Ring H2O Code PAC065 This proposal develops ideas for sustainable amphibious living by integrating living environments into the landscape of marshes utilized in wastewater treatment processes. While waste treatment is often hidden and seperated from immediate living areas, this project proposes a co-dependency of dwelling and context to achieve a form of conscious sustainable living. By adapting this attitude , this project seeks out and encourages the presence of water, rather than attempting to detain its onset. Relying on natural processes as a guide for human settlement, and careful and subtle interventions, the creation of a rich ecology is enabled. introduction Constructed wetlands are increasingly being used as an effective way of treating domestic wastewater. This project proposes the integration of dwelling into these landscapes. The special organization of marshes necessary to treat water is the basis for settlement growth and planning. wastewater treatment and landscape In the proposed wastewater treatment method, liquid is separated from solids within a sequence of processes. The water passes through different stages of treatment, in a landscape comprised of constructed ponds. Some ponds contain no vegetation to encourage the growth of algae, while others are full of diverse plant life to filter the water and consume the algae. In the last stages of the treatment, the clean water flows into enhancement marshes, where a rich ecology thrives. urban proposal The initial gesture in this urban proposal consists of finding land suitable for constructing wetland, setting down a headworks plant and constructing the initial rings of water to be used in the filtering process. The rings, used as foot and bike paths, are connected by a soft floating structure containing the infrastructure. Cars are allowed onto this connecting structure but are not allowed within the rings. Building growth appears first at the junction of rings, along their periphery, encouraging an active, mixed-use environment. As growth occurs, secondary pedestrian paths are allowed to string off of controlled points into the rings. The maximum housing density allowed to occur in each ring is carefully controlled. As more growth occurs, more water rings appear. floating primary structure The construction of piles is replaced here by a system of floating platforms 18 meters long. The platforms are constructed at three widths - 4.5m, 6.5m, and 11.5m. One end of these elongated platforms is weighed into the water. The rest of the platform is a series of air-water chambers which can be regulated to counterbalance the variety of forces which act upon it. The combination of weighted area and air chambers enable this structure to adapt to either soft ground situations or full water immersion and accommodate a variety of structural solutions above. secondary structural system and lifestyle The initial system of walls and floor slabs enable each platform to stand alone or in an aggregate. One side of each plaform is zoned as circulation. The combination of the structure with these circulation zones create an open matrix that can be accessed in a variety of ways. This zoning and structural approach allows for various spatial distributions and division, thereby accommodating growth and change, a key element of many modern lifestyles. The various scales of space that these structures allow different kinds of activities to occur within them.