Challenge

The Gulfport Center for Environmental and Social Discourse is a project proposal for a graduate-level studio course addressing research and design with regard to climate change in the tropical biome.

This course challenged students to design a site-specific performative public installation in response to climate change issues of today, and those we expect in the coming 50-100 years. The goal was to create a space that could physically respond to these issues and provide a place for public discourse and education.

Minimum criteria included an approximately 35,000 sq. ft. community center with a reception area, an auditorium, archives, a café and dining space, bathrooms, and a private office.

Research

After traveling to the greater St. Petersburg, FL area and meeting with city officials, I determined that most buildings in the area are designed to accommodate water levels just two feet above the current "100-year storm" flood plain.

These current local codes do not account for projections from organizations such as NOAA, that indicate a likely seven-foot sea-level rise over the next seventy years. As such, I chose to design a structure that responds to these projections, and accommodates even more dramatic scenarios.

Design

The Center is located at the end of a popular local pier and is inspired by (and can use parts of) decommissioned oil rigs. From present-day to approximately 2100, it would be reachable by pedestrians or boat. At that point, it would only be accessible by watercraft, and a new floor above the pre-existing roof could be added to make up for the loss of its lowest level. The central tube congaing the archival spaces, impenetrable by water, would remain intact regardless of sea level, and all flooded floors would be transitioned into underwater recreation space.

The purpose of this oil rig-inspired design is two-fold. It would be built to withstand intense environmental forces common at sea, and to serve as an evolving monument to environmental destruction of the past.

While somewhat dystopian, the Center's use of decommissioned rigs and its ability to adapt and grow vertically in response to the rising ocean, demonstrates mankind's ability to change course and positively impact on our collective future.