{"id":119329,"date":"2025-10-14T10:06:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/?page_id=119329"},"modified":"2025-10-14T10:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:06:37","slug":"designers-rethinking-our-relationship-to-water","status":"publish","type":"metro_viewpoint","link":"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/viewpoints\/designers-rethinking-our-relationship-to-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Designers Rethinking Our Relationship to Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-sandow-article-header article-header\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-header\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1331\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-1024x532.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-768x399.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-1536x799.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1-2048x1065.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An infrastructural art project by Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio, Bending the River redirects a portion of the L.A. River beneath downtown into a purification system and biowetland. The cleansed water irrigates urban green spaces\u2014reclaiming floodplain ecology and reimagining water as a shared civic resource. Courtesy Metabolic Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group article-header_intro none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><p class=\"article-date\" aria-label=\"Post Date\">October 14, 2025<\/p>\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-post-title\">Designers Rethinking Our Relationship to Water<\/h1><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column article-header_meta is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<p class=\"summary size-regular\">Across sculpture, planning, and public space, designers are making invisible water systems visible again\u2014and challenging us to live differently with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-sandow-byline byline size-regular\"><span>By: <\/span><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"//tag//timothy-a-schuler/">Timothy A. Schuler<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"social-share\"><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.facebook.com//sharer//sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Fdesigners-rethinking-our-relationship-to-water%2F\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M9 8h-3v4h3v12h5v-12h3.642l.358-4h-4v-1.667c0-.955.192-1.333 1.115-1.333h2.885v-5h-3.808c-3.596 0-5.192 1.583-5.192 4.615v3.385z\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.linkedin.com//sharing//share-offsite//?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Fdesigners-rethinking-our-relationship-to-water%2F\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M4.98 3.5c0 1.381-1.11 2.5-2.48 2.5s-2.48-1.119-2.48-2.5c0-1.38 1.11-2.5 2.48-2.5s2.48 1.12 2.48 2.5zm.02 4.5h-5v16h5v-16zm7.982 0h-4.968v16h4.969v-8.399c0-4.67 6.029-5.052 6.029 0v8.399h4.988v-10.131c0-7.88-8.922-7.593-11.018-3.714v-2.155z\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"http:////pinterest.com//pin//create//button//?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Fdesigners-rethinking-our-relationship-to-water%2F&amp;description=Designers+Rethinking+Our+Relationship+to+Water\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"> <path d=\"M12 0c-6.627 0-12 5.372-12 12 0 5.084 3.163 9.426 7.627 11.174-.105-.949-.2-2.405.042-3.441.218-.937 1.407-5.965 1.407-5.965s-.359-.719-.359-1.782c0-1.668.967-2.914 2.171-2.914 1.023 0 1.518.769 1.518 1.69 0 1.029-.655 2.568-.994 3.995-.283 1.194.599 2.169 1.777 2.169 2.133 0 3.772-2.249 3.772-5.495 0-2.873-2.064-4.882-5.012-4.882-3.414 0-5.418 2.561-5.418 5.207 0 1.031.397 2.138.893 2.738.098.119.112.224.083.345l-.333 1.36c-.053.22-.174.267-.402.161-1.499-.698-2.436-2.889-2.436-4.649 0-3.785 2.75-7.262 7.929-7.262 4.163 0 7.398 2.967 7.398 6.931 0 4.136-2.607 7.464-6.227 7.464-1.216 0-2.359-.631-2.75-1.378l-.748 2.853c-.271 1.043-1.002 2.35-1.492 3.146 1.124.347 2.317.535 3.554.535 6.627 0 12-5.373 12-12 0-6.628-5.373-12-12-12z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"mailto:?body=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Fdesigners-rethinking-our-relationship-to-water%2F&amp;subject=Designers+Rethinking+Our+Relationship+to+Water\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M12 12.713l-11.985-9.713h23.97l-11.985 9.713zm0 2.574l-12-9.725v15.438h24v-15.438l-12 9.725z\"\/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column empty-header-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap size-regular\">The idea that water is fundamental to life&nbsp;is a truth acknowledged by cultures throughout world history. The Lakota phrase <em>Mn\u00ed wi\u010dh\u00f3ni<\/em>, which translates to \u201cWater is life,\u201d became the rallying cry of Indigenous activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. The same idea is central to Western understandings of biological evolution; indeed, the search for extraterrestrial life is, in many ways, a search for water.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">In spite of water\u2019s life-sustaining power, humans became masters at rendering it invisible over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Creeks were buried, waterfronts walled off. In 1984, a Berkeley landscape architect led an effort to \u201cdaylight\u201d a portion of Strawberry Creek, the first documented example of an urban waterway being exhumed. The 40 years since have seen cities gradually reversing course, with billions of dollars invested in daylighting projects and waterfront redevelopment. And yet even decades of daylighting efforts have not obviated the need for artists and architects to help visualize this vast planetary system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Few people know this better than Anthony Acciavatti, an associate professor of architecture at Yale University. Acciavatti\u2019s exhibition <em><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.rescue-water4all.eu//groundwater-venice-biennale-architecture///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grounded Growth: Groundwater\u2019s Blueprint for Intelligent Urban Form<\/a><\/em>, currently on view as part of the 2025 <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//porch-an-invitation-to-explore-american-architecture-at-the-venice-biennale///">Venice Architecture Biennale<\/a>, argues that the pace and scale of groundwater extraction worldwide represents the \u201chidden front line of climate change,\u201d contributing to both land subsidence and sea level rise\u2014and enabling patterns of human settlement and agriculture that are fundamentally unsustainable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Grounded-Growth-9805-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9805-scaled.jpg 1707w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9805-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9805-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9805-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9805-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9805-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Created