The Gift of Water Through Community Design

Madalyn Bowden ’25, Amy Zhang Jiang ’25, and Abigail Pena ’25 took part in the USF Architecture capstone studio Community Design Outreach during the Fall 2024 semester! This past January, eleven students and Professors Seth Watchel and Ross McCarthy embarked on an immersion trip to Ajo, Arizona to meet with non-profit organization, Humane Borders, volunteers for a week-long stay in the Sonoran Desert. Read how their experience in Ajo gave them a hands-on perspective on border issues and the vital role of humanitarian aid. 

Phase 1:  Design

Mady:  During the fall 2024 semester, the USF Architecture capstone studio Community Design Outreach, developed prototype designs to improve the water stations used by the
nonprofit Humane Borders to provide water to migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert in
Southern Arizona. During the term, there were multiple zoom sharings of design progress
with our community partner so that the designs reflected the needs of those who would
be placing and maintaining the new water stations. Much of the design process was
spent researching many different materials and how well they would hold up in a desert
environment and maintain the water at a drinkable temperature. The Sonoran Desert is
very harsh with temperatures reaching up to 120 degrees during the day and below 20
degrees at night. High winds, a wide range of wildlife, and acts of vandalism were also
considerations during the design process. In addition to addressing the environmental
conditions, our prototype focused on using durable easily obtained materials and simple
building instructions. The primary design challenges were insulation from extreme
temperatures, easy-function auto shut-off spigots, and simple assembly or robust support
structures for the 450-pound water-filled barrels. We used a variety of materials including
wood, metal, insulation wrap, irrigation piping, and concrete block in our designs.
Despite all using similar materials and having the same goals, our designs still varied
quite a bit. From a simply assembled stand for the insulated barrels to a fully shaded
structure, all our prototypes were created with functionality and adaptability in mind.
Three of the designs were selected by our community partner for testing at their water
station sites.

Phase 2:  Build

Amy:  The full-scale prototypes built at USF could not be brought to southern Arizona, so the team developed and shared a materials list for each design. The materials were
purchased by Humane Borders before our Sunday, January 12th arrival in Ajo, Arizona.
Monday was spent building the prototypes based on construction documents created
during the fall semester. Each team focused on a specific structure, making adjustments
based on the site conditions. By the end of the day, we finished adjusting and prepping
all of the parts we needed to assemble the structures on-site. With everything we set out
to make that day completed, we were ready the next day to head to the southern border
wall for installation and testing.

Phase 3:  Analysis and Installation

Abby:  The Installation and analysis phase took place on the 3rd and 6th day of our trip. USF Architecture and Humane Borders made our way down to the Border Wall, where we installed and tested our water barrel structures in areas where migrants would need them the most. From this part of the experience, we were able to gain a better understanding of what conditions are like for migrants at these water stations, as well as how well our designs would fare in winter conditions. Even in the winter, the desert was already bearing some high and low temperatures that could affect the drinkability of the water stored in the barrels. The structures that we designed were intended to help regulate temperature under the extreme desert sun and cold nights. Having this hands-on opportunity to  analyze the effectiveness of our designs we were able to determine where our prototypes were effective, and where they needed improvement. As an example, we were able to make advances in our design by adding insulation to the front of the barrel in addition to the sides. This lowered the temperature of the water even on a cool day by 2 degrees, something that had not been achieved before.

An area of our design that needed improvement was the spigots that give access to the water. Our team handpicked spigots that would make it easier for migrants to use, had automatically shut off, and were made of long-lasting materials. However, once tested in the desert, we realized that some spigots would not tighten fully to the bung that seals the water. This led to slight leakage, so a current team in this spring semester’s Construction Innovation course is currently working on to remedy. Our experience during the one-week immersion enabled us to connect directly with our community partners and potential users in their environment and test the viability of our research and assumptions that went into the prototype mockups made in San Francisco in our academic studio. The opportunity to design, prototype, and then test everything in real time gave us invaluable real-world experience that could not have been so thorough and effective in the classroom alone. The nine USF students who went on this trip with Professors Wachtel and McCarthy are excited to be joined by new students in making the designs even better. We hope that this becomes a recurring trip to the Sonoran Desert to continue our relationship with Humane Borders and others, as we work to make the world a better place for all.

Want to find out more on their immersion? Stay tuned for part two as Mady, Abby, and Amy along with other USFCA Architecture students take on Ajo, Arizona!