From the river, a dark silhouette appears, suspended above the wetlands. Its blackened skin absorbs the light, dissolving into shadow, so that the water, the trees, and the sky speak louder than the architecture itself. The building does not claim the landscape: it frames it.

A slender, steady pier extends toward us, inviting me to arrive. As I step onto it, I feel the pulse of the tide beneath, the openness of the horizon ahead. The pier carries me gently toward the reception, the threshold where the journey begins.

Four wings unfold from a single heart. At the center there is no enclosure, but an open clearing: a fragment of the place held within. Here is where all paths and experiences converge. The sound of the river blends with voices, ideas, and the silent pulse of exchange.

To one side, the wing of encounter, vibrant with movement and conversation. To another, the wing of experimentation, where clarity guides research and daylight floods the laboratories. Deeper still, the wing of retreat stretches into the forest: small rooms for rest, where silence and solitude invite thought to settle and take root.

Suspended above the wetlands, the building never weighs upon the ground. It barely touches, allowing water and vegetation to pass, allowing the ecosystem to breathe. Its blackened timber is not only a material, but a gesture: of renewal, of humility, of listening.

From river to forest, from darkness to light, from collective energy to introspective calm, the architecture unfolds as a continuous dialogue.

PROGRAM _ Four elongated wings extend across the site remaining immersed within the landscape.

ASSEMBLE _ A modular system allows for flexible construction, minimizing impact and enabling adaptability over time.

PLACEMENT _ Raised on slender piles to protect the wetlands and preserve natural flows.

CENTRALITY _ All wings converge at a shared heart, fostering exchange, collaboration and dialogue.

MATERIALITY _ Sustainably sourced blackened wood frames the landscape and creates a contemplative atmosphere.

ATMOSPHERE _ Black invites contemplation, framing nature and fostering a deeper exchange of knowledge.

“A clear and ordered proposal that creates contemplative spaces and a calm environment. Rich in materiality and beautifully refined in its simplicity, the project balances presence and restraint. Confident, poetic, and quietly powerful.”

Sandra Baggerman – Trahan Architects

“Almost like a ruin, Shadows of the Severn looks like it’s always been there. Elegantly understated it floats with minimalized structure – like fingers in the water. Strong rational organization shapes space on the water where one may be aware of all that may be going on with the option to engage. Understated, it’s confidently appropriate to place and purpose.”

Robert V. Reis – Hanbury

The building rises lightly above the ground, supported by slender legs that protect it from flash floods while preserving the swamp ecosystem beneath. This elevation allows sunlight and air to continue nourishing the vegetation, ensuring minimal ecological disruption and a sense of breathing space under the structure.

Its form is intentionally long and narrow, reducing its footprint and maximizing environmental permeability. This geometry is both ecological and practical: the building can be modularly assembled off-site, transported by barge, and installed with efficiency. Its linearity also supports future extensions, reinforcing the project’s adaptability over time.

Externally, the building is wrapped in a taut white fabric stretched over a fine steel frame. This continuous skin softens the volume, allowing it to blend with the pale tones of the surrounding forest and swamp, while the elevated stance strengthens its impression as a hovering, elongated form. Against this subtle camouflage, a bold counterpoint emerges: a staircase combined with a pier that links the building to the water below. Its solid red railing introduces a striking contrast — both functional and symbolic — as a marker of arrival and a vivid accent within the natural setting.

Inside, the architecture is defined by openness and transformation. Mobile partition walls allow the designated zones of the long, linear plan to shift between a number of possible arrangements. This adaptability enables the building to host a wide spectrum of uses besides its main function, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes sequentially, mandated by demand. Over the course of the year, the space can evolve to meet changing needs,  ensuring the building’s long-term relevance and vitality.

In essence, the design achieves a balance between lightness and resilience, camouflage and expression, permanence and change. It hovers above its environment as a fabric-wrapped framework, at once discreet and iconic, offering a sustainable and versatile model for inhabiting fragile landscapes.

“The modular flexibility and ecological sensibility of the project stand out both aesthetically and tectonically. The white fabric wrapping over the slender structure is exquisitely executed by softening the mass and the red stair-pier is a bold-defining gesture.”

Irem Sezer – AIA Virginia

Our proposal, titled Butterfly Effect, envisions a multidisciplinary hub floating above the waters of Virginia’s Severn River, designed as a place for learning, gathering, and cultural exchange. Rooted in the competition’s call for resilient, site-sensitive architecture, the project integrates research, education, and community functions while celebrating the delicate relationship between people and nature.

The design takes inspiration from the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, a species native to Virginia. Its symmetrical wings and central spine became the muse for the roof’s geometry and spatial organization. Each wing of the butterfly translates into a roof plane extending outward, generating dynamic sheltered areas for indoor and outdoor activities. This biomimetic approach ensures the architecture appears both delicate and strong, echoing the natural balance of the site.

Constructed primarily from sustainably sourced wood, the hub emphasizes warmth, lightness, and ecological responsibility. Wood’s layered textures and rhythmic patterns create a tactile connection with the natural environment while supporting ventilation, shading, and rainwater collection. The open structural layout allows for flexibility, enabling the hub to host research workshops, cultural programs, and community events. Spaces can expand or contract through adaptable partitions, ensuring a versatile setting responsive to different users.

Floating above the tidal wetlands, the hub is designed to coexist with the shifting conditions of the Chesapeake Bay. Its elevation and light footprint minimize ecological disruption, while its connection to water routes and a modest land path ensures accessibility. The project anticipates the future effects of climate change by adopting strategies that embrace transformation rather than resist it.

