campudofthefuture_buildings_donnelly_shane

Shane P. Donnelly

April 17, 2016

Design Ecologies

Campus of the Future on the Building Scale

Climate change’s devastating effects will leave no place untouched from its destruction including Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. The campus faces a crisis of adaptability and the university needs to consider creating buildings that can be flexible, able to withstand the coming disasters. The University needs to consider extreme droughts, and an inevitable water crisis. Water seems limitless within Michigan, a state surrounded on three sides by the largest freshwater lakes in the world, and who’s interior is dotted by rivers and smaller lakes. Yet, these seemingly limitless quantities of water will dry up if not treated as finite resource. With rising temperatures and changing climate patterns, the great lakes state may be left without any consumable fresh water, as lakes and rivers begin to dry up and shrink from increased evaporation and a shift in climate patterns from current precipitation levels to that more equivalent to a desert.

Future buildings on campus must be built using certain guidelines to help defend the campus against such disasters. New structures need to save water on site, buildings capturing water lands on their footprints and store it in case of water emergencies. Hardscape surfaces should be softened, parking lots become green lots, and rubber and tar roofs replaced with vegetation. Not only does this retain water on-site, but stored water can be directed towards local reservoirs to replenish them if there is a drought. The added benefit of adding greenery into once hardscaped surfaces and spaces is a decrease in heat island effect, where black tar, asphalt, and rubberized surfaces trap heat making a building act like an oven in that vicinity. With extreme climate change comes extreme weather, where powerful storms will pass through southeast Michigan.

Buildings will need to be resilient to these storms that include strong winds, hail, and torrential rain with flash flooding. As part of the guidelines, buildings will need to be make changes to their designs to cope with disastrous storms. Mechanical systems can no longer be placed underground as they may be subject to flood damage, nor be placed on the roof of buildings as they are exposed to the strong winds that may occur. Thus, these vital life systems should be protected and built deep inside the building to isolate them from damage. Buildings need to be raised to allow flood water to pass underneath them, allowing for minimal damage to property and structure. Windows and transparencies need to withstand storm winds and debris that may hit them, due to the winds. Shields that can be lowered over the windows, or storm-proofed glass must be used to save the interiors of the campuses buildings from any damage or bodily harm. The University of Michigan has thrived for two centuries, producing some of the greatest achievements known in modern times, now the campus needs to protect itself for the next two centuries to keep this tradition of excellence moving forward.