Workshopping Exhibition, US Pavilion 12th Venice Architectural Biennale

2010 | Venice ITALY

Client The US Pavilion for La Biennale di Venezia, Biennale Architecttura 2010
Team Leaders and Co-Authors Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office, LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, Anthony Fontenot

Invited to take part in the exhibition Workshopping: An American Model of Architectural Practice at the US Pavilion of the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt, Architecture Research Office, the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio and Anthony Fontenot presented On the Water: Palisade Bay and The Mississippi Delta: Constructing with Water.

The need for new approaches to protect coastal communities in the United States from flooding, storm surge damage, and land loss is becoming more critical as sea levels rise due to climate change. Experience shows that traditional hard infrastructural storm barrier solutions such as sea walls and levees must be reconsidered, especially as recent storms show increased reach and intensity. Two regional examples, the Upper Harbor of New York-New Jersey and the Mississippi Delta, have been examined to make the case for an adaptive soft infrastructure, which integrates engineering, ecological, urban, and landscape design approaches in order to restore and improve nature while protecting and enhancing culture.