SEAWALL A: Bio-Receptive Agricultural Research and Training Center

Abstract

This thesis aims to create a dialogue between water and architecture with a selected type of plantation as the median. 20% of Pakistan's GDP depends on the agriculture industry and the labor force that feeds it, but a very limited effort has been put into their training and technical education. There is also a gap between the research that is conducted in the field and the farmers that it is applied on. The program of this architecture aims to bridge that gap. The aforementioned plantation is set as the reason for the connection between water that feeds the agricultural settlement and the architecture that facilitates it. The growth process of this plantation is translated into architectural elements that are placed wherever the spaces would allow. We thus arrive at the concepts of proximity, porosity, and layering. The way in which the median concentrates and disperses in its growth process is how the spaces weave in and out of complexities. By exploring with the set number of elements, they can either be organised one on top of the other (layering), kept close or far apart (proximity), and textures can be concentrated to a certain degree (porosity). The building can hence arrive at any number of experiences. These are each a reflection of the activity that's being done in each space. The building presents itself as a receptor to the water that interacts with it; rainwater, grey water, and river water. The architecture works on its own to facilitate the programs.