HIGH WATER AND HOUSING: A SOLUTION FOR URBAN RESILIENCY
I am proposing a new form of resilient housing design for high water events in the urban context. I will be focusing on the relationship between land form, responsive architectures, and the physics of water to inform my design. Through analyzing precedents of several different resilient strategies, I have deduced that the most effective strategies include constructed green spaces and buoyant construction. These strategies will be deployed on a site on the harbor’s edge in East Boston, an area that is especially prone to the effects of high water events and would benefit from a solution for urban resiliency.
HIGH WATER AND HOUSING TYLER WILD
by TYLER WILD ARCH 7130 INSTRUCTOR: PETER WIEDERSPAHN
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 SEA LEVEL RISE+IMPORTANCE OF COASTAL CITIES...............5 2 EAST BOSTON: SITE SELECTION AND VULNERABILITY.........13 3 RESILIENCE STRATEGIES.........................................................25 4 CONSTRUCTED GREENS.......................................................... 51 5 BUOYANT CONSTRUCTION.......................................................63 6 DESIGN IMPLICATIONS OF THE SITE...................................... 83 2
3
SEA LEVEL RISE
SEA LEVEL RISE
SEA LEVEL RISE: THE PAST 50 YRS
WHATS COMING 10 ft
12”
THE CAUSES
SIDE EFFECTS
by 2200
West Coast City East Coast City 8”
Back Bay Present
4” by 2100
OTHER GLACIER MELT INCREASED FLOODING
GALVESTON, TX NORFOLK, VA ATLANTIC CITY, NJ WASHINGTON D.C. NEW YORK CITY, NY BOSTON, MA CHARLESTON, SC KEY WEST, FL SAN DIEGO, CA SEATTLE, WA SAN FRANSISCO, CA LOS ANGELES, CA
1.5 ft
by 2050
38%
Back Bay 2200
+
52%
COASTAL STORMS
TEMPERATURE RISE
1
BOSTON SEA LEVEL TREND
.30
.15 (Meters)
4 ft
sea level data
HIGH WATER AND HOUSING TYLER WILD
10%
Boston Present
0
-.15
mean sea level trend
-.30 1920
1950
1980
2010
Boston 2200
6
7
RESILIENCE STRATEGIES
RESILIENCE STRATEGIES
A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK
MOST EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES
COST
ACCESIBILITY COMBINABILITY
ECOSYSTEM
VULNERABILITY EFFECTIVENESS
DRY FLOOD PROOFING
HIGH WATER AND HOUSING TYLER WILD
STRATEGY
$
+
CONSTRUCTED GREEN
WET FLOOD PROOFING
CONSTRUCTED GREENS
LIMITS VULNERABILITY
ELEVATE ON STILTS
PROMOTES
better
CHEAP EFFECTIVE
OF WAVE DAMAGE
AND
ECOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
BUOYANT HOUSING worse
BUOYANT HOUSING
ENCOURAGES AND MAKES ROOM FOR
MAINTAINS
RECREATION
METHOD OF RESILIENCY
3
NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER
ACCOUNTS FOR
MULTIPLE WATER LEVELS
48
49
CONSTRUCTED GREENS
CONSTRUCTED GREENS
A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK
MOST EFFECTIVE STRATEGY
COST
ACCESIBILITY NEIGHBORHOOD RECREATION
VULNERABILITY EFFECTIVENESS
BUILT SLOPE TO STRUCTURE
WATERFRONT RETENTION PARK
+
ELEVATED PLATFORM
CHEAPEST
BUILT SLOPE
ALLOWS EASY SERIES OF DUNES
MAINTAINS
ACTIVATES WATER
CONSTRUCTED GREEN STRATEGY
ACCESSIBILITY
AS USABLE PART OF SITE
LIMITS VULNERABILITY
OF THE SITE
NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER
ACCOUNTS FOR
OF WAVE DAMAGE
HIGH WATER AND HOUSING TYLER WILD
STRATEGY
$
4
MULTIPLE WATER LEVELS
RETENTION PARK worse
better
58
59
BUOYANT CONSTRUCTION
BUOYANT CONSTRUCTION
A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK
MOST EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES
COST
ACCESIBILITY
AESTHETIC
CO2
NEIGHBORHOOD FOOTPRINT
EFFECTIVENESS HIGH WATER AND HOUSING TYLER WILD
STRATEGY
$
+
SUB-GRADE AMPHIBIOUS
ABOVE GRADE AMPHIBIOUS
SUB-GRADE AMPHIBIOUS MAINTAINS
FLOATING DOCK
NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER
ALLOWS EASY
ACCESSIBILITY
RETROFITTED worse
72
better
DOES NOT DETRACT FROM
OF THE SITE
AESTHETIC QUALITY
FLOATING DOCK ALLEVIATES
URBAN SPRAWL
MINIMIZES THE BUILDING’S
PROMOTES THE
BY CREATING NEW LAND
5
CARBON FOOTPRINT
ACTIVATION
OF THE WATER
73