PROFESSOR

LAURA PETERSON

STUDIO SECTION

LOS ANGELES: RE-IMAGING WASTEWATER

In 2018, Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles vowed to recycle all of the city’s wastewater into potable water by 2035 as a necessity to reduce L.A.'s growing need for imported water supplies.

Our societal “flush it and forget it” mentality simply does not work in an era defined by having either too much or too little water.

How we design 21st century infrastructures holds a foundational role in reimaging “waste”water.

The studio's site occupies the cross-section of The Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, Vista Del Mar, The Dockweiler State Beach and the Pacific Ocean, just south of LAX. Onsite, automobile, wastewater, recreation and dune preservation infrastructure have hard boundaries, running North-South down the Pacific coast. Partipants were asked to interrogate the tendency to separate and hide infrastructure through proposing a set of inside-out, hybridized structures, programs and processes that reframe Angelenos relationship to and experience of wastewater. The collection of proposals suggest that the delights of recreation combined with infrastructal networks of care offers a reevaluation 'waste'water towards a healthier and more accessible future for water on our planet.

︎︎︎BACK ︎

MALCOLM MCCULLOUGH

Max Coolidge

Diana Huang

ZAIN ABUSEIR

Sydney Cleveland

Muzi Li

OLAIA CHIVITE AMIGO

Jonathan Liao

Evan Meek

JACOB COMERCI

Benjamin Garcia

Dominica Kusmierczyk

LAURA MARIE PETERSON

Erica Behm,
Haley Beverlin

Lauren Conroy,
Zoë Meinke

STUDENT WORK

LAUREN CONROY,
ZOË MEINKE

“PIPE DREAMS”

The public restroom is one of the most frequented and politicized spaces we encounter. It enforces segregation and violence, and promotes excessive water consumption and waste through flawed fixtures and water systems.

Located on Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles, a city distinguished by water insecurity, homelessness, and a vibrant social community, "Pipe Dreams" redesigns the politics of the public restroom, creating a sustainable, accessible, and beautiful space that allows both privacy and delight through an immersive architectural experience. "Pipe Dreams" proposes a new future for the public restroom that welcomes all while caring for the environment.