis on the feedbacks and critical thresholds of its ecological processes, climatic conditions and cultural modalities to drive the emergence of novel morphologies, social organisations and metabolic processes within a larger collective system.
This systems-based model for urban growth explores the potential to minimise metabolic flow in and out of the system through integration of localised natural water treatment processes. Acting as an agent for its own productivity, it symbiotically develops with the architectural and urban morphology to extend hydrological retention within the system through multiple cycles of use and treatment.
The resulting heterogeneous landscape of emergent interactions presents a more homeostatic environment, in which the dynamic qualities of an urban system can better adapt to intensifying metabolic demands of a growing population.
