BackgroundAs with many historic towns, surface water drainage in Callan is intrinsically tied to the sewage network. This currently means that clean surface water is unnecessarily treated using energy intensive sewage treatment processes. As well as being resource draining, this can also lead to catastrophic pollution of waterways in extreme weather events.
The driver for this project therefore became about the spaces which arise from designing a rain collection network in the town. The project is an architectural response to a collective effort to manage water. A language of gutters and tanks emerged from the research. |
Room At the RiverThrough repeated iterations of plan, section and elevation a ‘Room at the River’ was imagined. The final form would consist of a circular geometric platform, extending the public realm into the path of the river. A large attenuation tank buried below ground, once cleaned using nearby natural filtration tanks, allowed water to be pumped into an overhead storage tank. This overhead tank would hold the clean water elevated as a battery of potential energy, ready to be used in a public shower. A rainwater bathing pond is positioned on the calmer downstream side of the space, with steps leading down into a natural and clean pond. The moment water is released into the pond is in and of itself a dramatic event. An already proposed pedestrian bridge is also incorporated into the design, as well as a new pathway along the south bank of the river. All ultimately with the intention of turning the town and its people once again to face the river.
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