ABOVE THE MARSH

MIA WALKER | LUCAS SCHINDLAR

GROWING TOGETHER UNDER ONE ROOF

2023 | TOURISM AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER | The impacts of tourism on cultures, communities and environments

Ulrike Heine | David Franco | George Schafer

Above The Marsh seeks to solve the disconnect in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, a coastal community that continues to be washed away with rising sea levels and land erosion and a population that is aging and lacking diversity. Our design protects the coast from flooding and erosion with a living shoreline composed of a native marshland ecosystems. In addition, Above The Marsh’s goal is to bring a new tourist that can have an experience through a hostel work exchange along the Intracoastal Waterway that focuses on ecotourism and teaching sustainable traveling habits. With an artificial, but natural protection, the site can provide activities to attract new populations such as agriculture, retail shops, and low impact boating, that would otherwise not be possible on a site bound to be submerged under water within future decades through a series of building, harvesting, and inhabiting from land to sea. Building protection for the community and utilizing local dredged soil and marsh plants to redevelop a marsh ecosystem that has become lost to Sunset Beach. Native species of flora and fauna have become destroyed for housing development and depleted with increased wake activity. The utilization of a living shoreline will bring back these lost ecosystems, and can protect Sunset Beach from complete flooding as sea levels continue to rise. This shoreline will be a complete composition of coastal plants, sediments, and oysters that filter and absorb water, create natural wave barriers, and attract local marine life. Harvesting the site begins following the living shoreline development.

This brings agriculture and aquaculture to the site combining popular economies of inland and coastal North Carolina. These crops are organized based on sunlight and growing properties that rotate through the year, while becoming harvested in offseasons using greenhouses that provide year round produce to the site and Sunset Beach community. Above The Marsh incorporates an aquaculture center to harvest local fish and oyster populations using sustainable methods to avoid overfishing and depleting these ecosystems. Inhabiting the site brings in a population of young travelers that want to give back to the Earth and depleted communities. By providing service jobs on site in various disciplines of agriculture, aquaculture, and restaurant and retail service, travelers can work, while experiencing the North Carolina coast to the fullest. Hostels provide short term stays with immersive views of the developed marsh, while taking advantage of coastal breezes and sunlight to create passive strategies within the units. Above The Marsh creates low impact boating that uses kayaks and paddleboards that create small wakes and low harm on surrounding ecosystems, while completely immersing people within their environments. Each strategy focuses on redeveloping Sunset Beach into a ecotourism hub along the Intracoastal Waterway with protecting and diversifying the depleted community its main goals. Above The Marsh displays how a site can bring populations and activities together that would not be possible until a location is protected as sea levels continue to rise and tourists abuse the places they visit.

THE CRAFT, THE TRADITION AND THE CELEBRATION OF CULTURE

OLIVIA WIDEMAN | ANGELA KRAUS

GROWING TOGETHER UNDER O

NE ROOF

2023 | TOURISM AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER | The impacts of tourism on cultures, communities and environments

Ulrike Heine | David Franco | George Schafer

The Craft, the Tradition, the Celebration of Culture, aims to solve the disconnect between culture, place, and estranged descendants through an immersive, hands-on learning center that celebrates the trades and traditions through practice. The area spanning from Jacksonville, FL to Wilmington, NC is known as the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor. With the rise in development and tourism along the coast of South Carolina, the ecosystem is on the brink of an environmental disaster. The increase of storms and flooding is detrimental to the environment that was once self-sustained. St. Helena Island is the last South Carolina Sea Island along the corridor where the Gullah still lives and practices. The sea islands and culture are at risk of vanishing completely if traditions are not practiced and passed down to younger generations. Self-identity strengthens character and confidence. When children have a deeply rooted understanding of their heritage, their self-worth is increased. Studies show the most impactful age range for character development is between the 2nd and 8th grades. Trades and traditions from locals are passed onto students attending the 7-day heritage program, in hopes to strengthen cultural identity and self-importance. Situated across from the site is the Penn Center. This historical campus became one of the first schools in the country to provide a formal education to previously enslaved West Africans. Today the center serves as a museum, community center, and historical landmark.

