UF MRP_2013_Kai Wu

Blur Boundary

Architecture works with sea level rising

by KAI WU

2013 SPRING MRP PROJECT MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Table of content

Thesis concept

01

Introduction

04

Background

16

Learn from other cities

38

Context + Analysis

56

Program + Strategy

70

Blur Boundary

Architecture works with sea level rising

by KAI WU

2013 SPRING MRP PROJECT MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA COMMITTEE: WILLIAM TILSON (CHAIR) MARTIN GOLD (CO-CHAIR) JOHN MAZE HUI ZOU

1

Thesis concept

Blur Boundary Architecture works with sea level rising New Orleans has suffered from many natural disasters and is still facing its own challenges during the sea level rising nowadays as well as in the future, which makes it holding great potential of what strategies we can explore and apply. The intricate system of levees, canals and pump stations that work so hard to keep the city land dray and away from water is actually also cause the city to subside, which will accelerate the crisis of sea level rising as well as flood and hurricane. From an opposite way, the city also contains the possibilities to learn from other cities that interact with the water to be a water town.

8 years after the devastating Katrina, many areas remain abandoned and inhabited. Although government and organizations applied plans and projects to rebuild communities, citizens still hesitate to move back to these heavily damaged and low-lying zones.

The intent of this MRP thesis is aiming to pick a spot of these areas within the city grid to test the idea of soft infrastructure. Instead of planning for rebuilding houses that still under the future danger of being flooded again, the proposal explore the water sensitive infrastructure can function with or without the flood scenes. A system of connecting and organizing spaces of the communities are introduce to add new life experience and urban value and contribute to attract citizen to settle down.

The strategies include but not limit to cooperating with the existing strategies such as the Army Corp’s levee projects, connecting the canals with resilience landscapes, lifting the community off the ground with stilt and floating buildings respond to the future flood, applying recreation wet land and waterscape public parks below the lifted communities, linking the uplifted buildings with new public space and circulation route to form a community can function in both dry and flood scenes.

2

INTRODUCTION

Introduction Climate Change

melting glaciers

greenhouse gas

rising currents

natrual catastrophes

5

Sea level rise is a natural phenomenon, an historical measurement, and it is underway around the world sped along by global warming and the rapid melting of the polar ice caps. Most great cities located near or at a low-lying and vulnerable coastal areas or riversides inlcude New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Singapore. The physical, social and economic consequences that climate change will no doubt bring are increasingly evident in recent disasters creating devastating influence on the growth pattern of cities and raises questions as to how we can continue to survive.

The heat-trapping greenhouse gas humanity is now keep emitting by burning fossil fuels today dramatically changed the temperature of the natural environmental circulation. The warm temperature causes glaciers to melt much faster than they can accumulate new snow. The melted water continues to flow into the ocean and cause the rise of sea level. Beside this, the warming makes the atmosphere much wetter, and the evaporation of the water increases.

As a result, intense rainstorm brings extra water into the city. Normally, the water will be absorbed by the soil and vegetation then drained away, but the most land of the cities is paved with water proofed roads that preventing the water to drain away. The consequence of this situation will result in damaging flood within the cities. For example, a heavy rainstorm during the summer of 2012 overflowed the drainage system of Beijing, submerged the Changan Main Boulevard, and causing a man drowned in his own car right in front of the Forbidden City.

The phenomenon of the urban heat island is another reason keeping the temperature elevated; Urbanization process let more and more people moving into urban space from agricultural land. This trend accelerated global warming, then causing much more risks to human well-being from heat waves, sea level rise and flooding overtimes. The existing crumbling infrastructure along the shoreline will face increasing challenges and much intense of harsh events.

6

Introduction “Hard� infrastructure

Thames barrier

breached levee

people in disaster

flooded city

7

Humanity has a long history of dealing with rising sea and river level and generated many solutions and strategies. However, as rapid globalization has greatly changed and is still changing the world, this situation has become much more crucial than any other time in history. Shall we keep going up to the higher land to flee from the water? Or continue to create great hard seawalls and dams to block the sea and river from flooding our homeland? Or can we step forward to confront the threat the head-on, turn the risks into incentives and strategies to work with the water and create much more ecological, climate adaptive and resilient habitats? Scientists, engineers, planners, biologists and architects have shown a lot of potential solutions on this topic, from hard infrastructures as barriers, to soft infrastructures as resilient buffer zone.

The traditional responses to solve these problems are more of engineering ways-such as strengthening the coastal structure and creating physical barriers to block the water from flooding into the land. These methods are always costly, unsustainable, damage natural ecosystems, and in many cases, ineffective. Taking the example of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the most recently Super Storm Sandy, the massive impact brought by sea level rises and increasing storm surges damaged or destroyed these vulnerable infrastructures.

As a matter of fact, and unfortunately, there is no “silver bullet� to resolve this situation once for all to make the city stormproof.

Flooding has become the same impact of sea level rise during the global warming. New urgency is rising to push us to reimagine and redesign cities with much more sustainable and resilient methods.

