Coastal reservoir, consists of 15 linked island units with nearly 5 acres of fog-fed, spontaneous forest - a platform for preserving and expanding the genetic stock of the larger territory.

For the Santa Monica site, we propose a collection of 15 island units. The structure is simple, each island measures 40sqm in plan. The units are tethered side-to-side, into a zig-zag formation and the total assembly fill an imaginary box roughly 460m by 120m.

Each of the forest blocks is central to the water harvesting and energy generation cycle on the device, acting as a filter to clean particulates and salts that have accumulated on the collection mesh. During and just after a fog event, water rains from the mesh directly over the plants and into the soil below.

Thick vegetation, root-fixed soils, sand and artificial bedrock will filter excess water before it is finally transferred for storage to the ballast tanks at the base of each island unit.

The landscape component of Coastal Reservoir is an educational and engagement tool. The unmanaged ecology is a tool for understanding biodiversity, restoration practices, and associated concepts of island bio-geography.

LAGI (Copy)

May 20, 2020

Coastal Reservoir stands as a new paradigm for creating power and water at the coast: the atmosphere of southern California is bound together with its landscapes in a resource-harvesting cycle--an integrated energy ecology. Great pillars of steel and mesh once again punctuate the horizon--recalling the rigs and derricks of an oil-hungry past--but now as symbols of a clean, sustainable energy and water generation. Though driven by wind and waves, this is not a kinetic sculpture. Though modular and floating, the assembled structure is stable and durable. Coastal Reservoir leverages the subtle but continuous shifts in the environment. From the undulating water levels, the shifting daily and seasonal weather patterns, the invisible migrations of seeds.

STATUS

Shortlisted Competition, Published