The question of tidal inundation of the land and water joint in Charleston, led to architectural methods of inhabiting the future land and water ecologies. This revealed that forecasted water level rise on the hard edge condition would be vulnerable to extreme levels of flooding if tidal fluctuations were to surpass the maximum threshold of the edge. The proposed program for the site became about creating a facility to advance and research inhabiting methods of inundation for when future tidal fluctuations surpass the threshold of the current hard edge.
The facility would not only anticipate the tidal fluctuation, but also work in parallel with the inundation, allowing for control flooding. This would be approached through a process of volumetric redistribution in which would accentuate the balance between dry and wet land through the process of manipulating the existing land/water edge. This manipulation would be in the form of creating an , reminiscent of the historic wharfs that once existed in the area. These architectural components would allow for porosity of the tidal flux and work as a catalyst for micro-ecology development within the pores. The new created joint, would then allow for the program to be injected in the form of the research facility. The facility would be of amphibious qualities: flexible to the hydrology of the site. The site also would become programmatically active through the exchange of land and water ecology.
The existing landmarks would serve as programmatic anchors of the site, overall becoming the tissue of livable land and water ecologies. Here, the landmarks would also become research zones of future methods of inhabiting tidal inundation areas. The site and facility could then allow for sea level rise to be viewed through an opportunistic lens of experimentation of land base and water base forms of occupation.
Ultimately, the new ecological infrastructure would integrate into the current historic urban landscape, becoming a hybrid performative ecology of historic and future fabrics.