The hub functions as a mediator between disciplines and ecosystems. Researchers, artists, and community members can interact in shared spaces that blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. Framed views of the water, forest, and marshland turn the surrounding landscape into an active collaborator in the learning process.

Ultimately, Butterfly Effect embodies transformation, resilience, and harmony. More than a building, it is a platform for collaboration, environmental stewardship, and cultural dialogue. By drawing from the butterfly’s symbolism of change and balance, the proposal creates a living architecture that adapts with its context, offering a poetic yet practical vision for the Field Station.

“Butterfly Effect translates biomimicry into a graceful architectural language. The timber structure’s lightness and adaptability mirror the delicate balance of the wetlands while accommodating diverse programs with fluid spatial organization. The design’s symbolism and technical sensitivity evoke transformation, resilience, and harmony with the site.”

Daniel Perez – Studio Perez

The Research Nest is conceived as a resilient and adaptive hub that harmonizes with its fragile setting of forest and wetlands. Elevated on screw foundations, the structure avoids heavy ground disturbance, allows reversibility, and ensures safety against rising water levels and storm surges. Its compact footprint and lifted position minimize ecological impact while ensuring long term adaptability.

Arrival is designed as part of the spatial narrative. Visitors approach along an elevated walkway, floating above the forest floor and river edge. This path protects the fragile undergrowth and offers new perspectives, turning the journey itself into an experience of discovery. Access is possible both by foot and by boat, with a small dock providing a modest entry point and a logistical service.

The circular form organizes the program into a continuous loop while allowing functional diversity. Research studios, laboratories, and testing spaces are intentionally distributed rather than concentrated, creating zones of focus across the building. Co-working areas, a library, and a lecture space act as connectors between disciplines, encouraging collaboration and exchange. Administrative offices and modest accommodation units support daily operations and temporary stays, while shared common areas form the social heart of the station. Flexibility is built into each zone through open frameworks and mobile partitions, ensuring that spaces can adapt to shifting needs over time.

Materiality underlines the project’s identity. The primary structure is made of timber, connecting directly to the surrounding forest and emphasizing renewable construction. Metal elements are expressed in a warm red tone—chosen both for orientation and as a subtle echo of the seasonal colors of the marshland, giving the architecture a distinct yet contextual presence. The façade is envisioned as a nest-like assembly of timber poles, wrapping the building in a protective yet porous skin. This organic structure filters light, casts dynamic shadows, and dissolves the boundary between inside and outside, visually embedding the station within its natural environment.

The Research Nest is more than a building: it is a framework for collaboration and observation, rooted in resilience and ecological care. Elevated above risk zones, constructed with low-impact methods, and shaped by natural analogies, it embodies a long-term vision for coexisting with the living landscapes of Virginia’s coast.

“A very simple and poetic response that does merge architecture and landscape. The proposal demonstrates an inspiring clarity of concept, has both the intelligence and the aesthetics.”

Olga Aleksakova – Cloud Architects

Just as Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident, ‘Serendipity’ refers to creative discoveries arising from chance and error. The proposal aspires to create a campus that harnesses the randomness of tidal fluctuations as a spatial transformation factor, fostering unexpected encounters, interactions, and events. Concave ‘ponds’ located at specific points on the platform, where diverse programs are scattered, dynamically adjust relationships and circulation patterns between programs by submerging or surfacing throughout the day according to changes in river water levels.

The independent circulation paths and program configurations typical of universal R&D campuses eliminate the possibility of serendipitous encounters, causing a disconnect in interdisciplinary communication and convergence. The core idea for creating serendipitous encounters materializes as a concave ‘Pond’. Proposed between campus programs, the pond fills with water according to the daily tidal range or functions as a concave multipurpose space, constantly redefining circulation paths, spatial character, and relationships between programs.

The floating campus, connected to the land via a bridge that metaphorically represents the riverfront docks near the site, is accessible to both pedestrians and boats. Its composite structure of pontoons and cable mooring systems responds to river flooding and future shoreline retreat due to sea level rise. The undulating cross-section of the campus, resembling the site’s riverbed topography, reveals ‘ponds’. The ponds along the riverfront also serve as docks connecting the interior and exterior of the buildings. The curved forms of these pools were meticulously adjusted based on tidal range data for the site.

Programs are scattered across a square floating platform, with those hierarchically zoned along the land-river axis arranged to maximize the effect of the pond. Quieter programs like offices and accommodation, including a pedestrian reception area, are placed toward the land. Nearer to the river, dynamic programs such as R&D studios, restaurants, research labs, and testing areas are juxtaposed, increasing entropy. These programs were designed to be flexible in accommodating diverse situations within a limited area, and the layout was proposed considering the accommodation of other programs and the occurrence of events through unexpected expansion over the course of a day.

The modules are designed to have unique permeability for each module by adjusting and mixing the ratio of oyster shells, sand, and natural binders. Gabion walls made from oyster shells function as breakwaters and are anchored along the building’s edges.

“Clever, evocative, and powerful. An intriguing layout paired with thoughtful programmatic exploration. A fascinating project that invites curiosity and rewards engagement.”

Sandra Baggerman – Trahan Architects

The proposed Field Station at the Shenk Property is conceived as a Living Threshold—a minimal, adaptive architecture that coexists with the ecological rhythms of the Severn River wetlands. Inspired by the Hytrocotyle spp., a species known for its ability to thrive in symbiosis with surrounding flora, the building embodies a philosophy of co-living with nature rather than imposing upon it.

