Revealing natural processes to the contemporary observer : Wal-Mart & stormwater runoff management

Abstract

The natural landscape is a depository of natural processes at work--water flows and erodes earth; winds blow and deposit sands. The earth's surface reveals former and current environmental forces, many of which take millennia to construct. Many times, however, human development interrupts these complex interactions between earth forces. Current development for the most part is completely blind to natural processes, which in the long term often creates exponential complications for the environment and human settlements. This thesis seeks to reveal natural processes at work in the environment through infrastructure elements and architectural form . As increasing pressure is placed upon undeveloped tracts of land in our rural communities,development proposals that work in conj unction with and not against natural processes becomes increasingly salient. Such development offers intriguing and challenging design opportunities in the context of finding a pragmatic middle ground between economically viable development and utopian ideals of environmental management. This thesis is a point of departure that programmatically seeks to offer a symbiotic relationship between seemingly disparate activities, specifically a Wal-Mart development and a department of natural resources complex. Issues of stormwater management and quality are explored through a water management system in a proposed commercial/retail development for the Wal-Mart corporation. A Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources administration office, water quality management research facility and an intersecting bike/recreation trail serve to elucidate the pedagogy influencing the direction of this investigation.