AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini
REBUILDING THE SITE
A STUDY OF RESILIENCY, SUSTAINABILITY, AND REDEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
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“From the sea to the farming was the way that we survived; [survival] was through the land.”
Isle de Jean Charles resident
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CONTENT
4 | Thesis Statement
5 | Abstract
6 | Introduction
8 | Situational Case Studies
18 | Precedents
22 | Essay
29 | Thesis Site
33 | Program Case Studies
40 | Thesis Program
43 | Works Cited
46 | Case Study Citations
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THESIS
The dynamic site creates a new set of challenges in the wake of coastal erosion and the realization of global climate change refugees. As an alternative to resettlement, architectural design will intervene to combat displacement, negotiate its cause, and resolve the inherent issues associated with place attachment and involuntary relocation at its source.
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ABSTRACT
Displacement has continuously plagued communities for as long as society has existed. The refugee in response to climate change creates a relatively new facet in approaching relocation of a community due to circumstances that negate self-infliction and are product of irreversible external factors. As the coastal periphery of our nation continues to sink at nauseating rates, with it takes homes, green space, agriculture, and economic practices. In addition to a drastic alteration in the way of life, an emotional phenomenon of place attachment becomes dramatically exposed as mother nature strips a community of their native geography. Though proposals to relocate can be beneficial in the mere sense of avoiding the inevitable, the need to preserve a familiar landscape creates a set of design issues of architectural mimicry placed in differing context than its original intent. Structure is designed according to contextual parameters that aim to make ease of living and circulation. One must be aware of the nostalgic built form and its competition with a new set of parameters. Especially when reliance on urbanized economical growth and networking is introduced. This thesis takes a critical look at the approach and practicality of displacement and relocation, its relationship to the new breed of global climate change refugees, and its overall necessity in an age of vast technological advances. Architectural intervention will be investigated at the root of the problem rather than by proposition of dislocating geography based culture. In order to prevent further urbanization issues in respect to sprawl and social integration, what would it take, or start to look like, to keep a population at their original disappearing settlement? The Isle de Jean Charles and the Biloxi- Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe will act as the specific case study in developing a resilient and sustainable architectural catalyst.
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SCOPE | INTRODUCTION
The inspiration for this thesis comes from both a place of passion for architecture and its abilities to reimagine the concepts of living and a place of responsibility for the existing geography of our planet. As the coastlines flood and our cities sink, familiar landscape will be reshaped and the problem of how to deal with this change becomes more severe with every day. The research and project are intended to analyze current strategies of dealing with displacement, sustainability and a dynamic site while proposing solutions at a case specific regional scope. The applications of these proposals are intended to exist in multiple climates with a flexibility to adapt to differing sets of contexts. In order to focus on the programmatic elements and provide example, a specific community situated on the Isle de Jean Charles along the coast of Louisiana will be researched. The Biloxi – Chitimacha – Choctaw tribe provides the ability to get a first critique and study how our society responds to anthropogenic threats in the form of coastal erosion and permanent flooding. The initial case studies will first provide background on existing proposals and different communities that suffer from these issues and the varying of application depending on different regions. Due to Louisiana’s rapid rate of land loss, the conversations and concepts proposed by local architects, engineers, and planners are comprehensive and are quickly being discussed in order to solve the problem of communities losing their land to water. This information allows a realistically scaled and plausible proposal that allows research into the specific systems needed to live in a new climate.
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PROGRAMMATIC GOALS + CONSIDERATIONS In Dynamic Siting
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EXPANSION + FLEXIBILITY Flexibility + Regeneration
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RESILIENCY + SUSTAINIBILITY Resiliency + Sustainability
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SITUATIONAL CASE STUDIES
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CASE STUDY ONE
THE INUPIAT PEOPLE | centuries old hunting and fishing Native American community 4 SHAKTOOLIK, ALASKA | narrow spit of sand between Tagoomenik River and the Bering Sea
SCALE | 1.1 square miles | losing 1 acre / year
POPULATION | 250
CULTURE | a self-sustaining agrarian community that survives through hunting and fishing, including the hunt for beluga whales in Norton Sound. Hunting expeditions are a common daily activity and expected as a social norm along most age groups.
PROBLEM | the changing climate has produced threats in the form of increased flooding and erosion to the 4 residing community. The village is ranked among the top four in a list, produced by the government, identifying imminent risk of destruction. The proximal location to the Arctic is causing Alaska to warm about twice as fast as the rest of the United States predicting uninhabitable communities by 2050. Pleas for government financing have remained unmet causing villages to “stay and defend” for the foreseeable future. Offshore ice that acts as a buffer from storm surge has melted with rising ocean temperatures to a point where it is no longer visible off Shaktoolik’s coast. The last big storm was recorded to have come close to turning the community into an island residing type. 4 Relocation takes considerable time, even years to process while residents still seek to live normal lives with the modern technologies and social systems required to sustain life and civility. Announcing the intent to relocate hindered request for government finance and the local clinic lost funds to continue operations. Current evacuation time takes five days.
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SOLUTIONS | Kirby Sookyiayak (community coordinator) has a > $100 million wish list that includes:
An evacuation road Improvements to the water system Improvements to fuel tank farm Increased berm fortification 4 Floodlight and lighted buoys for river New health clinic Fortified shelter in case of storm
In Kivalina and Shishmaref (relatively proximal villages) the Army Corps of Engineers built sturdy rock revetments to armor villages, but any further protection must be matched funds by the community. Alaska experiences a financial crisis due to an economical reliance on the oil industry. Even in the event of a federal lawsuit filed by one village against oil and coal companies, the case went nowhere and compensation for air pollution to allow relocation never transpired. 4 $1 million from the Denali Commission (a 1998 founded independent federal agency providing services to rural Alaska) allocated funds to design new fortified berms in Shaktoolik, the rest is intended to protect the fuel tank storage.
Obama’s administration allocated $400 million for relocating threatened villages in the 2017 fiscal budget but the “fate of that allocation is at best uncertain”.
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Future land figureground due to flooding in relation to settlement placement, exposing a common problem to all coastal regions
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Topographical boundary + nuisance exposing existing isolation and a dependence on self-sustenance
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CASE STUDY TWO
NLE ARCHITECTURE | Kunle Adeyemi
LAGOS WATER COMMUNITIES | concept design of 5 varying program for an increasingly dense city slum
LAGOS, NIGERIA | water based community in Makoko
POPULATION | 200,000 +
CULTURE | an economy dominated by its fishing and trading markets. Their community has been somewhat autonomous for 120 years with non-existent government presence. Aspects of the community’s economy are completely independent from the main land of the large city. Residents navigate through canals with boats, while sightings of water being tossed 5 from households by bucket during springtime are common. These are attempts made to rid accumulated water from near-monsoon level rainfall.
