Waste Economies — Joshua Chiang

In Landscape As Infrastructure, Pierre Belanger calls on architects to “redefine the conventional meaning of modern infrastructure by amplifying the biophysical landscape that it has historically suppressed, and to reformulate landscape as a sophisticated, instrumental system of essential resources, services, and agents that generate and support urban economies.” In Houston, the intersection between Lockwood Drive and Buffalo Bayou marks an inflection point where the Houston Ship Channel, recognized as the largest petrochemical industrial complex in the world, coincides with the urban and residential life of the city.

As the nexus between the vital Gulf Coast and an extensive global supply chain, refineries, chemical plants, and warehouses proliferate along the banks of Buffalo Bayou in the East End. These resource-intensive facilities are gradually being decommissioned and demolished, leaving in their wake a series of contaminated sites with a myriad of scales and adjacencies. This project responds to these broader patterns of urban transformation occurring in Houston by proposing bio-industrial development as a viable future for the East End.

I. Lockwood South Apartments

II. Northside Wastewater Plant

Site Selection

In considering bio-industrial protocols through the current context of Houston’s East End, the project challenges the development of two sites that are currently held by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) as part of their ten-year master plan for the district.

I. Lockwood South Apartments is a multifamily residential community planned to accommodate both senior housing and affordable housing. This 18-acre site, trapped between a metal foundry and a concrete crushing plant, increases environmental risk and injustice for already vulnerable populations. While a Texas Health and Safety statute prohibits new concrete crushers from being located within 440 yards of a residence, it does not prevent the reverse from occurring as it does at this forthcoming location.

II. BBP has proposed to transform the former site of Northside Wastewater Plant into a leisure park. The 22-acre decommissioned plant is positioned at a low-lying site with the capacity to facilitate critical ecological services beyond leisure and recreation. Its abandoned wastewater infrastructure used to process 5.5 million gallons of wastewater per day, a significant capacity that can be deployed for stormwater runoff storage or contaminant filtration.

II. Northside Wastewater Works Nursery

III. Northside Wastewater Works Wetland

I. Lockwood South Composting Facility

Bio-Infrastructure

Situated across these sites, the three protocols generate a cyclical bio-industrial system that supports the East End. Waste is diverted, converted, and reconstituted to cultivate ecological services such as managing organic waste, promoting biodiversity, and filtering pluvial runoff.

I. Lockwood South Composting occupies the former site of the multifamily residential community. Yard and food waste is sourced from Fifth Ward, Second Ward, and Denver Harbor/Port Houston. When the organic matter arrives, it undergoes a process of shredding and grinding. The waste is formed into windrows, which are aerated by a compost turner every two weeks.

II. The Lockwood Wastewater Works Nursery propagates species that thrive in both riparian and land conditions, contributing to a multitude of uses, including wetland planting and along the bayou. Aquatic plants grow in both outdoor planting beds and grow tents. After the growing season, the plants are collected for off-site distribution along the bayou.

III. The Lockwood Wastewater Works Wetland transforms the Northside Wastewater Plant into a living stormwater remediation wetland. By implementing a system of floating wetlands, the existing infrastructure’s high detention volume is preserved. Periodically, macrophytes from the floating wetlands are harvested and composted to complete the remediation process.

Material Exchange Timeline

In a cycle instigated by ecological provision, these protocols reciprocate material needs while supporting the East End. Feedstocks, such as nutrient-rich compost, plant seedlings, and filtered stormwater, are exchanged between the processes. Waste, in the form of harvested biomass or plant trimmings, are returned to compost.

Speculations

By integrating urban-ecological systems through a cyclical economy of waste, this project imagines an alternative future where biogenic processes are integral to the residential life of Houston. The video narrative speculates on how bio-industries are capable of engaging with various publics.

Video Stills

Bayou Bike Trail

Bayou Pocket Park

East End Outpost

Initial Research

Software:
ArcGIS
Rhinoceros 3D
V-Ray
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign