Buoyant ecologies float lab: Optimized upside-down benthos for sea level rise adaptation

Abstract

This paper describes the Buoyant Ecologies project, an ongoing research collaboration between architects, marine ecologists, and manufacturers focused on developing integrated architectural, ecological, and material responses to climate change and sea level rise. The research employs techniques of design computation and robotic fabrication to develop an approach to coastal resilience that is rooted in material performance as it relates to marine habitats. The project explores the design and production of highly performative fiber-reinforced polymer substrates that interact productively with the underwater ecosystem to promote multiscalar habitats for invertebrate animals, encouraging ecological diversity and serving as wave-attenuating structures that mitigate coastal erosion. In this regard, the research leverages computational workflows of modeling, simulation, and fabrication to interface between human and nonhuman species in a way that benefits the broader ecosystem. The paper discusses an iterative prototyping process that has led to the design and construction of the Float Lab, a larger-scale prototype of a floating breakwater.