PROBLEM | this community faces several issues from both an environmental and cultural aspect in the forms or rising tides and bursting “megacities”. Large populations of over 10 million have pushed residents to live in conditions that we categorize as slums within a region that has reached a critical point in urbanization. The mere lack of space forces communities to expand off land and thus expose themselves to the threats of global climate change and 5 the accompanying increase in storm severity. In the absence of a governing system, policy and practice on how to handle this very specific form of urban sprawl is non-existent. This potential chaos poses a threat to a cultural way of life and systematic civility that has existed for over a generation. Threats of forced removal have been issued by the city of Lagos in the forms of the physical cutting down of stilts via chainsaw.
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SOLUTION | transition Makoko’s common quarters from dilapidated houses on stilts to floating a-frame residences. The end product in final realization is that of a floating community that can combat the inherent problems of population increase and environmental conditions. The houses will incorporate 5 systems familiar in the realm of earthquake proofing technology that will allow detection of significant environmental change and a rapid response in the form of air compressed cushions theoretically absorbing alterations spurred by flooding or rises in sea level. The floating houses will be flexible in the sense that they can be linked together to form a shared communal space. A similar approach to development has been successfully tested in the design of the Makoko Floating School. This floating facility can host educational lessons for up to 100 school children at a time while doubling as a community center when not in 5 use by students.
APPLICATION | the concepts outlined by the architect in the design proposal make reference to an element of flexibility which remains to be a vital component when developing a catalyst approach to redevelopment. The ability for the community to evolve and grow in scale through the practice of linking individual units is an important element in understanding how a community is aggregated. The ways in which differing program can be interlaced and linked is key to allowing successful social interaction and ability of manipulating shape to 6 accommodate environmental conditions. The mention of an infrastructural system that allows for resiliency is also applicable in the region of Louisiana’s southern gulf coast. Though seismic activity does not pose a threat to the Isle de Jean Charles, the ability to re-adapt this technology in a new context is influential in the understanding of how structurally sustainable buildings can be approached and implemented.
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2 Successful civility Successful civility through a systematic through a self- network [typical] contained netowrk [sustainibility]
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Re-application of the a-frame typology in a new and differing context, allowing structural familiarity and cost effectiveness for implementation
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CASE STUDY THREE
EVANS + LIGHTER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES NEW COMMUNITY MASTER PLAN | tribal center, public spaces, health clinic, housing, water supply and management, power supply and storage, roadways, paths and parking 9
HOUMA, LOUISIANA | sites are evaluated based upon qualities of raising a family, for growing food, and being safe while within the southern Louisiana coast context
SCALE | 500 acres
SCOPE | the outlined vision reads: “to maintain and strengthen the tribe’s safety, collective identity, social stability, and contribution to the region throughout the resettlement process”. The ability for tribal members to live in one cohesive community again rekindles and reinforces traditional ways of life familiar to the 9 tribe. A culturally rich symbol of the tala (palmetto leaf) creates the design form and ideology in line with the tribe’s perceived notion of its symbolic and functional importance. Successful resettlement aims LANDSCAPE + SITE PLAN | the new community will to integrate historical traditions, novel technologies, include contouring of the land to maximize habitat and state-of-the-art resilience measures to create a diversity while maintaining qualities of the original proactive catalyst in an ever-changing landscape. site. The community center will be located at the front The site aims to be self-sustaining, affordable, and with adjacent public green space for the showing practical with residential, agriculture, agroforestry, and of pow-wows with parking to gain accessibility to aquaculture uses. Understanding a new economical museum/cultural art shops, obtaining social services, or context has lead to the creation of jobs in fields that shopping in the green grocer or seafood shop. Behind aim to maintain and teach sustainable methodologies the center houses private ritual space, recreational and approaches in planning and urban development. fields, and a cemetery on the public side of the forest. Core principles for the Isle de Jean Charles band of The forest houses walkways, exercise stops, sculptures, Biloxi Chitimacha Choctaw Tribe – Lowlander Center and signage indicating growth of healing/medicinal Resettlement are based upon the Ethical and Moral foods important to tribal customs. Rain gardens Principles of Resettlement written by Anthony Oliver- and bio-swales will accumulate and infiltrate runoff Smith. alongside recreational fields. Retention of all storm water on the property is goal. Surrounding bodies cater rice farming and crawfish cultivation while a coastal prairie allows the grazing of buffalo.
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TRIBAL CENTER + PUBLIC SPACES | phase one of the development will begin with the tribal center that anchors the community, allows congregation and site evolution, and acts as a place of refuge during storms. A public kitchen caters an economic, social, and cultural purpose in an attempt to re-invigorate community. A tribal cultural resource center will 9 provide connections for the tribe to Indian Country resources such as online classes and meeting spaces for language, history, and art classes. Ethno- botany work will help transmit Traditional Ecological Knowledge within the community and those outside while facilitating transplantation and habitat restoration to the resettlement site. Education in advanced sustainable building technology and participation in construction will gain capacity for employment in export to the region.
HOUSING | houses will be elevated on pilings like 9 typical housing typologies here in New Orleans exceeding four feet above the fifty year base flood elevation allowing insurance premium reductions. The idea is flooding in future conditions with INFRASTRUCTURE | during the time of tropical storms, exposure to hurricane force winds won’t damage self-generated electricity is a lifeline with multiple the homes. Energy efficiency and independence approaches still under consideration. Solar panels may is also a requirement within each home with critical be fixed to roofs but an evaluation on construction and infrastructure described as electricity to circulate water maintenance costs of an acre of photovoltaic cells will from geo-exchange, operate HVAC units and power determine its cost-effectiveness. Battery and thermal to freezers and elevators. A sense of cultural aesthetic storage will be coupled with this method. Combined must also be retained in order to retain the familiar Heat and Power (CHP) will also be evaluated as a archetype residents are accustomed. primary source of fuel from natural gas, biomass, or propane. Methane collection from landfills, wastewater ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPURTUNITIES | a reduction plants and other processes are also a renewable in dependency on seafood harvest has lead to the methodology. Pervious paving will make up as much concept of developing relevant and appropriate local feasible roadway and parking lots as possible with industry that allows new employment opportunity. some elements being temporary and removable as Methodology on restoration of environments and program changes and other fixed and permanent like sustainable practices in the context of energy and major roads. Grasses will grow in cells creating the renewable sources will be taught in order to preserve appearance of a meadow while reducing storm water communal self-sufficiency while also training expertise runoff, heat island effect, and increased groundwater sought after in today’s workplace. recharge.
