Flood-resilient architecture with building integrated carbon capture and wastewater treatment systems for the city of Agadir. The project revisits architectural form and explores how extreme sites can be reinvented in architecture in order to turn challenges into assets. Cladded in sacrificial CO2 absorbent clay modules, the facade acts as a filter, cleaning and reusing its own wastewater while capturing Carbon from the ambient air
Throughout my month-long fieldwork in Agadir, I found that there is a lack of accessible public and communal spaces for interaction and exchange of ideas, which from my perspective are important spaces to strengthen the quality of the urban environment. Furthermore, I found that there is a lack of green and blue public spaces within the city, allowing for relaxation and social interaction. In addition, there is a need for spaces that can be used to educate Architecture students, hence there is currently an ongoing official competition for an Architecture school in Agadir. To meet these challenges, the building bridges outdoor and indoor public spaces and educational facilities and houses an Architecture school with workshop spaces, studio spaces, and laboratories, a library connected to indoor gardens, exhibition spaces connected to public auditoriums, and a bathhouse with hammam and swimming pool.
Situated between the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains, the city of Agadir is prone to flooding. During extreme weather events and when the snow melts in the mountains in spring, the site, which is normally a dry river, becomes a flood channel toward the sea. With this project, I challenge how we think and construct buildings today by designing spaces and buildings that are not static but curated to proactively turn extreme events and environmental challenges into experiences to make sustainability visible to the users. By cladding the facade in sacrificial amounts of clay that protects the foundation but also allows for the facade to be eroded, the building is an exploration into how seasonal flooding on a site can be used as an asset to revisit and develop architectural form.
Probably two of the largest environmental concerns in cities today are carbon emissions and air quality and cities are under increased pressure to demonstrate plans to control & reduce their CO2 emissions. Carbon capture could play a central role in helping the nations advance sustainable management and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. By capitalizing on the properties of Moroccan clay, which presents itself as a CO2 adsorbent, local and cheap material, this project uses and reuses its wastewater to capture carbon, enhance plant growth and counter air pollution.
Capturing Carbon in order to enhance plant growth and counter air pollution
In 2010, water officially became scarce in Morocco as it reached less than 1.000m3 per person per year. Hence the extensive agricultural facilities located around the city, the underground water reservoirs of Agadir are almost depleted. The heavy tourist industry which Agadir has based its strategy on since 1960, has also meant an exaggerated water use for spacious hotel pools and golf courses. On top of that, the city of Agadir only reuses 10% of its wastewater. This calls for a discussion and manifests great potential in finding ways to actively use and reuse wastewater as a resource. The presence of water and plants is key to the design of this project and to justify having water in the building for biophilic and social advantage, it should also help the water crisis. Therefore, the building features a gravity-fed natural root zone water treatment system to allow for the water to triple down from the water facilities, through the gardens and public spaces down to the riverbed where it is collected and reused.
