Southern Bastion

Year: 2024 Design & Honor Awards | Category: Student Project

Climate change has caused rising sea levels to encroach the once abundant marshes in South Carolina. These marshes are home to a variety of species that could become extinct if not preserved, while also functioning as a wind buffer for the shore during hurricanes. The marsh is also a tremendous mechanism for carbon sequestration. The Southern Bastion acts as a medium on the marsh-sea boundary, with the goal of printing artificial reefs from its lab to gradually develop reefs along the border, reducing erosion and restoring the once-thriving marsh ecosystem. The architecture is also designed to float, minimizing disruption to the fragile ecosystem.

Design Challenge

The Southern Bastion is a reef research and teaching facility with a total size of 13,522 square feet. It is located on Hunting Island, South Carolina, near the marsh-sea border. The climate zone is 2A, and the building is designed to adapt to such a climate by utilizing efficient shading without sacrificing light levels via PTFE cushion technology on the building’s exterior. The structure has three levels: the hull, ground, and mezzanine. The hull stores resources that would help support the building on its own, such as battery storage for PV panels and water storage and filtering for the South’s massive rainy seasons. The overall program includes a laboratory for researchers to study and 3D print reefs that will aid in the construction of oyster reefs along the marsh-sea border, as well as an educational building with learning spaces for visitors and students to learn through observation of the ongoing reef building process.

Student(s)
Denzyl Zhang

School
Savannah College of Art and Design

Project Location
Hunting Island, South Carolina, United States of America

Completion Date
6/1/2023

Professor
Alice Guess