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Natrual aggregation imposed on township + range cadastral system, causing a problem in adaptability and flexibility
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Sequence of public to private program flanked by “artificial” environment, potentially leading to disconnect and altered reliance on landscape
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PRECEDENTS
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PRECEDENT ONE
ADAM KHAN ARCHITECTS
BROCKHOLMES WETLAND + WOODLAND NATURE RESERVE | visitor facility with café, shop, gallery, 8 education, and meeting rooms
PRESTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND
SCOPE | sited on a concrete raft that produces buoyancy through the use of hollow submerged chambers held by four steels posts to prevent drifting. The visitor center is a network of buildings housing an array of program but is connected via a circulation armature. The system of structures can rise with water levels up to 3 meters in time of catastrophe and allow an annual variance of 400 mm bringing to the foreground the potential risk of flooding and how to 8 design on prone land. The cost effectiveness of floating architecture here is comparable to the use of raft foundations found on dry land.
CRITIQUE | the network of structures existing on a cost effective floating structural system is evidence of viability to build in a monetary manner familiar to the construction industry. These systems allow a lens into what materials and methods can and should be implemented while still achieving an outstanding 8 level of sustainability and resiliency. The site itself was once a former gravel quarry converted to wet and woodlands to re-introduce geological elements vital to the environment, proving the successfulness of human intervention in an attempt to restore natural processes. Form and function of these structures allows the occupant a greater connection to nature through shaped views and explicit contact with occupancy and the element of water. These elements prove helpful when needing to design for a community whose culture is dependent on the environment it exists within.
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PRECEDENT TWO
VINCENT CALLEBAUT ARCHITECTURES
LILYPADS | a floating geopolis for climate refugees 3 EQUATOR – NORTHERN SEAS | according to where the Gulf Stream takes it
SCALE | 920’ in diameter POPULATION | 50,000
SCOPE | an attempt to house relocated occupancies in dense urban contexts. The Lilypad is designed through 3 bio-mimicry of the giant lilypad of Amazon Victoria Regia scaled 250 times. The displacement of large populations is inevitable as a predicted “less alarming forecast” states ocean levels will rise to a status quo of 50 cm in the 21st century. Thus a need to create a zero emission, self-sustaining floating community becomes necessary to house the community of numerous coastal metropolis’.
CRITIQUE | while the concept of a self-sustaining, carbon-neutralizing community is ideal, the sense of place and familiar geography is lost. Communities typically identify with a culturally influential landscape that places a vital role in social identity. Religious, social, and economic practices often have a direct relationship with the surrounding context and often are the factors that shape every day life. The emotional 3 response to place attachment is lacking in the design consideration, in addition to its isolationist approach to community.
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PRECEDENT THREE
OP.N | Ali Fard + Ghazal Jafari
PARALLEL NETWORKS | utilizing a shared armature of water to align differing programmatic elements between urban activities, transportation, and waterscapes 7 NEW YORK, NEW YORK | the sixth borough, also called the blue network, refers to the bodies of water between New York communities
SCOPE | the project consists of floating interventions that deal with a multitude of issues in the forms of individual cells that can be connected in order to make a network of varying elements that cater to alleviate a common problem or cater to a shared experience. The components proposed in this context are inflatable 7 CO2 collectors, algae bioreactors, brine shrimp and oyster nurseries, floating marshes and remediation gardens, beaches, recreational pools, and mooring docks. Depending on the location within the blue network, different cells are implemented in order to remediate a site-specific issue.
CRITIQUE | this project provides a case study in remediation tactics that aim to regenerate the coastal landscape while providing spatial conditions for inhabitants and recreation all within a water-based context. The ability to adapt the system to respond 7 to a particular geography allows flexibility in form, scale and scope. The scale of these systems within the “blue network” is of similar to the case specific scope of the Isle de Jean Charles intervention that attempts to provide a barrier between urban core and storm surge while aiding the regeneration of natural systems that once conquered these tasks. A construction methodology and material use can also be extracted in order to build an architectural vocabulary in which these communities will be structured.
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ESSAY
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Site Context a perpetual existence, meaning the site is imagined as a permanent variable in the scope In order to understand the proposal of its development. When the architect begins at hand, a general vocabulary pertaining to to design a structure, the identity of the chosen the architectural site must be developed in land is thought of as consistent and suggests respect to typical and a-typical conditions. a specific set of standards and regulations that Without a thorough acknowledgement of the should be followed. We accept that climate fundamental categorization and classification can produce times of varied conditions that of site, it becomes difficult to understand the building should address, like inclement the necessity and challenges proposed in weather, but the endurance of the land itself is this thesis. The major typologies taught assumed. On the other hand we consistently in academia consist of the brownfield and see the intervention as something temporary greenfield conditions. Brownfield sites are that may be torn down, re-developed or previously built on, thus producing a dirt aesthetically altered and the architect is filled or concrete covered aesthetic with prior engaged in this notion. Depending on the structure standing or demolished, typically specifics of program, an architect will design thought of in an urban context. Greenfield with adaptive re-use in mind and allow for sites are the contrary; never having been flexibility in acknowledgement of a potential of built on without prior infrastructure or utilities varying occupants and programmatic needs. introduced and is visualized as a rural condition With the life span of a building thought of in with the same preserved identity it has always generational terms and the life span of site left possessed. Each of these classifications contain unaddressed, dynamic sites begin to produce a unique set of challenges for the architect problems unforeseen by the typical designer and developer, due to both the contextual or developer. elements at hand and the pertaining set of codes or zoning that may or may not already Dynamic Sites exist. In addition to understanding the The definition of a dynamic site in immediate identity of a piece of land, its the context of this thesis is understood as; a placement within larger context becomes site that exists in and is recognized as ever another factor that needs consideration. This in changing in either its scale, environment, or part is, “because of the complexity of its parts inhabitability. A dynamic site is in no way a new and their patterning, we find that each site is concept and the phenomenon has existed as unique in some measure” [4]. The brownfield long as man has sought to build and dwell. This site in a coastal metropolis adjacent or near categorization can, but is not limited to, sites open water must be approached differently experiencing coastal erosion, intense flooding, from a brownfield site placed in mountainous land subsidence, burning or even debilitating or elevated conditions. The same can be drought. In any scenario, the identity and thus said for a greenfield site in the prescribed its architectural approach changes drastically in scenario. Differing geographies and location a manner that prevents an original ideology or within our world produces differing rules and strategy of development from being successful. standards for the development and realization The concept of an original site becoming of a built intervention. One geographical uninhabitable or unrecognizable from zone must contend with flooding and high a previous state is rather normal, as we