A thesis submitted for the degrees of:
Master of Architecture
Master of Landscape Architecture
University of Washington, 2020

Click the pdf icon to the right for full thesis.

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Central to this thesis is the question: how can a community take on demographic and climate-based challenges without losing its existing self-identity in the process? The methods used to answer this include a deep site analysis, with an especial focus on local history, and my own personal experiences and attachment to the place, as the chosen site is my own hometown.

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This thesis considers the challenges rural communities face to their traditional ways of life and identities, investigates methods global communities use to react to these changes, and finally, offers a possible solution for a community in Puget Sound’s Stillaguamish Estuary.

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Standing on the edge of the farmland, I recently looked out and reflected that
I would prefer no change ever come to this place. I would rather the farmland I knew from childhood remains as it is, with crops growing as high as the car, fallow fields, and dairy cows. But we cannot stop the tides. This community, like every community around the world, is changing rapidly. Like many places, the seas are fast encroaching.

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The world is rapidly changing, and designers must learn that we are not capable of taking on everything, nor should we. Social infrastructure is exceptionally important for surviving disaster, and can only be created if the entire community works together. It is the job of a designer to make certain this happens, and to create a resilient and adaptive place in the process.

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