8

Introduction From “hard” infrastructure to “soft“ infrastructure

picture obtained from the book: ON THE WATER PALISADE BAY

pictures obtained from the projects of the book: RISING CURRENTS

9

During 2007 to 2009, the research On the Water: Palisade Bay initiated by Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt, and Adam Yarinsky envisioned other potential solutions to imagine the New York-New Jersey Upper Bay in climate change and sea level rise. Their study focuses on ecological and sustainable solutions with the combination of cellular, geological formation and artificial fortification.

Comparing to “hard” infrastructure, their proposal aims to explore the possibility of porous boundary strategy, as “soft” infrastructure that is adaptive to the sea level rise and flood. Rather than strengthen the seawall infrastructure, the proposal suggests transforming the physical characteristic of the Upper Bay to reduce the flood risk and applies much more attractive recreation plan. These methods include creating archipelago of islands and reefs to ameliorate the impact of tidal energy and harvesting wind and wave’s energy at the same time; create softened coastal edge; connect public recreational parks, finger piers and slips as future development and floodplain and choose selective places for protective seawalls.

As an extension, in 2010, Museum of Modern Art in New York held the exhibition Rising Currents: Project for New York’s Waterfront, which providing a further exploration based on the On the Water study. Five teams were invited and five sites were explored. The purpose of this exhibition is not eager to provide a planning solution for New York City but rather to generate interesting ideas with wider applicability that have the adaptive potential to be utilized in other cities around the world. Every team offers their own solutions regarding to how to implicate the soft infrastructure. They embrace the natural transition between water and land by introducing absorptive wetlands both to mitigate changes and generate recreation amenities and natural habitats in a flexible form. Nature itself no longer just stands behind but to step forward as one of the crucial element to collaborate with architecture and technology, blurring the boundaries between sea and land.

10

Introduction Initial Brainstorm

Melting Glaciers

Sea Level Rise

Tsunami

Climate change

Catastrophes

Hurricane

Typhoon

Metropolis Green House Eect

11

Heat Island Eect

Evacuation

Sea Wall/ Levee/Dams

Wetland

Landscape/Water scape

Expand into the sea

Lift up(Elevate) What are we facing?

New Urban Pattern

FLOOD How cities respond?

New Transportation system

Water Management

New Lifestyle

New Public Space What can we learn from other cities?

Follow the tide(Float)

Weaken the Surge Energe

Buer Zone in Buildings

Next Page

Porus Pavement 12

Introduction Initial Brainstorm

Previous page Rotterdam

A city below sea level

Venice

Water Town/Live with water

New York

Learn form other cities

Cambodia

Singapore

13

Respond Proposals

Houses in Dry Season /Flood Season

Build above the sea

Suzhou

Water Town/Live with water

Lijiang

Water Town/Live with water

Shenzhen

New Urban Planning

CDC Organization

Connecting Delta Cities/ Sharing Network

Sea level rise pattern

Inspiration and Reference

Select a city as research and project site

Natural Disasters

Recovery

Current and Future plans

14

BACKGROUND

“The reason we’re here in the first place is because there’s water here. Instead of turning our backs, barricading ourselves, and treating the water like an enemy, let’s treat it like the friend that it can be and should be encouraging the beauty, better environmental standards, and value for the people that come with that approach.”

Mary Landrieu, United States Senator for the State of Louisiana, USA

Background

Rising sea level

United States

* Map from Bing Map (http://www.bing.com/maps/)

In the sea level rise prediction pattern of US, Eugene Island and Grand Isle in Gulf of Mexico feature the most significant magnitude of the coastal area, which are both more than 9mm per year and makes Louisiana to faces the highest rate of Sea-Level rise in US and worldwide. As a result, the thesis will choose Louisiana state as the research object to take further study.

17

* Diagrams base on Sea level rise data from “Comprehensive Evaluation of Projects with Respect to Sea-Level Change ” (http://www.corpsclimate.us/ccaceslcurves.cfm)

Grand Isle,LA: 9.3 (mm/yr)

4.00

12’

3.00

9’

2.00

6’

1.00

3

USACE High Rate USACE Intermediate Rate USACE Low Rate (Current Rate)

2172

2162

2152

2142

2132

2122

2112

2102

2092

2082

2072

2062

2052

2042

2032

2022

2012

2002

0.00

Grand Isle sea level prediction pattern

Relative Sea Level Change (Feet)

Louisiana

5.00

1992

Relative Sea Level Change (Meters)

6.00

New Orleans

Eugene Island Grand Isle

- Eugene Island (9.65mm/yr) - Grand Isle (9.3mm/yr)

USACE: EC 1165-2-212 uses the historic rate of sea-level change as the rate for the “USACE Low Curve”.

The rate for the “USACE Intermediate Curve” is computed from the modified NRC Curve I considering both the most recent IPCC projections and modified NRC projections with the local rate of vertical land movement added.

The rate for the “USACE High Curve” is computed from the modified NRC Curve III considering both the most recent IPCC projections and modified NRC projections with the local rate of vertical land movement added.

