Kingston Rising: Increasing Awareness and Education Through Revelatory and Adaptive Design

The city of Kingston’s waterfront is at risk of inundation due to sea level rise. Much of the waterfront is expected to become permanently inundated by the year 2080. The proposed design aims to adapt Kingston’s waterfront to the rising tides by prematurely subjecting selected portions of it to projected conditions, decades before they are expected to occur in order to understand the future condition and test the effectiveness of potential interventions. A series of tide pools at different depths constructed with different sustainable shoreline techniques will allow for the site to not only test which techniques work best, but also may serve as a educational display of sustainable shorelines and climate-adaptive design mechanisms for visitors. Furthermore, the design proposes creating constructed wetlands as well as an interactive and educational elevated walkway so that as site conditions change, the public may continue to enjoy the waterfront and become educated on climate change and climate adaptation.

PROJECT DETAILS

LOCATION: KINGSTON, NY

WHEN: 2016

TYPE OF WORK: ACADEMIC

TEAMMATE: IVY WONG

PROFESSOR: JOSH CERRA

COURSE: CLIMATE ADAPTIVE DESIGN STUDIO

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”

- Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

DESIGNING FOR EXPERIMENTATION

Our proposed design creates an experimental zone where different sustainable shoreline strategies are tested. Select projected changes in water-level rise will be prematurely induced in a controlled manner on parts of the site to see how the design responds before the changes naturally occur.

Testing Slope Geometries on Tide Pool Edges

We know that shoreline ecosystem migration requires soft, sloped edges, but are there certain slope shapes that prove to be more advantageous than others? Do certain plants root better or migrate better on differently shaped slopes? Which shape best prevents erosion? Observing the survival of the plant communities along these various slope shapes will inform us of the best slope shapes.

Testing a Variety of Materials for Shorelines Solutions

The design proposes a variety of shoreline edge types. Varying the edge type can help us gather information on which strategies work best in protect our site from eroding forces and encourage ecosystem percolation and survival.

Different Combinations of Plants Near Shoreline

We know different species of flood-tolerant plants, but what individual species or combinations can survive inundation best? Are some better adapted than others? How will different species compete with or complement each other? By placing different plant communities in different areas of the site, we will be able to get a better idea of which combinations work best.

DESIGNING FOR A MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACE

/ RECREATION

The proposed elevated walkway is intended as a recreational space. Before 2080, visitors will be able to access Island Dock through various access points throughout the walkway. The ground will include light duty pavements such as steppingstones and economical playground equipment. By 2080, visitors will no longer be able to access Island Dock because it will be mostly inundated. Visitors will be able to see the vestiges of the past uses of the site from the elevated walkway.

/ ECONOMIC IMPACT

A waterfront park has the potential to increase the real estate value of the waterfront. The site is planned to allow for temporary installations of food-trucks, tents, and kiosks. This will draw people to the site and support the local economy which is largely based on the food and beverage industry.

/ EDUCATION

Our proposed design seeks to increase awareness about the human impact on the environment through educational opportunities that educate visitors about Island Dock’s historical uses, and, more generally, the history of human impacts on the environment. The proposed pathway features a timeline that symbolically moves through the Earth’s geological ages and reaches the anthropocene.

DESIGNING A SYMBOLIC PATH

I was taking a great class at Cornell called “Evolution” with Professors Warren D. Allmon and Greg Graffin at the same time as I took this Climate Adaptive Design studio. In the Evolution course, we learned about historical theories that sought to explain life on Earth, and also about our current geological era: The Anthropocene. (Some of my notes from the class are shown to the right). Inspired by what I learned, I wanted to incorporate the story of the geological history of the Earth into our climate adaptive design as an educational art feature.

Below is a diagrammatic illustration of a symbolic pathway that would take visitors through geological ages with interpretive signage. When the path reaches the present moment in time, it splits in two, offering visitors a choice. One pathway is a dead end which descends into the water, representing the course of humanity if it decides to continue business as usual, without regards to the environment; the other path, which returns to ‘civilization,’ connects to the Kingston waterfront trail network and represents a commitment to change and a sustainable lifestyle. In this way Kingston Rising makes a powerful poetic statement.

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