Last summer, Texas A&M College of Architecture students collaborated with the Oceanographic Institute of the Ecuadorean navy and the College of Geosciences to develop design concepts for am off-the-grid marine research center in one of the world’s most famous island chains — the biologically diverse Galapagos Islands.
Students in summer studios led by College of Architecture professors Pliny Fisk, Craig Babe and Jody Naderi unveiled designs last September for the proposed solar-powered research center before an audience that included representatives from the Ecuadorean navy.
“We tried to concentrate on understanding the Galapagos Islands,” said Fisk prior to the students’ presentations. “The students did a lot of research and worked from that, developing technologies, techniques and crafts.”
In their building designs, one group used scaffolding, another used bamboo, and another used heavy timber that many builders consider a discard material or secondary species, said Fisk.
The groups created models at 1:100 scale, as well as sections of their work at a 1:20 and a 1:1 scale.
The College of Architecture’s involvement in the project began when the solar-powered Aggie groHome, the college’s entry in the 2007 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., attracted the attention of Niall Slowey, professor of oceanography at Texas A&M and Edwin Pinto, an officer in the Ecuadorean navy who his pursuing a Ph.D. in oceanography at Texas A&M.
Pinto is one of several naval officers from Ecuador who have come to College Station to earn graduate degrees from Texas A&M’s College of Geosciences. Pinto, his fellow officers, Slowey, and the College of Geosciences have been working for the last three years to establish the research center
“We liked it (the groHome) because it was well-thought out environmentally, it’s adaptable and affordable,” said Slowey, who said he and Pinto thought the groHome concept for the Galapagos research center was a good place to begin instead of starting from scratch.
They approached Mark Clayton, then interim head of the Department of Architecture, who was receptive to their idea.
Slowey said the next step will be another collaboration between the colleges and navy to arrive at a final design for the research station.
He envisions the station as a group of buildings that will house the marine research center operations while facilitating visiting researchers from Ecuador, Texas A&M and affiliated institutions. It could also be used for conferences and student field study.
Researchers at the center, Slowey said, will study various aspects of the island chain’s marine environment. They will also look at the sea floor, he said, to gain a better understanding of the surrounding ecosystem and preferred habitats of the various marine organisms.
“The lab itself is going to be unique — a showcase and a test bed where architects can do long-term studies for evaluating sustainable technologies and approaches,” he said.
The notoriety of the Galapagos Islands, Slowey said, can help the project reach a wider audience as a teaching facility for sustainable ideas hatched by architects, engineers and marine scientists.
The Galapagos Islands are located approximately 600 miles west of Ecuador and consist of 19 islands surrounded by a large marine reserve. They are located at the confluence of three ocean currents, host a variety of unique animal species and are the site of ongoing seismic and volcanic activity.
- September 29, 2008 -