18

Background

Historical background

New Orleans City Boundary

New Orleans’ Growth and Development | * obtained through Gutter to Gulf Project, Jameson Skaife

19

Background

Regional waterway main stream

Intercoastal water way

Industrial Canal

Lower Ninth Ward

Mississippi river

Mississippi River Gulf Outlet

US Army Corps of Engineers 1977

New Orleans is a city on the edge and is not an ideal place to settle as its below sea level feature. Guided by the native inhabitants in 1718, French colonies founded New Orleans at its present location on the relatively high natural levee along the Mississippi River and its convenient and strategic access to the sea. Although the area was predominantly marshland and prone to river flooding and intense storms, a city at the mouth of the greatst water highway on the continent was inevitable.

20

Background Existing Topography

Lower Ninth Ward

* obtained through Waggonner & Ball Architects

New Orleans is wrapped around the lake and the Mississippi River. The line spanning the lake is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the world’s longest over water highway bridge. Major portions of the city of New Orleans are actually below sea level, and although it is protected by levees and sea walls designed to protect against storm surges of 18 to 20 feet, flooding during storm surges associated with major hurricanes is a significant concern. * obtained through USGBC Flood Wall 23 Ft Natrual Levee St. Claude Ave. N. Robertson St. +30 Ft

21

Mississippi River

-20 Ft

Alglers

0 Ft -10 Ft

University of New Orleans Flood Wall 17.5 Ft

Fillmore Ave.

+20 Ft +10 Ft

Leon C. Simon Drive

Gentilly Blvd. @ Dillard U.

I-10 The Merigny

Upper Ninth Ward

* obtained through USGBC

Lake Pontchartrain

I-610

Sea Level Gentilly Ridge The Isle of Orleans

Gentilly

Natrual Levee

Background Flood Depth

Lower Ninth Ward

* obtained through NORA

LOWER NINTH WARD

LAKEVIEW

EASTERN NEW ORLEANS

Corner of North Johnson and Flood Streets

Corner of Filmore and Colbert Streets

Bundy Road and Morrison road

Base flood elevation (BFE)

Sea level

Feet 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6

BFE

Gound level: +0.5 ft BFE: +0.5 ft What happened: Nearly 11ft of water in this neighborhood

Ground level

Feet 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6

Height of Katrina’s floodwaters

BFE

Gound level: -6 ft BFE: -2.5 ft What happened: 10 ft of waters, almost 7 ft above the based flood level

* based on illustration from Dan Swenson

Feet 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6

BFE

Tid

Gound level: -7 ft BFE: -4 ft What happened: 10 ft of water, 7 ft above the base flood level

22

Background Katrina

Lower Ninth Ward

Among New Orleans’ lineage of natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was not only the worst in the city’s history but the most costly ever to occur in the United States. The suburban developments on former backswamp suffered most, and subsidence of six to seven feet below sea level in some places worsened the flood’s effect. The older neighborhoods on high ground on the river’s edge and ridges suffered little or minor flooding.

23

New Orleans, September 6th, from NASA

Background Flood Depth

Super Dome before Katrina

Super Dome at September 03, 2005

24

Background Katrina/ Damage Control + Rescue Evacuation

Residents wait to be evacuated from the Louisianna Superdome Thursday, Sept.

1, 2005 in New Orleans. (AP Photo David J. Phillip, Pool)

FEMA trailers that are being used for housing for University of New Orleans students and faculty are shown in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. Hurricane Katrina came ashore almost a year ago flooding much of the city. Members of Congress toured the city and President Bush was headed for the region to see the state of recovery efforts one year after the city was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo Alex Brandon)

In this Aug. 30, 2005 file photo, floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina flow over a levee along Inner Harbor Navigaional Canal near downtown New Orleans. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

25

An aerial photo shows a helicopter dropping water on burning debris from Hurricane Katrina, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, in Long Beach, Miss. (AP Photo David J. Phillip)

A helicopter lifts sandbags used to repair a broken levee Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005 in New Orleans. (AP Photo David J. Phillip)

26

Background Population changes (1960-2010)

* data & narratives obtained through GNOCDC (http://www.gnocdc.org/)

Density of occupied housing units in New Orleans, 1960 In 1960, 58 percent of New Orleans households resided in the historic, more elevated inner ring section of the city; 37 percent of households lived in the middle ring; and only 5 percent of households resided in New Orleans East and the west bank.

27

Density of occupied housing units in New Orleans, 1980 Between 1960 and 1980, the construction of new levees, drainage systems, and highways opened up parts of the city for development that were previously off-limits. Many New Orleans households expressed their preference for suburban style homes on the edges of the city. Between 1960 and 1980, the inner ring lost nearly 17,000 households. The middle ring gained about 10,000 households, and the outer ring gained about 24,000.

Density of occupied housing units in New Orleans, 2000 Through the weak economy of the 1980s and slow recovery of the 1990s, migration to the outer ring continued, although at a slower rate. Meanwhile, the middle ring lost 10,000 households – about the same number it had gained during the previous two decades. The inner ring lost nearly 18,000 households during the 1980s, but then began to hold its ground during the 1990s.