velocity windstorms while another is exposed have continuously documented the ever- to seismic activity or frequent snowstorms. The changing appearance of our Earth’s surface conditions and variations are vast and thus the and land mass characteristics. To think that approach by the architect becomes incredibly our environment is stagnant or static is an site specific and the unique set of challenges ignorant approach when designing and fails to brought on by a location becomes a major recognize the creative potential of dealing with design influence. existing conditions today and the proposed These variances create a wide set of or predicted condition of tomorrow. When challenges when developing a project but a dealing with the inherent issues of a site that problem that usually isn’t considered is the is suddenly not capable of producing an longevity of the site. When given a plot of inhabitable environment, our first and typically land the designer typically does not question final approach is to migrate to another site 23 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini that does allow existence and sustained life. of Ship, Dauphin, and Horn, which protect The approach to displace is not inadequate the larger city of Biloxi from environmental and the human ability to adapt and conform threats most commonly seen in the form of to an infinite array of contextual settings has hurricanes. These islands do not house any been proven time and again. However, with the permanent communities or residence and thus engineering capabilities of today’s society and do not pose the same set of issues, but the our ever increasing population, the question of relationship of periphery to core in this case is its necessity can be challenged. important to understand. The most prominent and the immediate focus of this thesis will Causes of Dynamic Sites focus on coastal erosion specifically on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana brought forth by the halting The concept of a site being dynamic of sediment deposits and the scaring of man- is of course influenced by external factors made canals for large infrastructural projects that differ depending on region. Land in conjunction with the effects of the global disappearance and subsidence has become warming epidemic. The causes of the site to a common theme for many countries all become dynamic will be explored as well as around the globe in direct correlation to the proposed solution to deal with populations coastal erosion brought forth by rising ocean living in this threatened area. levels, man-made interventions, and extreme weather. All of which have been directly linked to global warming, the detrimental effect of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, and the human intervened processes that caused these issues. Regions affected by this phenomenon are vast and include locations such as Alaska, Massachusetts, and Louisiana and abroad territories including coastal regions of Africa and The United Emirates. The differing landscapes require a multifaceted approach to understanding how the site is dynamic and the acknowledgment that one solution in intervening on these dynamic sites will not work in all geographies. In some instances, the dynamic site Frequent Shallow Flooding in 2017 2 may not be the disappearance of physical land, but rather the outgrowing of a particular site. Resulting urban sprawl attempts to remain affiliated with an urban network but in a differing environmental context like Lagos, Nigeria. In that specific case, the site is seen as dynamic because its footprint in relation to a particular community has expanded and encompassed new physical aquatic peripheries but in an attempt to preserve the conditions of 2 its original context. In most cases, the common Land Lost to Water in 2100 theme is the inherent issues of developing and living in water dominated landscapes with little to no protection from coastal threats. Why these sites should be preserved and reinforced is due to the understanding that these periphery landscapes act as a first Displacement and Adaption line of defense against major storm surges that could potentially impede larger social groups in dense urban fabrics further inland. This relationship can be exemplified with the Socially Vulnerable Communities in 2100 2 coastal islands off of Mississippi consisting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Diagrams by Author 24 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini
The concept of moving a community topography has sparked the conversation of or livelihood to a site that is more accepting just how to handle these changes. and nurturing of life at first glance appears to make quite a bit of sense. If there were “...straight-line perforations in the landscape land that is easier and more beneficial to are clearly visible in aerial photos, as if a child live on, why wouldn’t you move to preserve has taken scissors to the map of Louisiana to generational life and culture? The practice of make a giant paper snowflake. The wetlands, taking a community and moving it elsewhere once the first line of defense against storm creates a rather large set of issues though surges, are now easily penetrated by the when talking about the economic practice, saltwater; vegetation atrophies in the saline cultural and social norms, and political identity conditions, which further weakens its grip on or affiliation of a group of individuals. “Because the sandy soils” [1]. population displacement is usually caused by a crisis in the home locality, it often has In fact, already the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw negative impacts on social infrastructure in tribe has unwillingly dislocated more than half both sending and receiving areas” [3]. When of its community due to residential homes site is first selected, the developer or architect being washed away by surge. The conversation does not address the piece of land as a single resulted in a $45 million resettlement plan isolated component, rather a small portion of funded by FEMA to a larger urban setting of a larger network with direct correlation to a set Houma, Louisiana approximately twenty miles of social norms, economic networks and social north-west. agendas. While a consideration about industry, Moving a population of about sixty employment, and social relations is typically the people, originally seventeen families consisting leading narrative, an understanding of place of three hundred occupants total, first requires attachment and the emotional connection a new site selection. Site selection would one feels to a specific landscape cannot be need to be chosen by appropriate scale overlooked. to comfortably house a community of its This concept of place effecting how current size while anticipating the currently one feels and shapes their life perspective displaced to be once again reunited. All while is reinforced when site plays a role in the retaining ample green space and communal religious and cultural practices of a group of programming for cultural practice. The site people. When a landscape holds symbolic cannot displace another group of people relevance and caters to communal practices, making a domino effect of migration and must the notion of removing that site becomes respect its immediate adjacent neighbors, all the more detrimental. In anthropological whether that is an environment uninhabited or ethnography there always is a direct correlation an urban development. The surveyor must also to how a group of people live and where these consider the flexibility in population and the people live. It is easiest to explain this site and undoubted growth of a successful and thriving geographic dependence with a case specific community. example. In this thesis the community of the Understanding the original Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe of the Isle de community’s way of life is also important when Jean Charles, Louisiana will play the role. The dealing with relocation efforts. Much of the selection of this community is because “water economic sustainability for this community level rise in coastal Louisiana is rapid, more so comes from the fishing and oyster industries, than in other coastal areas of the United States” all of which depend heavily on a region [2]. and landscape specific location. If one is to move families still reliant on these economic The Isle de Jean Charles Example practices, conserving that ability is vital. With this being said, a consideration of water The case specific problems associated proximity and accessibility is now required. This with the Isle de Jean Charles encompasses proximity begins to question if a site that allows many other communities’ issues but at a minimal life style alterations, would it soon drastically larger scale due to the rapid pace begin to have the same issues as the dynamic of coastal erosion along the Louisiana Gulf site that was originally vacated? Coast. The expedited