The University of Michigan Landscape Architecture Department was awarded a grant to create climate resilient designs for the city of South Portland, Maine.
My class traveled to and worked in South Portland, Maine, exploring adaptive design strategies for rising sea levels and worsening storm events.
I conducted in-depth research and analysis, ultimately developing design interventions to support this vibrant coastal community. I designed the following graphics for our class's final deliverable.
Site Analysis
South Portland posed unique environmental and cultural qualities that I had not previously encountered in work. The marine ecosystems, coupled with the maritime socioeconomic and historical precedents quickly became a driving force in our analytical strategy.
To assist in our narrative, I created this map of Portland and South Portland. It blends in maps and imagery from as far back as 1690, visually emphasizing the rich history of the area.
Our design was predicated on resilience to worsening storm events in a rising ocean. To best design for this, I created a comprehensive wind analysis. I looked at the average wind directions per month for South Portland. I then cross referenced these data to the major storms seen in the area within the past century to confirm that destructive weather patterns don’t deviate from directional trends. Finally, I averaged these data into seasonal trends, as shown by the three arrows.
Design Opportunities
We then looked for areas of opportunity within our analysis. I used this step to think outside the box, incorporating site constraints as design features to address the project goals.
An illustrative summary of South Portland major storm events over the past century (left) and a suitability analysis for repurposing confined aquatic disposal (CAD) cells as wave attenuating features in Casco Bay (right).
We then presented these ideas to the Envision Resilience expert panel, receiving feedback and guidance on next steps.
Design Strategies
After the mid-review, we began drafting a final design strategy. A group of three other students and I collaborated on a design to connect South Portland, protect precious intertidal habitat and mitigate the destructive effects of storm surge.
We coined our design "The Blueway", as it connects two ends of an existing but incomplete greenway between South Portland's Ferry Village and Loveitt's Field neighborhoods.
Using AutoCAD, Photoshop and QGIS, I rendered this concept masterplan of the Blueway and associated breakwaters.
An enlargement of the design's bridge and breakwater design. I superimposed the rendering to Google Earth satellite imagery to provide context and scale.
I synthesized and adapted existing data from several to create this axonometric to illustrate the existing conditions that our design aimed to address.
Three axonometric graphics illustrating the opportunities and constraints associated with my project team's design strategy.
Finally, I created this exploded axonometric diagram to visually summarize the ways in which our design interventions address storm surge, habitat, and circulation.
An exploded axon design intervention analysis.