“Geo-Helicoides”. Park for the restoration and preservation of native vegetation. San Agustín Basin, Valparaíso City, Chile

Abstract

Climate change and human intervention have caused a year-round water shortage in the ecosystem of the ravines of Valparaíso in Chile, which has led to the degradation of its soils, the disease of its native vegetation and a significant decrease in its coverage, which in turn creates the optimal conditions for the spread of fires.

The project seeks to capture the high relative humidity (greater than 65%) by channeling the prevailing winds (southwest), which maintain an average ambient temperature of 13.9 degrees Celsius, using a 30-meter-high device (Geo-Helicoide) that will channel the air flow vertically towards a chamber cooled by the annual and constant temperatures of the subsoil (6 to 7 degrees Celsius) where it will condense the water vapor due to the temperature difference that exists between the environment and the subsoil. Finally, the water will be collected and then infiltrated into the subsoil layer of weathered granite with the aim of keeping critical points of the ravine hydrated and also, to use it together with an irrigation system in areas of influence for restoration that require immediate hydration. The main architectural project is linked to this last strategy, which is a nursery due to its role in ecological restoration and community education.

The project idea proposes identifying the most degraded areas to locate the multifunctional water device that mainly takes advantage of the phenomenon of geothermal condensation in summer and that of the coastal trough through a fog-catching system in winter to collect water throughout the year, in order to recover and maintain the stability of native vegetation from different restoration areas both by irrigation and infiltration. The objective is to increase the humidity of the subsoil in the ravines of Valparaíso, reducing water scarcity and, consequently, the probability of fires throughout the year.