Woollypod Design

  • A section of the site showing a concrete canal carrying water that flows to a rammed-earth-walled gathering space. The gathering space has several figures in it and many benches. In the gathering space, an overhead pipe carries water into a central funnel which connects to a water tank. The gathering space is much taller than the scale figures and has a funnel-like roof that slopes up to the left (north) end. Excess water flows out of the tank and into a lush wetland area beyond.
  • Another section of the site. This one highlights the outside wing of the gathering space, which is covered in hardy kiwi vines. A path zig-zags on either side up the lawn behind the space.
  • A sketch in pen depicting water flowing from the roof into the funnel in the center of the gathering space.
  • A sketch in pen depicting water flowing out of the bottom of the gathering space into a drainage channel and then into a pond. The trellis which hardy kiwi vines grow upon is also shown.
  • A simple digital plan view of the space. A central room with arced benches is bordered to the north by a storage room and two restrooms.
  • A hand-drawn plan with digital images showing the landscape around the building. The landscape to the north of the building is conventional with expanses of lawn while the landscape to the south uses runoff to grow a wetland, and contains a meadow and a forested area.
  • A diagram showing the concept of the site plan. The north end shows a straight channel that is labeled ‘Water is Controlled & Isolated’. The community gathering space is full of interlocking hands with a label that reads ‘People Gather to Change the Course’. Water flows out of the community gathering space to the south, labeled ‘Water Supports a Vibrant Ecosystem & Diverse Uses’.
  • A diagram showing an excavator digging a pit. This is labeled ‘Foundation and Water Storage Excavated’. An arrow points from this to a simplified drawing of the form of the building. This reads ‘Soil Used to Create Gathering Space Walls’.
  • A page filled with various hand-drawn sketches about the space’s concept.
  • Another page of sketches.
Streams’ Meeting

Stream’s Meeting is a gathering space for community groups working to create positive change in their neighborhoods and beyond which sits atop a storage tank holding over two hundred thousand gallons of water. The design itself inspires thought in visitors about our power over water, the effects of unsustainable uses of water, and our ability to co-create a healthier relationship with water. An artificial canal symbolizing our current relationship with water flows into the north side of the building and emerges from the south side as a meandering bio-swale, while rainwater that falls onto the funnel-shaped roof flows into a funnel within the room connected to the cistern beneath.

Location: Seattle, Washington

Year: Winter 2021

Class: ARCH 201: Architectural Design and Representation II

Additional Credits: Rammed earth texture from SIREWALL. Photos in collage sourced from these organizations: ecosystemphoto.com, Getty Images, Break Free From Plastic, The Wandle Trust, Growing Vine Street, iStock, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Photo credit to these individuals: Bjoorn van Thuelen, Jun Gomez, Paul Joseph Brown, Domin_Domin, Joel Rogers, Rob Wilson, Eric Higbee Kistler, Daniel J Cox, and Kaya Erbil.

Woollypod Design

miguelso [at] woollypoddesign [dot] com

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I practice design on the ancestral lands of the Plateau peoples or the Coast Salish peoples, who have stewarded these ecosystems since time immemorial.