The building is enveloped by a long-span truss space frame, allowing the territorial basin model to remain unobstructed by columns. Upper-level programs and circulation walkways are suspended from the structure above, maintaining an open and flexible interior space.
The building is elevated on columns, echoing the typology of coastal piers while minimising its footprint in the water. Its lightweight structure provides habitat beneath the building for fish along migration routes and incorporates systems for ocean alkalinity enhancement to mitigate water acidification.
The model transforms environmental simulation into a shared, physical experience, enabling researchers, Indigenous knowledge holders, policymakers and the public to collectively observe and engage with changing marine environments.
all drawings and model photographs: Marly Ibrahim
additional sources
Sectional perspective: At high tide, seawater is drawn through filtration systems equipped with sensors that monitor salinity, temperature and acidity in real time to fill the basin model. At low tide, the system is drained, inspected and reset, enabling continuous cycles of testing and feedback.
Buck, Holly Jean. After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration . Verso, 2021. Chesapeake Bay Hydraulic Model | The Center for Land Use Interpretation, clui. org/newsletter/spring-1998/ chesapeake-bay-hydraulic-model. Cheramie, Kristi. ‘The Scale of Nature: Modeling the Mississippi River’. Places Journa l, 2011, placesjournal.org/article/the- scale-of-nature-modeling-the-mississippi-river/ Shortell, Erin, and Chris Holt. ‘The Voluntary Carbon Market and Carbon Credits’. Demystifying the Voluntary Carbon Market: An Overview of the Market’s Inner Workings, Institute for Policy Integrity , 2025, pp. 2–7. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org.myaccess. library.utoronto.ca/stable/resrep67607.4 . Accessed 14 July 2026 Specter, Michael. ‘The Climate Fixers’. The New Yorker , www. newyorker.com/magazine/2012/05/14/the-climate-fixers Waythomas, Christopher F. ‘Kasatochi 2008’. Alaska Volcano Observatory , 2008, avo.alaska.edu/eruption/ kasatochi-2008-8 . White, Richard. The Organic Machine . Hill and Wang, 1995.
MARLY IBRAHIM is an architectural designer and a recent Master of Architecture graduate from the University of Toronto. Her thesis focused on issues of climate change, sustainability and architecture’s role in planetary intervention.
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on site review 49 :: shorelines
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