Design Precedents

Mentioned before in my case studies I really appreciate the problems addressed and solutions created in the design for New York's Upper Bay. This actual picture was a contribution from dlandstudio who have some interesting work in relation to sea level rise.

dlandstudio identify that

"research works to identify how natural ecologies such as mangrove forests and tidal wetlands, systems that have evolved over millions of years as natural protectors of coastlines, can be adapted to create engineered systems to serve the same purpose. Abstracting the essence of natural systems into engineered solutions is the best way to combat the environmental challenges that face us over the next 100 years"

Here is the link to their site

dlandstudio

Go to: Work - Research - Come High Tide: A Model For Managing Sea Level Rise

Potential Site Photos

East view of Sky Tower and CBD from beach

North East view of CBD and the end of the marina

Site Criteria

I am currently on the look out for a site to base my design on. My site search in Wellington, New Zealand didnt work out too well so now I am in Auckland and think i have found a site in Saint Mary's Bay in central Auckland.

One of the issues with choosing a site is a variety of issues,

1: The site must be in the central city, as I am exploring a way to create density in the city I cant choose a site that exists in the suburbs as I cannot contribute to suburban sprawl as this is an issue i am fighting against.

2: The site must be located next to a certain amount of flat land. I am wanting to use the idea of soft infrastructure to connecting the floating community to the land. I have realized there needs to be a intermediate element between the city and the water community and as this is in the central city there is not room for this space to serve only one function, it must address a variety of issue and be multifunctional. Soft infrastructure uses natural vegetation to help defend the city against sea level rise and effects associated with it like storm surges. If this is located at the bottom of a hill it serves not purpose as the buildings on the hill are protected to a large degree by their height on the hill, so to help protect the city this soft infrastructure must be located next to land of a low gradient close to sea level.

3: The site cannot overtake essential existing city services and infrastructure.

4: The site must have enough room for a small community to exist, although I have yet to define how many people i expect to live in the community it will be under 40 houses.

5: The site needs to be close enough to the city centre to reduce the need for extensive use of the car. Walking is to be encouraged and so the site must have available a number of access routes and links to the central city.

Saint Mary's Bay is a 7 minute drive or 25 minute walk from the Sky Tower, a land mark in Auckland City. This is in down town Auckland and is entering the CBD. This location makes it easy enough to walk, is located very close to the city but also exists across fro exisiting msuburb houses so as not to be out of place.

Also one of the benefits of this site is the Auckland waterfront redevelopment is occurring only 200m away and although some industrial buildings and functions occur between this residential development and my propose site, there is the potential for this redevelopment to continue along the waterfront and eventually connection with my water community greatly improving and connecting a valuable land use area of Auckland.