Resilient Architecture: Adaptive community living in coastal locations

How can architects design for coastal inundation caused

by climate change?

- Climate change is caused by an expenditure of planet-

harming resources being improperly or inefficiently utilized
and consumed. This can lead to a rise of global sea level and
an increased severity of storm surges.

- Resilience is defined as the ability to overcome challenges

and difficulties. Coastal resilience is the ability for a coastal
community to independently withstand shocks caused by
hazardous storms and coastal flooding, adapt to future
occurrences, and rebuild when necessary. Incorporating
resilient and adaptable design elements into architecture
could help to create a more sustainable built environment that
reacts more efficiently to challenges and difficulties that occur
in the natural world.

- Current projections indicate that sea levels will continue to

rise and storm surges will continue to grow in strength,
resulting in plausible damage to the built environment, as well
as a significant reduction in habitable dry land area.
Resilient Architecture: Adaptive community living in coastal locations
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Surat, Parts of
Kerala and the entire Odisha coast may be at
the risk from flooding and inundation due to
sea level rise by 2050, according to a new
study.

- The IPCC has been providing global-scale

assessments of Earth’s climate every five to
seven years since 1988, focusing on changes
in temperature and ice cover, greenhouse gas
emissions, and sea levels across the
planet. Their sea-level projections are based on
by data gathered by satellites and instruments
on the ground, as well as analysis and
computer simulations.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/71834444.cms?utm_source=co
ntentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst_prime
 “The most important line on this planet is Coastline.” - John Englander at TEDxBocaRaton
• Sea level is rising for the first time in thousands of years. Oceanographer John Englander, author of "High Tide
On Main Street" explains why it is unstoppable, regardless of efforts to be 'green' and sustainable.

• the new reality that the shoreline is moving, that we begin to adapt, while we also try to slow the warming. It is
a positive message, "a glass half full, rather than half empty" -- though the glass will get higher each decade.

“Usually there is 4.5 meter high tide in this area

and sometimes it reaches 5 meters. So, water
does come near our homes but usually receives
quickly.” – Ganga, Dharavi resident
The ocean is crucial for the world’s ecosystem
90% of all excess heat in the climate system is
absorbed by the ocean. If the current situation of
GHG continues then the heat that the ocean will
have to absorb will be up to 7 times larger
between now and the end of the century. –
Martin koehring, head of The Economist Group's
World Ocean Initiative
“Every time the Embassy’s of the government is that how they allow more construction on the coast
and that’s the reason that is, from 500 meters is reduced to 100 meters, 50 meters and finally 20
meters. Now it’s like a open heaven for the builders to construct anything on the coast.” –
Narendrakumar Pawar, Resident, Mumbai
UN predicts that sea level could rise by almost 1 meter by the year 2100 with the current global
heating rate. If that happens one academic report says a quarter of Mumbai, a city of nearly 19
million people could be affected by rising seas. - Rahul radhakishanan, Moneytalks
 Source: Delta city

Relevance & Justification

Question: How can architects design for coastal inundation caused by climate change, what are the methods and strategies
currently being implemented as a response to coastal inundation, and how can these strategies influence the design
approach for a self-sustaining community that can survive and thrive in a low-lying coastal area?

Aim: The intent is to design a coastal community-living development that serves as, how communities in low-lying areas can
be elevated in order to sustain fluctuating coastal conditions. Hence, by adopting flotation technology, which is successfully
implemented on building on water in recent years, living on water for larger scale becomes an impending trend to our
future generations.

Objective: To provide an architectural solution to addressing rising sea levels and increased weather severity, whilst
allowing residents of low-lying urban areas to continue to live and thrive along the coast.
- To develop an elevated coastal residential community that serves as a case study for an efficient way that communities
in low-lying land areas can survive and thrive, regardless of fluctuations in sea level and weather patterns.

“It’s how are we going to live in it, not how are we going to stop it…”
- Leslie Koch, of the Trust of Governors Island