awarded Finalist in the international terraviva architecture competition: the field station
In a delicate ecosystem threatened by climate change where every element is codependent disruption is not an option and flexibility is mandatory. Tectonic labs poses a floating campus of modular buildings each with the ability to exist independently repairing and researching the fragile environment. Modules utilise a web of steel cables sprouting from interconnected pylons to move through the site and anchor to specific locations. Pylons are engineered to create habitat for ecologically essential species while generating energy through water surface oscilation and solar panels. Each module has the ability to filter water while collecting suspended sediment for redistribution.
The flexibility of the module's layout fosters innovation across disciplines where any space can physically connect to another upon command. Further, the buildings are able to respond dynamically to any shifting of the terrain and have the capability to repair the environment through filtration and deposition.
each of the pylons occupies minimal surface area while providing habitat creation for Blue Crabs, Fiddler Crabs, Eastern Oysters, and Hooked Mussels. These creatures are excellent at filtering water and enhancing soil health. As the water level rises and falls the web of cables goes with it. Additionally, the pylons generate considerable energy through oscillating bodies technology as well as solar panels. Energy is transferred to the buildings as their 'arms' move along the pylons rails.
These buildings or ‘modules’ are able to exist as a whole connected to each other or independently free to travel around the property completing ecological repairs and research. This independence is due to each module’s self sufficient program. Thick bases housing a flexible docking and locking system provide buoyancy as well as a wrap around deck with a foldable railing. Sliding doors blur the distinction between inside and outside. On the roofs a mechanical arm attached to steel cables has the ability to extend and rotate providing a full range of motion. Below deck, an ecological monitoring and repair system hangs. Water is filtered through tiered habitat creation and is forced to wind its way through a series of obstacles slowing it enough for suspended sediment to settle and fall. Hoppers sit at the bottom of a sloping floor collecting all that descends. This material is then available to be deposited where the shoreline has suffered most.
