S H I F T I N G S A N D S
A RESULTING INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH SAFEGUARDING AMENITY
NIGEL WYNNE SHIFTING SANDS a resulting infrastructure through safeguarding amenity
The thesis research and investigation is a study of Dublin Bay, its threshold between land and sea, understanding the interaction between its built and natural environment and the challenges and qualities presented by this coastal landscape. Learning from its past, understanding its current context and looking to its future needs. Dublin bay and its edge condition is in constant flux, this comes in various forms and time lines, from the consistent ebb and flow of daily tides, to the gradual growth over years of Dublin port through reclaimed land. It provides for both economical and recreational aspects of the city with its ecological value paramount as a UNESCO biosphere. Its coastal heritage tells us a lot about our city and how it has shaped it. Building on this continuity raises the question:
‘How can we work in symbiosis with nature and our built environment to safeguard our amenity and mitigate rising sea levels?’
Thesis research looked at the built environment and the coastal landscape of Dublin bay. The connections between and along its coastal edge, to understand its relationship to its context. Investigations into how the intervention of infrastructure such as the North Bull wall or the Booterstown coastal rail line provided for an infrastructural function, yet through their interaction with nature, ecologies were created that have shown the potential for a symbiosis between manmade and nature. Infrastructure traditionally was influenced from anthropogenic values, heavily engineered solutions that meet the needs of its function but not the environment. Today our value system is changing, aware of the damaging effects of our anthropogenic past, we have to find ways to build in a symbiosis with our environment. Analysing hard and soft sea mitigation systems provided for knowledge of the potential solutions that could be applied to Dublin’s coastal edge condition. These were tested to understand the site context in respect to its unique topology, requirements and what would be appropriate. The nature of the investigation as part of a larger urban landscape brought to light the ability to understand the scale of the city, its connections and its impact from the macro to the micro. The thesis project focused on implementing the research and investigation in regards to testing a symbiotic solution within a site context. In parallel, this site context would be considered as a part of a larger urban strategy and its relationship within the city. Proposing to create connections and moments in a sequence of spaces that as Dublin grows and densifies, it will increasingly depend on such places that are accessible to all, well-connected by transport and rich with amenities. Proposing a ‘coastal blueway’, a necklace of public spaces along the water’s edge, forming an infrastructure and recreational edge condition to preserve amenity and mitigate rising sea levels with each intervention responding to its unique context. These ‘blue space interventions’ could become a new way of understanding the city, bringing previously unconnected places together. In total nine interventions are proposed as part of a sequence of spaces along the north edge of the coastal blueway. To test the thesis research at a detail level, the context of Bull island was chosen in its site potential. The title ‘shifting sands’ comes from the study of Bull Island and its formation through the initial manmade intervention of North bull wall in 1824. A piece of marine infrastructure to help prevent silting within the shipping channel to Dublin port. The sea wall combined through the natural process of sediment movement called littoral drift, which is caused by the prevailing currents and winds of Dublin Bay, formed Bull island gradually over 200 years, resulting in this UNESCO nature reserve island we see today. Further to the accumulation of the research and site investigation, the thesis project proposes a tidal sea wall to bridge the northeast tip of Bull island across Sutton creek to Howth head. In conjunction with this sea wall is a lightweight timber structure proposed along Dollymount strand to facilitate the initial stages of dune building, in addition to marram grass that at the latter stages, structurally knits the dunes together. Creating a predominantly soft infrastructure , ‘working with nature’ to create a barrier island and safeguarding its amenity value. Experiential qualities of the coastal environment investigated in volume one would be tested at the human scale, in the spatial interpretation of public baths as an embedded section of the sea wall. Testing how experiential qualities of the surrounding coastal environment could be translated spatially, socially and through materiality, giving an atmospheric, primitive quality to evoke the senses. Through the thesis research and investigation, the original first image ‘Palimpsest’ has come full circle, a reference to the layers of time and the visual clues left by it. In this case infrastructure through its materiality that comes from the landscape and eventually over time it then becomes part of the landscape due to the natural wind and water movement of ‘shifting sands’.
01 SHIFTING SANDS building with nature
Image opposite
SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN MANMADE & NATURE Temporal Study, North Bull Wall & Island, Dublin Bay.
The combination of man made and natural process of littoral drift growing an island ecology over 200 years.
1825
1975
1900
2020
02 SYMBIOSIS working with nature
Image right
SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN HUMANS & NATURE
Study of coastal activity - Kitesurfing, Bull Island, Dublin Bay. Video stills layered to express movement & experience - N Wynne
Image below
SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN HUMANS & PLANET EARTH
Global wind patterns Image credit: earth.nullschool.net. minor image edit: N Wynne
03 COLLINS CHART 1693 JEAN ROCQUE 1757
DUBLIN BAY evolving threshold
Images left
TEMPORAL STUDY, DUBLIN BAY 300 years, an ever changing edge condition, N Wynne.
