Originally the process was meant to focus around water remediation and how I could incorporate that into the DDW, however I kept referring back to some photos I took of the river Colne running on the boundary of the Urban Study Site, when visiting one day. The river had an abundance of litter along the short stretch I walked along and I began to think about how these architectural machines could tackle this.
I began to think about machines which had the ability to pick specific objects up and began to think about the 2005 Steven Spielberg "War of the Worlds" and the extraterrestrial tripod machines that had these terrifying arms that all had multiple functions. The concept of the mechanics of the machine fit the purpose of the problem I am looking to resolve.
Although the architectural machine I design will not be as horrifying, or serve such a dark purpose as the ones seen in the film - I feel inspired by the form of these tripods and the idea of these long arms that could potentially cut and pick litter from both the ground and the water and I will progress the design of my machines further with this idea in mind.
I had also been developing the idea of a small machine through could be situated in the water. Originally I had felt inspired by the form of a manta ray, where its large mouth could allow the water to filter through and collect debris along the river bed however through looking at the water levels of the River Colne throughout the year, I think these machines would only be effective in some areas of the river where the water wouldn't get too shallow and the design of them would have to be very small. I don't think the concept of the machines fit the scale of the river in these circumstances.