ORIGINAL

Abstract

Sea level rise is one of the most predictable consequences of climate change. Heat absorbed by the ocean causes the water to expand, which could alone raise the eustatic sea level as much as 9 ft. This problem of sea level rise as a relatively new condition of the urban waterfront has gained attention from architects to design for the watery conditions of the future. However, in design and policy discourse, SLR is often used interchangeably with storm surge, or lumped together under a category of “flooding induced by climate change.” This is a problem since SLR and storm surges are very different types of flooding, and design solutions for one does not automatically solve the other. The objective of this thesis is to pull apart SLR design from storm surge design and allow for SLR to stand on its own in terms of design and discourse. This thesis points to necessary conceptual shifts in architecture to rethink the relationship between water, the city, and resilience. The main conceptual shift is the idea of the “dynamic edge.” No longer is the water a static entity, but rather the water plane is constantly rising up, encroaching on the urban space with each passing year. This idea of the “dynamic edge” informs a shift in waterfront design to a paradigm that anticipates SLR and focuses on protection and permanence. This thesis critiques architectural responses to SLR by pointing out their lack of understanding SLR as a separate and dynamic force. It continues with suggestions for design solutions that adhere to the inherently dynamic and long-term effect of SLR. At the end, this thesis will then synthesize these conceptual shifts and build solutions and distill this into a new consideration for long term resilience in design.