EPRF on YOUTUBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lc1g38twkQ

Timlapse Video Uploaded to Youtube courtesy of Rocky.

Photos

photos of the completed flower and opening party:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eprfced/

ITS UP!

A little taste

opening party tomorrow 6:30 wurster courtyard

FINAL PUSH

Here's a rendering (incase you havent been by the 8th floor lately) of what this thing is conceptually going to look like. It is and will be must less static than this.

catchment calculations

So by my calculations we need 7 catchment units per column/cantilever hexagon.

Each catchment unit consists of:

6 rectangular bottles

4 medium size bottles

18 petals+ 30 melted tube bottles= 48 little bottles

each hexagonal unit needs :

42 rectangular bottles

28 medium size bottles

336 little bottles

We have 30 catchment units already constructed. yey! 4+ hexagons have got catchment!

keep on atruckin!

Current configuration

Here is a configuration in the courtyard. This layout is based on studying paths of travel and leisure spots in the courtyard. The diag. hatch represents solid filtration columns and the dots are cantilevered pieces connecting them.

Exploded Axo. for a possible method of prefab modules and deployment

Please comment or come work if you have other layouts/ideas!

Initial model of the proposal for improvements to the catchment system. More to come...

Catchment Capacity

Catchment Capacity (scaled to respond to a Large Storm Event) = gal
Volume of water per cubic foot = 7.48 gal
Runoff Coefficient (RC) accounts for 20% loss (splash/evap)
Local High of a storm event ie. 6"

Catchment Area(ft^2) x Local High Storm(ft) x 7.48 gal/ft^3 x RC(.80)

ie.
100 ft^2 x (.5)ft x 7.48 gal/ft^3 x (.80) = ~300 gal


(Calculation source: Rainwater Harvesting, Brad Lancaster)

Berkeley Rainfall Data

Rainfall metrics from the last 35 years specific to Berkeley, as produced by Greywater Action, formally Greywater Guerrillas. More rainwater calculation (for cistern sizing) and technical resources are available through their site.

Water Quality - NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/opinion/22thu1.html?_r=1

New York Times article on the 1972 Clean Water Act.

EXPERIMENTING WITH THE SPACE FRAME

Potential for filter aggregation (below water capture)—How could this fit into the superstructure? How could it connect to capture and storage?

Filter Mock-Ups

The filtration process could have four levels:
1) large debris filtration (spiral cut bottle mesh),
2) small debris filtration (polyester or polymide fibers),
3) metals filtration (activated charcoal)—cost implications
4) bacteria filtration (UV light)—cost implications

There is the potential for these four levels to be sequenced in filtration strands. These bottle strands could be embedded in the superstructure. Fog catchers could extend from top level of spiral cut bottle mesh. The filtration team will advance these mock-ups for Wednesday.

Adrienne, Eleanor and Molly

flickr

Here's a link to the enormous plastic rain flower flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eprfced/

If you have anythign to upload the login info is in your email.

Plastic Fantastic Lover

A little bit of related soundtrack...
Jefferson Airplane 1970


Cheers,
Berta

where are the bottles coming from?

In the search for the basic material to build our flower, the plastic water bottles, there are important questions that are being raised, such as,
- where do the bottles come from? why are there so many of them and yet it is so difficult to have access to them?
- which is the price of our waste?
- how available is it for everyone?
- which is the process that follows the moment we throw the bottles away?

and well, since this class is based on the use of ¨free available trash¨to build our structures, it can be interesting to think not only about the problem of availability of drinkable water, but also about the cost of recycling our trash, about the recycling process in general, and about the whole system, economical as well as social, that is feeding from the excesses of our society.

Here is a link to an interesting website, www.storyofstuff.com, which explains a little more about this...

Tomato cage concept

Team space frame has been playing around in the computer and have come up with a 'tomato cage' concept. Calculating a total mass of bottles meant we would have to collect upwards of 25,000 bottles per lima bean, and after visiting the recycle plants this isn't really feasable. The space frame concept reduces the number of bottles used to make a similar sized module to around 5,000 each. We estimate that in the upstairs studio after a good hall this weekend we have about 1,000 bottles.

Here is the concept we have been developing. It consists of a structural system(yellow) supporting programatic elements (green) nested withing the voids of the structure.

These nested items give a dynamic element to the boring and static element of the space frame. The frame begins to disappear behind the dynamic tubes of light collection and filtration. This rendering only starts to convey this but there would be many more tubes interwoven into the structure.

Each node in the space frame requires twelve connections. This is easily done using zip ties and rocky's method of cap connections. The skin tubes can simply be screwed into a node from the side.

Sep 30

WE'RE FAMOUS!!!!

http://sf.curbed.com/tags/enormous-plastic-rain-flower

Recycling Center TRIPS + Please JOIN A TEAM!

[1] Trips to the Recycling Center!

Some members of the class have spearheaded efforts to go to the recycling center to collect bottles...there are trips schedule for Thursday and Friday. I believe Ileana is in charge of Thursday trips and Molly and a few others are in charge of Friday. If you are interested in joining them, or have a car to contribute, please let designated leaders know. The more people/cars we have, the more bottles we can collect!

[2] Design/Construction Teams!