by Anthony\u00a0Acciavatti and showcased at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, Grounded Growth positions aquifers as shared urban infrastructure. Drawing on case studies from the Indo\u2011Gangetic Plain and Arizona\u2019s Sonoran Desert, the exhibition imagines regenerative agri\u2011communities that recharge groundwater while guiding future urban form. Seeing groundwater as a civic commons reveals how deeply this hidden resource shapes our cities, agriculture, and climate resilience. \u00a9 MARCO ZORZANELLO Courtesy Anthony Acciavatti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Role of Groundwater in Shaping Climate Resilience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">The exhibition revolves around a series of suspended sculptures that make visible the world\u2019s aquifers, the subterranean reservoirs on which more than half of the global population now relies for drinking water or irrigation. Focused on two of the most embattled aquifers on earth\u2014beneath North America\u2019s Sonoran Desert and India\u2019s Indo-Gangetic Plain\u2014the exhibition encourages attendees to <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//how-can-designers-listen-to-water///">view groundwater as a global commons<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">\u201cIn 1898, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled\u2014and it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1906\u2014that groundwater is a constituent part of someone\u2019s private property,\u201d Acciavatti explains. In reality, he said, these water bodies are as inseparable as the air in the atmosphere. And yet, around the world, aquifers are being depleted at speeds that don\u2019t allow nature to keep up. In 2017 alone, humans pumped out the equivalent of two Lake Eries, Acciavatti notes. More recently, a team of scientists concluded that groundwater extraction had measurably altered the earth\u2019s tilt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Grounded-Growth-9840-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9840-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9840-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9840-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9840-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9840-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Grounded-Growth-9840-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00a9 MARCO ZORZANELLO Courtesy Anthony Acciavatti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reimagining Water &amp; Architectural Interventions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Acciavatti\u2019s sculptures are fabricated out of wood and wire mesh, employing the language of architectural scale models but inverting it: Buildings and infrastructure are upside down, the straw-like mechanical wells extending upward through the diaphanous aquifers. In form, the tubular dioramas recall geological core samples, as well as water wells themselves. \u201cI always had a deep affection and interest in how to model ground as not just a single line,\u201d says Acciavatti of the three-dimensional models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">As a problem, groundwater extraction will require political solutions, but Acciavatti sees promise in site-scale interventions as well. He has proposed converting Arizona\u2019s derelict shopping centers\u2014including Tucson\u2019s former Foothills Mall, demolished in 2023\u2014into <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//toronto-stormwater-treatment-facility-gh3///">large artificial sponges<\/a> that can collect water during the rainy season and allow it to recharge into the aquifer. In New Delhi, he envisions underground cisterns to store rainwater from monsoons, a natural resource that could replace the city\u2019s reliance on often-contaminated groundwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">A body of water doesn\u2019t have to be buried to have lost its place in the collective consciousness. In cities around the country, <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//ghost-river-baltimore///">rivers and lakes remain hidden<\/a> or are inaccessible. This was one of many observations made by the architects and planners at Ayers Saint Gross, following a yearlong investigation into various American universities\u2019 <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////ayerssaintgross.com//work//service//landscape-architecture///">relationships to water<\/a>. Since 1998, the Baltimore-based design firm has selected a group of college campuses to compare as part of an internal research project. Initially only concerned with universities&#8217; size and spatial arrangements with no hydrological component, the initiative has grown to take on different annual themes. In 2024, the firm decided to tackle water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1629\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//2024_CC_UW-Madison.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_UW-Madison.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_UW-Madison-300x244.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_UW-Madison-1024x834.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_UW-Madison-768x626.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_UW-Madison-1536x1251.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ayers\u00a0Saint\u00a0Gross\u2019s Comparing Campuses 2024: Water research examines eight global university campuses and their relationships to adjacent water bodies\u2014from wetlands and rivers to bays and lakes. Pictured: the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. Courtesy Ayers Saint Gross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1629\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//2024_CC_Tennessee.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_Tennessee.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_Tennessee-300x244.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_Tennessee-1024x834.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_Tennessee-768x626.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2024_CC_Tennessee-1536x1251.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The research highlights how campus design can foster symbiotic, sustainable engagement with water, benefiting ecology, economics, and public well\u2011being. Pictured: The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Courtesy Ayers Saint Gross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A University&#8217;s Water Connections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">\u201cYou listen to the news about flooding and storms, and a lot of people think they just [affect] the coasts,\u201d said Jessica Leonard, a principal at Ayers Saint Gross. In reality, across the country, \u201cwater is a huge issue. It\u2019s anything from stormwater to flooding to drought and irrigation.\u201d The most recent edition of Comparing Campuses analyzed the locations of eight major institutions of higher education, mapping university structures and open spaces in relation to existing rivers and wetlands, the 100-year floodplain, and projected sea levels in 2050.