Leonard Palmer

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Pipecycle_Design

Uniting building systems and design

Eco Folly Options Studio
Spring 2022
Harvard GSD
Instructors: Grace La & Erika Naginski
Using water as the thermal medium, the Pipecycle is a single-loop pipe system channeling the cold water from the existing underground reservoir. Formed in a Möbius strip, the duality in surface emissivity of the pipe system fluctuates the temperature of the water flowing through the Pipecycle, creating two thermal zones - one cool, one warm. The folly’s two extreme thermal experiences show the effect and potential of radiant cooling / heating without hiding the system. Rather, the form is created with the system, renegotiating the relationship between cause and effect, as well as building systems and design.

Exhibited at:
Our Artificial Nature, Druker Design Gallery, Harvard GSD, 2023.
Eco-Folly, Frances Loeb Library, Harvard GSD, 2022.

Building systems have traditionally been separated from architectural design, hiding the “cause” from the “effect.” Crane Co., the once leading manufacturer of bathroom fittings in the US, prided over the hiddenness of their plumbing fixtures – as we see in their bathroom advertisements from 1925. The plumbing fixtures never leave the blueprint so as to not disturb the carefully designed and controlled bathroom interior:
“Crane beauty in the open; Crane quality in all hidden fittings.”
The project site is on the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. Appropriate for the founder of a plumbing company, the Estate was built with a state-of-the-art plumbing and irrigation system. Even though it is a crucial water supply to the Estate, much of the vast system is hidden, with only a derelict structure at the edge of the parking lot visible to us. The project aims to elevate the reservoir’s presence, while seeing an opportunity in its supply of chill water to create a dynamic thermal experience.
Pipecycle sets out to demonstrate the potential of radiant cooling and heating by creating two micro-climates with a dynamic pipe system that embodies both cause and effect in its design and mechanism.
The design of the folly takes advantage of the geometrical characteristics of a one-sided ruled surface - the Möbius strip. The twist of the surface creates a condition where the interior surface becomes the exterior, then back to the interior. 
The polished aluminum pipes that make up the folly embody a duality in emissivity - a measurement of the rate at which a surface emits heat. One side is left uncoated for low emissivity, and the other side is painted with a matte black paint, increasing the emissivity close to 1. This duality of emissivity fluctuates the temperature of the water flowing through the Pipecycle, creating two distinct thermal zones - one cool and one warm.
The pipecycle uses the existing supply of cold water in the underground reservior.
Water enters the pipecycle at the eye of the well. The cold water at chills the space below ambient temperature. Then in the middle, the high emissivity black side of the pipes flip outward to absorb solar radiation from the south. The warm water then flows to the other side of the folly to create a warm zone.
The folly creates two extreme thermal experiences that show the effect and potential of radiant cooling and heating without hiding the system – rather, the form is created with the system, renegotiating the relationship between cause and effect, as well as building systems and design.
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