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