THE PLAN TO SAVE DC FROM SINKING

Capital Overlook. Image Reed Hilderbrand with DesignDistill

Comprising leading landscape architects DLANDstudio, GGN, Hood Design Studio, James Corner Field Operations, and Reed Hilderbrand, the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab exhibition team has unveiled some winning proposals to reimagine the sinking landmark in Washington DC.

Hosting close to 1.5 people each year during the annual cherry blossom festival, not to mention memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr, parts of the tidal basin area have been slowly sinking due to increased car and pedestrian traffic. Walkways that flood daily and a crumbling sea wall are listed among the most critical elements in need of repair right now.

In looking for a workable solution that would both resurrect and reimagine the landmark, the collaborative design team have come up with a range of viable solutions that would provide for critical repairs to the area and future improvements. The diversified proposals stemming from the five design teams include relocating the iconic cherry trees, developing new pathways, elevating vantage points and allowing for the transitory nature of the landscape by reconfiguring the water’s edge.

Archipelago. Image James Corner Field Operations

Archipelago. Image James Corner Field Operations

JAMES CORNER FIELD OPERATIONS

Offering three potential scenarious to mitigate rising water levels in the tidal basin area, James Corner Field Operations suggests: 1. Preserve the site with an escalated regimen of maintenance and engineering; 2. allow the site to flood, creating a landscape in which entropy is on display; and 3. balance preservation with the acceptance of future instability and climate change by treating the memorials as islands within the tidal basin.

Capital Overlook. Image Reed Hilderbrand with DesignDistill

REED HILDERBRAND

Taking a different approach, Reed Hilderbrand focuses on the influential 1902 McMillan plan for the development of the Washington DC and its parks system. The team’s proposal addresses the creation of a Washington Commons, an extensive recreational complex that facilitates a range of leisure experiences. Consisting of three pathways: an uplands cherry walk, a memorial walk, and a marsh walk, the new land form accommodates rising water levels with a pedestrian bridge connecting visitors to the city.

Image DLANDstudio

Image DLANDstudio

DLANDstudio

Working with physical and visual connections, DLANDstudio proposes a reorientation of traffic flow for visitors and the creation of new pathways that will benefit the basin’s structure. One way in which it proposes this is with the construction of a land bridge between the Jefferson memorial and the White House that forms a jetty in the Potomac River, and cultivating Sponge Park wetlands, a reflective weir and green security wall to protect upland monuments, landscapes, and museums.

Image GGN

Image GGN

GGN

Envisions a dynamic series of smaller changes, GGN will adapt the site to the environmental changes of the future, giving rise to a new cultural aesthetic for the city. Introducing their concept over three stages — taking the city from 2020 to 2090 — the adaptive plan by GGN will take into account forecasted sea-level rises. In addition, it integrates regional ecologies that will incorporate a more inclusive ecological perspective. In this new aesthetic, monuments will be adapted, protected or relocated to reaffirm national importance of this public space.

Image Hood Design Studio

HOOD DESIGN STUDIO

Hood Design Studio proposes three anthems, with each onecarrying a message of social or cultural importance.
Tell the Truth | Seeks to replace romantic and baroque design with stories of perseverance and resilience.
Let the Waters be Free | Restores narratives of how the wetlands were valued by indigenous and enslaved peoples.
Making New Things | Asks if the tidal basin can trigger a national ethic that centres on rebuilding our urban ecologies.

Images by individual designers via DesignBoom