“Conceiving infrastructure as an architectural undertaking” – Holcim Awards Jury
-
1 / 1
Project entry 2014 North America – Poreform: Water absorptive surface and subterranean basin, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Las Vegas loses 74,000 megaliters (60,000 acre-feet) of rainfall to the shallow aquifer per year in the form of urban runoff, the result of frequent major flooding. At the same time, the city is spending precious energy pumping water uphill from Lake Mead to the newest suburbs, and from the deeper principal aquifer to offset what is lost to runoff. Downtown floods because all detention basins are located in the suburbs. We propose a system of smaller basins for the dense downtown to encourage strategic growth.
The jury commends the project’s objective to conceive infrastructure as an architectural undertaking. Instead of considering infrastructure as a mere servant to utility, it is reclaimed as a truly public matter of concern and treated as equally social in scope and design – an untapped site for making and altering space.
Last updated: June 30, 2014 Cambridge, MA, USA
The jury commends the project’s objective to conceive infrastructure as an architectural undertaking. Instead of considering infrastructure as a mere servant to utility, it is reclaimed as a truly public matter of concern and treated as equally social in scope and design – an untapped site for making and altering space. The proposal additionally foregrounds the need to treat water as a common good by proposing a modulated ground surface for water retention to prevent urban flooding. While designed for a specific site, the project offers a welcome answer to the general problem of water scarcity – a straightforward, but nonetheless beautiful proposition for a global challenge.