My thesis aims to find ways to work with rainwater as a valuable resource rather than a nuisance, and furthermore, bring light and awareness to an issue lingering on our doorstep as future architects, to be ready to tackle. By designing an extension that can handle and reuse both rainwater and the already built upon footprints of the city, it generates wellbeing and space for new residents in our increasingly dense urban environment. Reminding the city of ways to co-live with water and each other, rather than fear it. 

In the urban environment, the rooftops are the first surfaces encountered by raindrops.  It is useful, therefore, to collect the rain and retain it temporarily where it lands.  The project will not aim to propose a general design solution for dealing with rainwater in urban settings, but rather to ignite inspiration for considering rainwater management as a design element in the first place, and how it influences architecture. 

My proposal for an extension involves raising the existing building by demolishing an attic floor and adding a new residential floor, along with a rooftop terrace and pavilion. This will include 24 new student dorms and collective areas, as well as a refurbishment of the courtyard and all of the existing facades.

Collected rainwater from is invited in, sensed, retained, reused, and then flows out of the building again. Residents, both new and current, can become part of the cyclic system by collectively growing their own produce, washing clothes, playing with it, or enjoying it through greenery and evaporation.