Next Project
Medal Winner 2019
SOM Foundation UK Award
RIBA Award for Sustainable Design

Wetland Frontier

Part 1 Project 2019
Annabelle Tan
Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) | UK

Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has undergone a patchy recovery, rife with contestation and doubts. Even with new flood defence systems, experts question the long-term resilience of New Orleans which has historically been at odds with nature. Tackling the issue of urban resilience, the scheme is a speculative masterplan that challenges the current approaches towards disaster-prevention and landscape engineering in New Orleans.

Straddling a 6-foot levee, the proposal aims to facilitate the regeneration of the Lower Ninth Ward community and the adjacent Bayou Bienvenue Wetland Triangle – both currently ghosts of their former selves after historical neglect and segregation. A multi-stakeholder premise creates a narrative of co-operative value-creation through the restoration of a lost wetland. By tapping on the wetland’s potential economic, recreational, educational and ecological benefits, the scheme both attracts, mobilises and retains a demographic that matures with restoration efforts.

While newcomers initially attracted to this pioneer community become rooted to the local community, cypress saplings begin to flourish in the newly laid sediments. After a decade, the scheme stretches outwards, blurring the threshold that once delineated human and nature. Family homes spill into the local housing stock and sediment satellites venture forward for the complete restoration of Bayou Bienvenue.

Annabelle Tan

Tutor(s)
Johan Hybschmann
Matthew Springett
2019
• Page Hits: 44456         • Entry Date: 08 October 2019         • Last Update: 03 December 2019