3B |  Ballona Wetlands Research and Marine Center

INSTRUCTOR: GERARD SMULEVICH
ARCH 302

In this studio we were tasked with designing a publicly accessed exhibition and educational space, as well as, private offices and labs that are the home to the organization overseeing the Ballona wetland ecological reserve. With heavy inspiration from Lebbeus Woods, located on the breakwater of Marina Del Rey, CA, the Hydrophobic Disruptor provides open air ventilation with a disruptive programmatic composition that produces unique configurations of spaces. The building acts as a response to human behavior regarding their building habits and how their actions affect their environment.

Humans invent their communities and at times the infrastructure is superimposed onto environments that have parasitic behaviours; the narrative of territoriality, ownership, and personal gain envelopes these communities. The countermeasure is to materialize a system that tunes into the frequency of the rhythmic relationship between the ocean and land; a system of absorbing and depositing elements found within that environment. The intention began as a building that imitates the harmonious relationship between the two. We utilized the research derived from the given site in order to make a connection between the growth of the areas adjacent to the breakwater, and the infrastructures upon which these communities construct over time. The idea led us to a series of investigations involving collage and diagrammatic representation.

Sea level rise, oceanic depths, in respect to atmospheric layer distinctions and the nearby wetlands served as the framework for the main proposal.

Radial “Dirty Map” Depicting site conditions along the coastline between the Santa Monica Pier and Manhattan Beach Pier along with our proposed interventions and provocations that informed aesthetic and functional applications to the project.

Original conceptual sections coagulated in collage form by implementing previously researched hydrophilic architecture in conjunction with the work of lebbeus woods

Perspective Renders