Set within a delicate landscape where forest meets marsh and fresh water yields to salt, the Field Station emerges as a mediator between land and water, human and non-human, permanence and change. Rather than dominate the site, the architecture withdraws, establishing a series of light-footed elevated structures that hover above the shifting ground plane. This strategy not only anticipates rising tides and flooding but also preserves the existing soil ecology, allowing water and vegetation to continue their natural cycles beneath the building.

The form of the building is deliberately modest, broken into a network of pavilions and platforms connected by open-air walkways. This fragmented approach reduces the impact on the site while mirroring the patchwork character of the wetlands. Each pavilion houses a flexible program—research labs, R&D studios, lecture spaces, and temporary accommodations—designed with mobile partitions and modular systems to adapt as needs evolve. Transparency and porosity define the architecture, ensuring that light, air, and views flow uninterrupted between interior spaces and the surrounding forest canopy.

Materially, the design emphasizes local, renewable, and weathering-friendly resources. Timber structures rise on piloti foundations, recalling the vernacular stilt houses of coastal regions. Facades incorporate a gradient of solid to permeable panels, echoing the marshland’s visual rhythm of density and openness. Rooflines slope gently, collecting rainwater for reuse while creating habitats for pollinators through integrated green roofs. Every construction element is intended to age gracefully, embedding the passage of time into the architectural narrative.

Central to the design is the idea of symbiosis—the Field Station as both host and habitat. Outdoor classrooms spill into the marsh, where students can observe tidal pools and wildlife firsthand. The conference space doubles as a communal amphitheater, opening onto a clearing for public gatherings or quiet reflection. Arrival by water is celebrated through a small pier and landing deck, reinforcing the site’s primary connection to the river.

The architecture is not merely a shelter for research; it is a prototype for coexistence. By embracing resilience and adaptability, it models how human environments might evolve alongside ecological change rather than resist it. The Field Station’s fragmented organization, responsive materiality, and elevated structure demonstrate that architecture can be a collaborator with nature—participating in the cycles of wetland, forest, and tide.

Ultimately, the project positions itself as both sanctuary and laboratory: a space where knowledge is cultivated, where diverse disciplines intersect, and where human presence becomes part of a larger ecological continuum. The Living Threshold is not an end in itself, butan invitation—an architectural framework through which future generations may imagine new forms of living in harmony with the shifting landscapes of our time.

“A fully more-than-human approach to an integrated architecture, that retains its modularity but integrates within an organic setting and flexibility. Co-existence is emanating from the structures and leaves small footprint that activates a ‘back to nature’ philosophy”

Isabella Bhoan – Weston Williamson + Partners

The Field Station is envisioned as an architectural instrument for the study of nature — a structure designed not to merely observe its environment, but to immerse within it. It transforms observation into a spatial condition, allowing architecture itself to become an act of research. The project redefines the relationship between built form and landscape, proposing a model where adaptation replaces resistance, and dialogue replaces separation.

Located within the tidal wetlands of Virginia’s eastern shore, the project occupies a fragile ecological threshold where sea, marsh, and forest converge. This dynamic landscape is continuously reshaped by tidal rhythms, vegetative shifts, and the gradual rise of global sea levels driven by climate change — a process that perpetually redraws the boundary between land and water.

Rather than elevating itself above these forces, the Field Station embraces them, situating architecture within a living environmental system.

The building’s site strategy responds to three natural strata: water, marsh, and forest. It is placed precisely where these layers intersect, ensuring simultaneous engagement with each while avoiding disruption to existing vegetation.

Access is established primarily by water, through a small dock that anchors the project to its tidal context. A secondary pedestrian path extends across the marsh, creating a gradual experiential transition between terrestrial and aquatic realms.

Spatially, the project is organized around a circular spine, which maximizes exposure to the surrounding landscape and fosters a sense of collective activity within. The circular geometry generates both an outward expansion toward the environment and an inward-facing courtyard — an open void that captures a living fragment of the natural ground. This duality transforms the Field Station into a vessel for both observation and reflection.

Functionally, the architecture is conceived as a hybrid open-plan system that allows continuous reconfiguration. Enclosed functions such as laboratories and testing rooms are concentrated within a central solid core, while surrounding spaces — including research studios, co-working halls, library, and auditorium — remain open, defined only by furniture and service elements.

This coarse-grained spatial logic enables flexibility, turning the building into a mutable framework that evolves with research needs.

Materially and technically, the design adheres to two guiding principles: prefabrication and local sustainability. The sloped zinc roof, derived from regional vernaculars, collects rainwater and supports photovoltaic arrays for energy self-sufficiency. A timber structural system provides renewability and lightness, while a dual foundation — combining telescopic steel columns and buoyant pontoons — allows the building to rise and float as sea levels gradually increase. This adaptive equilibrium enables long-term coexistence with an evolving hydrological reality.

Ultimately, the Field Station transcends the notion of a static shelter. It becomes a sensorial and ecological interface — a responsive organism that records, reacts, and participates in the processes that define its context.

Here, architecture is not the backdrop for observing nature, but the very medium through which nature is continuously observed, measured, and reimagined.

“Field Station is a parametric yet buildable form. Clean and elegant, it’s reminiscent of aquatic forms, and while the concept likely lacks authentic flexibility, it communicates connectivity with place in a powerfully understated manner. Unlike many of the parametric structures proposed this is simply structured using readily available materials and systems.”

