Mushy, Lumpy, River, Channel

This project aims to make a proposal for LA river’s man-made river channel about how to connect the communities around the river and recover the outdoor green space. The research of mushy, lumpy massing helps the proposal with techniques and form ideas.

Greg Lynn’s potato problem and Enric Miralles’s article on how to draw a croissant both talk about the technique of architecture models and drawings. However, they use something not architecture.

The thesis research starts with testing different surveys of a sweet potato. Photography and scanning make the mushy massing become a 2d drawing or image. Then, patterns and diagrams with are made from these photos. After that, different ways to digitally model the forms emphasize the relationship between materiality and geometry. Orange foam clay that resembles potato peels, silicone webs that filter air and water, and bars that act like dams are studies as formal techniques. It’s about how to document mush and recreate a mushy, lumpy massing. The same techniques used in the sweet potato research are utilized to create textured forms in the park and building designs, integrating material studies into the architectural process.

The LA River runs through Los Angeles, starting in the Santa Monica Mountains and flowing into the sea from Long Beach. At the beginning of the 20th century, Los Angeles suffered huge losses due to irregular river courses and flooding. As a result, the government built a concrete channel to protect lives and property. One hundred years later, this channel poses some other problems. The concrete channel prevents vegetation from growing and cuts the ecological community. The ecological system of the La river is fragile. The surrounding residential areas are cut off by rivers and highways, making communication difficult. It also causes worse economic inequality. The channel can’t provide green space and a natural environment for the surrounding neighborhoods.

My thesis opens a possibility for the LA River’s future that doesn’t remove the existing concrete by adding new ideas of material forms. Design still focuses on how to represent mushy, lumpy forms and massing. Several materials work together and create those hybrid models with more effect and experiences. Lots of elements would influence that area such as landscape, buildings, pathways, and bridges. The gray bars and silicone landscape talk about the possibility of the buildings and slopes. The orange foam clay and silicone webs talk about how the pathway and bridge work during the dry season. The project is not a singular proposal with a detailed plan to move forward. It’s an experiment and hope to engage people to think or talk about how to improve or rebuild the environment of LA River.

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Danyang Wu