process of site alteration The dependence on coastal and the decay into a vastly water dominated communities will not change in the foreseeable future due to their economic viability and role 25 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini in connecting a globalized society. The notion capabilities to sustain future generations and that this resettlement may need to happen predict environmental conditions. again in the near or far future, as water levels Temporary solutions are undoubtedly continue to rise, brings to question the amount more cost effective and thus implemented of monetary investment required for each at a much larger scale than its sustainable iteration. More importantly, if the proceeding counterpart. This unfortunate reality is why selected site eventually becomes dynamic, much of proposed solutions remain simply in a broad scope does the resettlement hypothetical, yet lessons and ideologies can even make sense? At what point does the still be derived and examined. The practice of cost effectiveness of continuous uprooting waiting until absolute necessity also becomes outweigh the fiscal amount needed to establish a driving force to the slow implementation an intervention at the original site that can of these systems and methods. Our society adapt and allow significant change while consistently under prepares and invests potentially preventing similar situations for until an ultimatum of devastation is realized. larger communities? This gamble consistently jeopardizes the Understandably, these problems are time and resources allotted to make large consistent for a multiplicity of communities scaled enduring solutions while promoting and many of the issues that arise with this the implementation of engineering that case specific resettlement are a common conforms to existing flawed interventions. theme throughout the world. What begins This combination provides potentially false to differentiate the communities is how to security that can result in fatal planning and approach the intervention in a differing architectural practices. environment. The problem is consistent; The timing of when to implement but cultural and geographical factors vary, architecture is also crucial due to the current sometimes minimally and at other times quite policy around land ownership in the face drastically. In some situations, the proposed of flooding. When the last square foot of application at Isle de Jean Charles won’t be Isle de Jean Charles submerges in to the feasible, but its methodology can be applied Gulf of Mexico, the state of Louisiana gains all the same. ownership of the entire land mass footprint. If water recedes, the state maintains ownership Considerations potentially creating greater conflict in the implementation of a strategy outlined in The problem of forced relocation and this thesis. The opposite can also be true; immigration is by no means a new one, though government land has access to large state the classification of global climate change resources that could expedite an intervention if refugees creates a new facet in the complex deemed necessary. The only uncertain aspect issue of displacement. With this concept of this scenario is whom the land would trade being relatively contemporary, proposals of back to under private ownership. how to solve the issue of dynamic sites in this given context are relatively recent and rely on Proposed Solutions (Case Studies) technologies that are rather new and possibly considered underutilized in a broader scope. “Communities can reduce their The minimal implementation of sustainable and vulnerability to disaster by becoming more resilient technologies in a built environment at resilient—to not only bounce back more readily a large scale is due to the overwhelming cost from disasters but to grow stronger, more when cheaper, though less effective, strategies socially cohesive, and more environmentally still exist and support a large economic responsible” [5]. The architects and engineers network of energy production companies. that have sought to solve issues associated For this reason, the problem becomes with coastal erosion and dynamic sites have overwhelmingly political. Materials that can re-occurring themes that favor self-sustaining, be classified as regenerative, sustainable, and carbon and waste neutral interventions. This resilient come at a monetary expense that concept is where the bulk of expenditures seems unnecessary. This notion is product of exist and rely on a complex network of a society that has grown accustom to building alternative energy sources like hydro, wind, and developing for the immediate present and solar power to sustain systems and deliver with little acknowledgement of its enduring the amenities communities have grown to 26 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini expect. Of course, the concept of necessity be reunited once more with prior displaced is rather abstract and depends solely on the members as a collective. The anticipation individual culture at hand and once again, of a growing population and necessity for its geographical location. For example, the additive public program to increase cultural technology of heating ventilation and air awareness and history is also addressed, but conditioning can be understood as vital in to a finite scale. The ample designated land western communities in the United States in Houma allows for potential growth, but but merely a luxury to cultures that currently the limit does exist when placed in what can exist without these systems in modest or even be compared to a gated community within extreme climates. Those who see the ability an already developed urban context. For this to control microclimates as essential also reason, other approaches are needed for have differing opinions on what systems are investigation to allow unpredictable factors necessary in any given geographic location. such as population change to organically Thus, where we intervene and the occupant’s occur without obstructing the successfulness comfort becomes a large design driver when of the intervention. The strategy implemented deciding which passive and alternative systems in Parallel Networks by OP. N and Ali Fard + to implement. Understanding that our current Ghazal Jafari Architects begins to address this sources of power are detrimental and directly issue by creating a singular built component correlate to the global climate crisis are that houses a programmatic need with fundamental when developing new strategies the ability to connect it to other singular to fuel the architecture on these quickly components, thus creating a network that changing sites and dominate the argument of can vary in scale and purpose depending divesting from gas and oil. on site placement. The system not only Another design consideration is how allows for infinite expansion and adaptability, the structure and infrastructure can adapt to but also considers the notion that differing a dynamic site and allow inevitable change sites require specific programmatic needs to occur. In all of the case studies examined and that need continuously changes over a in this thesis, the methodology of a floating period. Though this system does not address architecture becomes the most viable solution long-term inhabitable structures, there is no when dealing with coastal erosion; though reason this concept could not be adapted the use of building upon piers and large to become residential, institutional, cultural, pilings can also be successful on sites with less and recreational program at the scale of a dramatic flooding at the expense of flexibility. community needed by the Biloxi-Chitimacha- Once erected onto piers, in order to raise or Choctaw tribe. The most important take away lower the structure requires a large amount of from this case study is its regenerative efforts effort and reconstruction where a floating entity that prevent further damage and attempt to can fluctuate freely with tidal and flooding remediate environmentally negative affected events. The conditions these case studies sites. are designed on are considered permanent Understanding the site as a part to as well and do not suggest an ability to be the whole also needs consideration when implemented on dry ground in expectation designing architecture that identifies as self- of drastic site alterations or inevitable water sustaining. While the practice and intent are consumption. The consideration of a hybrid favorable, this sets up a potential condition of system of land and water based architecture isolation when the community living amongst is also under investigated in the outlined case many others has no larger social or economic studies and could be considered if the amount networks at play. The role that an intervention of change in a dynamic site can be predicted. plays on dynamic sites needs to connect on a This approach would be useful in the context broader scale to its immediate adjacent social of economic feasibility due to the coast network in order to preserve civility and benefit effectiveness of building on solid ground rather the core society. Creating a series of isolated than a ballasted vessel. communities without interdependence creates Flexibility in scale and program the potential for political and social instability. are also design considerations that need This aspect is left unaddressed in projects like addressing. In the case study of the Biloxi- the Lilypads by Vincent Callebaut and fails to Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe on the Isle de Jean mention at a larger scale how these utopias Charles, the resettlement approach allows interact with one another as their necessity the remaining community on the island to increases. 27 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini
