Picture the Future

With my board shown above, I want to tell a paint a picture of the upcoming future. A picture that represents my desire and vision for the future and the rise and application of a mindful architecture. Leaving the old and known behind and breaking through, in order to create a path for a new way of thinking. It starts with a grayish and black foundation that has been broken due to a change of mind and the desire to make a positive change for the future. Knowing that design is the key, the action of transforming our current architecture into sustainable architecture slowly emerges. The multi-green shapes represent the ideas and practices that initiated this way of designing. These shapes create a second foundation that becomes the soil for plants and trees that rise among a cityscape. But this is a new kind of city, it’s a better version of what we currently have. The city scape is the outcome of the application of improved sustainable design principles applied to buildings and outdoors. This ultimately results in better communities and quality life for all. Lastly, the non-tangible result is the ripple effect that I desire. A ripple effect that goes beyond architecture and provoke all humans to rethink our way of living.

Individual Project: Dehumidification on Hot and Humid Climates
The project concentrates on understanding dehumidification, identifying and studying some of the equipment configuration commonly used and evaluating their performance when applied into a study model located in a tropical climate. So far, active (Cooling-based dehumidification) and passive (desiccant dehumidifiers) dehumidification strategies are part of the analysis of the project. However, as the project moves along, there will be a bigger emphasis on desiccants as dehumidifiers and understanding how and under which configurations they can perform best (reduction of humidity ratio wise). Understanding that passive dehumidification is a challenge, the overall purpose of the project is to create an information resource and to continue the identification of a system configuration that could achieve the reduction of humidity by mostly passive means.
Additionally, to understand the performance of the dehumidification strategies, the project includes the climate analysis for La Lima, Honduras (a city with hot and humid climate conditions). From the climate analysis, the project also provides an insight of the meaning of thermal comfort for the analyzed climate.
Currently, the project is in the “Literature Review” stage.

Mentor: Guowei Wu

Ana Diaz Cerrato – Honduras

Ana Diaz Cerrato – Honduras

After her bachelor’s in architecture at the Central American Technological University (UNITEC), Ana went to Arizona State University for her Master in Built Environment, Energy Performance and Climate Responsive Architecture (MSBE). Before coming here, she was an architectural consultant for the International Organization for Migrations (IOM Honduras) for “Return and Reintegration Program in the Northern Triangle”.