AUGMENTED & AUTONOMOUS
As the devastating effects of climate change continue to unfold upon the global environmental and socioeconomic stages, the need for direct intervention under new paradigms is clear. As the 2018 report issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change implores, humanity must collectively act immediately to avoid the irreversible calamities that climate change holds in store.
Given the urgency of this situation, this project invites designers to venture under the sea to meet climate change at the frontlines. The research centers around scleractinian (reef-building) corals: their morphology, physiology, role in healthy ecosystems, degradation due to anthropogenic activities, and potential for rehabilitation through innovative strategies that building and landscape architects wield within their purview.
The research culminates into a design proposal for an artificial reef archipelago that is capable of sustaining both humans and non-humans. The amorphous prosthesis hosts coral reefs that will acclimate and adapt to new climatic conditions, simultaneously creating a variety of micro-habitats ideal for coral reproduction and growth.