Agriculture, cuisine, build + restore, art + folklore are the four programmatic approaches, each of high value to the culture and resilience to the direct community and environment on St. Helena Island. Re-introducing Carolina gold and a vegetable garden allows for year-round interest to inspire education. Students learn about the process’ of soil preparation, sewing seeds, maintaining, and harvesting crops. Once harvested students create Gullah dishes with the three traditional methods of cooking: grilling, stewing, and wood burning. Other methods of cuisine include preparation and preservation, from deshelling and creating spices, to canning and salt-curing. Outreach donates excess crops and meals to local markets for profit. Students learn traditional construction methods and blacksmithing in the tool shop. In the material shop students learn processes of harvesting, carpentry, and joinery, as well as creation of the vernacular material. Outreach consists of repairing and building structures on the island. Students experience folklore and language through immersive guided tours along the site. Students learn traditional song, dance, and instruments during their stay. Outreaches include festivals where students can sell and celebrate their crafts. Lofts are playfully incorporated in each zone to spark a sense of discovery and immersion. Each zone incorporates unfolding furniture elements that support the learning experiences, as well as indoor-outdoor classroom spaces that fully immerse the student in place.

RESTORING A HAVEN

WILLIAM SCOTT | CONNOR SMITH

GROWING TOGETHER UNDER ONE ROOF

2023 | TOURISM AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER | The impacts of tourism on cultures, communities and environments

Ulrike Heine | David Franco | George Schafer

Starting in the mid-20th century, artists and creatives in the New York City queer community adopted Fire Island Pines as a haven and destination. The affordability and opportunity to create their own community underpinned an environment that cultivated free expression. But over the years, like many other creative enclaves in New York and elsewhere, higher income brackets have infiltrated in search of valuable property and cachet. This has priced out creatives and ultimately jeopardized The Pines’ identity and sense of community, reframing the place as merely a party destination. Popularity and limited housing options exacerbate an inflated rental market, with summer 4-bedroom 4-week rate averages exceeding $19,000. Most visitors to The Pines are white gay men who own a home, know someone who owns a home, or can afford to rent for the season. This has resulted in an insular community that runs against current and past movements in the queer discourse, resulting in a less inclusive destination. Additionally, The Pines suffered severe damages following Hurricane Sandy, with flooding impacting most structures. It continues to face existential threats as a barrier island, with significant public resources directed toward dune restoration and breach prevention. The design increases 12-month unit occupancy, benefitting the community economically and culturally in the off season through creative residencies. In peak season, the program changes to tourist-centered housing - connecting visitors with work of the creatives. Changing programs are enabled by a glulam timber structural system which facilitates adaptability from daily user changes to long-term relocation. To improve housing affordability, the design introduces greater density. Slightly taller structures, without compromising neighboring single-family homes, along with adaptive interior partitions allow for higher occupancy in peak months and space for creatives the remaining 9 months.

The Pines is notably inaccessible for the physically handicapped due to its elevated boardwalk system. To address this, every programmatic element has direct access via ADA compliant circulation and has multiple flat connections to the public boardwalk. Due to the stereotypically white, muscled party culture of The Pines, some members of the LGBTQ+ community may still feel that it is not the place for them. So, the design gives agency and privacy to visitors of all backgrounds. Agency over spatial tectonics through movable interior partitions. Agency over social interaction through operable louver systems on public frontages. And privacy by lifting all entrances 12 feet above boardwalk level. The interior courtyard provides an open, social environment for visitors without needing to engage in the scene. Part of the queer influence on Fire Island has been the adaptation of heteronormative single family homes into queer spaces – this attempts to enable a greater level of adaptability from day one. The Army Corps of Engineers has deployed millions of dollars to elevate the nearly 4,500 at-risk structures on Fire Island, which amount to nearly $1.4 billion in property value. The design addresses the growing flooding threat by elevating all first levels and mechanical systems above the NOAA’s 6ft maximum projected flood level. Additionally, all boardwalk circulation can float on guideposts attached to the building structures. The design also reintroduces native trees and plants to the brownfield site, their roots grounding the sandy soil. Long-term, the structural system, informed by the Open Building movement, can be disassembled and relocated. The well-documented longevity of glulam and minimized member sizes enables much of the system to be packed and moved inland. Overall, the design aims to learn from and reinterpret existing social, environmental, and building strategies to introduce a new approach to building community in Fire Island Pines.