Density of occupied housing units in New Orleans, 2010 Looking at citywide trends in occupied housing unit density again, the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures are clear in changes between 2000 and 2010. The number of households citywide plummeted and the vacancy rate doubled to 25 percent. The middle ring sustained the largest losses.

The flooding of New Orleans East neighborhoods caused the outer ring’s first ever loss of households there.

28

Background Vancant house change (2000-2010)

Lower Ninth Ward

The density of vacant housing units in 2010 is greatest in a swath of flooded neighborhoods that were largely distressed before Katrina--in the older portions of the city from the Jefferson Parish line to the Industrial Canal, riverside of the Gentilly Ridge.

Together Leonidas, Mid-City, Central City, Treme, Seventh Ward, St. Roch, and St. Claude account for 13,391 vacant housing units, or 28 percent of the vacant homes in the city.

Lower Ninth Ward

29

As in Lower Ninth Ward, a large amount of houses are still remain in vacant condition due to the poverty, damage of Katrina and the people’s fear of moving back. Especially in the north west part of the city, the majority land are still in empty condition.

Background Property condition

30

Background Rebuilding New Orleans plan

* images obtained through Dutch Dialogues (http://dutchdialogues.com/)

31

* images obtained through Dutch Dialogues (http://dutchdialogues.com/)

The Dutch Dialogues study several new ways to integrate the canal into the park with new drainage grid and offers new public space. The proposal also connect the canal to the lake, Link with the French Quarter, Soften West edge of the park, then link neighborhood networks into the park and build on the green network of the city.

32

Rebuilding New Orleans Army Corps of Engineering

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33

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US Army Corps map of 100-year storm protection upgrades around metro New Orleans/ obtained through Connecting Delta Cities, Piet Dircke, Jeroen Aerts, Arnoud Molenaar

In response to the storm, the US Army Corps redoubled its levee strengthening efforts. To date, the US Congress has released $14.45 billion for the Louisiana Hurricane Protection System, including levees and flood walls; outfall canal repairs and closure structures; and pump station repairs and storm proofing. Full protection from a 100- year’s storm, equating to a one percent chance of failure in given year, is projected by June 2011. The system within the levees remains unchanged: pumps can handle one inch of rainfall in the first hour and 0.5 inches in each subsequent hour. The use of engineered solutions for narrowly defined problems has in recent times proven insufficient to combat the complex, intertwined challenges confronting modern delta living. Consider the fact that climate change may increase the challenges further, New Orleans may need to embrace a more holistic, ecologically-based thinking, with the cultivation of nature’s own lines of defense, not just to sustain the city’s future but also to avoid that the adaptation cost continue to increase and perhaps eventually outweigh the incredible cultural and economic value of habitation on the Mississippi Delta.

34

Rebuilding New Orleans Make It Right Project - Lower Ninth Ward

* images obtained through Architecture in times of Need: Make it Right Rebuilding New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward. Kristin Feireiss and http://makeitright.org

35

The Make It Right project is about a powerful long-term concept, a complex operational process, and an ambitious design strategy. It is the search for answers to the problems of global warming within architecture’s most repetitive module – the family residence. It does not showcase a new sustainability concept for a corporate headquarters, but rather deals with the normally neglected, the usually restrictive issues of the world: low-income, affordable, and sustainable houses, the housing of the masses – the architecture of daily life. By inviting several architectural teams and working with local community, the project restarted and re-established a neighborhood with green housing and public spaces.

36

Learn from other cities

Learn from other cities

39

New York City - Rising Currents

pictures obtained from the projects of the book: RISING CURRENTS Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang, nArchitect (http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/category/rising-currents)

In New Aqueous City proposal, which provided by Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang, nArchitects, A network of man-made archipelago islands is introduced into the massive harbor zone, north of the VerrazanoNarrow Bridge. The inflatable storm barriers between artificial islands can be activated by sensors signal to minimize the surge power during the event of storm. The islands with porous zone of boulders around them can capture sediment to enhance the wave- attenuating feature and nurture hydrological habitats. Moreover, in terms of aqueous neighborhoods strategy along the coastline, the project blurs the boundaries between sea and land by extending the city into sea, and entering sea into land. Wave-attenuating piers support the suspended buildings with public spaces at the top as elevated hanging houses; introduce treatment wetlands as filter, as well as providing docks for biogas ferries and connecting tramway. These dynamic infrastructures work together as an integrated system.

40

Learn from other cities

41

New York City - Rising Currents

pictures obtained from the projects of the book: RISING CURRENTS Architecture Research Office (http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/category/rising-currents)

New Urban Ground, proposed by Architecture Research Office, creates a continuous ecosystem along and far beyond Lower Manhattan coastline combining with hard and soft infrastructure. In this proposal, absorptive wetlands are introduced at the shoreline protect the city from storm surge as well as function as green area. Furthermore, porous green streets which made of cast concrete and selected vegetation that tolerance saltwater function as sponge for rainwater is designed into the ecological organic system to filter street run-off, tidal flows and storm surges. These two introductions combine together as a whole to form a comprehensively layered buffer system. A close look to the wetlands, these urban estuaries contains upland parks, freshwater wetlands and saltwater marshes. The conceived archipelago of constructed islands, reefs aim to widen the tidal zone, moderate and mitigate and the force of storm surges and block the advance of water onto land. It is not a seawall or barrier, but a temporal process, occurring flow of water and sediment to reinforce the buffer zone.

