Assorted Works
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Biotic Diffuser
- Chronotopes
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Paper A+Airplanes
- Tending Chaos
- Public Condenser
- New Appalachian Rail
- [In]Tangible
- Placa de Glories
- Toll Creek Nursery
- Paperwork
Info
2. Chronotopes
2024, University of Tennessee
Professor Chad Manley
Individual Work
This project studies Chattanooga as a river town and speculates on future concepts of living with water in an increasingly dramatic climate. A chronotope is a literary term that describes the relationship of multiple things through time, space, and narrative. Through this lens, the project selects four sites across Chattanooga and connects them through their relationship to water and time. It also speculates on ways of living with water in the future. Represented in the Derive Plan above is each site within a transect of Chattanooga with the overlayed current FEMA flood zones as well as the green hatch illustrating the submerged area in the 1886 and 1973 Chattanooga floods. The project works seamlessly between the scale of the city plan and the scale of site fragments and site plans to resist becoming a master plan for Chattanooga, and instead becoming a series of sites with connective tissue, each unique and specific to its place in the city. Every design decision in this project strives to slow, store, celebrate, and respect water.
The project used hydrology and erosion studies on each site to understand where water currently is and where it wants to be over an extended time frame. These are illustrated in the ‘Flow’ diagrams for each corresponding site. In Site 01 the water wanted to be in the street. And so it should be. Our streets have been designed to function as temporal rivers, so why not embrace that? In this site, the existing road is elevated to allow a new city park to be installed which celebrates water in its form as well as its ability to store water during rain events.
Site 02 is an elementary school that uses methods of dispersal to slow water as it rushes through the site using micro-forests which use a method of dense plug planting inspired by Japanese botanist, Akira Miyawaki. Also present on the other portions of the site are the vernal pool which encourages the meandering paths. The result is a safer, more playful adaptation of egress and play spaces across the site. Vernal pools also increase the human connection to water as something that is not strictly temporal, but always present.
Site 03 is a mixed-use residential and adaptive reuse proposal that frames a swamp marsh in the existing flood plane. The residential buildings(dashed in blue) are elevated on pilotis which begin to dissolve into the visual plane as they begin to mix and match with the tree trunks of the densely planted marsh. At the residential level, occupants will be completely immersed in the tree canopy as the trees grow up to reach more sunlight. At the ground level, there is a forest floor condition with meandering paths and mounts of pooling water. This speculates on the concept that occupying the ground will in the future become taboo.
Site 04 is a place for water to go. This is a more typical park-like design programmed with disc golf, outdoor fitness, and playgrounds. These programs are intertwined with a series of existing rail support structures. This is a site where a large amount of water surges during rain events and it aims to become a freeing moment for water where it is allowed to flood and influence its own design for itself over time. The temporal flooding allows this to become a haven for nonhumans as well, specifically amphibians.