Project Details
- Project Name
- Salty Urbanism: Sea Level Rise Adaptation Strategies for Urban Areas
- Location
- FL
- Architect
- Brooks + Scarpa
- Project Types
- Planning
- Shared by
- Hanley Wood
- Team
-
Florida Atlantic University
University of Southern California
University of Kansas
- Project Status
- Concept Proposal
“This series of tools and frameworks gives each community myriad potential responses. The nuanced, organic approach invites each community to really own a solution.” —Jury statement
If the phrase “Salty Urbanism” suggests something slightly off-color, that might simply be a matter of linguistic coincidence—but it’s not so far off either. The proposal from Brooks + Scarpa, developed with collaborators from Florida Atlantic University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Southern California, is premised on admitting a dirty—and rather damp—truth that many in the design world would prefer to leave unsaid: Architecture by itself is not likely to halt the devastation of cities from climate change.
Instead, what Salty Urbanism suggests is an adaptive strategy that could allow coastal communities to continue to function even with water levels far above present norms. Projecting a series of “hydro-urbanisms,” the designers imagine new archipelago communities, canal-like streets, and deliberately marshy waterfronts, supported by innovative new infrastructure that could allow cities to thrive even under conditions of extreme flooding, while mitigating the effects of future severe weather events.
The geographical focus of the study (appropriately, given its unique vulnerability) is the highly populated tip of the Florida peninsula; but the rigor of the team’s approach—which looks back at native biodiversity and forward to entirely new architectural typologies—suggests applications on a national and even global scale, with results that might differ from place to place while still adhering to the same methodological framework. To be salty also implies a certain amount of grit, and there’s certainly nothing overly aestheticized about this complex new urbanism. Yet there is also, in the team’s renderings, a remarkable amount of drama, and a dazzling sense of possibility.
Project Credits
Project: Salty Urbanism: Sea Level Rise Adaptation Strategies for Urban Areas
Architect: Brooks+Scarpa, Los Angeles and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. . Jeffrey Huber, AIA, Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA, Angela Brooks, FAIA, Pieter Conradie, Fan Wu, Arty Vartanyan (project team)
University Collaborators: Florida Atlantic University, University of Kansas Scool of Architecture, University of Southern California
Florida Atlantic University Team: Jeff Huber, AIA (assistant professor, project leader); Anthony Abbate, AIA (director, professor); Dr. Colin Polsky (director, associate professor); Francis Lyn (associate director, associate professor); John Sandell, Fredrick Bloetscher, Diana Mitsova (associate professors); Pieter Conradie, Heather Akers, Chance Stillman, Dogus Oren, Nicolas DiMatia, Dane Quist (research assistants); Rayan Alhawiti, Connor Bailey, (research associates); German Avila, Hernan D’Angelo, Eduardo Ecenarro, Hassan El Wazzan, Austin Fox, David Gillis, Cody Gosier, Laetitia Lamarre, Francys Liscano, Olga Marin, Haleng Mustafo, Javier Mendoza, Rodrigo Navarro, Kevin Ortega, Carlos Tejado, Emily Peters, Gilberto Pujols, Jessie Robles, Maria Rodriguez, Ricardo Rodriguez, Kathleen Valdez, Maria Valero, Kyle Vayda, Rollson Virgile, Katja Whyte, Nadia Zuta, Luis Ardila, Juanita Bernal, Laren Buss, Cristin Courtney, Christopher Emile, Christie Garcia, NoahIlles, Fadia Jawhari, Daniel Justiniano, Carlos Justiniano, Maria Kokalias, Tyler Laforme, Jonathan Llampay, Amber Lewis, Rebeca Machado, Angela Menah, Lisa Munoz, Michael Olitsky, Michael Ospina, Elizabeth Parry, Connor Peede, Daniel Shareef, Deshay Sinclair, Anthony Talavera, Diego Valencia, Kevin Van Osterom (students)
University of Kansas School of Architecture Team: Keith Van de Riet (assistant professor); Nicholas Bontrager, Camille Cieutat, Anna Collins, Patrick Griffin, Jake Lester, Pennie Liu, Zachary Overschmidt, Kevin Purdom, Quentin Rabu, Nicolas Rakowski, Spencer Reed, Emma Riordan, Hannah Rupprecht, Claire Ryan, Joseph Schaefer-Glick, Mitchell Starrs, Hannah Underwood (students)
University of Southern California Team: Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA (adjunct assistant professor); Norah Altwaijri, Chase Ashley, Danut Bidasca, Jennifer Brozozowski, Milioni Doshi, Christian Estrada, Hieu Huynh, Yangxiaoxia Li, Yu Liu, Jen Yu (Jason) Lo, Zhuo Wang, Mengyu Wu (students)
Supporting Organizations: City of Fort Lauderdale—Department of Sustainable Development, Department of Transportation and Mobility, Public Works; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—National Sea Grant College Program; National Endowment for the Arts—Our Town grant program
Project Description
FROM THE AIA:
Salty Urbanism is a sea-level rise adaptation design framework for urban areas that envisions and quantifies the experiential and ecological outcomes of alternative lifestyles within a future of saturated landscapes. As an integrative design tool, Salty Urbanism accommodates a variety of best management practices to be implemented over time. Tactics and techniques outlined are implemented step-wise and successively across various fronts to establish meaningful conversations among stakeholders as they reimagine and realize a prosperous way forward for the region while adapting to sea level rise and climate disruptions.
2018 INSTITUTE HONOR AWARDS FOR REGIONAL AND URBAN DESIGN JURY:
Roger Schluntz, FAIA (Chair), School of Architecture and Planning, University of Mexico; Lisa Chronister, AIA, City of Oklahoma City Planning Department; Suzanne DiGeronimo, FAIA, DiGeronimo Architects; Tim Griffin, AIA, Minnesota Design Center; and Gerry Tierney, AIA, Perkins+Will.
JURY COMMENTS:
"What a brilliant strategy that shows thought and sophistication. This is a series of toolboxes and frameworks giving each community a myriad of potential responses that could work for them as they work together. The nuanced, organic approach invites the community to really own a solution. These frameworks could be implemented in any community facing the dilemma of sea level rise."