Images below
PALIMPSEST, Threshold between land and sea, Photograph: N Wynne.
0 01 02 03 04 KM 0 01 02 03 04 KM
JOHN COWAB 1837 OSI - 2020
04 0 01 02 03 04 KM 0 01 02 03 04 KM PLACE understanding by physical experience
Image opposite,
RESPONDING TO PLACE, Precedent study (volume one), Steilneset memorial in Vardø, Norway, Peter Zumthor with artist Louise Bourgeois
Image below,
UNDERSTANDING PLACE THROUGH PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE, Walkscapes, Francesco Careri.
05 CONNECTING blue spaces and well being
Image opposite
BATHING HUT, RINGSEND. (early nineteenth century) Artist: James A. O’Connor
Image below
THRESHOLD, MITIGATION & CONNECTION, Test study, Volume one, Existing site condition, Sandymount, Model, Card, Balsa & Ply, N Wynne
06 MITIGATION safeguarding amenity
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BATTLE OF CLONTARF 2020, Temporary mitigation measures, Photo: N Wynne. Line drawing overlay, North Bull Wall, Wooden bridge, Survey drawing, N Wynne.
Image below,
FLOODING CLONTARF PROMENADE
2014 - North Bull Wall - Wooden Bridge - Mean High Tide / SE Winds - Clontarf. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Irish Times
07 INFRASTRUCTURE spectrum of mitigation
Images right
SPECTRUM OF COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURE. Hard to soft, illustrations by others as listed below:
01. Boatstrand Harbour, section of pier, Source: OPW library, National Archives of Ireland 01 02 02. Pier at Giles Quay, 47 th Annual Report from the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, 1879, p63 (Courtesy of Proquest, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers) Source: Researchgate.net 03. Kingstown harbour wall, (Dun Laoghaire) Source: OPW library, National Archives of Ireland 04. Booterstown sluice gates, Source: DLRCC, Illustration by: Naomi Mc Bride 05. Roman marine concrete, casting process, Vitruvius, De Architectura, (c. 25 BCE) 06. Half tide sea wall, Source: Researchgate.net 07. Sand fencing, Dune building and stabilization with vegetation (1910) Image credit: William Walton 08. Marram grass, Source: Countryside Commission, UK.
03 04 05 Image below
SAND MOTOR, Netherlands, A dynamic solution, (2018) Nature based floor defense. Image: Joop van Houdt
06 07 08
08 BULL WALL & ISLAND N precedent - symbiosis
Understanding the acting forces of nature
Building with nature scale 1 - 25000
Bull island was formed by hydrology, a combination 04 of a man made intervention of the north bull wall and the natural process of littoral drift. Prevailing Winds
Littoral drift is the process of sediment movement carried by prevailing currents and deposited on a sandbank or shoreline 03
Prevailing currents are influenced by the prevailing winds which in the case of dublin bay is south westerly. Prevailing winds are also critical to dune formation.
Littoral drift has been growing bull island by 1-2 meters per year, prevailing winds in conjunction with marram grass has achieved dunes on bull island ranging from 2 - 9 meters. 02
Bull island evolution
01. 1825 (North Bull Wall) 02. 1900 03. 1975 04. 2020 01
Background aerial image source: OSI aerial map, 2005 0 2012.
09 PREVAILING CURRENTS BOOTERSTOWN MARSH precedent - symbiosis
Images left
BOOTERSTOWN MARSH ECOLOGY, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Publication: Biodiversity of Booterstown Marsh and Beach, Illustrations by Naomi Mc Bride
Image below
INFRASTRUCTURE, SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN MANMADE & NATURE, Dublin and Kingstown Railway, From Blackrock, looking across Dublin Bay towards WIlliamstown & Merrion. Dublin in the distance. Artist John Harris
10 MATERIALITY post anthropogenic
Image left
LIVING SEA WALL, North Bull wall bathing shelter, Photo: N Wynne, Illustration overlay showing ecology that inhabits wall, Illustration credit: An Foras Forbartha, A study of Bull Island, 1977
Image below
NEUTRAL, Re thinking specification, original image: Towards a New Architecture. Dover Publications
NEUTRAL
barnacle anemone rough winkle sea slater limpet mussel dog whelk
Post Anthropogenic thoughts Revised edition 2020
11 BETWEEN LAND & SEA experiential
Image above
THRESHOLD Interaction between land, sea and humans, Belmullet Tidal Pool, Mayo. Photo: Anthony Haughey
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THRESHOLD, BETWEEN LAND AND SEA, Site Plan & elevation, Leca swimming pools, Alvaro Siza. Image credit: Alvaro Siza architects
12 THINKING BY DRAWING starting point - methodology
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THINKING BY DRAWING, Site investigation, N Wynne
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DRAWING THE INVISIBLE, Windmill Topography, James Corner
13 DRAWING THE INVISIBLE informing process, precedent studies
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MOVEMENT PRECEDENT, ‘Robert Littman Floating in my Pool’ (1982) David Hockney .
