The Idealized Atmosphere
Fall 2021

The Idealized Atmosphere is a proposal for an urban community development that performs environmental remediation producing change beyond itself through architectural design. As a practical utopia, this new form of economic exchange applies aspects of a Blue Zone to a site in Merced, California to reorient a healthy lifestyle while protecting its inhabitants from the contaminated environment. Blue Zones are distinct locations where people live longer than average due to an abundance of natural light, clean air, healthy diets, etc. Aspects of a Blue Zone are replicated through essential architectural elements to accommodate for the city’s lack of accessible walking and bike paths, healthy food options, and inability to maintain consistent access of clean air to the public. Air purification, water filtration, adaptable opening and closing spaces, self-sustaining farms, multiple ways for moving, proximity to resources, and interior habitats allow the community access to an economy that promotes environmental change and protection. Since Merced lays within the San Joaquin Valley, the city contains both ozone and particulate matter air pollution. This operable urban circulation uses louvers to allow the interior atmosphere to close in response to poor air conditions. New developments to the city planning will assist the economy in positively contributing to both the internal and external atmosphere and provide it with the convenience of being open to interpretation and change as the environment changes. As the external environment changes over time, the proposed site allows for continuous additions and modifications to accommodate for future environmental decompositions. By becoming an architecturally designed “Blue Zone”, the new economy produces and encourages a healthy lifestyle and creates new interactions between people, wildlife, internal spaces, and the external atmosphere.

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Programs Used: Rhino 3D & Adobe Illustrator