Located north of downtown Seattle, UNION Landing addresses Seattle’s rich history of maritime culture, the lumber industry, and the many issues it faces, such as displacement, waterfront exclusivity, and pollution. Biotech industries and gentrified houseboats made it difficult for the locals to stay in the area due to rising housing costs and big business buyouts. Individuals who have been displaced or emerging into the professional world have a place to Live, Work, and Play together in a re-imagined floating community that re-engages the public to the waterfront. This 151,974 square foot housing facility contains ten two-bedroom units and eleven four-bedroom units placed strategically throughout the floating structure. The units give individuals a private space while reinforcing a dynamic, live-work interaction to encourage growth and well-being. Displaced Individuals and Emerging Professionals engage in co-beneficial learning and working opportunities with the community. Areas including community gardens, makerspaces, waterfront activities, and elevated marketplace allow connections between the spaces. With these widely adaptable spaces, Displaced Individuals and Emerging Professionals can explore current skills or gain new knowledge for personal growth year-round. Along with the cultural issues, UNION Landing

addresses the climate and surrounding environment by providing integrated design solutions. Seattle is known for above-average rainy days, with 150 days of rainfall and 58 sunny days throughout the year. The climate paired with the pollutive waterfront industries has created a contaminated Lake Bed that negatively impacts people and the surrounding environment if kicked up. The design proposes to dredge the toxic lake bed and relocate the clean sediment into bioswales and covered elevated gardens. In order to minimize pollution during construction, UNION Landing is prefabricated off-site at a local shipyard, tugged on-site, and moored in place. Its structure mimics typical shipbuilding construction for stability and to ensure that it can be constructed at the local shipyard. Local materials such as fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) and pressure-treated wood are also integrated into the design for structural integrity and aesthetics. These materials are ideal for wet climates due to their moisture-resistant and durability. With all things considered, UNION Landing provides an accessible destination that brings the community back to the waterfront and enriches the cultural history of the Seattle environment by integrating design solutions for future generations.

RECIPROCITY

MARISSA CUTRY | LINDSEY SINISI

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.

CONNECTING THE HYDROLOOP

MICHAEL MIOUX | LAUREN OVCA

CONNECTING

2016 | TECHNIFIED ECOSYSTEMS | The city as an artificial landscape

Ufuk Ersoy | David Franco | Ulrike Heine | Henrique Houayek

Located between a bustling downtown and a picturesque park with an active waterway in Greenville, South Carolina, sits an isolated industrial site causing pedestrian inactivity. This project reconnects the urban loop around Falls Park using water flow and treatment as a tool for planning and education, restoring it as an active public space. Water conservation is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, yet because of current water management and treatment practices, the general public remains ignorant of the process. The program serves as a

tool for learning as well as a practical application through visible, interactive water purification. The old topography drained polluted water directly into the river, contributing to unhealthy ecosystems. The new site acts as a natural filtration system to reduce toxins entering the river, creating a safer environment. Implementing design strategies such as a 24 hour life cycle, passive technologies, and interwoven water and energy systems, the proposal links contrasting environments with the public education of engaging water treatment processes.

SATURATING THE CITY

RACHEL CRANE | MICHELLE EDWARDS

SATURATING THE CITY

2016 | TECHNIFIED ECOSYSTEMS | The city as an artificial landscape

Ufuk Ersoy | David Franco | Ulrike Heine | Henrique Houayek

Can a river, 11 times more polluted than safe water standards, desecrated by historic textile mill filth, and left barren by a catastrophic diesel spill, be naturally cleansed and used in a thermal bath to bring residents closer to nature and promote social interaction? Water cleaned through oxygenation, natural filtration, and bioremediation, serves as a basis around which a variety of programs on site are designed to create a sense of place, public space, and community interaction, allowing people to eat, work, and play by the water. The focus of the site falls to the thermal baths, where the newly cleansed river water can be truly appreciated and experienced

through temperature, texture, sound, color, lighting, and unique spatial qualities. The baths attract a diversity of people to the city, initiating diverse human interactions by using old bathing traditions as a catalyst for change: an alternative form of cultural and social space in the downtown neighborhood. A luxurious environment for the public, the thermal baths design supports itself economically and becomes no burden to the city by using a regenerative cycle of river water as a source of heating, cooling, cleaning, and energy production. The answer: Yes, it can!