Robert V. Reis – Hanbury

Project Vision

This design proposes a radical yet respectful architectural intervention for a vulnerable coastal wetland in Virginia. Conceived as a living organism rather than a static object, the field station is a platform for interdisciplinary convergence, where scientists, artists, engineers, and the public can gather to study, create, and engage with the dynamic ecosystem. The architecture itself is a manifesto of adaptive symbiosis, designed not to conquer the landscape but to float above it, leaving the delicate hydrology and ecology of the marsh virtually untouched.

Architectural Concept: The Suspended Ring

The primary gesture is a singular, lightweight ring, suspended above the wetland. This form symbolizes unity, continuity, and the equal standing of all disciplines within. It is lifted aloft by a system of steel cables radiating from a single, central structural pylon. This “spoke-and-wheel” tension structure achieves a profound minimal footprint; the building touches the earth in only one place, dramatically reducing its ecological impact and allowing water, wildlife, and natural processes to flow unimpeded beneath it.

The ring is modularly constructed from identical, prefabricated arc segments, facilitating efficient construction and future reconfiguration. This modularity avoids the rigid boredom of rectilinear grids, instead creating a fluid and continuous space that frames panoramic views of the marsh, pine grove, and bay.

Programmatic Organization and Flexibility

The circular plan is organized via a gradient of privacy and access. The inner ring, facing the central void, is a public “Research Promenade”—a continuous circulation and gathering space that opens onto the vast, suspended courtyard below. The middle ring houses the primary programmatic modules: R&D Studios, Wet and Dry Labs, Administration, and Accommodation. The outer ring, clad in full-height, openable glass, provides an uninterrupted interface with the wilderness.

Crucial to the mission is the nuanced relationship between collaboration and concentration. R&D Studios, acting as collaborative “kitchens,” are visually open to the promenade, encouraging interaction. The Labs, however, are nested for controlled access, with their outer edges featuring an observational corridor for public viewing, turning scientific process into a living exhibit. A Prototype Testing area, adjacent to the labs, serves as a dynamic “stage” for full-scale experiments, visible to all. Community functions like the cafeteria, library, and lecture hall occupy a dedicated sector, easily accessible yet able to be sealed off after hours.

Responsive and Resilient Design

The station is inherently resilient. Elevated above the historic high-water mark, it is immune to tidal flooding and sea-level rise. The central pylon acts as a multi-service core, housing vertical circulation, utilities, and a rooftop observatory. The building’s elevated stance and extensive glazing create a seamless blur between inside and out, with the entire perimeter capable of being opened to the elements, allowing the sounds, breezes, and vitality of the wetland to permeate the interior.

Conclusion

More than a building, this field station is an ecological sentinel and a symbol of hopeful coexistence. It demonstrates that human innovation need not come at the expense of the natural world. By lightly touching the earth and reaching for the sky, it creates a profound and poetic space for the interdisciplinary work that is essential to understanding and preserving our fragile coastal frontiers.

“This project compellingly showcases the author’s creative response to a sensitive context, resulting in a building that is both iconic and minimal. It establishes a compelling intervention at the intersection of nature and architecture.”

Jun Deng – KPF

TIDAL STATION is conceived as a field station embedded within the edge of the Shenkproperty, designed to minimize disturbance while allowing immersive interaction with the landscape. From the outset, our guiding principle was to have the least possible impact on the terrain, ensuring that architecture becomes a mediator rather than an imposition.

To achieve this, the complex is composed of fragmented volumes distributed across the site. Their scale and density follow the ecological gradient: larger elements anchor the landward side, while smaller and lighter interventions appear closer to the delicate wetland edge. This approach mirrors the natural succession of vegetation tall pines giving way to shrubs, grasses, and marsh plants and ensures that the built presence diminishes as the landscape becomes more fragile.

The fragmentation strategy not only reduces impact but also enriches experience. Pathways weave between volumes, offering multiple routes and perspectives, so that no two journeys through the site are the same. Visitors and researchers alike are invited to inhabit the landscape differently each time, with shifting views and rhythms depending on the path they choose.

The entire complex is raised 2.5 meters on stilts, preserving natural flows of water, soil, and wildlife beneath it. All structures are conceived as prefabricated modules assembled with steel, wood, and glass that can be dismantled, reconfigured, or repurposed with minimal trace left behind. Alternating opaque and transparent surfaces create a subtle play of concealment and openness, echoing the dynamic character of the wetland itself.

At its core, the project is not an object placed in the landscape, but rather a system that mimics and enhances its environment. By embracing reversibility, modularity, and ecological sensitivity, the design ensures that the field station belongs to its site present enough to support scientific and human activity, yet light enough to disappear when its purpose is complete.

The concept of the project is based on creating a highly flexible system of spatial transformation. The design introduces a series of modular boxes, each equipped with four movable partitions. Thanks to a special hinge system, every partition can swing open in both directions or be lifted upwards with the aid of gas struts. In this way, the boxes can either fully open and merge with the surrounding interior or close and become compact storage units for furniture and equipment until needed again. These modules operate as “ZIP-spaces,” able to archive and unarchive functions depending on the building’s use.

The boxes sit on a clear grid, generating diverse in-between areas and straightforward wayfinding. A shed roof organizes light and energy: north-facing skylights provide soft, glare-free daylight without overheating, while the south slopes host photovoltaic panels. Given the wetland conditions, the building stands on piles to minimize earthwork and reduce ecological impact while ensuring flood resilience. The finished floor is elevated 1.5 meters above grade, and a supplemental pontoon with guiding rails is foreseen to safeguard the structure during extreme water levels. Access is arranged via two piers, one for researchers and one for students and visitors, with an additional land entrance from the south.

