a vanishing land opportunistic strategies for movement
infrastructure | housing by shannon wiley
change accomodation landscape migratory processes infrastructure
Indeed stability might best be sought in a place- specific sense of rhythmic change, rather than in a denial of change through dreams of static and enclosed spaces. — Gillian Rose 1
In the past fifty years, the north has warmed at a disproportionate rate and the rising temperatures are affecting sea ice thickness and permafrost depths. As a result, shoreline erosion has become a considerable problem for the majority of villages distributed along the north Alaskan coastline. Erosion and flooding have become so severe that at present, twelve Inupiat villages are at varying stages of planning their relocation further inland. The village of Shishmaref is located on Sarichef Island; part of a 100 km barrier island chain bordering the Chuckchi Sea and running 30 km south of the Arctic Circle. Erosion occurs along the entire island chain, but it is exacerbated in Shishmaref because of the sandy soil and permafrost degradation accelerated by infrastructure and human activity. The sea-ice that used to protect the peninsula from the worst fall storms now no longer forms until the winter, and so the northern shoreline has been eroding at a rate of three to five feet per year since 1970. In 2002, the community of 615 residents voted in favour of relocating the village to the mainland. Though funding uncertainties and planning issues have stalled relocation efforts, this project offers a speculative proposal which addresses the currently inadequate housing conditions, the need for an integrated marina and tannery facility, improved access to drinking water and electricity, all while enacting the physical move itself. More than just upgrading living conditions, each step is designed to record the memory of that place and its history. The result is a customisable and participatory process of place making for each family.
shannon wiley
CULTURAL CONTEXT
‘Long ago, all there was here was water and sand. There was no village and no one lived here. One day a fierce storm raged… The powerful waves threw tree trunks up onto the sand… time passed, grass and other plants grew over them. The grass captured new sand, and the hills began to form. The new land rose higher and higher. ‘From far away, people saw the island rising from the sea. They came to the new land to hunt the animals that lived there in abundance. Over time, more people came and the hunting camp slowly grew into a village. That is how Shishmaref was created. From driftwood and sand, surrounded by the tempestuous water. But someday the land will return to the way it was. It will sink back into the sea. Only the sand will remain, without houses of people, and the place will look just like it did all those many years ago.’ — Old Inupiaq story as told by Ardith Weyiouanna 2 In the spirit of this Inupiat story, this project aims to not only propose a strategy for the community’s physical move, but also illustrate how the fluid nature of culture, community and sense of place can inform design. The story exemplifies just how fully the Inupiat people recognise their own impermanence. Unlike the vast majority of cities and villages around the globe built with the intention of steadfast permanence, Shishmaref was never meant to remain on Sarichef Island. This project hopes to recognise this unique way of thinking by presenting a customisable, autonomous and gradual process for personal adaptation rather than an outsourced scenario of rapid resettlement. The history of the move will be imbedded within the evolving physical structure of the town as Shishmaref begins another chapter.
64
1 Rose, Gillian. ‘Building in a Restless World’, Augmented Landscapes. Smout Allen, editor. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007 2 Dana Lixenberg. The Last Days of Shishmaref . Rotterdam: Paradox Publishers, 2008.
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator