Yale Myers Forest Research Facility
Graduate | Undergraduate
Studio | Non-Studio
1st | 2nd | 3rd Year, 1st | 2nd Semester (Winter 2022)
Instructor: Laura Briggs
The central concept upon which my project is founded is Tropism--which is a phenomenon in biology in which a biological organism, usually a plant, grows or turns in response to an environmental stimulus. Both the branches and roots of a tree experience tropism in opposite ways: branches grow up, in the opposite direction of gravity, and then turn in the direction of a light source, while roots grow downward, with gravity, and away from light. One additional tropic characteristic of roots is that in the same way that branches will turn toward light, roots tend to navigate toward bodies of water.
My proposal for a forest research facility in the Yale Myers Forest moves much like a root, moving downward with gravity, meandering like the river, until it reaches the body of water at the base of the hill, offering a previously inaccessible view of a substantial body of water just a few hundred feet from the Yale Forest Camp.
As soon as you enter the site, you walk either on or by the first block, separate from the main building, which contains a water-powered generator using the brook as its source of power. The water is redirected from the river at road level and maintains its elevation over about 150 feet in order to create a drop of between 12-15 feet, enough to power the facilities during the fall, spring and summer months.
The brooks in the Yale Myers Forest have historically been used to power sawmills; In my proposal, the flowing water generates electricity which is used to power the facility and fuel forest research and rehabilitation.
Physical Model (1:500 scale):