LIFE CYCLE

SYDNEY PARKER | JESSICA LONGHURST

 RECIPROCITY

2020 | VULNERABLE CITIES, VULNERABLE POPULATIONS | Sustainable transitional housing solutions for chronically unsheltered populations in the U.S.

David Franco | Ulrike Heine | George Schafer

In recent years, Tulsa, Oklahoma has become a hub for a rapidly growing homeless population. A clear portion of these homeless individuals have recently been released from prison on the outskirts of the downtown perimeter. These ex-offenders lack job opportunities,-family connections, and basic necessities such as food and shelter to get them back on their feet. To help these individuals, specifically female ex-offenders, [Life]Cycle proposes a 14-story 200,000 square foot vertical neighborhood of self growth and programming that helps these women prepare to re-enter the workforce and their old social lives while addressing the urban heat island effect in Tulsa’s dense downtown area. Before defining the site, a connection between a surrounding corporate park and a tourist attraction was made. Due to its lack of green space, connecting the few moments of green spaces in downtown Tulsa with a pedestrian-only street was a necessary intervention. Benefits of the pedestrian access include: the community developing a “sense of place”, universal accessibility, a boost in local economy, and a decrease in ambient noises. The programming of [Life]Cycle tackles the challenge of helping ex-of-fenders successfully rehabilitate and re-enter the workforce. Starting with a pre-release application prior to leaving prison, these women go through the process of reintegrating into society with counseling, job training, and other helpful life skills. Self-sufficiency is promoted through

community gardens and selling local produce at the market hall. Healing and help with substance abuse is addressed programmatically through the counseling center and meditation gardens.[Life]Cycle also creates important moments of discovery and innovation for the city of Tulsa. Initially lacking vital green space, an urban oasis in the middle of the tower known as the “Urban Forest” was designed to act as a filter combatting the heat island effect. Solar panel roofs, wind turbines and passive systems such as radiant floor heating and operable windows and louver systems reduce energy costs and help educate citizens on effective and sustainable practices. Designed as a vertical neighborhood, [Life]Cycle is made up of many interlocking and interconnected moments of green space that occur sporadically throughout the building. Community gardens, yoga lawns, and playgrounds scatter the site and invite both the community and residents to connect. 100,818 square feet of green space was added back to the site. In accordance with the City planning of Tulsa, [Life]Cycle introduces flora and fauna onto the site to revive the congested city. Some species of trees will restore habitats and provide berries and sustenance to birds and local squirrels. [Life]Cycle’s design addresses and integrates all ten COTE measures while ensuring to maintain the integrity of its original design intention of providing the hope of housing for Tulsa’s overlooked female ex-offenders.

 RECIPROCITY

MARISSA CUTRY | LINDSEY SINISI

 RECIPROCITY

2019 | LOST SPACES | Architectural solutions for leftover space created by America’s elevated urban highways

David Franco | Ulrike Heine | George Schafer

The US Interstate highway system began its trek across the country in the 1950’s under Dwight Eisenhower’s orders, and the land felt its presence im-mediately. Cities saw long established communities split in two, often defined by economic and cultural disparity. One such example is the city of Louisville, Kentucky, where Interstate 64 entered the city in a tangle of lanes that touched down onto 9th Street and divided the city into two halves. The east-ern side of the divide features a thriving downtown filled with museums and nightlife, whereas the west has become a virtual food desert, accommodating government housing and large warehouses. Louisville shares a border with the Ohio River and has a hot climate with a high yearly rainfall averaging 46 inches. The city floods each year with lasting consequences. Currently, an ineffective floodwall running parallel to I-64 wraps its concrete arms around the city, isolating its people from the water’s edge. In fact, the only way to experience the water for both halves is from atop I-64 itself. With 50- and 100- year flood lines reaching far into Louisville, architectural solutions that adapt to flood conditions while repairing the divisions in the city’s fabric are imperative. RECIPROCITY: Mending an Ecosystem through a Floating Community proposes an innovative solution for these complex issues. The proposal reclaims the water’s edge by pulling in the shoreline underneath I-64 and adapting the adjacent floodwall condition to provide water connectivity to the pedestrian. Floating buildings activate a lively public space adjacent to the existing Interstate infrastructure. These structures are designed to adapt to rising flood levels, leveraging their connection to the

