BALTIMORE INSTITUTE of URBAN SUSTAINABILITY JOSHUA MILLER | ARCH 403 | PROF. WILLIAMS
Located in the heart of the Mount Vernon neighborhood in Downtown Baltimore, the Baltimore Institute of Urban Sustainability will provide a new headquarters for the institue. The institute has two main focuses: education on topics of sustainability and research on the effect of climate change and its related consequences. Baltimore and its surrounding areas are under direct threat of climate change and more importantly the threat of rising sea levels. Rising sea levels threatens thousands of miles of low-lying coastline. With rising sea-levels comes many problems but the largest of them all is erosion. As water washes in, the coastline begins to erode away and this building is an at-
LOWER LEVEL PLAN
MAIN LEVEL PLAN
tempt to re-concile with the irreversable damage we have caused while also providing a look forward to a brighter future. The lower mass of the building houses the exhibition space and is formed with a series of cavernous voids resembling erosion. This space memorializes the environment but also reminds visitors the grim future if we do not push towards a more sustainable future. The upper mass of the building houses the Institute where reasearch and studies are conducted on topics of sustainability. This wood constructed office space is raised off the eroding ground as a motif to resilience and a brighter future.