Rain Rain Go Away

Infrastructure, originally meaning the mound of earth under rail tracks, is usually hidden from sight, like sewage pipes, or visible but enigmatically technical, like transmission towers. As we transition to new forms of energy and prepare for a less predictable and more extreme climate, fragments of an expanding and de-centralizing infrastructure will become increasingly present in our environment. Amidst this proliferation, we wanted to design an infrastructure that was intuitively understandable and a joyful part of everyday life.

Our brief was to design a water tower for a new furniture manufacturing campus in the peripheral Desakota region outside Shanghai. As part of the essential fire safety infrastructure, the water tower is required to be 30m tall to provide pressurized water for the sprinkler systems. Despite its utilitarian function, the water tower will inevitably be the tallest structure on campus and a visible landmark in the neighborhood.

As something often seen but only occasionally accessed, we want the water tower to be part of the everyday background - a quiet connection between the campus and the broader landscape and skyscape. Exploring an infrastructure that was intuitively understandable, we are reminded of the poem that "a cloud is a lake in the sky." The water tank recomposes standard radial water tank walls, creating a corrugated form that improves structural strength and responds to changing light conditions. The structure utilizes the necessary water pipes connecting the water tank to the ground - adding 12 more of the same in a precisely counter-balanced configuration to provide the required support and stability. Using components found in context allowed us to take advantage of local building expertise and reduce the economic and carbon cost and transport of materials.

We opted to place the water tower at the northwestern corner of the campus, where it helps wayfinding by marking the campus’s main entrance. It also presents an alluring destination for those adventurous enough to climb the service stairs to the top. The tank is emptied twice a year for regular maintenance, with the water released from a gravity-driven drainage system embedded at the bottom edge of the tank. For a moment, the tank appears as a little rain cloud, turning a standard routine into a visible and memorable moment.