Listed below are teams for construction loosely separated by people interested in 'space frame' vs. 'other alternatives.' Both teams should try to build as complete a mockup as possible (full scale) for next class with all elements from catchment, holding tank, filtration, and final storage/distribution based on ideas from today's discussion [with thoughts about program, foundation, filtration methods, etc.]

please see the list below for teams and members:

TEAM A: 'space frame'

Molly Reichert
David
Rocky H.
Steve B.
Ileana
Adam
Harini
Adrienne Smith
Bryan Allen
Roxanne
Eleanor

TEAM B: 'alternative methods'

Jaeyeong Yang
Dave Dahl
Jungmin An
David Dana
Silvia
Olimpia
Soomin Ko
Tim
Rachael
Gerrell
Trudy
Won Shim

IF YOU DID NOT GET THE CLASS EMAIL regarding this, IF YOU ARE MISSING FROM A TEAM, or know someone missing from a team, please let me (harini[at]berkeley[dot]edu) or Mark know asap.

space frame action

pyramid module space frame with tubular members.

bottle triangular base pyramid module.

Recycling Center Contact

I have a friend that works at a Recycling Center. He is always providing us material for... any past purposes.

Do we need more bottles?

If we do,
How many, and what kind?
He might not be able to chose that much, but we can place an order.

Please contact me if needed.

Have a great day!

Berta

Youth Empowerment School- YES

I´m updating the High School process here since I will not be there tomorrow to share comments out-loud with you all. To get from feedback, please comment here, OR email me.

YES School has agreed with us coming in the classroom!!
We can have 3 consecutive Fridays (3 different classes 10:20-11:20/ 12:35-1:35/ 1:40-2:40), and the followed last Saturday, so we will need to schedule to go and do a couple presentation in 1-4 different topics:

1. Social and Community Design Talk

2. Urban Water/Filtration/ Waste Talk

3. How to use Plastic Bottles for Building Systems
4. Design Charette with the kids in order to know WHAT to build (it will be smaller scope, and their ideas- for now that´s the idea, suggestions?)

5. Saturday all-day workshop to do a Hands-on Experiment (TBD)

The Nº1 Talk will be done by (cross fingers)either Architecture for Humanity or Young Planners Network -high School students.
Nª3 and Nº4 could be design to be in one unique 1 hour Session. What do you think?

The questions now are:

* Who is interested and commited?
* When will that work in your semester schedule?

and the big one:

* Do we want the final workshop to happen at the same time that the EnormousFlower Construction? Is it happening over the weekend?
* Do we want students to come to Wurster and help build?

And if it is a different thing,

* Ideas for what to build in 8 hours on a Saturday with the High School students?
* Can we offer them to re-use your Enormous Flower in their brand new High School Farm Project? (just an idea from me, not yet sure)

I can try to get volunteers from somewhere else to do some of this different work. I don´t want to overload students with an "on the side" project. It´s just that it´s such a good timing, and so exciting to see others reactions, and it´s your work that you are sharing!!!

Thank you so much EVERYBODY for the opportunity, the great work and the effort!
De verdad, Thank you!

PD:
This are some Image references about the "Drink Me Furniture" idea that I had last week. PlasticBottled Filters integrated in urban furniture that can be drunk "poquito a poquito". They will appear and disappear as the water is collected and distributed.
Some "Bottle Art"




Gerhy Cardboard Chair (1000$!!!!!!!!!)


Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo carved 1000 figures out of ice and placed them on steps in the central Gendarmenmarkt square, Berlin on Sept 2nd 2009 where they began to melt within about half an hour. For or funded by the World Life Fund.


And... you never know what can happen next...


Architecture for Humanity has a San Francisco Chapter Project called Street FUNiture that can be looked at, for inspiration or for expanding their furniture collection!
http://sites.google.com/site/afhsanfrancisco/street-funiture

Sabina Nieto and Berta Lázaro Collaboration

Our interest in joining the course for the EnormousPlasticRainFlower is one of open documentation. We may or may not be in the position this semester to integrate the design research with a high school program; however, we would at the least be interested in condensing and compiling research along the way--to create a "How to" document.

Our proposal is to archive the studio's process documentation from this recycled rainwater catchment project and create a document that can be shared for further reproductions of such a worthwhile endeavor.

Our secondary idea, after sharing this project with the YES high school of Oakland, would be to share this research with Architecture for Humanity. From the ground up, PlasticFlowerCisterns could sprout around town, with a manual of sorts guiding the way.

We will be posting ideas and other projects on How-to Documentation, soon

Thank you all!

PS: I just wanted to share some pictures of recycled architecture so that the email is not that boring ;)
I got the info from here. It´s a summer music Festival in South Spain FIB Benicassim, that has an art program on the side. This was on the 2004 Edition.

the tube...

it's flexible!

basic construction

We are going to have to transfer water from one column to another at some point, and maybe this can be a way to do that. The tube is made from the tops of coke bottles with fishing wire looped through to keep them together. As long as the bottom piece is anchored, all of the pieces will sit securely in the one below it. The tube is easy to construct, uses a part of the bottle that wasn't doing much in the stacking schemes, and most importantly, it's flexible. This means that we can potentially transfer water to columns that are not immediately adjacent to each other . . . I'm not quite sure what the advantage of that may be, but my intuition tells me there is an advantage in there somewhere.

Assemble

... by Fabrication team

Taping

... by Fabrication team

Filter + storage : system

...by Fabrication team

Using other bottles

...by Fabrication team

2nd stage : Proliferation

can grow up and be multiplied

...by Fabrication team