Striated Wetland

Type: Rhino and Illustrator

Class: Daniele Profeta ARC 208

Location: Syracuse, NY

Date: 02.29.20

This project focuses on the conditions, community, and construction of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York. With strong history of manufacturing and salt mining, Onondaga Lake is a major SuperFund focused on magnesium removal, water filtration, and capping. This studio focuses on how landscapes are able to provide architectural means to commons and the development of a shared experience.

Within my intervention, I was really interested in determining ways that water could be filtered and cleaned through architectural systems and sustainable practices. In my research I concluded that a constructed wetland would be the best to not only control runoff, but to naturally remove remnants of magnesium. I then further researched the native plants found around the lake in order to create a proposal for my intervention. This intervention consists of striated canals that expand into scaled wetland pools. The constructed wetlands then maintain the water and manage runoff and flooding through these artificial cuts that vary in section. Architecturally, I wanted the project to have a balance between building and landscape. For program I choose to have an exhibition space, research center, and hydroponic growth that would in turn replenish the wetland plants. The regenerative system would teach others within the community how to grow hydroponically and be involved in the process of “refurbishing” the lake. The buildings also act as a retaining wall that expands and creates a light tunnel atrium space. The buildings then diverge to circulation over the manufactured waterways, to create hard and soft edges of the project. In conclusion, the ecological system is the cultural center.