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">The diagrams are more than simple visualizations of risk. The team also analyzed how universities currently engage with their nearby water bodies, whether through athletics, academics, or current planning initiatives. The central gathering space at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, for instance, is set directly on Lake Mendota, making it a hypervisible part of campus life. Additionally, students use the lake for rowing and for research; the university is considered the birthplace of limnology,<a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//smithgroup-los-angeles-think-tank-resiliency///"> the study of lakes<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re on an isthmus, so [water] has completely defined the way the city and the campus have been built,\u201d Leonard says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">In contrast, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has relatively few physical connections to the adjacent Tennessee River. \u201cYou\u2019re seeing it, but there\u2019s a huge wall. There\u2019s no way to physically get there,\u201d Leonard says. Ayers Saint Gross is actively working with the university to identify potential access points, originally through a 2023 campus master plan and now through a study analyzing the river corridor in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1078\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119343\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-300x126.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1024x431.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-768x323.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-1536x647.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-Bending-the-River-Collage-2023-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio-2048x862.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Lauren Bon hopes that Bending the River \u201ccan be more than a one-off or a unicorn,\u201d she says. \u201cI hope [policymakers] see this as a novel way forward that can have real ramifications, create real jobs, radically transform design departments, and ask primary questions about who public space is for.\u201d Courtesy Metabolic Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reconnecting Los Angeles to Its River<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">If facilitating a sort of repair between a river and its residents\u2014both human and nonhuman\u2014is the task at hand, it is demonstrably easier said than done. <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metabolicstudio.org//about/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Metabolic Studio\u2019s<\/a> Lauren Bon has spent more than a decade working to reconnect a sliver of the Los Angeles River to what historically was its floodplain.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">The simplest way to describe <em>Bending the River<\/em> is as a water diversion project, an infrastructural act that takes water from one place and delivers it to another, in this case from the L.A. River to Metabolic Studio, where it is cleaned by wetland plants, and finally to the Los Angeles State Historic Park, where it is used for irrigation. And yet the artwork is meant as an act of repair, restoring L.A.\u2019s fractured hydrological system and reconnecting Angelenos to their river.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Infamously restricted to a yawning concrete channel as a means of flood mitigation, the L.A. River is representative of many urban waterways: hyper-rationalized, hyper-controlled, largely devoid of life. With <em><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.latimes.com//entertainment-arts//story//2023-10-11//artist-lauren-bon-and-metabolic-studio-bending-the-river-will-clean-polluted-water/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bending the River<\/a><\/em>, Bon is attempting to undo a tiny portion of that hyper-rationalization and stir the public\u2019s imagination about what a river is and should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lauren-Bon-on-site-at-Bending-The-River-photo-courtesy-Metabolic-Studio_-2023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bending the River. Courtesy Metabolic Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">\u201cIt\u2019s already poetic to call it a river,\u201d Bon says. \u201cI felt like in referring to this project as a bend, it starts to give the river back its flow. Bending implies an active action, which is very river-like. But I also meant it in a playful way, to talk about bending the rules.\u201d Indeed, the rules that govern the L.A. River are a large part of the project; in some ways, they are as much the artwork as any other part of Bon\u2019s intervention. The project, which conveys 106 acre-feet\u2014roughly 4.5 million cubic feet\u2014of water less than a mile, ultimately required more than 75 government permits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Rethinking our relationship to water will require a kind of institutional and imaginative daylighting. It requires a commitment to unmaking, unbuilding, and to doing so at scale. But it will also require new infrastructural typologies, new rituals, and new language to accompany them. \u201cArchitects have been, since the founding of the field, invested in the ways in which infrastructure can be given a civic presence,\u201d Acciavatti says. \u201cFor me, the role of an architect or landscape architect today is, how do you not just engineer [a solution], but also give it a civic presence?\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"comment size-regular\">Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: <a href=https://metropolismag.com/wp-json/wp/v2/metro_viewpoint/\"mailto:comments@metropolismag.com/">comments@metropolismag.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"tag-cloud\"><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//cultural///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Cultural<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//education///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Education<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//government///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Government<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//infrastructure///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Infrastructure<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//preservation///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Preservation<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//research///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Research<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"tag-cloud\"><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//community-engagement///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Community Engagement<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//landscape///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Landscape<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//timothy-a-schuler///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Timothy A. 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