With Water:
An Adaptable Architectural Framework
for Letting Water in
How can we create an adaptable architectural housing framework that strengthens coastal resilience and reduces community vulnerabilities?
The idea of seasonal or levels of living are what allowed for an adaptable landscape in the form of an elevated plane of living when the ground plane floods. The concrete piers foundation supports each column, stabilizing the plane above while allowing light and air to circulate throughout. Wood was ultimately chosen as light weight and cost-effective material, specifically Western Red Cedar local to Truckee, California. The natural oils in the wood create a low shrinkage factor and make it insect and decay resistant, and this is before any pressure treating. Each unit is centered around a wet core that encompasses its staircase, with semi-enclosed moments for storage, work, and community garden space. There's also an emphasis on adaptability on the structure’s interior, especially because this is a community that is so diverse. That was achieved by creating architectural layout that is flexible while keeping costs low by still creating a singular modular system. Each housing unit is split into two along the same grid that follows the wet core and stairs. Living and kitchen are housed in the initial corridor, with bedrooms and bathrooms along its perimeter. Because both units are laid out along this grid, each unit is able to shift an adapt in multiple ways by shifting the interior entrances.
The last guiding principle was to create ways to allow water into our infrastructures without disrupting our daily lives. And how to create resilience through adaptability so that the design could meet the needs of the community well into the future as the ecologies and the flood levels in the area continue to change.