How the communities on the edge accessibility from the context and sheltered interact with those it protects remains internal structure. To maintain suggested new extremely vital and suggests an ease of technologies, scientific research labs will be accessibility between the existing and the necessary in the maintenance and education of proposed. Not only in the abstract sense coastal restoration and preservation methods. of social preservation but also in a physical If remaining on a site vulnerable to nature of infrastructural connection allowing large storm surge and powerful weather, the beneficial aspects of these projects to resiliency needs to be considered in the seamlessly integrate into larger social networks. material assembly of the architecture and For example, an intervention on the Isle de infrastructure to allow for extreme predicted Jean Charles needs not only to cater to the conditions. The structure will have to adapt to immediate inhabitants and fragile ecosystem water level change on a small and large scale it occupies. It must also protect, educate, and while offering place of refuge during hazardous even regenerate cities such as Houma and New events. Access points to land further north and Orleans, which show increasingly intensified bodies of water to the south are required for symptoms of becoming victim to the very same sustained connectivity on a broader economic waters. and social system. Alternative sources of energy will Isle de Jean Charles Applicable require infrastructure that harnesses hydraulic, Solutions solar, and wind power. Being geographically separated from urbanized cores creates If conversation shifted and the unpredictability in energy and water proposal of a built architecture on this supply, thus the community should be self- incredibly dynamic site became the truly sufficient in the context of typical utilities. The preferred option, a few considerations should implementation of how and where needs to be addressed. The parties involved in an be carefully thought about as to maintain cost intervention of this scale would consist of effectiveness and feasibility. residents, religious leaders, political leaders, The site will remain dynamic in the investors, land surveyors, engineers, architects, sense that it can be added to or stripped away. lawyers, city planners, bureaucrats, and even As program requirements change, which they scientists. The scale and comprehensive inevitably will, the amount of intervention system of protocol for a project of this scope and its exact placement will vary and needs demands an expertise from all departments to allow for fluctuating demographics. The to achieve timely cohesiveness and successful project should be thought about as a system of implementation. component parts that can be placed within a The Isle de Jean Charles at its current larger network to change quantity of program foot print is no longer at an appropriate size and the overall architectural figure ground. to house a community of up to three hundred people while successfully catering to social and cultural needs. “Once 22,000 acres, the island has lost 98 percent of its land area since 1955, and state officials warn that the remaining land may be gone by midcentury” [1]. For this reason, a hybrid approach between land and water implementation is required to increase the overall square footage of inhabitable site. This recreated footprint needs to house components that deal with social gathering and public congregation spaces in the form of designed architecture and greenspace. Residential and commercial program are needed to shelter and offer basic amenities to preserve social normality while civic and educational program are required to foster the community and generational health. Public and private space should vary between exposed 28 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini
THESIS SITING
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ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES
CRITERIA | the siting of this thesis intervention needs to exist on a dynamic site that follows the previously stated prescriptions. In addition to an innevitable loss of land mass due to erosion and flooding, the site should have an existing community whose lifestyle is jeopardized by those instances. To benefit from this proposal the community should be one that faces relocation and resettlement but in a manner that contains inherent issues and future similar problems. To provide for a regenerative component of program, the site should be in a bio-diverse location with an ability 13 to lessen future flooding on a larger community.
SELECTION | the Isle de Jean Charles is home to a community of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians who depend economically and culturally on their proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. Their heritage is deeply rooted in the Louisiana gulf coast south and face land loss on an annual basis that has required resettlement plans to be enacted. The relocation site has been decided in Houma, Louisiana which faces the same flooding and subsidence issues that the Isle de Jean Charles currently does, but at a slower rate due to their 13 distant relationship to the coastal periphery. The same problems though are innevitable.
“Channels cut by loggers and oil companies eroded much of the island, and decades of flood control efforts have kept once free- flowing rivers from replenishing the wetlands’ sediment. Some of the island was swept away by hurricanes.”
- Coral Davenport + Campbell Robertson
The community’s location also allows the introduction of buffer infrastructure that can prevent storm surge 13 and increased flooding from hitting the large urban population of New Orleans roughly 45 miles away to the north-east. The proximity to an urban core also allows resources in the form of academic study and research, material availability, construction labor, and job oppurtunity within a larger economic system, unlike some communities on Alaska’s coastlines. The island’s current geography also allows ease of construction on remaining dry land to act as a foundation to support surrounding floating architecture. The goal is to give 13 the community the same allocated 500 acres and its resources that Houma offers, but at their original home.
30 AHST 5110 Thesis Document | Eric McCutcheon | 11.27.17 | Eloueini 1978 1963
2 2 1998 1993
2 2 2017 2008
2 2
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ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES LAND USE
ISLAND RESOURCES
RESETTLEMENT THOUGHTS
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PROGRAM CASE STUDIES
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CASE STUDY ONE
MORPHOSIS ARCHITECTS
FLOAT House | affordable + adaptable floating housing
NEW ORLEANS, LA | lower ninth ward
SCALE | 950 ft² 10 POPULATION | single family
DATE | 2009
SCOPE | as part of the post-Katrina Make It Right foundation effort, the house responds to flooding concerns and adapts to its site by floating [when needed] on a chassis that integrates all MEP and 10 HVAC systems securely. The chassis is designed to be retrofitted to multiple house typologies much like GM’s skateboard chassis that supports several car body types. The prototype is an attempt at affordable, prefabricated architecture that can be implemented in flood zones worldwide. The house sits on typical 45’ deep pilings and two concrete pile caps that supports steel masts allowing horizontal stability as the house’s chassis acts as a raft and moves vertically up to twelve feet. By creating a typical lift of only four feet with a flexibility to rise up to twelve allows the preservation of New Orleans’ traditional front porch culture and fascilitates accessibility for elderly and disabled. The project is also sustainable by generating its own power and water needs on track for LEED Platinum ratings 10 and allows net-zero annual energy consumption. This is achievable by utilizing solar power generation, rainwater collection, geothermal heating and cooling, efficient appliances and high performance windows paired with structural insulated panel (SIP) walls and roofs.
