SALTMARSH TAPESTRIES | FLOATING LOOMS

ADVANCED STUDIO IV | COLUMBIA GSAPP

In today's world, where climate change poses unprecedented challenges, designing with/for uncertainty is imperative. Uncertainty is embedded within our everyday lives. We must recognize that air, earth, and water have become incalculably thicker with matter/things, and an inescapable part of both the environment and built environment. The complexity of an ecosystem that understands this must be designed with a degree of delicate uncertainty that acknowledges our inability to know for sure what exactly is around us at all times

In that sense, the philosophy of designing with delicate uncertainty requires an approach that acknowledges the intricate dynamics of nature, animals, and humans. Understanding interconnected ecologies and the intricate interplay between nature, animals, and humans is critical to approach and address the ever-increasing ambiguity that climate change will bring.

My approach contends that designing with delicate uncertainty offers a holistic and regenerative approach to design, one that embraces the inherent beauty and complexity of the natural world and its systems. It proposes a system of floating islands (pixels) with a recycled plastic matrix capable of being used by humans and nonhumans. These floating islands aim to remediate their sites and are situated to engage with their surroundings. Saltmarsh cordgrass, the main plant cultivated on these islands, have strong remedial properties, and are capable of fielding vibrant ecosystems by utilizing its rhizobium to generate healthier ecosystems for the animals under.

This network would have three programmatic distinctions: One for humans, one for non-humans, and one that allows for cohabitation between both. The system would respond to its location’s dwellers by being designed in a way to both allow and disallow engagement. 

In doing so, Floating Tapestries aims to create small-scale local ecosystems that are capable of sustaining and promoting a thriving microcosm in the context of their surroundings, be it heavily polluted or not. This is done to create these weaved plots that offer the wildlife and people of Bridgeport a local space that remediates and can benefit their lives, while also addressing pollution in the micro-scale. 

Saltmarsh Tapestries contends that designing with delicate uncertainty offers a holistic and regenerative approach to design, one that embraces the inherent beauty and complexity of the natural world and its systems. It proposes a system of floating islands (pixels) with a recycled plastic matrix capable of being used by humans and nonhumans. These floating islands aim to remediate their sites and are situated to engage with their surroundings. Saltmarsh cordgrass, the main plant cultivated on these islands, have strong remedial properties, and are capable of fielding vibrant ecosystems by utilizing its rhizobium to generate healthier ecosystems for the animals under.

In doing so, Floating Tapestries aims to create small-scale local ecosystems that are capable of sustaining and promoting a thriving microcosm in the context of their surroundings, be it heavily polluted or not. This is done to create these weaved plots that offer the wildlife and people of Bridgeport a local space that remediates and can benefit their lives, while also addressing pollution in the micro-scale. 

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