The Architecture of Water
The Deluge, Gustave Doré, 1866. WIKIPEDIA GALLERY
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. So our projects made no mention of drought, desertification, rising water levels, flash floods, vanishing drinking water, melting glaciers and ice caps, oceans polluted by plastic water bottles and endangered marine life. Instead, we discussed transportation, irrigation, communication (yes, radio waves and airmail had been invented, but you could still send letters by sea), nutrition, exploration, hygiene, recreation, religion, commerce, and the support of life itself.
In later years, I found out that practically every area of academic study involves water in one way or another, from chemistry and physics to history, religion and English literature. Water, I discovered, could be either quantitative or qualitative – or both, as in architecture.
The importance of water in the built environment had not occurred to me until my first class in Building Sciences when our no-nonsense professor told us that, in plumbing, there was only one rule: water flows downhill. If we could remember that, and design accordingly, we would never run into problems with building services. If you work in the architectural or construction industry, you’ll know that this was an oversimplification. While water flows downhill, it also drips – onto furniture and carpets – and creeps uphill and sideways inside walls, creating mould, mildew and ice formations. On its way downhill, it can wash away foundations, create sinkholes, stain surfaces and flood basements. I ultimately learned that water is the number one source of professional liability claims.
I also learned that, on the qualitative side, water is a useful design element. Fountains and pools can enhance the sensory experience with soothing sounds and natural cooling. As an amenity, it can keep people healthy and entertained. As a utility, it allows greenery to flourish and converts some of the C02 that building processes generate back into oxygen.
On the quantitative side, water is a versatile and essential building material. Concrete, which is 15 to 20 per cent water, is currently produced at the rate of around 70 to 75 billion tonnes per year, globally; that’s about 70 to 75 trillion litres of water.[1] At varying levels of consumption, concrete has been in use for over 2,000 years.
A few more water facts that bear on the built environment:
For domestic use, the average Canadian uses about 329L of water a day, representing about 20 per cent of total national consumption.[2]
The North American lawn continues to define middle-class affluence; the average American family uses about 545 litres of water/day for outdoor landscape. Compare this to the average developing-world family consumption of 10 to 25 litres of water per day.[3,4]
Water parks have become a staple of family entertainment. In 2018, 2.27 million people visited Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando FL. Incidentally, the average water park is extremely careful in its re-use of water.[5]
Waterfront development depends on a stable water level. Water-related cities all over the world are endangered by rising ocean levels that threaten to render large areas of currently habitable land uninhabitable. Average sea levels have swelled over 8 inches (about 23 cm) since 1880, with about three of those inches gained in the last 25 years.[6] Every year, the sea rises another 0.13 inches (3.2 mm).[7]
If all the ice that currently exists on Earth in glaciers and sheets melted, sea levels would rise by 216 feet (66 metres).[8,9]
Cities not located next to the ocean also face disruption of waterside recreation and development – existing and proposed. Toronto’s waterfront was severely affected by record high Lake Ontario water levels in 2017 and 2019. Water levels are regulated by the International Joint Commission, in order to protect the shipping industry.[10]
Water has always been useful, powerful, entertaining, romantic, and above, all life-sustaining. The Greek philosopher Socrates considered it one of the four basic elements from which all matter was formed. Today we know better: water is just another form of matter, consisting of tiny sub-atomic particles, just like everything else. And yet the ancients got one thing right: we are at the mercy of earth, air, fire and water – and especially water – no less now than 2,000 years ago.
NOTES
www.researchgate.net/post/Whats_the_annual_consumption_of_concrete_in_the_world
www.mcgill.ca/waterislife/waterathome/how-much-are-we-using
www.theworldcounts.com/stories/average-daily-water-usage
https://atthewaterline.com/water-facts
www.statista.com/statistics/194352/attendance-figures-of-waterparks-in-the-us-since-2010
www.globalchange.gov/browse/indicators/global-sea-level-rise
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level
www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/01/oceans-warming-faster-than-ever
www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-shoreline-maps
www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-105457.pdf