Several of the closed boxes may be transformed into temporary sleeping rooms for researchers or students. The kitchen is a shared kitchenette for self-prepared meals and can also run as a self-service café for visitors (coffee, tea, snacks). One module houses dry storage and a freezer, supporting long periods of independence from external food supplies. The sanitary block includes toilets and showers with changing areas and lockers. A small inner courtyard functions as an outdoor classroom or quiet rest area. The pontoon geometry also forms open terraces that extend the interior.When partitions are raised, they create pergola-like shade that strengthens the indoor–outdoor continuum.

This approach allows the creation of truly adaptive spaces. In its standard mode, the building is divided into laboratories for scientists, classrooms for students, and common areas including a library, kitchen, and sanitary block. The transformable system also enables alternative scenarios: hosting a scientific conference with a large plenary hall and breakout rooms, organizing a summer camp by archiving research equipment and freeing space for group activities, or opening the station to the public with lectures and exhibitions. The capacity to “archive” furniture and equipment within the modules eliminates the need for external logistics.

The project primarily employs wood as the main structural and cladding material. The movable partitions are made of wooden slats and appear consistently both inside and outside. The thermal envelope is achieved through perimeter glazing, insulated roof, and a raised insulated floor-pontoon. The modular structure not only provides present-day flexibility but also ensures long-term adaptability: components can be dismantled and reused as small pavilions, rest areas, or information points along tourist trails once the station ceases its primary function.

Conceived as both a place of research and a communal sanctuary, the Shenk Coastal Research Center redefines the conventional boundaries of environmental education. It extends beyond the notion of a classroom to become an immersive field of inquiry where science, landscape, and architecture converge. Positioned at the meeting point of the Severn River, marsh, and forest, the building acts as an active participant in its ecological context, mediating rather than separating the dynamic exchanges that define this threshold (Fig. 01). Guided by scientific understanding and ecological sensitivity, the architecture uses data, observation, and adaptation as tools, shaping spaces that respond to ongoing environmental change and fostering a reciprocal relationship between human knowledge and the natural systems it seeks to comprehend.

The center’s spatial organization is driven by openness and interdisciplinary exchange. Transparent boundaries and shared spaces invite collaboration among scientists, students, and visitors, allowing research to unfold as a collective and visible endeavor. Circulation paths and communal zones converge in a central atrium, the social and intellectual heart of the building. Porosity functions as both a social and environmental strategy: perforated screens, operable windows, and movable glass partitions blur interior and exterior thresholds, admitting light, air, and sight-lines. On the Severn River side, the building opens fully to embrace the expansive views of the water, reinforcing the building’s ethos of transparency and connection to place (Fig. 02). The cascading screens draw inspiration from the steeply pitched roof of Smith’s Ordinary, an early Chesapeake Bay structure, grounding the building in its local context while transforming a historic typology into a contemporary language of openness and environmental responsiveness (Fig. 03).

Sustainability and resilience are central to the design. South-facing operable perforated screens mediate sunlight, reduce solar heat gain, and passively cool interior spaces. In the atrium, operable windows and a skylight oculus work together to create stack ventilation, where warm air rises and draws in cooler fresh air, naturally cooling large communal areas. A modular approach using cross-laminated timber (CLT) employs renewable, locally sourced timber, connecting the building to its environment while enabling rapid construction with minimal landscape disruption to the sensitive forest ecosystem (Fig. 04). Elevated above the ground, the structure is resilient to rising tides and shifting seas, allowing water to flow beneath while safeguarding the building from climate impacts.

Through its integration of science, sustainability, and ecological responsiveness, the Shenk Coastal Research Center embodies a forward-looking model for research architecture. It demonstrates that buildings can be collaborative, resilient, and deeply attuned to place, while supporting both human activity and natural systems. By uniting innovation with environmental sensitivity, the center transforms the act of research into a visible, shared, and immersive experience.

As a field station serving both research and recreation purposes, the project is situated in a naturally humid wetland environment, facing the challenges of fluctuating daily tides and the long-term rise of sea levels. Our design seeks a balance between temporality and permanence, flexibility and rigidity, privacy and collectivity, in order to respond to these complex conditions.

The building takes on a linear form, stretching across the site and reaching inward from the shallow bay to the muddy tidal flats. Platforms extend from both sides, allowing researchers to access different environmental conditions—underwater, muddy ground, grassland, and woodland—directly from within the building, enabling the study of a diverse range of species.

Construction is carried out using prefabricated modules assembled on-site to minimize disturbance to the wetland. The process begins by anchoring concrete columns deep into the moist, loose soil to ensure structural stability and long-term durability. A wood truss is then installed onto the columns to support the modules. The roof structure, together with tension cables, provides lateral force resistance between the columns. Next, prefabricated module units are shipped to the site and slid into position between pairs of columns. Once two adjacent modules are installed, the gaps between them are completed with intermediate connections, while partitions or sliding doors subdivide the interior spaces. Finally, the modules are clad with a mix of corrugated metal and polycarbonate roof panels, forming a protective envelope against direct sunlight and rainfall.

Through this construction system, the building is able to adapt over decades or even centuries as the shoreline shifts inland with rising sea levels. When the structure is eventually surrounded by water and can no longer access its original environmental conditions, the concrete columns can be extended further inland, allowing the modules to be removed and reused in new positions.

