Grand Isle

 We have now visited a series of locations, including Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge (western LA); Cameron, Vermilion Bay, Holly Beach, Chenier au Tigre, Wax Lake and the Atchafalaya/Wax Lake outlet and its impressive mud flats and growing accretion, as well as the rich plant life there; Trinity Island, LUMCON and the surrounding marshes, and in early 2013, Grand Isle, the only (long term) inhabited barrier island in Louisiana. Grand Isle has a front side exposed to the open Gulf of Mexico, with significant sand dunes and dune plants such as bitter panicum and sea oats helping anchor and even accrete sand.

 This island is inhabited and the variety of structures is striking.

 The elevated roadway leading to Grand Isle allows views of some of the houses and the working coast.

 Various protection measured include dune reworking and rock breakwaters to reduce the impact of wave energy on the sand part of the island.

In among all this amazing natural beauty, the Louisiana coast is a true working coast, with oil rigs, ships, derricks, tugboats, crabbers, shrimpers and even oystermen working the renewable and nonrenewables of the coast.  Which brings us to one of our themes: we wish to nurture and even grow components of the coast, including human habitation and infrastructure, and to do it in sustainable and ideally growing (both metaphorically and literally) ways.  Quite a challenge, but with all the creativity we have seen, it seems a real possibility.

Plants and Salinity Tolerance

The following websites are great links to plant material, especially dealing in salinity.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4263e/y4263e0e.htm

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/resources/soils/salinity/crops/tolerance-irrigated

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA/PLANTS/stable.shtml

Credit for the research goes to Sarah Bertrand.

Coastal Architecture and Engineering

Although we are ostensibly working on more novel concepts, it is important to understand current techniques and the creativity and resourcefulness of the coastal peoples.  Among creative architectural aspects we experienced on our way to Rockefeller were creative ways to avoid or minimize damage from coastal flooding, edible landscapes, techniques to enjoy the beauty of the coastal environment, and structural and stability related techniques.

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 These rings are 60" in diameter, 30" high, and 9" in wall thickness.  They are in a high wave energy zone and appear fairly stable.  They are supported by gabion mats with expanded clay substrate.  These type of units (or ideally some with less total mass) could "grow" a structure in multiple ways: they can grow oysters, barnacles, etc, which can eventually strengthen and stabilize the structures; they can grow in terms of supporting the local ecology; they can grow vertically, even if they sink; and they can accrete sediment (both inside the rings and in the low energy "settlement" zone behind the breakwater), and hence "grow" land. This land may spontaneously grow plants, or could be planted to appropriate vegetation to further stabilize and encourage accretion in appropriate zones.

 Rockefeller refuge is a beautiful place, and their buildings are built on nominal 12" diameter posts sunk well into the ground.  Although the ground itself is a sedimentary clay with fairly low bearing strength, when the posts "set" in the mud (adhere to the soil by frictional contact with the soil), they can support these buildings which allow a lovely view of the vegetation (live oaks and spanish moss shown here), as well as additional protected parking or workspace below the structure.  This general technique is well accepted in the area.

 This tiny (but locally famous) grocery displays another simple technique: basically this is fill with a concrete cap, a variation of slab on grade that gains the building a few feet of elevation to avoid modest flooding.  The metal building is simple and pragmatic if not overly aesthetic.

At a research site in a waterway in the Rockefeller refuge, a treated wooden post has been in place and even provides a local benchmark (recalibrated every two years by high accuracy GPS).  The calibration shows this post is quite stable over time.  Again, the "skin friction" with the underlying sediments keep the post stable and able to hold a modest load, perhaps enough for a building to be mounted on similar posts.

Up the road, we visited with a team installing posts for a new building. These posts were nominal 12", "fat end up" (to minimized expanding the holes), installed by first auguring with a tractor mounted augur (~6' deep), then pounding them in to a depth of about 18' by using a crane mounted pounding device.  This leaves about 12' of the 30 foot length protruding to be used to mount the superstructure.  The crane had installed one post about a foot too deep and was trying to remove the post.  The crane pulled, tipped (and scared us), attempted a couple more times, then decided to leave the post.  The posts seem able to support at least a couple thousand pounds or more each, based on this little test.

An alternative technique was used to provide very good support (enough to drive the car to the second floor as shown!) here:  this was 10" steel posts driven in to a depth of about 10 feet, spaced on about 8 foot centers, with steel beams welded between to make a single superstructure on which to build the house.  The structure seemed very stable and had a pleasant ambiance including a 12' deep back porch with hummingbirds and a view of the nearby grazing land and wetlands.

Rockefeller Trip Sept 20, 2012

This group of engineers, architects and biologists are exploring how to create sustainable habitations that work with, and ideally enhance, the coastal environment.  This trip to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in western Louisiana was fascinating, from the 'Cajun culture (and great food) to the care and challenges of managing the coastal environment.  Food for thought...

 Suire's Cajun Grocery has great po'boys, baked goods and more...

 Well, lots of fun and very tasty inside Suire's, and all this before we got to the coast!

 At Rockefeller, we saw some of our structures that have been growing long enough (2-6 years) to be thoroughly "biologically dominated" and very difficult to think of as traditional "structures", but which are nevertheless highly stable, accreting or gaining sediment, providing habitat, and potentially providing components for a more sustainable architecture...

 Cement coated recycled crab traps may grow oysters, but appear to have done in a couple other coastal denizens.  We need to avoid this in the future...  No point saving the world by killing those who live there...

 This high density emplacement has not yet been well colonized, but some barnacles, oysters and other species have started to grow in this high energy environment on the gulf coast itself.  The waves were low so we were able to get there today. 

There were fish flying up behind the boat - Jim reflected that Louisiana is very rich!  Oil, fish just flying, but also just a beautiful environment.  Yet not all that wealth translates to health and quality of life.  Why?  Why is the coast receding so fast?  Why is there so little money or resources to protect the coast?  Why is there so little appreciation (and so few habitations in) of this amazing coastal environment?  And is there something we can do about it?  These are some of the questions this group is addressing.  Are there ways that living resources can help protect the coast?  Can habitations also function as substrate to encourage growth of plants and animals?  Can we better appreciate this beauty by living here, at least some of the time?  And can we also come to realize that in this dynamic environment, we need to remember that most things are not forever.  Still, we can enjoy the day, and we can consider what it means and what we can do.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

Our project proposes to develop a model for human habitation of the coast that is designed to: resist degradation, thrive, and grow, by participating in the positive cycles of the ecosystem. The goal of the project is to become part of the restorative process for the deltaic environment. The final model will respond to two environmental scenarios: one where dry ground is eroding and subsiding, and one where ground is growing through accretion. Through the model, we will examine to two types of habitation: permanent occupation and provisional occupation, such as a camp.

Our proposal will build on the research work that is already underway by members of the research team. Steven Hall’s research focuses on the development of artificial oyster reefs made of a proprietary concrete mixture and form-work. This material/system is remarkable in that it increases in strength when grown by living material, such as oysters. Erdman and Sullivan bring a long research history of architectural practice, building materials research and sustainable building practices. Carrie Knott brings expertise in coastal plant restoration. We believe that bringing together the animal, plant, and building materials will provide a model for a synergistic inhabitation and restoration of the coastal micro-environment.

FACULTY:

Jori Erdman. School of Architecture

Steven Hall. Biological Engineering

Carrie Knott. School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences

Jim Sullivan. School of Architecture

STUDENTS:

Matthew Byrum. Graduate Studies, Biological Engineering

Logan Harrell. Graduate Studies, School of Architecture