existing infrastructure for stability. Central to both sides of the divide, new living and destination spaces, including one- and two-bedroom apartments, public parks, restaurants and water recreation facilities, aim to appeal to all economic strata represent-ed throughout Louisville’s adjacent neighborhoods. The organism at the heart of this floating urban ecosystem is the freshwater mussel. Once a thriving species in the Ohio River, mussels are now subject to many conservation efforts as they have been depleted due to detrimental dredging techniques. Mussels are essential to the river’s ecosystem and this depletion has contributed to the loss of healthy fish and clean water. RECIPROCITY will leverage mussel farming to create a revitalized, sustainable ecosystem featuring on-site greywater filtration, learning opportunities for the community, farming jobs, restaurant supply and revenue, and a beautified shoreline. A system of ropes beneath the floating structure serves as the new, safe habitat for the mussels. The habitat will be emphasized throughout the site to raise public engagement and awareness about the importance of the ecosystem’s health, now and in the future. Just as a mussel grows on its rope, RECIPROCITY features clusters of structures at a variety of scales, providing a human scale to the large project. It is zoned to a final density of 35 one-bedroom and 30 two-bedroom units ac-companied by 3 restaurants and 15 assorted recreational shops and spaces totaling 300,000 square feet.

SUPERFICIE-AL

SOLENE CLAVEL | ANDREW COLLINS | KATIE KOWALSKI

 RECIPROCITY

2017 | REFUGEES WELCOME | Reinventing the Architectural Possibilities of a Refugee Center in the Heart of Madrid

Ufuk Ersoy | David Franco | Ulrike Heine

Beginning in 2012, a rising number of migrants journeyed to western Europe, seeking asylum from economic hardship and war-torn countries in what the world now refers to as the “refugee crisis”. During their travels, refugee’s cell phones become their lifelines, affording them access to locations of refugee camps, various government services, and contact with family members. Yet, this same accessibility to resources is not so easily found upon arrival into Madrid. Immigrants become alienated from Spanish society due to a lack of language training programs, employment opportunities, and government aid, making it difficult for them to truly integrate within their new culture. To bridge this gap, Superficie-al seeks to use the already familiar lifeline of the cell phone to bring in both refugees and residents of Madrid and create meaningful physical connections through integrative programs and open spaces. It’s name (a play on the Spanish word for surface and the English, superficial) goes beyond surface level by challenging media’s perception of refugees as a superficial condition and highlighting technology’s importance in understanding their needs. One of the key aspects of this proposal is the building’s ability to respond to users on a personal level – through their cellphone. An application specific to the building provides a gateway to its programs, allowing users to filter and choose the services they require. As technologies shift and building methods advance, the digital feedback loop created in Superficie-al will respond and adapt to conditions based on user demand. This connectivity, as well as energy and water movement, is manifested in “energy columns” found

throughout the central open-air portion of the structure. These columns perform multiple functions, including funneling down the energy collected by solar panels above to capacitors that provide wireless charging on each level. They also capture and circulate water through the building and down to cisterns in the existing unused parking garage below, which doubles as a space to pre-condition forced air. The columns also provide support for the large roof above, which shades the space from Madrid’s hot, dry weather, and plays host to BIPV panels, rock gardens and walkable surfaces. The building’s form follows the perception of the refugee by creating a subtle landscape with a strong emphasis on sightlines. Users can meander along the sloping paths and find themselves in an open courtyard looking up at the faceted surface overhead, or, they can wind up fifty feet above looking out over busy Spanish streets. By adopting the properties of a traditional plaza, the paths created take into account the various velocities at which people move across the space, making plenty of room for possible social interactions. Similarly to how refugees rely on technology during their travels, the infra-structure of Superficie-al supports interaction and access to a new physical network through a technological platform. This proposal is about connecting and integrating newcomers and city residents through positive interactions that not only add to the existing digital, physical, and infrastructural net-works, but also support a sustainable life cycle for the building.