Aqualta
Project: Aqualta
Location: New York City, Tokyo
Square Footage:
Aqualta – a play on Acqua Alta, the increasing high tides flooding Venice – visually explores what a coastal metropolis might feel like a hundred years from now due to rising sea levels. The images illustrate two cultural and financial epicenters – Tokyo and New York – adapting to, rather than resisting, rising waters.
Aqualta imagines city dwellers migrating to higher and dryer elevations as water levels gradually increase. Piers, boardwalks and systems of navigable canals reestablish the transportation network lost below. Residents repurpose rooftops for farms and greenhouses. Wetland ecologies and oyster beds thrive and take root to better protect coasts from future storms. The cities are shown without combustion – engines, power plants, all emissions are rendered obsolete – resulting in cleaner, quieter neighborhoods.
Aqualta reveals an adaptable city infrastructure capable of acclimating to nature.
References: BLDG BLOG, Wired Magazine, NBC New York, Treehugger, Inhabitat, Gizmodo