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Show ABSTRACT The Salt Lake Valley has a colorful history of water use. Early immigrants knew the desert water held their fate. Within hours of arrival cooperative efforts in water appropriation and conservation began which formed a model for survival in the arid West. Since then recognition of desert water's ephemeral nature has evaporated. Recent waves of sprawling growth and politicized environmental divisiveness have eroded the physical existence and psychological importance of our region's precious water. Increasingly distant has become our connection with place as mountainsides succumb to development and streams submerge below the globalizing fabric of anonymity. Water use has changed from life- giving to life- enhancing and even wasteful extravagance. Valley colors have changed from desert hues to artificial greens and blues. With the recent drought extending, cooperative water conservation initiatives are beginning to emerge from local governments. Despite the cooperation of area leadership, efforts to stem water shortages in the public realm seem anything but cooperative. Individuals often view the water crisis as either a polarizing political issue or choose to deny its existence, divorcing themselves from any responsibility. A reconnection of individuals with the valley's innate aridity and a discovery of the area's historical unity in water conservation may be necessary before the actual risks of a looming water crisis are internalized. Nevertheless, despite even the most sweeping behavior changes in water use, conservation alone will not suffice. The valley will necessarily resort to additional sources of supply and to technological intervention to sustain the valley's future water needs. " Understanding the qualities of nature in each place, expressing it in the design of communities, integrating it within our towns and respecting its balance are critical to making the human place sustainable and spiritually nourishing." - PeterCalthorpe ' 94 In response I will design a Water Research and Educational Facility. The research facility will appeal to the modernist ideas of man's control over nature. Being composed of heavy and austere materials, its presence will depict the permanence and resilience of man amid its somewhat hostile environment. In contrast, the educational facility will express the delicate balance of nature. Light and transparent, it will provide minimal protection and separation from its surroundings. The facility may become temporary in nature, impacting the site minimally. A third space of negotiation, discourse, and internalization will be ' suspended' between the research and education facilities, attempting to frame the discovery of needing both conservation and technology for survival. The architecture will also seek to be, in itself, a medium for education. Water collection and retention elements will be incorporated as key architectural elements. Methods of water use will be exposed to view including a new closed- loop system to be designed as part of the testing facility. As a whole, the facility will seek to become a place conducive to mediation and discourse. A place wherein dividing subcultures may come together to regain an appreciation of our unifying past, internalize our regional water risks, and discover the necessity of both human technology and ecology in sustaining our desert water. The site for the facility will be located on the city side of shoreline trail just North of Red Butte Creek. The edge condition of the site will allow for a connection with a natural setting East of the city. The Red Butte Creek will provide source water for testing and a new green corridor will allow public interaction with the creek water, an amenity that has all but vanished below the city. The new greenhouses planned for the site will also provide space for testing the effects of water reuse on plants in a controlled setting. The challenges presented by the site are many. The site's adjacency to pristine land requires extreme consideration. It will be a challenge to architecturally accommodate the program without negatively impacting the site. Increasing the already wide array of current uses and users will also present a challenge. Now the East end of the site already depicts traffic confusion with the shoreline trail bisecting both a Red Butte service entrance, and another entrance to its concert amphitheater. Perhaps the greatest challenge presented by the site wil result from my plans to return a wide green corridor along the creek back to nature. Though this will allow nature to come into the city and provide a public pedestrian access to water and to the shoreline trail, tradeoffs will be required. Erosion will increase, water quality will likely be affected, and added security concerns will result in protecting the hybrid oak trees and garden equipment from increased pedestrian traffic. Despite the challenges, the edge condition of the site, its use as a University research area, and its adjacency to untainted water supplies and greenhouses for testing make this a suitable and desirable site. 1 |