ARCHITECTURE OF SUBMERSION: TOXICITY LEVELS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

AA School of Architecture 2020 :

Diploma 9

Tutors:

Stefan Laxness and Antoine Vaxelaire

The project proposes setting up of a brief for the spatial organization of the Gulf of Mexico and its coastal areas.

Within the time frame of the next 80 years the slow violence of climate change is expected to reshape the borders of US and Mexico and with it, current socio-economic relations of the whole region. In order to mitigate the impact of the global sea level rise on artificial and natural infrastructure, the project recognizes the shoreline as a moving battlefront that creates inland and seaward theaters of operation.

Redevelopment strategy deployed on the barrier Island of Galveston offers a methodology of feasible and time-framed response to the inevitable crisis of environmental pollution. By incorporating the spectrum of Building material Toxicity into the Geographic Information System the work establishes an algorithmic process informing the general public and the local government institutions on the requirements for safe and efficient city deconstruction. Dictated by the principles of Toxicity awareness, current approach towards coastal administration temporarily abolishes the concept of state division. It creates a unified sovereign front with authority over national environment policy and economic affairs, allowing for the Zone of Submersion identified in the brief to become a platform advocating for spatial responsibility.