Image below
MARIE THARP OCEAN CARTOGRAPHY, Image source: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp.
Image bottom
FORCES & MOVEMENT, Hand sketch, Louis Kahn
14 WHAT LIES BENEATH littoral drift deposition
IImage right
INVISIBLE FORCES, Sediment deposition study, North Bull Wall, N Wynne
Image below
DUBLIN BAY, Landscape below study, N Wynne, Aerial image source: OSI aerial map, 2005 0 2012.
15 THESIS ARTICULATION discussion one
Image left
THESIS ARTICULATION PRESENTATION,1.2 X 1.2 m, Testing the waters, N Wynne,
Image above
RE USE, Dredge spoil, Dublin port. Diagram study: N Wynne (Vol 01)
?
Image 03 - Dublin Port - dredging map - n wynne maintenance dredging area
disposal site 0 1 2 3 4KM
16 URBAN STRATEGY edge condition survey
analysis of site sections & tidal data
Predicted storm surge flooding risk with current infrastructure defence (within the next 80 years)
+3.63 LAT Sutton 2 Sandycove - cycleway & promenade
+ Key cultural, landmark & recreational facilities along coastal edge
17 NORTH BULL WALL & ISLAND site investigation
7.5 M STORM SURGE
6.5 M HIGHEST ASTRONOMICAL TIDE 6.1 M MEAN HIGH WATER SPRING TIDE (2100)
5.5 M STORM SURGE 5.4 M MEAN HIGH WATER NEAP TIDE
4.5 M HIGHEST ASTRONOMICAL TIDE 4.4 M MEAN SEA LEVEL 4.1 M MEAN HIGH WATER SPRING TIDE
3.5 M MEAN LOW WATER NEAP TIDE 3.4 M MEAN HIGH WATER NEAP TIDE
2.7 M MEAN LOW WATER SPRING TIDE 2.4 M MEAN SEA LEVEL 1.9 M LOWEST ASTRONOMICAL TIDE 1.5 M MEAN LOW WATER NEAP TIDE
0.7 M MEAN LOW WATER SPRING TIDE
- 0.1 M LOWEST ASTRONOMICAL TIDE
2020 SEA LEVELS - REF: DUBLIN PORT COMPANY TIDES 2020 2100 SEA LEVELS - REF: IPCC PREDICTIONS + DUBLIN PORT COMPANY TIDES 2020 (BASED ON 2 METER SEA LEVEL RISE)
07 Threshold Study - North Bull Wall - Scale 1:50 Dublin Bay - Edge condition studies - Scale 1:50 Grade 9 - Maintains shipping channels \/ Creates reclaimed land - Bull Island Nature Reserve \/ Recreational Val 04\/03\/20
18 NORTH BULL WALL site testing - adaption
sketch detail showing water (run off & sea) drainage continuing ecology habitat
barnacle anemone rough winkle sea slater limpet mussel dog whelk
spongebob approval pending
19 Images below
NORTH BULL WALL, sketch axonometrics, testing edge conditions / mitigation measures, materiality & programme, N Wynne
Images below & right
NORTH BULL WALL, Site testing, Section models , scale 1/100 N Wynne
NORTH BULL WALL site testing - adaption
20 NORTH BULL WALL site plan showing section studies, testing sea wall mitigation measures + brief programme
01 02 03 04 05 06
21 NORTH BULL WALL site sections, 1/200, testing sea wall mitigation measures + brief programme
pedestrian / cycleway addition vehicle access adapted to resolve vehicle access restriction to links to s2s single lane access current wooden bridge
+1.0M
0.0M 0.0M
01 - proposed condition 01- existing condition
+1.0M
0.0M
02 - proposed condition 02 - existing condition
22 NORTH BULL WALL site sections, 1/200, testing sea wall mitigation measures + brief programme
03 - proposed condition 03- existing condition
cafe
04 - proposed condition 04 - existing condition
23 NORTH BULL WALL site sections, 1/200, testing sea wall mitigation measures + brief programme
rainwater collection to shower / changing facilities
freshwater or filtered seawater bath
possibility of using wind / tidal / solar power 05 - proposed condition 05 - existing condition
06 - proposed condition 06 - existing condition
24 URBAN STRATEGY CITY coastal blueway + Howth Harbour
+ Sutton Strand PLACE + Howth Martello Tower Sutton Cycle / Pedestrian+ Bridge + Bird Watch Tower + Tidal Wall Dune Makers+
St Annes PROGRAMME +Golf Club
Proposed Biosphere Sutton Dingy Club Education center + St Annes Park + + Martello Tower+ Bull Island Nature Reserve Walkway Bridge+ + Dollymount Strand Howth Head + Red Rock Beach+ Cliff Walk + + + Bailey Lighthouse Fairview Park Bench Clontarf Promenade + + Scouts Clontarf Yacht Club Den Kitesurf launch point Royal Dublin + Cycle / Pedestrian Port Bridge + Golf Club + Wooden+ + Bridge + North Bull Wall + Oyster Farm+ NORTH BULL ISLAND SPECIAL PROTECTION AREA Bathing shelters + Realt Na Mara +Dublin Port Company +
