Intertidal — Yimeng Ding

By definition, the word intertidal indicates a shore zone where the oceans meet the land between the edges of high and low tide. It is an ecosystem found on marine shoreline, where most shellfish habitats live.

We see the word intertidal metaphorically to create a thickened space between human and marine habitat. The land and the sea. The thickened in-between belt serves as a patchwork that connects the previously separate industrial edge of seaport and residential edge of South Boston.

Our intertidal design framework anticipates and embraces the rising water and proposes a revitalized blue-economy neighborhood by celebrating the reciprocity between intertidal organisms and humans.

Reconstructing the Edge South Boston today lies at the intersection of both potential and challenge: On the one hand, the site sits at the crossroad of two important public space systems — the Emerald Necklace and Boston Harbour Walk. On the other hand, the rising sea level is threatening coastal accessibility. Under the surge of sea level rise, this new waterfront has the potential to create new models of waterfront residence and public space.

Intertidal: An Ecological System As an overall site strategy, the proposal imagines a living scenario that supports the co-habitat and reciprocal living between aquatic species and human. Programmatically, a "foster-harvest-recycle" cycle is developed to support living, working and leisure on the waterfront. Typologically, the building and landscape respond to the rising sea level with a gradient from dry to wet conditions.

Intertidal: A Model for Public Space The centrality of the site is set up with a mixed-use corridor as the extension of the Boston Harbour Walk. The pedestrian boulevard is defined by five main public nodes: Aquaculture farms, cultural facility, central park, sea market, and recycling industries. New parks along the boulevard enhance public access to the waterfront.

Ground Conditions The section shows the level and program atmosphere change across the site from south to north. The zoom-ins show a gradient of responses to topographies — adapting to dry, intermediate, and wet landscapes. The Intertidal scheme anticipates and embraces the rising water, proposing a revitalized blue-economy neighborhood celebrating the reciprocity between intertidal organisms and humans.

Intertidal: A Way of Living Several housing typologies are proposed in response to the distance to water and the gradient of wetness. To the north of the Harbour Walk, single family houses and studio apartments sit on stilts to reserve the ground floor for wetland and water. South of the Harbour Walk, courtyard housing extends from the existing residential area and provides more unit options that respond to the diverse demographics in South Boston.