9.5.3 Beach Front The beachfront of southern Virginia extends from Willoughby Spit, which rose from the Chesapeake during a hurricane in the 1700s, to the barrier islands south of Virginia Beach. Spits and barriers are two closely related sand formations that register and are shaped by the waves of the sea. Today, they register not just the rhythms, directions and intensities of the sea, but also the relatively new recreational landscape of the beach frequented by seasonal waves of people from far inland. The temporal relationship between the many waves—tourists, ocean, recreation, precipitation, shopping, wind, and hurricanes—offer opportunities for designs predicated upon dynamic and complementary possibilities, programs, and functions.
WILLOUGHBY SPIT
RT 13
4
I-6
PRETTY LAKE
LYNNHAVEN INLET
Virginia Beach Coast
THE DESERT
Figure 9.44: East Frontier
RT 58
I-264
RAIL
VIRGINIA BEACH
RUDEE INLET
Figure 9.43: Beach Front Frontier
165 SCR Phase 1: Context, Site, and Vulnerability Analysis February 2014
GROUNDED
EPHEMERAL
LOT
EVENT
CREEK
BEACH
RAIN
DUNE BUILDERS
CREEK CLEANERS
TIDAL FORC ES
RAIN FAL L
J
J
A
S
O
SHOPPING
N
D
J
F
M
A
M
J
BEACH BUILDING
Figure 9.45: Beach Front Gradients: Operational, Material, Temporal, Spatial, and Ecological
09 Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia 166
Off-Sites: Routes, Railroads, and the Beach Front The abandoned Norfolk Southern Rail, I-264, and Route 58, which are currently populated by commercial buildings and vast asphalted parking lots, comprise a finger of high ground coming off the coast. This ground is one of interweaving waves of the sea, beachgoers, shoppers, rain and wind. We propose that this ground be designed to hold rains in reservoirs beneath buildings, roads, and highways; and to make the grounds of lots available to accommodate the rise of creeks when necessary. We also propose connecting creeks with a canal along a revived rail connection between Norfolk and Virginia Beach, creating, perhaps re-creating, a network of creeks and allowing them multiple outlets. On the beachfront itself, we turn and raise development to meet the sea in fingers of high ground, fingers connected by infrastructures such as boardwalks, roads, shoals, and a shelf that harnesses wind at sea. These are infrastructures designed to attenuate waves and to collectively protect.
WILLOUGHBY SPIT
PRETTY LAKE
NORFOLK
LYNNHAVEN INLET
VIRGINIA BEACH
RUDEE INLET
Figure 9.47: Beach Front Parking Lots
Figure 9.46: Beach Front Research Plot
167 SCR Phase 1: Context, Site, and Vulnerability Analysis February 2014
A
C
B
G
D E F
G
Figure 9.48: Virginia Beach System Diagram and Sectional Index
Figure 9.49: Route 58
Figure 9.50: Virginia Beach
C
D E
G G
F
Figure 9.51: Plan and Sectional Index
09 Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia 168
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Figure 9.52: Beach Front Horizons: Beaches and Parking Lots 1 2 3 4
Wlloughby Spit Willoughby Bay and Naval Station Norfolk Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Lynnhaven Inlet
169 SCR Phase 1: Context, Site, and Vulnerability Analysis February 2014
5 6 7 8
Route 58 Parking Lots Virginia Beach Rudee Inlet
Figure 9.53: Typological Sections SHOAL / WAVEBREAK
A Shoal/Wavebreak B Forest Stands Fishing Pier Wave Attenuators C Inlet and Marina Fishing Piers D Rain/Holding Flexible Boardwalk Dune E Hotels Fixed Boardwalk Windpower Generators Wave Attenuators F Rain Holdings Elevated Ground Beach G Shopping/Shelter Rail/Creek Collector Creek Expansion Rain Holdings Highway Tanks Parking
SECTION A
FISHING PIER FOREST STANDS
SECTION B B
INLET AND MARINA WAVE ATTENUATORS
SECTION C
DUNE
FLEXIBLE BOARDWALK RAIN HOLDINGS
SECTION D WINDPOWER GENERATION
HOTELS
FIXED BOARDWALK
WAVE ATTENUATORS
SECTION E
SECTION F
RAIN HOLDINGS
ELEVATED GROUND
SHALLOW DUNE
BEACH
SHOPPING/SHELTER I-264
RT. 58
PARKING
CREEK EXPANSION
SECTION G HIGHWAY TANK
177,600,356 M3
RAIN HOLDINGS
266400,534 M3
Figure 9.54: Project Gradients
RAIL / CREEK CONNECTOR
09 Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia 170