River Liffey / North Quays + + Lighthouse Dredged Shipping Channel
St Patricks Rowing Club Poolbeg Boat Club + Pigeon house + power station + + + Poolbeg Lighthouse Ringsend Park + + Halfmoon Swim club ESB chimmneys + Poolbeg Beach Sean Moore Park + + Irishtown Nature Reserve
Burford Bank - Dredge spoil site 10 million tonnes = Fill Croke Park x 11
SOUTH DUBLIN BA Martello Tower + Dublin Bay UNESCO Biosphere Cycle / Walkway - Phase 1 +Merrion Baths (ruin) Cycle / Walkway - Phase 2 Y SPECIAL AREA OF CONSERV
+ Proposed social & built culture + Existing social & built culture
+ Booterstown Marsh & Nature Reserve ATION
+ Blackrock Park
+Martello Tower + East Pier Lighthouse & Teddy’s Icecream + Blackrock Baths
Martello Tower + Dun Laoghaire Harbour + Seapoint
National Maritime Museum+ Dun Laoghaire Baths + 40ft + James Joyce Tower & museum Peoples park+ + Sandycove+ +Bullock Harbour
Potential flooding - Dublin Bay - 2060 by extreme water levels (tide-surge modelling) Source: Coastal vulnerability assessment of Co. Dublin and Co. Wicklow to impacts of sea-level rise , Silvia Caloca, Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth, Aug 2018. Sea level rises according to the EPA equate to a best case scenario of 55 - 60cm by 2100 with a possibility of up to 0.81 meters. Source: Environmental Protection Dublin Bay - Scale 1/25000 Agency, Richview, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
25 SEQUENCE OF PLACES coastal blueway, north DART & LUAS
Liffey Quays North / Blood Stoney Bridge Dublin Port Company Cycle / Pedestrian Port Bridge Pumping station bike point
01 02 03 04
11 +
03 04 08 01 02 + 09 10 + + + 05 06 + + + + + 16 + 07 12 + + 13 15 + + 14 +
DCC - Proposed Dublin Bay Clontarf Yacht Club Clontarf / Wooden bridge Bathing Shelter / Realt Na Mara UNESCO Biosphere Discovery Centre
05 06 07 08
St Annes Park / Red Stables Sutton Cross Bridge / Birdwatch Point Sutton Cross - Tidal Wall & Bridge Martello Tower
09 10 11 12
Scenic Point Baily Lighthouse Howth Cliff Walk Howth Harbour
13 14 15 16
26 CREATING A SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE a barrier island that connects
Adaptions and interventions 01. New wooden Bridge + 02. Community building and height 05 adaption of 1M to North Bull wall +04
03. Dune builder and walkway, facilitate natural process of dune formation
04. Sutton point, missing link in coastal blueway. Bridge & Tidal sea wall 05. Embedded bathhouse, a sensory + experience of coastal environment 03 +01
Image right
Sketch of Bull Island showing location of adaptions & interventions 02+ Images below
Section proposals of adaptions & interventions
01 02 03 04 05
27 BULL ISLAND 09 13 12 building with nature 10 11
Creating a barrier island
Bull Island edge condition mitigation, adaptions 08 06 & intervention 07 09 New wooden bridge 10 Adaption to Bull wall 11 Dune Builders 12 Sutton point tidal sea wall 05 13 Sutton point bridge
Building with Nature
06 North Bull wall + 07 Hydrology (Littoral Drift) + 08 Winds + Marram Grass = Dune barrier
Urban Strategy 04 05 Coastal Blueway Connecting the city with blue spaces 03 01 Site Context 02 03 Bull Island - A barrier island that connects 04 Flooding risk area - Rising sea levels / Storm surges Barrier island protects 6 KM of existing edge inland of island (yellow)
Forces of Nature
01 Prevailing winds 02 Prevailing currents
28 CREATING A SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE temporal study
BULL ISLAND - 2025 BULL ISLAND - 2075 BULL ISLAND - 2125
A Modern Barrier Island - Temporal study Mitigation through building with nature Symbiosis between human made & nature
