4.153 Core III Studio, F21

Collaborator: Inge Donovan

MIT SA+P, Instructor: J. Jih

Project Brief: 

The Portland Harbor is a site of high variability–the artificially constructed shoreline has grown and shifted as prevailing economies fluctuate from fishing to tourism, to on-site production operations, like our proposal for a seaweed Plant. The ground shifts with the tides and the sea level inevitably rises, creating a need for a way of building that can absorb change. To build a more resilient and stable waterfront we propose the use of a crib structure, normally an infrastructural tool used for retaining walls, whose roughness increases the surface area to break strong flows of water and increase ecological stability. The crib, constructed out of reclaimed granite curbs discarded by various infrastructure projects in New England, displaces the existing wharf structure, which is composed of five primary materials: marine timber piles and boards, concrete decking, steel and rubble infill. These form the material inventory for our building’s structural system. This reclaimed material is absorbed into novel material assemblies: the piles are planed into dowel-laminated timber columns and beams, the boards are refinished into the floor assembly, and the concrete is broken down and used as infill.

Model Photographs © Andy Ryan.