Water defines
the blue planet, Earth. Its surface is 71%
water; our bodies are roughly 60% water.
But water's distribution is uneven, and unfair. Even in climatically stable times parts of
the planet receive less or more rainfall, leading to deserts and rain forests
each with inventive human adaptations.
In today's time of rapid change, evidenced in sharp population increase
and mass migrations, dramatic resurfacing of lands through deforestation and
erosion, and catastrophic weather events, water can amplify this
destabilization. Often negative impacts
disproportionately fall to those least able to protect themselves: many of the
world's poorest people live in flooding deltas; others drink polluted water and
millions walk miles daily to find it.
But not always: hurricanes do not
avoid wealthy communities, polluted or drying aquifers serve the rich and poor
alike, floods ravage lakeside vacation homes and tidal surges wash out
everything at the water's edge.
Nonetheless, it is often said that a small minority of the people on the
planet use the vast majority of its resources, water included.
How can we
imagine the blue planet in equilibrium, with adequate water where we need it,
when we need it? How can we re-imagine the
theoretical and physical construction of adaptive water infrastructures,
equitable distribution systems, and daily individual practices? Can water be
safe to drink and to bathe in and, very selectively to irrigate with? What can we learn from the past, and from
cultures beyond our own? Can we envision
preferred futures in which the constructed environment is part of the solution? How can we hold in our minds and practices
the paradox that water is equally a design element, a valuable resource, and a
dangerous threat?
At the School of Architecture we focus on water in our daily
actions, in our teaching, and through our research. From the rain garden at Campbell Hall,
designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz as part of the Campbell Constructions, to a
study-abroad program in India and a recent alumnae project based in Cape Town
Ghana, to a long-time focus on coastal resilience and clean water, faculty,
students, staff, and alumni have concentrated on the importance of water on the
blue planet. During the 2012-13 academic
year we will further concentrate our efforts on water, through ongoing
coursework and a special series of lectures, exhibits, and an all-school
charrette on Charlottesville’s Rivanna River.
A Zen saying tells us, “If you want to understand the teachings
of water, just drink.” At the School of
Architecture, we do.
Kim Tanzer
Dean and Edward E. Elson Professor of Architecture
