New York, USA, June 30, 2018

AIM TEXAS Design Group prepared design proposals for an integrated constructed wetland and coastal pier, forming the base of a seasonal architecture, preservation, public use, and flexible coastline integrated into the design.

The main goal was to combat the rising sea level and more precipitous rise of coastal erosion. A new typology of coastal relationship was considered. Analyzing the historical landscape of the region to provide natural coastline that is superimposed with a pier for seed bank and natural research, as well as providing public space for people.

A new type of relationship of the building and the sea is conceived as a pier that sits on top of the natural alluvial shoreline of Manhattan, rather than fighting the rising tides in a losing battle, the pier allows the water levels to rise and fall with seasons, accommodating different uses at different times.

This allows the pier to be simultaneously used for research and seed bank of the natural areas of the city, as well as a pier as well as any other. The rising jetty allows for the wetland biome underneath to be undisturbed and act as a riverside park in low tide.

The space forms a quasi-pavilion while also serving its main purposes on the above levels. These pavilions are utilized with a variety of functions, and act as the anchor points of the built and natural environment, allowing people to head town into the constructed wetland, which ends up working as a seasonal park.