Architecture as a Mediator: Where the living and Water Coexist
Disciplines
Architectural Engineering | Environmental Design | Historic Preservation and Conservation | Landscape Architecture
Abstract (300 words maximum)
The Huatanay River once nourished the greatest civilization in South America, the Incan Empire. Now, its waters contain fecal coliform levels more than twenty times the safe limit and its banks lined with debris. A river that once tied the people together has become one that divides them. The Huatanay River, “the one that ties”, once anchored Cusco’s urban, agricultural, and spiritual systems, as noted by scholars such as John Hyslop and Carolyn Dean. Today, studies by the Instituto de Manejo de Agua y Medio Ambiente reveal that over eighty percent of Cusco’s wastewater flows untreated into the river, transforming this sacred artery into a source of contamination and loss. As a Peruvian who has stood beside its polluted banks, this disconnection feels personal. This design research explores how architecture can act as a mediator between people and their environment, drawing from Julia Watson’s Lo–TEK and Andean water traditions to reimagine the Huatanay as a living system capable of restoring reciprocity between culture, ecology, and community. Methodologically, this project employs historical research, cartographic analysis, and site observation to understand the Huatanay’s spatial, cultural, and ecological transformations. Qualitative mapping and visual documentation are paired with precedent and theoretical studies to bridge empirical research with speculative design. The Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration in Seoul, Madrid Río in Spain, and the Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan serve as guiding precedents, revealing how urban rivers can be reclaimed as ecological and social infrastructure. The paper engages Julia Watson’s Lo–TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism, which values indigenous innovation and symbiosis with nature, alongside Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism, which situates architecture within cultural and climatic context. Together, these frameworks ground the argument that architecture, when rooted in memory and reciprocity, become the language through which the Huatanay River and its people learn to coexist again.
*Disclaimer: AI was used to generate this abstract in terms of content.*
Use of AI Disclaimer
yes
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CACM – Architecture
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Eshan Sheikholharam Mashhadi
Architecture as a Mediator: Where the living and Water Coexist
The Huatanay River once nourished the greatest civilization in South America, the Incan Empire. Now, its waters contain fecal coliform levels more than twenty times the safe limit and its banks lined with debris. A river that once tied the people together has become one that divides them. The Huatanay River, “the one that ties”, once anchored Cusco’s urban, agricultural, and spiritual systems, as noted by scholars such as John Hyslop and Carolyn Dean. Today, studies by the Instituto de Manejo de Agua y Medio Ambiente reveal that over eighty percent of Cusco’s wastewater flows untreated into the river, transforming this sacred artery into a source of contamination and loss. As a Peruvian who has stood beside its polluted banks, this disconnection feels personal. This design research explores how architecture can act as a mediator between people and their environment, drawing from Julia Watson’s Lo–TEK and Andean water traditions to reimagine the Huatanay as a living system capable of restoring reciprocity between culture, ecology, and community. Methodologically, this project employs historical research, cartographic analysis, and site observation to understand the Huatanay’s spatial, cultural, and ecological transformations. Qualitative mapping and visual documentation are paired with precedent and theoretical studies to bridge empirical research with speculative design. The Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration in Seoul, Madrid Río in Spain, and the Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan serve as guiding precedents, revealing how urban rivers can be reclaimed as ecological and social infrastructure. The paper engages Julia Watson’s Lo–TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism, which values indigenous innovation and symbiosis with nature, alongside Kenneth Frampton’s Critical Regionalism, which situates architecture within cultural and climatic context. Together, these frameworks ground the argument that architecture, when rooted in memory and reciprocity, become the language through which the Huatanay River and its people learn to coexist again.
*Disclaimer: AI was used to generate this abstract in terms of content.*