Integration of water into an architectural design - Tamale city expansion

Integration of water into an architectural design - Tamale city expansion

Elliott, P.J.

Nottrot, J.R. (mentor)
Van den Dobbelsteen, A.J.F. (mentor)
Luising, A.E. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Architecture

Explore Lab

2014-01-21

Since a few years, more than 50% of people live in urban areas and this number will increase, resulting in major city expanions while facing (potential) problems such as an inadequate access to drinking water, poor levels of sanitation and not enough space for rainwater. Therefore the integration between the water system and architecture becomes ever more important. Especially in a growing city as Tamale, Ghana, all of the scenarios above are actual problems already. On one hand you have the increasing needs for drinking water, utility water and dwellings, while on the other hand there are the increasing risks of drought, high levels of surface runoff and poor quality of sanitation. These problems all come together and coexist once people decide to live in a certain area. Because of growing demands and diminishing space, it makes sense to integrate architecture with a plan for water in stead of treating all problems individually. Preferably in such a way that they can support each other and perhaps even enhance the design as a whole. In short the design will contain a small a small neighbourhood for 500 people that has all the facilities to provide for safe utility and drinking water all year round, to provide for hygienic sanitation and to minimise flood risks during the rainy season. The design is a combination of architecture and the water system. They both ‘share the same space’ and influence each other rather than the water system being an individual aspect that is subordinate to the architectural framework. The scale of the project is not limited to the neighbourhood, but includes building blocks (50 people) and individual houses. (Whenever ‘water system’ is mentioned in this guidebook, it will always refer to more than just what happens inside the walls of a building. It can include up to the whole cycle: precipitation, harvesting, storage, filtration, use, source separation, nutrient recovery, infiltration, retention, etc. as all of them affect the human environment.)

water
integration
architecture
sustainability
nutrients
water management
expansion
vernacular architecture

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6392ca0a-1a7c-4881-9ae6-17d844dfa0d0

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2014 Elliott, P.J.