When driving between SFO Airport and San Francisco on the edge of the Bay Area, I have always wondered what would happen when the sea level starts to rise.
Recently, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) organized an ideas competition (open to any professionals, not just architects) to address the sea level rise in the Bay Area, looking for innovative and creative solutions to bring forward a vision of a future estuarine shoreline applicable to the San Francisco Bay and beyond. 130 entries from 18 countries were submitted.
Six teams were announced as the winners, splitting a cash prize of $25,000. Among these entries we find interesting ideas, such as Faulders Studio’s laser light barrier that measures the sea level, powered by tidal energy, Kuth Ranieri Architects’s ventilated levee to balance the sea/bay water levels, or SOM’s smart membrane under the golden gate bridge.
But, as usual in some competitions, the honorable mentions bring more disruptive ideas, embracing a vision on a post-flood city instead of preventing it. There’s also humor among the honorable mentions, “Failure: Bring your boots” or “About Rising Tides: It´s the Delta, you stupid”.
Will our future be amphibious?
All the awarded entries after the break:
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING CONCEPT: SOM Mark Sarkisian Eric Long David Shook
MARINE ENGINEERING CONCEPT: MOFFATT & NICHOL MARINE ENGINEERING Dilip Trivedi Richard Dornhelm
GRAPHIC DESIGN: SOM Lonny Israel Alexander Ng San Francisco, California
