These projects capture and disperse water at small scales to create a Hydrologic Shield to supports ecosystems and neighborhoods. Specifically, these projects are designed to strengthen the local water cycle by capturing, storing, infiltrating, and slowly releasing moisture through air, soil, and vegetation to build the cumulative hydrology and stabilize landscapes and the wildland urban interface.
The Analytical Architecture: Structural embodiment of the hermeneutical spiral applied to environmental science.
1. Manuscript #1 (The Parts): Establishing small, distinct components—individual drops of water captured at a doorstep. These are rule-based and highly mechanical.
2. Manuscript #2 (The Integration): Stepping up the spiral to see how these parts interact on a shared landscape. A cross-cultural campus creates an intellectual loop and a prototype of cumulative hydrology. The gathering of data to dynamically tweak how human structures and natural buffer zones protect each other.
3. Manuscript #3 (The Whole): Arriving at the top of the spiral to analyze the ultimate macro-scale cumulative hydrology. At this level, micro-managing water with infrastructure is traded to delegate the hydrology to nature. By introducing beavers, combining wetlands, and connecting floodplains, the apex processes are interpreted to heal the landscape organically.