The program is divided vertically: recreation on the ground floor and research on the upper level, ensuring the privacy of researchers. At the same time, the double-height circulation space and public-oriented programs—such as the conference room and library—foster a degree of interaction between visitors and researchers. Larger, flexible spaces are formed by combining two modules, separated by sliding doors, to serve as exhibition hall or studio. These flexible rooms allow users to configure varied form of spaces and circulation.

The project is conceived as a living infrastructure for regenerative coexistence in times of climate change. Located on the vulnerable shores of Virginia, it directly addresses the region’s pressing challenges: sea level rise, recurrent flooding, coastal erosion, and the degradation of critical habitats such as marshes and oyster reefs.

Rather than resisting these transformations, the proposal embraces them, designing a structure that is modular, resilient, and adaptable. The Field Station functions simultaneously as a scientific platform and as a mediator with the landscape, enabling both research and ecological restoration. It is not a static building, but an amphibious organism—a hybrid between a machine for knowledge and an integrated ecosystem.

The architectural system is based on an amphibious foundation: concrete guide piles combined with polyethylene flotation pontoons. In normal conditions, the building remains elevated 0.8 m above ground, allowing water, vegetation, and marine life to circulate freely beneath. During flooding events, the pontoons lift the structure, enabling it to float while remaining stabilized by the guide piles. This design guarantees a longer lifecycle and a deeper integration with the site’s natural cycles.

The modular configuration allows the station to act as a flexible research campus. Each module can host specialized laboratories, I+D studios, testing areas, accommodation, or communal spaces. The systemenables:

Beyond its technical innovation, the station aims to become a multidisciplinary platform. It integrates scientists, students, startups, and local communities in the study and testing of adaptive strategies for coastal resilience. Laboratories focus on the main challenges of the site—sea level rise, erosion control, and habitat regeneration—while outdoor testbeds and green roofs provide living laboratories for vegetation, pollinators, and marine restoration.

The ECOEXISTENCE FIELD STATION is also an educational and cultural hub, fostering knowledge exchange, co-working, and environmental awareness. It demonstrates how architecture can serve as a catalyst for ecosymbiotic futures, where the built environment and natural systems are not in opposition but in active collaboration.

Ultimately, the project proposes a new way of inhabiting the land–water threshold: a fertile, dynamic, and shared space that accepts temporality, embraces transformation, and teaches resilience.

The Wild Boardwalk is a pilot project for the creation of a scientific hub within the Shenk Property Nature Reserve, located in Gloucester County, Virginia.
The aim of the project is to propose a dynamic and living architecture that interacts with its context, becoming an active part of it in addressing the environmental threats present in the Chesapeake Bay, particularly the rising sea levels, which pose a risk to the wetland ecosystem.

The Wild Boardwalk is a research center composed of a series of wooden platforms arranged on a modular grid of piles and braces that elevate the project above the ground, protecting the hub’s activities and ensuring usability during the daily tidal cycles.
The main access is by water from the north, where a floating pier allows various types of boats to dock.
A secondary land access, consisting of wooden walkways, connects the abandoned forest road to the platform system.

A composition of modular volumes (5×5 grid) forms the skeleton of the scientific hub, which is divided into reception, administrative, focus, educational, and relaxation areas.
The transition between these areas occurs through open or semi-open spaces where the surrounding nature infiltrates the anthropized landscape, becoming an integral part of the architecture.
These spaces include pergolas with deciduous vegetation, green basins with native plant species, nurseries for local plants damaged by frequent storms, and openings in the platforms that allow marsh vegetation to invade the pathways, establishing a direct connection with visitors.

The project also incorporates an environmental strategy aimed at regenerating the ecosystem by repopulating vegetation with native species resistant to saltwater and tidal cycles. The long-term benefits will include soil stabilization and the creation of an attractive habitat for local wildlife.
The design choices emphasize a strong sense of responsibility and respect for the context, proposing sustainable technological solutions that enhance the overall resilience of the wetland system.

The anticipated sea-level rise and daily tidal cycles guided the choice of an architecture elevated on stilts, some of which are mobile (floating decks). The piles contribute to compacting the sandy soil, making it capable of supporting the research hub.
Special attention was given to the orientation of the volumes and the treatment of facades: more closed and solid towards the northeast with small openings to minimize heat loss during winter, and more open and glazed towards the southwest. To prevent excessive overheating during the summer months, these are equipped with wooden louvered sunshades and are complemented by pergolas with deciduous vegetation.

To ensure a degree of energy independence, photovoltaic panels are installed on the roof of each building, and a rainwater collection system helps mitigate flooding while providing water that is recirculated within the hub’s service system and used for irrigation.

Just as the Native Americans who once lived in Virginia coexisted with nature, this proposal aims to create laboratories that become part of the ecosystem and lives alongside the changing environment. Rather than making drastic interventions in response to gradual significant environmental changes, this proposal is an architectural approach that accepts change and builds resilience through adaptation.

We reinterpret Traditional Ecological Knowledge for the modern context. By adopting a separate-building layout, similar to Native American settlements, the area covered in prolonged shade is minimized. Buildings within the pine forest are constructed avoiding existing trees, so that protecting the site’s vegetation.

As part of management, pine trees are periodically thinned to provide sunlight to trees and shrubs, promoting plant growth. The thinned pine trees are stored in timber pits located beneath each building. Woods dried through underwater storage, along with harvested phragmites and oyster shells in the site, are used for building repairs. Built from site-sourced materials, the buildings quietly blend into the Schenk Property’s rich vegetation, creating spaces of warmth and calm. We propose not just sustainable, but regenerative systems where nature and humans mutually influence each other.