42

Learn from other cities

43

New York City - Rising Currents

pictures obtained from the projects of the book: RISING CURRENTS Architecture Research Office (http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/category/rising-currents)

The project Water Proving Ground, design by LTL Architects, leading by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David Lewis, exploit the rising sea level and dynamic water level. The existing Liberty State Park site has a flat land with hard edge between the water and land which is likely to inundate because of tidal waves. Instead of retreating from the shore because of rising sea level, the project extends into the sea to form a unique amphibian urban space.

The proposal is to cut the edges into four softened high ground and channel finger-like profiles that can engage tidal fluctuations and absorb the storm surges. Four piers with varies topography connecting with crossing grains form the new coastal line. These “petri dish� areas are designed as hybrid landscape and seascape which including agriculture, ecological research, recreation, commerce, and tourism. Enhanced circulation routes apply both land and water based transportations to link these areas together as a whole. The aquaculture research and development pier consists of testing beds and labs. The floating docks of the labs can rise and fall with the tidal changes. The beds are used to test and control aquatic species in the estuarine environment of the specific harbor for future use. The second branch as an amphitheater adjacent to Liberty Island form an outdoor concert and it can be view from the water. Sloped lawns introduce audience seats also has the sight connection to the Statue of Liberty. Below the amphitheater is a smaller and enclosed performance space, and follow by shifting recreation field emerge and then vanish into tide. A forest of columns support water lodge above the water as an experiment for long-term inhabitation on the third part of the project.

Marina for kayak located in the shelter of the lodge offering maritime transportation. On the last part, a regional produce market that extend and connect the New Jersey ferry service, light rail line and traffic routes.

This linkage allows the transfer of goods and people in and out of the site, which set a great example of the relationship between new project and existing city boundaries.

44

Learn from other cities

Cambodia - live with water

Kampong Phloek a floating village , Siem Reap,Cambodia

Lifestyle in Cambodia by Samlim

45

Stilt Houses , Chong Khneas, Cambodia Nearly all traditional houses in Cambodia are built on stilts, so that they can adapt to the extreme difference in water levels between the dry and rainy seasons. Although they tend to vary according to region and wealth, common building materials include bamboo, straw, tile, and slate. ~ obtained through dataichi - Simon Dubreull/Getty Images (http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20130207/the-adapters)

The Cambodia people live on the same place no matter if there is water or not.

The stilt houses are flexible structure to be either floating houses or elevated houses

Flood season

Dry season

46

Learn from other cities

47

Singapore - build above the sea

* images obtained from the book : Erik G L’Heureux,Exuberant Singapore: Low Rise, High Density in the Singapore Straits, 2008 (http://exuberantsingapore.blogspot.com/)

The Exuberant Singapore project introduces a floating neighborhood, linked by the sea that surrounds it. The rising sea, a flooded landscape where land reclamation is replaced by water reclamation; the new low rise, high density fabric of objects and fields, waterscape and landscape, farming and production, architecture and autonomy, all inspiring a future that Singapore long ago replaced with the promised of centralized modernism.

48

Learn from other cities

49

New york city - Highline park

*Highline park, James Corner Field Operations & Diller Scofidio + Renfro images obtained through http://www.thehighline.org/design/high-line-design

The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It offers a completely new way to experience the city. Just the idea of observing Manhattan by walking above and through it, rather than being an actual part of it, made the Highline a project one must encounter to feel what the space can offer. The old track across the city show a unique itinerary to re-experience the city. Public space above the road, vegetation along the path and the building surround it creating a multi level of continuous linear park that will not be affect by the traffic. Different programs and scales of space along the park feature in special feeling of openess and diversity.

50

Learn from other cities

England / Netherland - Floating house

The residential home designed by Baca Architects is an architectural feat that overcomes the threat of flooding by becoming a “free-floating pontoon� during a flood situation. the amphibious house will rest on the ground on fixed foundations, during a flood situation the entire building is designed to rise up in its dock and float there, remaining buoyed by the flood waters. This is possible due to a wet dock, comprised of retaining walls and base slab, that sits underneath the home. When flooding occurs the dock fills with water and the house rises accordingly. To prevent the house from simply floating away, four dolphins (permanent vertical posts) are arranged close to the sidewalls.

