ABetteker: Olentangy River Algae Production

This project is from a design studio from Fall 2012 that focused on sites of excess contamination. Working with a partner, we focused on the Olentangy River in Columbus, Ohio and the contamination from combined and sanitary sewer overflows. This contamination has led to a disconnect between the community and the river, decreased biodiversity, as well as algal blooms from nutrient overloading. In an effort to better the public interaction and utilize the river as a source of production, we began to rethink it as a network of algae production sites where algae is harvested and used as an energy source. In doing so, contaminants would be captured prior to entering the Olentangy River making it a safe source of water for recreation and it creates an opportunity for using the byproducts of algae production to design unique public spaces for the community.

We chose three diverse scales of sites to further explore in more detail. The largest scale is dedicated to mass production of algae located along a tributary at an Ohio State agricultural site for increased runoff of nutrients. For our medium scale site, we chose a highly contaminated tributary that uses open pond algae production and has an outdoor theater powered by algae processed by an anaerobic digester. The smallest scale site is located in the heart of the recreation facilities at Ohio State. This site produces algae in photo-bioreactors that generate heat, utilizing this byproduct we designed hot springs along the river.