The laboratories are designed to evoke the presence of ever-changing, living nature. Built between the sea and the forest, they adapt to each environment while offering a sense of tranquility. Stainless steel research desks gently reflect the surrounding landscape. Spaces that embrace daily change inspire fresh insights and foster exchange. Flexible partitions and interiors respond to various activities, energizing research. Integrated into a dynamic ecosystem, the laboratories and other buildings allow people to feel in harmony with the nature as they dive into deep contemplation. Other buildings are dispersed across the site yet connected by boardwalks, allowing the flow of activity to continue uninterrupted. The entrance is designed like a terminal connecting to other buildings, with each structure converging toward the center, reminiscent of Native Americans gathering around a fire to converse. The accommodations offer views of the living nature of the forest and sea, creating spaces that provide tranquility. The library offers the experience of reading within the forest, enhancing concentration while providing peace. To support the physical and mental health of the institute’s staff, meditation and exercise bases are provided, promoting cultural activities.

In response to sea level rise, we propose designs rooted in the land that adapt to change, rather than rebuilding anew. The buildings will eventually begin to float, with each building’s deck serving as a landing place. By accepting the unstoppable forces of nature, the architecture transforms over time, continually inspiring people.

In 100 years, in 200 years, these laboratories will protect the living environment of each era and learns from the environment itself.

This place exists as a site of perpetual change and movement, where water levels rise and fall, vegetation grows and withers, species migrate, reproduce, and disappear. These dynamic elements interact in complex ways, forming intricate ecosystems and their natural cycles. This land has maintained equilibrium through continuous transformation over time.

Building on such living boundaries requires architecture that embraces change rather than imposing rigid stability. We design architecture that continues to evolve alongside the ecosystem. This architecture becomes part of the ecosystem’s circulation and reminds us that humans are also part of the ecosystem.

The architecture moves while gradually renewing itself along with the retreating coastline, conducting research to build better relationships between ecosystems and humans. We divide the volume required for the research facility into easily renewable units and offset them to create continuous space and extension into the landscape. This achieves both interdisciplinary hub functionality through spatial continuity and affinity with the natural environment. Curving this volume around the wetland creates depth in the space, softness is added to the form, and harmonious relationships with nature are generated.

The materials composing the architecture utilise trees submerged by sea level rise, invasive reed species, and oyster shells. These materials do not possess stable durability. We intentionally select materials with high adaptability to change. The structure gradually decomposes, releases nutrients, and participates in the natural circulation of this land. When building materials finish their structural role during architectural renewal, they have the potential to become habitats for organisms. Ultimately, they return to soil. By conducting experiments with these organic and hybrid materials within the architecture, the palette of building materials evolves as it is being constructed. For hub decomposition and re-expansion on the same site, the structure employs double timber construction methods, enabling construction with locally sourced materials without large machinery. 

Ultimately, “Part of the Field” is not a building but a participant. Rather than standing as an isolated existence, it dissolves into the ecological circulation of this place, fluctuates with seasonal and temporal tides, repeats erosion and regeneration, and becomes a collaborative existence. As a result, rather than monumental architecture demonstrating human dominance, equilibrium emerges through ephemeral yet symbolic materials that evolve as part of the field. The research facility repeats gradual renewal and movement along with the coastline, becoming a collaborative hub for interdisciplinary researchers exploring new relationships between ecosystems and humans.

Nature recovers by its own capacity. The architectural intervention proposed here aims not to impose upon this process, but to follow and accelerate it. The project begins by reinterpreting the Dutch ‘Rijsdammen,’ which is a means of reclaiming wetlands using tidal energy and organic material. By attaching oyster shells to bundled branches, sedimentation is moreencouraged, and these filters are integrated with pathway structures to generate new landforms both upstream and downstream. These thickened terrains reduce saline intrusion and thereby support wetland restoration. Within the partitioned areas, nascent vegetation establishes habitats that are incubated and gradually expand. As saltwater penetration diminishes, pioneer plants and shrubs take root in the mudflats, consolidating the ground, which in turn allows forests to regenerate around these solidified soils. The piles of the dam, though driven deep into the ground, remain partially visible above the surface, standing as symbolic flags, much like the remnants of ghost forests.

The filter system thus becomes an axis for new land formation. Along this axis, the field station “lands” softly, aligned with the anticipated plots of accumulated terrain. Nature and architecture correspond to one another through this mediating line. The field station is conceived as a lightweight structure, composed of weld-free, easily assembled and disassembled components that can be constructed directly on-site. Equipment and pipesvulnerable to flooding are placed above the main structure, distributed across modular units supported by the lightweight frame. Each building unit, designed as a module, is situated along the boundary between wetland and forest. Observation decks extend research and experimentation toward the incubating landscape, connecting paths among programmatic modules that flexibly subdivide the interstitial spaces together to constitute a larger A-shaped module. Modules may contain service cores or accommodate programmatic voids. While portions of the building extend over water, the structural system remains anchored on land through A-shaped steel frames and cables that lightly tension the decks.

The building sequence responds to programmatic needs: public functions occupy the module nearest the boat-accessed entrance; research facilities extend beyond; and residential units are sited at the quietest edge, closest to the forest. The design considers variable ceiling and floor assemblies to adapt to each program, with structural connections that allow for both expansion and reduction over time. In this way, the architecture embodies a design approach that is “attuned to nature.”, while refraining from direct intervention in natural processes.

