Complications and Restrictions

Complications and restrictions of the Howard Smith Wharves Site

1.    The connecting areas are well known for drug and drinking problems and popular hangouts for the homeless. This could restrict the usability of the area, especially at night. The structure would also be open to vandalism.

2.    This area was badly affected by the floods last year and there is a possibility it will happen again, any structure would have to be able to withstand flooding.

3.    Lack of connection to surrounding areas the space is very hidden, although the area connects to a bike path it is not particularly popular. Any structure would have to be publicized well in order to be properly utilized.

4.    Noise levels might affect the learning process.

5.    The site works well in fine weather, but is very exposed to the elements when the weather turns. The winds can get especially strong when travelling along the river.

6.    The sun can become very intense at the site especially in the height of summer.

The main complications that seem to need solving are protection from vandalism, protection from flooding, attracting the public, protection from rain and winds and protection from the sun.

General Protection Environmental Ideas:

Armor protects from predators: armadillo

"Many larger creatures recognize the value of having the least possible surface area. Rolling into a ball is a simple but effective form of defence, used by creatures as diverse as the woodlouse, the hedgehog, and the armadillo. The economy of shape is made even more effective by adding some form of flexible armour-plating on the surface of the sphere. All the vulnerable and vital organs and limbs are tucked away inside the protective casing, presenting a predator with a frustrating ball game instead of a meal." (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:21)

Pill millipedes protect themselves from predators by rolling their jointed skeletons into a ball.

"The pill millipede has the same strategy: its hard outer skeleton is jointed so it can roll into an impregnable ball, enclosing its head and numerous legs in armour plating. Not only is there no easy way in for the predator, but it would also need a much larger mouth to swallow a rolled-up millipede than a long thin stretched-out one." (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:21)

Attracting Public Environmental Ideas: 

The lower mandible of skimmer birds is used to improve their nighttime fishing technique by disturbing phosphorescent plankton in the water, attracting fish to the surface.

"The skimmer…has a unique fishing technique. It hunts at dusk or by night, flying low across the water, opening its beak and trailing its lower mandible in the water as it flies. This creates a line of light in its wake, which attracts fish. The bird then returns along the same path to pick up the fish, its beak snapping shut on contact with an edible object." (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:154)

Protection from Wind Environmental Ideas:

Stems and branches of Arctic willow protect from strong winds via horizontal growth.

"A species of willow developed that does not grow vertically upwards, like its European and American relatives. To do so would be to risk being flattened by the ferocious Arctic wind. Instead, it grows horizontally, keeping close to the ground. Even in the most favourable circumstances it seldom exceeds four inches in height. But it may become as long as some of its southern relatives are tall. When you walk across a carpet of such prostrate trees, you are, in effect, walking over a woodland canopy." (Attenborough 1995:249)

Protection from Sun Environmental Ideas:

Organic nanoparticles secreted by English ivy rootlets absorb and scatter ultraviolet light thanks to large surface-to-volume ratio and uniformity.

"Zhang, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, along with his research team and collaborators, has found that ivy nanoparticles may protect skin from UV radiation at least four times better than the metal-based sunblocks found on store shelves today…

"Zhang speculated the greenery's hidden power lay within a yellowish material secreted by the ivy…It also has the ability to soak up and disperse light which is integral to sunscreens.

"'Nanoparticles exhibit unique physical and chemical properties due to large surface-to-volume ratio which allows them to absorb and scatter light,' Zhang said. 'Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are currently used for sunscreen for the same reason, but the ivy nanoparticles are more uniform than the metal-based nanoparticles, and have unique material properties, which may help to enhance the absorption and scattering of light, and serve better as a sun-blocker.'" (EurekAlert! 2010)