Masters Thesis:
FLuid Boundaries
simultaneous dialectics of the elegant and expedient
Fluid Boundaries seeks to examine, question, and redesign our current notion of the waterline, by embracing sea level rise as a design catalyst rather than solely a threat. Humans are drawn to the water – both for its pleasure and its power. A delicate balance in understanding our relationship to the natural environment in which we live. We have also developed a split understanding of waterfront inhabitation: a romanticized vision of the waterfront that we desire in perpetuity, contrasted with a more accurate reality of how that relationship changes through sea level rise flooding. Similarly, there is a strong dialectic between elegantly planned designs for sea level rise and expedient disaster responses, where sea level rise infrastructure often creates physical and psychological disconnects between humans and the waterfront.
While presented as opposing forces, there is space between - where one can find beauty in disaster. Waterfront experiences should be integrated with sea level rise infrastructure in a way that lets water in and heightens its phenomena - instilling a sense of awe and fear, pleasure and respect for the power of water. Gaining this intrinsic understanding of the connection between society and the changing waterline realigns and strengthens one’s relationship with water in light of sea level rise.
Using flooding as a design catalyst…
how can elegant designs let water in while simultaneously embracing the beauty in expedient disaster response?
SITE:
This thesis considers several coastal typologies, then focuses on the Berkeley waterfront, considering what will be flooded and how the relationships between water flows, infrastructure, and communities adapt to the encroaching waterline.
SCALE:
Interventions are designed as typological moments at five scales: the city, the neighborhood, the street, the building, and the detail.
While elegant proposals planning for sea level rise often culminate in expedient, reactive disaster responses, beauty is still found in these makeshift solutions through design ingenuity and the perplexing beauty of material decay.
Here, the beautification of disaster is set in contrast with the expediency of solving the problem at hand. It is the contrast between the elegant and the expedient, the proactive and the reactive, the resolved and the ready-made.
Each moment is presented as an ideological diptych. The elegant is shown in both an experiential and analytical lens, portraying sensory experience, and then detailed mechanics through orthographic. In contrast, the expedient accentuates the ad-hoc ingenuity characterizing disaster response. Both tracks address the same challenge, but differ in their response and resources available.
Despite contrasting approaches, the elegant and expedient utilize similar representation styles to blur the boundaries between their differences. This serves as a critique of idealized waterfront projects failing to deliver on expectations, while also elevating the glimmers of beauty found in disaster as a new way of life.
Through analyzing and representationally equating these contradicting extremes, one can synthesize a potentially more accurate reality.
the city
The city scale focuses on systems of connectivity between communities.
Elegantly, elevate new transit lines to maintain regional connections, while incorporating efficient bus lines, ferry piers, and active commuting.
Expediently revamp the current transit systems to address frequent flooding. Close, reroute, and elevate in a patchwork manner.
the neighborhood
The neighborhood scale focuses on the inhabitation of this transit infrastructure, as it ideally shifts towards water-based mobility, compared with expediently flood-proofing existing infrastructure.
Elegantly connect multifunctional piers into existing highway systems to serve as transit hubs - supporting boat docking on one side, waterfront leisure on the other, and recreational park paths in between.
Expediently, rely on buses and above ground transportation with flexible routes moved to places without flooding. Heavily flood-proof underground transit, such as BART, or move it to higher ground.
the street
The street scale concerns itself with the pedestrian realm – food and commerce, or public parks.
Elegantly, transition essential services to floating infrastructure approached by boats, allowing society’s most vital resources to be preserved yet remain accessible during the transition period.
Expediently, place these services on underutilized barges, mobilizing to serve multiple communities or those particularly vulnerable to inundation or lack of supplies.
the building
The building scale focuses on the extents of a residential house and yard, and how they meet the street.
Elegantly elevate the house above flood level, surrounded by a landscaped levee as a seamless extension of the yard.
Expediently, delineate property divisions with deployable flood barriers or levees, cutting off each house from the street.
the detail
The scale of the detail focuses on the design of a “water track” throughout the building, capturing flood water and orchestrating its movement as the house acts as a drain.
The interior environment shifts in response to exterior conditions, removing barriers even within the home to strengthen one’s connection to the changing waterline.
Implementing large-scale infrastructural materials at the detail scale in intimate ways questions the role of flood infrastructure at the personal level. These water design moments not only amplify pre-existing water interactions, but create new ones in unexpected locations - forcing people to rethink what should be dry or wet, inside or outside, protected or a redefined boundary.
Elegantly partition rooms with waterfall screens, especially in more public spaces.
Expediently patch seepage with water-resistant materials to reduce mold, rot, and the disintegration of crucial structure.
Elegantly stream water below stairs and through piped railings, cascading into reflecting pools below.
Expediently, place sandbags on each subsequent step to protect against further water damage.
Elegantly expose water pipes. Sculpt them to morph between décor and functional furniture, while simultaneously continuing to transport water throughout the home.
Expediently remove rotted wall material and furnishings to avoid further damage.
Elegantly hang seating on retractable cables, adaptively lifting to hover just above the water line as flooding intensifies. Wear high-topped rain boots inside.
Expediently redefine everyday living through continual barriers and haphazard elevation with sandbags at hand.
The beautification of disaster is set in contrast with the expediency of solving the problem at hand.
But what exists in the space between these dialectic approaches?
Is it the gradual decay of the elegant over time, as it is patched by the expedient? Or perhaps the implementation of elegance in some places and expedience in others – a physical reflection of what is considered essential?
I am interested in this duality of elegant and expedient - restructuring what it means to live with water, the expectation of where the water line exists, the glimmers of beauty found in disaster as a new way of life. Its imprint on the urban fabric, through the temporal nature of material decay. An adaptive relationship with water - a drifting towards…