CRITIQUE | the concept is successful but at a small scale and does not produce any regenerative efforts to the neighboring architecture. The house is designed to float during hurricanes, however the occupant cannot remain inside during these events. It allows for a preservation of structure, but not lifestyle. 10
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10
10
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CASE STUDY TWO
EFFEKT ARCHITECTS
REGEN VILLAGES | off-the-grid, self sustaining communal neighborhood
ALMERE, THE NETHERLANDS
SCALE | 166,841 ft² 11
POPULATION | 75 - 100 inhabitants, 100 homes
DATE | 2016
SCOPE | the project recognizes agricultural industry as one of the largest drivers of environmental destruction and uses sustainable agriculture as the driving force behind the design. The attempt is to take a community and apply energy positive homes, renewable energy, energy storage, high-yield organic food production, 11 vertical farming aquaponics/aeroponics, water management and wate-to-resource systems. None of the systems in the design are actually new, but takes all existing technologies and implements them into a design that allows self-sustaining and regenerative efforts proving viability. The closed circuit eco-system emits no phosphorus or nitrogen into the surrounding environment all while providing infrastructure, dwellings, and resources. The examples of the process are as followed:
Livestock and fish are used as major protein sources. Waste from fish becomes fertilizers for plants, soldier 11 flies are fed to the fish and waste from livestock is used to fertilize the seasonal gardens. Grey water is used to irrigate the seasonal gardens and clean water from the water storage is distributed to the aquaponics when needed. Compost becomes food for soldier flies and livestock. Bio-waste that is not compostable is used in the biogas facility and water production from the facility is added to the water storage. The entirety of the settlement collects runoff rain water and stores it. The aquaponic system and seasonal gardens produces vegetables and fruit for the home. The smart grid distributes energy when needed in the settlement to charge cars and daily electronic use and ensures maximum efficiency. Power comes from the biogas plant and solar cells. Household waste is sorted into different categories so it can be re-used for multiple 11 purposes.
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11
11
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CASE STUDY THREE
VICTOR KOPEIKIN + PAVLO ZABOTIN
CITADEL SKYSCRAPER | symbiosis of a skyscraper and a residential tank 12 JAPAN
SCALE | 1,640 ft above grade + 3,937 ft below grade
POPULATION | up to 127 million
DATE | 2012
SCOPE | the project is a proposal to create a fortified periphery or protective shield around the island of Japan to protect against tsunamis and other natural damaging forces. The island of Japan will remain untouched and the programmatic elements of the city becomes only economical and social through enterprises, companies and institutions. The entire residential function will be taken outside the city and sited within the towers places at even intervals roughly 6,500 - 9,800 feet off the coast. The towers 12 connected by a system of breakwaters and drainage channels will act as a protective single “sheet” able to withstand waves of 164 feet in height. The towers would be constructed of metal framing with a foundation depth of almost 4,000 feet below grade acting as the “root” of the tooth and able to remain standing no matter the siesmic impact. The tower is designed as a self sufficient entity in regards to electrical power by harnassing wave (hydro) and wind power through accessory structures. The tower also has an autonomous supply of drinking water through the use of boreholes and ground floors will house live fish tanks and warehouses storing food for inhabitants in bunkers. The facade of the tower is a dynamic system with large metal shields that 12 can retract into the foundation during calm weather and raised during times of incliment weather and potential anthropogenic threats. In section the towers has large multi-height spaces that house recreational components such as cafes, shopping, hair dressers, movie theaters, etc. Accessing the off shore structures would be achievable through railways connecting building and land. The core of the skyscraper is hollowed out allowing ample day lighting with turbines situated at the base level for artificial ventilation. Natural ventilation would occur by tanks of algae 12 suspended off connective bridges.
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INTERVENTION CONNECTIVE AROUND PERIPHERY MEMBRANE OF OF EXISTING SITE AT INFRASTRUCTURE RELATIVELY EQUAL CREATES BOTH INTERVALS IN ORDER A PROTECTIVE TO LESSEN OVERLY NETWORK FROM DENSE POPULATION STORM SURGE AND OPPORTUNITY TO GENERATE 2 2 ELECTRICITY
12
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THESIS PROGRAM
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BILOXI-CHITIMACHA-CHACTOW TRIBE
Isle de Jean Charles programmatic layout NARRATIVE | the programmatic requirements for this thesis will include a place to live and dwell that allows occupants to remain in a site and context that is both familiar, economical, social, and cultural so that global climate change makes the least amount of impact on daily lifestyles as possible. In order to achieve this familiarity, an introduction of sustainable, resilient, and regenerative elements will be required.
USER-GROUPS | those who occupy the intervention TRIBAL CENTER will be communities currently situated on coastal land that are threatened by global climate change and its GREEN SPACE | AGRICULTURE inherent flooding that create aspects of dynamic sites. RESIDENTIAL
The application may also provide extra housing and RECREATION support for coastal communities facing issues of over population and density without recreating the issue of INFRASTRUCTURE urban sprawl and its coupled vast infrastructure. The plausability of building on dynamic sites is limited to area where topographical change isn’t severe enough 2 to inhibit construction like the coast line of Nantucket, MA where erosion has created high cliff edges that coninue to recede and plummit at nauseating heights. In addition, any staff or workers needed to sustain the architecture should be considered and catered to as maintnence is needed. Isle de Jean Charles armature | circulation MAJOR COMPONENTS | residential educational communal research religious recreational energy production agriculture infrastructure waste management water storage healthcare
ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS | all elements of the program will cater to a particular lifestyle that the community is familiar with and would be prescribed by social necessities. All components need to be resilient to natural elements of multiple severities and regenerate where ecosystems have been lost. The structure should both rest on solid ground and float on water at any given time as the dynamic site continues to alter. Methodologies cited above in both programmatic and situational case studies will be applied creating a hybrid typology that utilizes technologies currenty in existence today.
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QUANTITATIVE | following guidelines set up by State of Louisiana Division of Administration, Office of Community Development, and Disaster Recovery Unit for the Isle de Jean Charles resettlement to Houma, LA
Basic Needs for a Family of Four = x 25 FAMILY DWELLING home 1,300 ft² green house 430 ft² aquaponic 3,200 ft² seasonal garden 1000 ft² livestock 275 ft² solar cells 365 ft² water storage 215 ft² COMMUNAL
TOTAL 6, 786 ft² RESEARCH RELIGIOUS proposed population 100 homes HEALTHCARE ÷ 4 people in a single family = 25 families 25 families x 6,786 ft²
TOTAL 169,650 ft² communal 65,000 ft² reserach 50,000 ft² religious 5,000 ft² healthcare 5,000 ft² = 125,000 ft²
TOTAL 294,650 ft² prairie | grassland 40 acres GREEN SPACE + BUFFER forest 45 acres wetlands 80 acres = 165 acres or 7,187,400 ft²
TOTAL NET 7,482,050 ft² typical building nsf to gsf conversion* 1.35 7,482,050 x 1.35
TOTAL GROSS 10,100,767 ft²
* based on information provided by the Department of Defense Space Planning Criteria
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WORKS CITED
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 Brian Barth. “Let’s beat it: in southern Louisiana, Evans Lighter Landscape Architecture is helping the people of Isle de Jean Charles move away from a disappearing coast.” Landscape Architecture, October 2016, 132-51.
The article begins to outline the initial design proposals for a new community in Houma, LA designed by landscape architecture firm Evans Lighter. The master plan is a product of communal discussion in order to understand the tribe’s daily programmatic functionality and economical needs. In addition to beginning the narrative on what future developments may look like, it addresses the inherent issues with the selected location and its inevitable flooding as well as they standard archetype that is being proposed.
2 Conner, William H., and John W. Day. “Rising Water Levels in Coastal Louisiana: Implications for Two Coastal Forested Wetland Areas in Louisiana.” Journal of Coastal Research 4, no. 4 (1988): 589-96. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4297461.
Rising water is the common theme in all aspects of conversation regarding the southern coast of Louisiana. In this text the cause and effect of introduced flooding and its continuing longevity is discussed in relation to the case specific area of the Barataria and Verret watersheds in which the Isle de Jean Charles resides. In addition to providing numerical data on past and current events, the paper attempts to expose the major problems at hand in regard to sedimentation and the possible approaches to combat the rapid erosion the region experiences annually.
3 Locke C, Adger WN, Kelly P (2000) Changing places: Migration’s social and environmental consequences. Environment 42(7): 24–35.
Lock, Adger and Kelly outline the issues associated with migration in a social and environmental lens. The ability to adapt to a new context relies on the ability to assimilate with established cultures and network on a fair and agreed upon platform. In addition to responding to the effects of population increase, it sheds light into the social issues and hierarchies that must be overcome before adaptability becomes obtainable. The book brings insight to the negative consequences of displacement and perhaps advocates for a conversation about new resiliency efforts in order to maintain a geographical place and identity.
4 Lynch, Kevin, and Gary Hack. Site planning. Cambridge, MA, 1986.
5 Masterson, Jaimie Hicks., Walter Gillis. Peacock, and Van Zandt Shannon S. Planning for Community Resilience A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerability to Disasters. Washington, DC: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics, 2015.
The book identifies specific regions and cities that face inevitable natural disasters; their past approaches to resiliency, and proposes solutions to prepare for future storms in order to maintain social norms and practice. Rather than looking at it from a built form perspective, this text outlines governance and systematic methodology to expedite recovery and rescue operations.
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6 Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, and Heather Boyer. Resilient Cities. Washington: Island Press, 2017.
Resilient Cities takes a look at the faults in urban settings and the problems associated with mass public transit and population density. How we consume and approach our daily lives is incredibly unsustainable in the context of energy consumption and social networking. The book takes into consideration the norms of societies, dissects the pros and cons of a particular methodology or approach, and proposes new means to sustain a familiar behavior with limited repercussions and negative effects on the environment and society as a whole. The source will be vital in outlining the systematic approach to developing a new community in the face of all above-mentioned issues
7 Vincent Callebaut. “Lilypad, a floating ecopolis for climatical refugees.” Space., no. 495 (2009): 18-21. Accessed September 16, 2017. ArtArchLib.
This article briefly investigates Vincent Callebaut Architecture’s design proposal for a self-sustaining, floating city used to combat the effects of rising waters due to Global Climate Change. The siting of these large-scaled developments is intended for the coasts of vastly urbanized cities like Monaco, with the ability of housing 50,000 occupants to live, work, and play. All integrated building systems are powered by a hybrid system of sustainable and carbon-zero technologies with an added ability of air purification through the use of titanium dioxide (Ti02) utilizing a photo-catalytic effect. This community is intended to be introverted in the sense that it requires no external resources to maintain bio-diversity and life for the human and natural environment.
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CASE STUDY CITATIONS
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1 “The Island.” Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana. Accessed September 27, 2017. http://www. isledejeancharles.com/.
2 Author
3 Vincent Callebaut. “Lilypad, a floating ecopolis for climate refugees.” Space., no. 495 (2009): 18-21. Accessed September 16, 2017. ArtArchLib.
4 Goode, Erica. “A Wrenching Choice for Alaska Towns in the Path of Climate Change.” The New York Times. December 19, 2016. Accessed September 27, 2017. https://nyti.ms/2jWRdxJ.
5 “NLÉ.” NL. Accessed September 27, 2017. http://www.nleworks.com/case/lagos-water-communities- project/.
6 “High-Tech Floating Houses Planned For Nigeria Water Communities.” Creators. Accessed September 27, 2017. https://creators.vice.com/en_us/article/ezajen/nigeria-lagos-water-communities-look-like- waterworld.
7 PARALLEL NETWORKS - Op.N | Ali Fard Ghazal Jafari. Accessed September 27, 2017. http://op-n.net/ PARALLEL-NETWORKS.
8 “Brockholes Nature Reserve - Visitor Centre Preston.” E-architect. May 24, 2017. Accessed September 27, 2017. https://www.e-architect.co.uk/manchester/brockholes-nature-reserve.
9 “THE VISION.” Home. Accessed September 27, 2017. http://www.coastalresettlement.org/the-vision. html.
10 “The FLOAT House - Make it Right / Morphosis Architects.” ArchDaily. August 02, 2012. Accessed October 30, 2017. https://www.archdaily.com/259629/make-it-right-house-morphosis-architects.
11 “Innovative Self-Sustaining Village Model Could Be the Future of Semi-Urban Living.” ArchDaily. August 31, 2016. Accessed October 30, 2017. https://www.archdaily.com/794167/innovative-self-sustaining- village-model-could-be-the-future-of-semi-urban-living.
12 “Citadel Skyscraper / Victor Kopeikin Pavlo Zabotin.” ArchDaily. April 01, 2012. Accessed October 31, 2017. https://www.archdaily.com/221560/citadel-skyscraper-victor-kopeikin-pavlo-zabotin.
13 Sutter, John D. “Each hour, a football field of land vanishes.” CNN. April 08, 2016. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/08/opinions/sutter-isle-de-jean-charles-louisiana-climate/ index.html.
47 THE PROJECT
With the existence and continuing advancement of aquatic and amphibious architecture, a floating infrustructure is proposed to replace lossed land mass gradually over time while providing an armature for program consisting of floating wetlands, communal structures, residences, and places of refuge.
The system is intended to adapt and flex according to the scale of the community it supports and the amount of program necessary while providing structural rigidity against storm surge and further erosion.
I x1
MATURE GROWTH
x2
YOUNG GROWTH
x3
NEW GROWTH
x6
INFRASTRUCTURAL PIECES ASSEMBLY DETAIL 1/32” = 1’-0” SCALE TWO COMPONENTS
II III NEW ORLEANS
HOUMA
ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES
R G O IV .5 MI .5 MI .5 MI
1 MI 1 MI 1 MI
1.5 MI 1.5 MI 1.5 MI
2 MI 2 MI 2 MI
ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, LA ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, LA ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, LA 2025 SITE PLAN 2050 SITE PLAN 2100 SITE PLAN
V
VII
IX
XI
XIII
XV VII XVII