Sutton Sutton Sutton
Howth Howth Howth
Section A-A Section A-A SectionSection A-A C-C
Santry River Santry River
St Anne’s Park + St Anne’s Park + St Anne’s Park +
Bull Island Bull Island Bull Island
North Bull Lighthouse North Bull Lighthouse North Bull Lighthouse
Dredged shipping channel Dredged shipping channel Dredged shipping channel
Poolbeg Lighthouse Poolbeg Lighthouse Poolbeg Lighthouse
N N N
Prevailing Currents Prevailing Winds Prevailing Currents Prevailing Winds Prevailing Currents Prevailing Winds
Scale 1 / 20000 Scale 1 / 20000 Scale 1 / 20000
+ + 0.5 1.0 M M
Section A-A Section A-A Section A-A
29 COASTAL BLUEWAY the missing link
01 10
09
08
02
Sketch model 1/500 07
01. Existing cycleway ends due to private property boundary, highlighting opportunity for new cycle & pedestrian connection along coast to Howth head. 06 02. Sutton Creek channel, due to Venturi effect of a freshwater inlet & tidal effects, prevents the north tip of Bull island reaching 04 Howth. 03. Northeast tip of Bull Island. 03 05 Programme
04. Birdwatchers Tower 05. Sutton point bridge access point to Bull Island 06. Tidal wall 07. Embedded Bathhouse 08. Connection to existing park 09. Beach SCALE: 1 - 5000 10. Existing Residential
30 SUTTON POINT creating a barrier island that connects
01. Lightweight timber walkway, structure orientated to catch sand and begin dune formations. As the process develops, dunes are held together structurally by Marram grass with their deep root system of up two meters. Bull island dunes, range from 2-4 meters on the south end and up 9 meters on the north end. Dune height can be impacted by human traffic, the walkway is proposed to help manage this impact. 03
02. Access to Sutton Tidal wall & bridge.
03. Tidal wall maintains natural process of water movement both sea and the Santry river freshwater inlet within Sutton creek. Incorporated sluice gates can mitigate against storm surges and utilize tidal energy.
02
01 01 02 03
Tidal sea wall plan showing location of axonometric sketches. NTS
31 SUTTON POINT
A RESULTING INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH SAFEGUARDING AMENITY 32 EMBEDDED BATHS a sensory experience
Section A-A
Schedule of Accommodation
baths area in total 600 sq.m (internal)
1. Subterranean access ramp 13 2. Reception, office & storage 3. Gents changing & Wc 4. Ladies changing & Wc 5. Sauna 6. Steam Room Section B-B 7. Heated saltwater pool (using tidal energy & filtered sea water), open to elements above. 8. Service & Maintenance 9. Heated saltwater pool 10. Access stair to external tidal pools 11. External tidal pool - Adult 400sq.m & children 100sq.m 12. Sea swimming at high tide 13. Lifeguard tower Section C-C 12 11 11
Section D-D
09 10 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
33 MATERIALITY & PLACE section and part elevation
SCALE 1- 100
Wall & roof construction
1. Roman concrete 600-1200mm 2. Thermal insulation 150mm 3. Vapour barrier 1mm 4. Roman concrete 200mm
Floor construction
1. Roman concrete 200mm 2. Screed, underfloor heating 120mm 3. Polyethylene sheet 1mm 4. Thermal insulation 150mm 5. Roman concrete 600mm
Image above
Roman marine concrete, construction process Image: Christopher Brandon
Image right
Part section and elevation showing materiality Scale: 1/100 N Wynne
34 EMBEDDED BATHS a sensory experience
Image below
View from thermal pool, N Wynne
Image right
Sketch card model, photographed using natural light, overlayed with photoshop textures to achieve materiality. Model scale: 1/100 N Wynne
35 SHIFTING SANDS working with nature
Image opposite
SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN MANMADE & NATURE Temporal Study, North Bull Wall & Island, Dublin Bay.
The combination of man made and natural process of littoral drift growing an island ecology over 200 years.
1825
1975
1900
2025
36 SHIFTING SANDS miro presentation
37