The Science Pier

• YEAR
  2017

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• DESCRIPTION
  Comprehensive Design Studio

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• CO-DESIGNER
  Regina Benitez-Cardenas

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• STUDIO INSTRUCTOR
  Paxton Sheldahl

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• RECOGNITION
  Northeastern University School of Architecture Excellence in Design Award, 2017, Winner
  
  Northeastern University Research, Innovation & Scholarship Expo, 2017, Exhibitor
  
  Northeastern University School of Architecture Student Portfolio, 2017, Featured Project

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• CATEGORIES
  Architecture
  Graphic Design
  Research

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Faced with a waterfront site, the project must necessarily resolve two fundamentally opposing forces. On one hand, global climate change brings the coming reality of sea level rise — two feet by 2050 and six feet by 2100, and even higher during increasingly frequent storm events. On the other hand, waterfront property has never been more valuable, and the chosen site in the historic Charlestown Navy Hard is real estate eager for development. The project’s inescapable background also becomes its program: a science museum dedicated to climate change where the building itself is an exhibit, a case study of sustainable and future-proof design.

The heart of the project lies in its innovative structural system, a space frame made in wood that aggregates in infinitely recombinable possibilities. The connector, a threaded steel ball, allows the structure to be easily removed or added to adapt for future uses. Everything else — spatial makeup, massing geometry, facade strategies, passive and active systems — is integrated fully into this structural system. The result is a provocative form that rises out of the water and begs investigation.