51

* Images obtained through http://www.gizmag.com/amphibious-house/21524/ 52

Learn from other cities

Water towns

Water Town - Lijiang / Obtained through http://kipptastic.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html

Water Town - Suzhou *obtained through http://www.getyourguide.com/shanghai-l178/ full-day-tour-of-suzhou-with-gardens-silk-factory-t25647/ 53

Water Town - Venice *obtained through: http://www.picstopin.com/2880/dock-venice-italy-city-wallpapersuscom/ http:%7C%7Cwallpapersus*com%7Cwallpapers%7C2012%7C11%7CDock-Venice-Italy-City-1800 x2880*jpg/

54

CONTEXT

CONTEXT / L9W Historical Development

L9W

New Orleans 1841

L9W

New Orleans 1870

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The Lower Ninth Ward was among the very last of the city’s neighborhoods to be developed. Bordered by the Industrial Canal to the west, the Southern Railway railroad and Florida Avenue Canal to the north, the parish line to the east and St. Claude Avenue to the south, isolation from the rest of the city and lack of adequate drainage systems contributed to its slow growth.

Originally a cypress swamp, the area was the lower portion of plantations that stretched from the river to the lake. Poor African Americans and immigrant laborers from Ireland, Germany and Italy desperate for homes but unable to afford housing in other areas of the city risked flooding and disease to move here. In the 1870s, several African American benevolent associations and mutual-aid societies organized to assist scores of struggling freedmen (formerly-enslaved Africans) in the area.

Although legislation was passed in 1899 for drainage and pumping systems, it was not until between 1910 and 1920 that the city installed adequate drainage systems, including the Jourdan, Tupelo and Florida Avenue Canals, in preparation for construction of the Industrial Canal. The Industrial Canal, built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Ponchartrain, was completed in 1923, and further isolated the neighborhood from the city proper.

The lack of sewerage, continual drainage and water distribution problems did not deter desperate immigrant and African American workers from moving to the Lower Ninth Ward in search of a place to live and employment in nearby industries. The area continued to maintain a rural feel and the Lower Ninth Ward’s reputation for neighborliness actually attracted some New Orleanians from other crowded city neighborhoods.

By 1950, only half of the Lower Ninth Ward had been developed. Industrial development during this time was along the dry docks of the Industrial Canal with a few scattered uses appearing in predominately residential sectors at the north end of the neighborhood. In the late 1950s, the second bridge between the city and the Lower Ninth Ward, The Judge William Seeber Bridge, known locally as the Claiborne Avenue Bridge, was built across the Industrial Canal at Claiborne Avenue. Retail development along St. Claude Avenue became notable during this period and the trend of corner stores continued. By 1965 commercial activity along St. Claude continued to grow and industrial development accelerated in the strip bordering the Industrial Canal between Claiborne and Florida Avenues.

Scattered industrial and commercial uses throughout residential areas of the district continued as well. * obtained from GNOCDC (http://www.gnocdc.org/orleans/8/22/snapshot.html)

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CONTEXT / L9W Location

LOWER NINTH WARD

OUTFALL CANAL + LEVEE

Chosen Site

Make It Right Project Low Density Abandoned Houses

Holy Cross Project

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

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Historical District

CONTEXT / L9W Area Comparison

Manhattan

L9W

L9W compare to NYC

le s

L9W

s

1.8m i

University of Florida

1.3m ile

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CONTEXT / L9W Present Condition

“People want to get in as fast as they can, but you gotta take your time and think this shit through, man.“-Bruce Harris, on his roof.

Looking north on Flood Street from the Douglas Street intersection in May 2007.

* images and narratives obtained through One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds Photographs by Dave Anderson

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Even after 8 years, a large number of houses are still abandoned.

* Lower Ninth Ward houses condition/ Photo by Robert Noran (Flickr.com)

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CONTEXT / L9W People in L9W

Greg Mcmorris at work on his parents’ home on Caffin Street. His mother, Georgia, and father, Luther, left the city during Katrina and settled in a small rural community near Natchez, Mississippi, where they found a measure of peace. Sid Georgia, “There’s no gunshot sounds.“

Ward “Mack“ McClendon upstairs in his home after it was gutted in 2006. Mack’s renovation was suspended for over two years while he concentrated on founding The Village, a community center for the Lower Ninth Ward. He lived in a FEMA trailer during that time. * images and narratives obtained through One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds Photographs by Dave Anderson

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“Augustine is back and that’s a great comfort to me. She’s a good friend and between the two of us we keep a pretty good watch of what goes on around here. I wouldn’t feel as comfortable as I do if Augustine wasn’t here.” - Stacy Rockwood with Augustine Green wood

“On my way here I couldn’t stop thinking about the yard. So I stopped at tehe Homr Depot and picked up the roses. That felt so great.“ - Augustine Greenwood

* images and narratives obtained through One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds Photographs by Dave Anderson

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Analysis New Orleans typical house types * City of New Orleans Historic Distric Landmarks Commission Building Types and Architectural Styles New Orleans possesses an abundance of historic architecture constructed over a period spanning almost three hundred years. The City is home to more than twenty National Register historic districts, fifteen local Historic Districts, and scores of local and national Landmark buildings. Almost half of the buildings New Orleanians call home were built before World War II, the earliest dating from the 18th century. As a result, the City has a diversity of architectural styles and types, of buildings both grand and small, unrivalled in the nation. As importantly, New Orleans is home to architectural styles and types that are closely tied to the image of the City, and that appear in New Orleans in numbers and combinations unseen in other places.

