Water
IMAGE: Lake Ontario and the Toronto skyline, viewed from Mimico on a summer evening
PHOTO: The Right Angle Journal
Water is an essential component to life on earth. Many scientists believe that it is critical to life throughout the known universe. Our primitive ancestors emerged from the oceans about a billion years ago, and to this very day, as a reminder, our first nine months of existence are spent in an aqueous fluid that is 98 per cent water. Our grown-up bodies consist of about 50 to 60 per cent water. The planet we live on is 72 per cent covered with water.
Who could ever have imagined that we – all of us together – could convert this valuable commodity into a source of grave concern: too scarce or too copious and frequently unreliable.
This issue’s feature recognizes the challenges of climate change, as they relate to the world’s water supply, and offers other relevant thoughts.
The Architecture of Water
When I was in Grade 4, or maybe Grade 5, my class did a Social Studies unit on water. Our task was to explore all the wonderful things that water does for us. In those days, we had no inkling that water would soon become a topic of intense international concern.
Water Has Power
The City of New Orleans, founded in 1718, has always had a deep dependency on its connection to the water. It is the port linking the Mississippi River trade to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. In Louisiana’s colonial era, the land was developed as sugar cane plantations, with narrow tracts extending back from river frontage.
The Bathroom - An Introduction
We can thank modern plumbing for the fact that two basic, seemingly incompatible, human necessities – cleanliness and elimination – can be accommodated in one small space.
The Importance of Bathrooms
Architects should pay attention to the products of housebuilders, because they reflect what developers believe the market is demanding, and developers are often betting the farm that they are right – or at least not too far wrong.
Locations - Venice
It would be hard to contemplate the marriage of water and architecture without considering Venice. Unlike the world’s other canal cities, Venice is not only punctuated by water, it is entirely bracketed by it. In fact, this “Floating City” gives every appearance of being supported by water.