Deliquescent Architecture

Abstract

Abstract:

This thesis seeks to explore an adaptation to perceive architecture ecologically as part of environmental systems; a process of development between cultural forms and objects (architecture) and natural phenomena (climatic regimes). An architecture that proposes a dialogue between environmental conditions as a dynamic system and bio-fabricated material as a system hosted by architecture. The recognition of the climatic cycle of seawater evaporating from one ecology and travelling upward to a higher ecology arrangement forming fog invites the emergence of architecture that is not only designed to harvest water from the air, but also hypothesises a design system which coexists with the natural environment. With the help from flow analysis studies for a site located in Saudi Arabia which has frequent fog events, the design morphs to capture the prevailing wind filled with moist fog vapor to harvest water. It questions the feasibility of implementing fog collection techniques to harvest water from air into an architectural scenario. An alternative to conventional fog collection meshes made from synthetic materials, the design integrates organic material made from plant roots as bio-fabricated screens which has the potential to have an interrelationship with natural surrounding systems; benefiting both local hydrology and ecosystem recovery.