Creole Cottage (1790s-1870s)

The Creole Cottage is the earliest remaining local housing type in the City of New Orleans. It is a vernacular type – typically designed and built by the owners and builders to fit local needs – and heavily influenced by both French and Spanish construction methods and the local climate. The typical Creole Cottage is 1‐ to 1½‐ stories tall, 2 rooms wide and 2 rooms deep, often with small storage rooms (cabinets) attached at the rear to each side. Creole Cottages have hipped or side gabled roofs, frequently with tall, narrow gabled dormer windows.

Townhouse (1790s-1870s)

The Townhouse building type, or some variation thereof, is a very common type in urban areas, because its vertical massing and long, narrow footprint makes efficient use of land. The townhouse in New Orleans appeared first in its Creole form in the late colonial period, but the basic type remained popular for the better part of a century and has recently seen a resurgence in popularity.

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Center Hall Cottage (1830s-1880s)

The Center Hall has a rectangular plan, typically at least 2 rooms wide and 2 deep with a central hallway running from the front faรงade to the rear, and 2 small storage rooms (cabinets) to either side on the rear, flanking a rear service porch. Center Hall Cottages have side gabled roofs, often with dormer windows. The front faรงade of the typical Center Hall is spanned by a deep front porch covered by a flat roof supported by symmetrically placed columns and accessed by a central stair.

Shotgun (1830s-1950s)

The earliest known examples of Shotgun type houses in New Orleans date at least to the 1830s. Shotgun houses bear a strong resemblance to Caribbean house types prevalent in the 18th century, and some historians suggest it may have been imported to New Orleans in the early 19th century. Whatever its origins, this highly efficient and comparatively inexpensive building type was so popular among both the middle and working classes for over a century that it is probably the most prevalent historic building type in the city.

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Analysis Typical Block of New Orleans

A typical New Orleans block plan.

An aerial view of the block bounded by Caffin Avenue and Douglas, Flood, and Chartres Streets. / Obtained through One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds Photographs by Dave Anderson

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Selection of Lots for Existing Parcel Map/ Obtained through Architecture in times of Need: Make it Right Rebuilding New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward. Kristin Feireiss

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PROGRAM + STRATEGY

* Illustration by Jeff Lai

Program+ Strategy Chosen site

Base on previous study, the project choose the north west cornor part as site to start. This area contains the least number of existing house and it also the location of the Make It Right project settled. With the study of the demographic data of Lower Ninth Ward. The number of basic household and houses per block are used as the guide to control the scale of the new community and determine how much space it will take with the development in timeline and population.

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Program+ Strategy Flood in city

Flood in city

Canal breach

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Multi-transects

Levees were breached during Katrina that result in disaster flood. How to keep the building above the water, or extend the city cross the levees then into the sea hold a true potential of future urban development.

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Program+ Strategy Water management in community

main street

Original Pattern

Original Pattern in Google Earth

Introduce water management with public space

Elevated Unit

link the waterscape into a integrated system Transform the typical shotgun house

Apply to cluster

Expand and connect to neighbors water path / sub-canal

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Apply the principle into community pattern multiple level of landscape, waterscape and control

buer zone / public space canal

In the beginning of the project, the proposal start from the orginal pattern of the community, a series of water management can be developed under every block to form a water grid. Howerver, this method might require huge amount of infrastructure that will cause economical issues. With this concern, the next proposal will start from another way to work with the house in block itself to find a way to deal with the water in smaller scale.

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Program+ Strategy A community live with flood

dry scene

buer zone landscape

In this proposal, buildings are elevated from the ground, another grid of transit method other than the original road is introduced.

The aim is to form a community remain its basic function no matter it is flooded or not. Furthermore, a new level of public space can also generated from this flexible structure. Next step is to study how these soft infrastructure has its own funcion contribute to the community.

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roof garden

ood scene

light rail

The bridges remain their own function within the buildings they located during the dry scene. When the water rise, road are flooded, they can attach to surrounding buildings or float platforms to link the community again.

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Program+ Strategy Concept Development | Basic Unit

Marlon Blackwell’s Porchdog House

The new type of the shotgun house design

by Marlon Blackwell shows a possibility of how traditional house can be pushed forward. The basic model of the project will take this method as an inspiration and develop it even further.

photo @ Timothy Hursley

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develop Marlon Blackwell’s shotgun house

how the house function

flat roof top

double height living room on ground level

double height living room

flatten top

lift the living room to 1st floor in the flood scene structure

prototype of the house

floating unit start to function in the flood scene bridge system link to platform and other buildings use boat to drive around

The new house of the community will combine the stilt and float systems together and take both of their benefits . It will stay above the water at the very beginning and can keep rise with water if it keeps rising.