Ultimately, the project does not attempt to control the wetland’s transformation, but rather to wait, to observe, and to dwell alongside it. The regeneration of the landscape and the recovery of ecosystems form the essential backdrop for all activities within the field station. To understand and embrace this process is, in itself, a profound source of inspiration for its users. In the years ahead, as the wetland recovers, the field station is envisioned as a living site embedded within a revitalized ecological landscape.

YERLEŞİM ve ANA TASARIM KARARLARI

Ana ulaşım su yolu olarak düşünüldüğü için yapı, direk akarsunun kıyı ile birleştiği noktada, yerden yükseltilmiş şekilde bir tam daire formunda konumlanmıştır. Yapının önünde bulunan iskele ile yapıya ulaşım sağlanmaktadır. Yapının tam daire formunda tasarlanması, çeşitli disiplinlerden insanların sirkülasyon sırasında etkileşime girmesi ve insan ölçeğinden yapıya bakıldığında devasa bir yapı olarak algılanmamasını sağlamaktadır. Yapının cephesi tamamen açık bir sistem olarak tasarlanmıştır ve dikey düzlemde hafif eğimlidir, bu sayede bölgedeki ekolojik sistem ile görsel etkileşim sağlanırken, gün boyunca doğal ışıktan faydalanması sağlanmıştır. Aynı şekilde, akarsunun kara ile buluştuğu nokta, yapının iç avlusu olarak düşünülmüştür. İç avluya bakan çift çidarlı cephe sistemi, perfore edilmiş mesh panellerle sağlanmış, sirkülasyonu laboratuvarlardan ve odalardan ayırırken, sirkülasyon sırasında iç avluyla görsel etkileşim kurmakta ve yapının iç kısmına doğal ışığın ulaşmasını sağlamaktadır.

Suyun üstünde yüzen platformlardan oluşan iç avlu, yapının iki kanadı arasında sirkülasyonu sağlamasının yanı sıra, çeşitli polinatörlere ev sahipliği yapacak bitkilerle donatılmış, ve yerleştirilen amfi sayesinde hem açık hava etkinlikleri hem de açık hava dersleri yapılması sağlanmıştır. Avludaki dairesel platformlar ve ulaşımın sağlandığı iskele, suyun yükselmesine uyum sağlayacak şekilde hareket edilebilir şekilde önerilmiştir.

Kullanıcılar, arazi boyunca devam eden ahşap bir deck ile yapılar arasındaki sirkülasyonu sağlayıp, bu yol boyunca çevredeki doğal faktörler ile etkileşime girebilmektedirler.

SÜRDÜRÜLEBİLİRLİK VE ÇEVRESEL FAKTÖRLER:

Yapı, seneler boyunca akarsunun su yükseltisinin yaratacağı olumsuzlukları egale edecek şekilde yerden yükseltilmiştir. Olası bir ekstrem hava şartlarında, yapının çift çidarlı iç cephesi, geçirgen bir perfore metal ile kaplandığı için, yapının su tahliyesi ve müdahalesine kolaylık sağlayacaktır. Yerden yükseltme sayesinde, karada ve suda bulunan ekosisteme minimum şekilde etki etmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yapının çatısı, hem ekosistemle görsel etkileşim sağlaması amacıyla, hem de polinatörlere ev sahipliği yapması amacıyla yeşil çatı olarak tasarlanmıştır. Akarsu manzarasına doğru yüksekliği azalan çatının iç yüzeyi ise, yapının enerji tasarrufuna olumlu etki sağlayacak şekilde güneş panelleriyle donatılmıştır. Aynı zamanda çatıda bulunan su kanalları sayesinde yapı yağmur suyunu toplayıp kullanıma sunabilmektedir.

YERLEŞİM VE SİRKÜLASYON:

Yapının tam dairesel formu, sirkülasyon sırasında çeşitli disiplinlerden insanların birbiriyle etkileşime girebilmesini sağlamaktadır. Bu yarı açık koridorda bulunan sergi alanları ve açık çalışma alanları da, bu etkileşimi güçlendirmektedir. Sergi için tek bir alan tasarlamak yerine, sergiyi yapının tamamına entegre etmek bu etkileşim için önemlidir.

Laboratuvarlar ve araştırma geliştirme stüdyoları, hem daha özel olarak, hem de genel kullanıma açık şekilde tasarlanmıştır. Bu mekanlar, yan yana konumlandırılarak, hareketli seperatörler ile istenilen forma ve hacme dönüştürülebilmektedirler. Aynı zamanda, laboratuvar ve arge alanlarının üstündeki çatı yükseltilip, araya bir asma kat koyma fırsatı doğmuştur. Bu asma kat, bilim insanlarının ve diğer disiplinlerdeki insanların çalışmalarını gözlemleyip, birbirleriyle etkileşime girebileceği ve dinlenebileceği açık bir alan oluşturmaktadır.

Restoran ve kütüphane gibi ortak kullanıma hizmet eden mekanlar, eşsiz bir akarsu manzarasına bakmaktadır. Bu sayede kullanıcıların dinlenme ve çalışma alanları, daha keyifli bir hizmet sunmaktadır.

Kullanıcıların kısa süreli konaklamalarını sağlayan ufak yapılar ise, ekosistemi etkilemeyecek şekilde yapının dışında bir yere konumlandırılmıştır. Bu sayede mahremiyet sağlanmış ve gürültü faktörü azaltılmıştır.