...C L O U D S C A P E...
A UTOPIAN VISION FOR NEPAL
Floating alongside the Nepalese Hills of the Kathmandu Valley, Cloudscape is a superstructure designed to make a difference. Driven by the inherent qualities of the site and responding to the needs of its inhabitants, Cloudscape incorporates sustainable and efficient systems to help improve the quality of life.
Inspired by the beauty and functions of clouds, this skyscraper aims to fulfil vital needs of shelter, fresh water and power supply for a community rurally living at an altitude of up to 1500m above sea level. In the Kathmandu valley, the prevailing winds from the Bay of Bengal carry warm air inland which intercepts the Eastern hills. The warm air rises and cools which results in an abundance of clean cloud fog in the valley.
Site summary/ analysis
This quality of the site drove the form of this cloud-like design. Landscapes are known to reflect the living synthesis of people, their character and qualities.We have drawn upon the existing landscape and extended upon the stacked terraces for the design of this skyscraper. By doing so, the Nepalese community can adapt the space in a traditional way, allowing the rituals and living habits to continue. By utilising and responding to the existing land, we have created a sustainable system within a structure that cantilevers out towards the valley, enabling the terraces’ rich clay ground to be kept free for agriculture and farming.
With a rapidly growing population of 29 million, Nepal faces major health issues related to water pollution and supply. There is a lack of sanitation in rural Nepalese communities that causes the spread of disease and results in early childhood death. The average Nepali family dedicate up to six hours a day retrieving water to supply to their families. For the last 15 years, WaterAid a partner organization of Nepal Water for Health, have introduced fog collectors in different suffering areas of Nepal. This technology is designed to harvest fresh water from the sky as clouds have a natural purification system. The fog collectors gather as much as 5000 litres of fresh water per day giving a sustainable system to improve living conditions.
Cloudscape incorporates this technology in the form of molecular form inspired nets, which are placed as a skin on the exterior of the building. The nets collect purified water that is stored and distributed through gutter system to storage tanks that are located at the heart of the buildings. Power supply is also limited at such high altitudes and as a result, a second net addition has been put into place that is constructed of multiple solar panels that convert solar power into electricity to power family homes and factories.
Linking the land with the sky and the community with nature, Cloudscape is a Utopian structure, self contained and capable of facilitating the needs of the Nepalese community. Cloudscape wishes to provide simple solutions to those living in beautiful rural regions while simultaneously creating a space that can be shared with the rest of the visiting world.
In the Nepalese culture, guests are well appreciated and welcomed. This cultural value is important and is incorporated within the design creating interactive platforms that provide for the local community and tourists through their inhabitation of a shared space.
The form is driven from the pure, light and widespread idea of clouds with the function of the skyscraper also carrying qualities of a cloud as it uses nature to create clean,filtered water for the people of Nepal.
Defining “Skyscraper”
The Skyscraper refers to ideas of ‘Sky’ and ‘Scraper’The Sky is ‘upper atmosphere of the earth in which is the region of the Clouds.
Cloud is ‘a visible mass of water composed of ice molecules suspended in the atmosphere’
Scraper is ‘a tool used for removing unwanted matter from a surface in order to clean’
Skyscrapers are a link of the Landscape to the Sky.
Landscape is features of land with the physical elements of landforms their character and qualities which help define the image of a region - the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives.
Scape is a suffix that denotes ‘a scene or view of something’
Skyscraper is a superstructure that exists in response to the links of Sky and landscape i.e Clouds. The structure ulitises the qualities of clouds to give a scrape system that purifies the atmospheric conditions in the Kathmandu Valley. The Skyscraper will impact and will be impacted by the habitation of humans and the natural weather influences with the integration of the Landscape characteristics to create a sustainable community Scape.