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Program+ Strategy Concept Development | House Type

house type

typical stilts house

change structure

oating unit stilt structure

amphibian house: combination of stilt house and oating unit

stilt house above water

house above elevated landscape

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elevated

Responding to different types of topography characters, the prototype of the new house will use various component to keep the flexibility.

relation of different grid / connecting houses to public space elevated ring public building

without flood

bridge the house block and elevated ring

during flood scene

leave enough height for boat

tree system+ parallel grid

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Program+ Strategy Creating diversity | Houses

The house development will take consider of sun path, water collection, vegetation, ventilation, and evacuation requirments to generate different types of units and offers diversity.

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Program+ Strategy Creating diversity | Houses

?

Different module in fundermental structure frame

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Program+ Strategy Concept Development | Respond to flood

exible structure

ramp

facility work with ramp

bridge

roof work with ood scene

habour

elevat volume above water level

The public building has several ways can be used as the method to respond to the flood scene. With the slope it can be the ramp of the entrance. During the flood scene it can either use its roof top as anothor ramp for harbor, or elevated above the water level.

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The exterior ramp could also works in different ways such as normal public ramp of performance plaza , be elevated to connect other bridges for continuous passageway, or be used as the harbor of houses and public buildings to transit from water to uplands.

connect community

bridging

earth switch

housing on dierent height

The topology of the land can be modified to form upland and lowland to improve water management. The uplands could be evacuation zone during the flood scene.

link houses with platforms during the ood scene

Folded bridges will be a flexible structure that can be extended to connect surrounding buildings or fold to let the boat to pass.

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Program+ Strategy Concept Development |Connecting community

connect the community in another grid

roof top garden

houses in single block

trees and waterscape

connect house block and public bridge

folded bridge

4 3 2 1

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elevated or oated buildings above water level new grid start to function during the ood scene

connecting bridge

public buildings

road

introduce elevated bridge connect public buildings with “highline�

alternate connection

oat with water rise

round bridge

platform on the ground

A series of diagrams above illustrated how a single block generate an inner linkage among the houses it contains and to integrated into a node then connect to the elevated rings of public space.

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Program+ Strategy New community generation

Original community grid

elevate blocks near water bodies to create new upland

moderated topography

substract base on the grid

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elevated rings

node that can elevated to let boats to get through during the fllod scene

public buildings

public spaces under elevated rings form a shaded pedestrian

linkages in blocks to integrated each block into a micro system

housing units

modified topography

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Program+ Strategy Community in dry and flood scene

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Program+ Strategy

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Program+ Strategy

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Program+ Strategy

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Program+ Strategy

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Program+ Strategy

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public building

without flood

flood scene

Program+ Strategy Community in dry and flood scene

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leave enough height for boat

housing on different

height

link houses with platforms during the ood scene

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1

Program+ Strategy Community in dry and flood scene

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“ I AM COMING HOME! I WILL REBUILD! I AM NEW ORLEANS! “

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“ In grateful reconition to the legacy of courage and love, this monument is dedicated to the victims and survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “

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Bibliography

Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt, Adam Yarinsky. On The Water: Palisade Bay . The Museum of Modern Art, New York; 1 edition (April 30, 2010) Michael Oppenheimer, Barry Bergdoll, Judith Rodin. Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront. The Museum of Modern Art, New York (December 31, 2011) Erik G. L’Heureux. Probing Hydrological Urbanism: Cambodia / Singapore. Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore (Not published yet) Birkhäuser. Riverscapes: Designing Urban Embankments. Montag Stiftung Urbane Räume Regionale 2010 (Eds.) NYC Planning. Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan. Department of City Planning, City of New York (March 2011) Bonnie Fisher. Remaking the urban Waterfront. Urban Land Institute. Washington D.C. (2004) Dave Anderson. One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds (2010) Raymond W. Gastil. Beyond the Edge: New York’s New Waterfront. Van Alen Institute, Princeton Architectural Press, New York (2002) Kristin Feireiss . Architecture in times of Need: Make it Right Rebuilding New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward.

Reyner Banham. Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. (1971) PAWEAL, Rubinowicz. (2000) Chaos and Geometric Order in Architecture and Design. Journal for Geometry and Graphics Volume 4, No. 2, 197-207.

Jeroen Aerts, David C. Major, Malcolm J. Bowman, Piet Dircke, Muh Aris Marfai. Connecting Delta Cities: Coastal Cities, Flood Risk Management and Adaptation to Climate Change. VU University Press (2009) SO SOKUNTHEARY. Study on the Drainage System of the Bayon Temple in the Angkor Thom, Cambodia. Waseda University, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Architectural History (2007) James Corner Field Operations. Qian Hai Water City. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP56BIxliT0 Rising Currents: Meet ARO http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2009/11/24/rising-currents-meet-aro Stiltsville. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiltsville Stilt house. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilt_houses

Committee: William Tilson (Chair) Martin Gold (Co-Chair)

Special Thanks: Yufeng Zheng Mengjie Zhu

SPRING2013 MRP BOOK MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE DEGREE KAI WU EMAIL: KAIZEN.MARCH@GMAIL.COM UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA