Heritage Adrift: Designing for North Brother Island in the Face of Climate Change
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 2016 Heritage Adrift: Designing for North Brother Island in the Face of Climate Change Angelina R. Jones University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, and the Landscape Architecture Commons Jones, Angelina R., "Heritage Adrift: Designing for North Brother Island in the Face of Climate Change" (2016). Theses (Historic Preservation). 610. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/610 Suggested Citation: Jones, Angelina R. (2016). Heritage Adrift: Designing for North Brother Island in the Face of Climate Change. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/610 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Heritage Adrift: Designing for North Brother Island in the Face of Climate Change Abstract The smaller islands of the archipelago of New York City (NYC) have built heritage that reflects the history of quarantining undesirable and vulnerable populations in institutions such as hospitals, asylums, and prisons. North Brother Island (NBI) in the East River is one such place, home to Riverside Hospital and other institutions from 1885-1963. The NYC archipelago is vulnerable to multiple effects of climate change including sea-level rise, shoreline erosion, increased flooding, and storm surge. In order to confront the dangers that climate change presents to the built heritage on NBI, a hybrid approach of preservation interventions and landscape architecture strategies are needed. Using a values-based preservation approach as the foundation, I developed a projective design to address shoreline erosion, building stabilization, selective deconstruction, and public access to NBI, which is currently managed as a bird sanctuary. I have designed a low energy tidal zone on the rapidly eroding northeastern shore of the island using constructed reefs. The area of the island where colonial wading birds have nested is protected from human access with a dry-laid masonry wall. Both the reef and wall are constructed with debris recycled from buildings on the island that need to be deconstructed due to instability. The forestry strategy augments the existing vegetation on site and uses salt tolerant species in the meadow, woodland, scrubland, and wetland, which will all be increasingly inundated as sea-levels rise. The design solution will allow for limited and seasonal access to this island with a rich and important quarantine history. Keywords South Bronx, Riverside Hospital, abandonment, urban wild, Rikers Island Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation | Landscape Architecture Comments Suggested Citation: Jones, Angelina R. (2016). Heritage Adrift: Designing for North Brother Island in the Face of Climate Change. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/610 HERITAGE ADRIFT: DESIGNING FOR NORTH BROTHER ISLAND IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE Angelina R. Jones A THESIS in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION 2016 _____________________ Advisor Randall F. Mason Associate Professor and Program Chair, Historic Preservation Dedicated to Kevin Wohlgemuth, my partner in this journey and every other. ii Acknowledgements “Landscape is basically history. There are only two possibilities: To obliterate that history or to make it your partner.” -Peter Latz, Landscape Architect I want to thank my family who have supported, encouraged, and believed in each of my endeavors. I also want to thank my two advisors, Randy and Richard, who inhabited this island with me over the last year. Furthermore, I was incredibly fortunate to have a large body of work about North Brother Island generated by the 2005 and 2015 HSPV studio teams. This work inspired and guided me as I created my vision for the island. Finally, thank you to all of the other incredible faculty at PennDesign who supported me while writing this thesis and supported my studies over the last four years. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ iii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Research problem ........................................................................................................................ 3 Proposition ................................................................................................................................... 3 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................................... 5 Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 8 Cultural Landscape Theory........................................................................................................... 8 Islands as Cultural Landscapes ................................................................................................... 22 Policy and Design Responses to Climate Change ....................................................................... 26 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 40 Research Methods ................................................................................................................. 47 Historical Documentation .......................................................................................................... 47 Descriptive Analysis ................................................................................................................... 48 Preservation Planning ................................................................................................................ 50 Projective Design ....................................................................................................................... 51 Historical Analysis ................................................................................................................. 53 Geological History ...................................................................................................................... 53 Social History .............................................................................................................................. 55 Descriptive Analysis ............................................................................................................... 70 Edge Conditions ......................................................................................................................... 71 Vegetation and Landscape Features .......................................................................................... 74 Condition of Extant Structures ................................................................................................... 77 Values and Statement of Significance .................................................................................... 80 Values ......................................................................................................................................... 80 Statement of Significance .......................................................................................................... 86 Tolerance for Change ................................................................................................................. 88 Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 92 Design Proposal ..................................................................................................................... 94 Circulation and Programing ....................................................................................................... 94 Treatment .................................................................................................................................. 96 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 107 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 109 iv Appendix A: Analysis ........................................................................................................... 115 Appendix B: Design .............................................................................................................. 129 Index ................................................................................................................................... 139 v List of Figures Figure 1. Coastal defense strategy typology .................................................................................. 42 Figure 2. Strategy to fortify the coastal edge in the