This project seeks to provide life-saving facilities on the border between land and ocean. The central question is how to build within a shifting landscape.
Research on boat construction became the main driver for design, specifically the use of the cross-section as a tool for sequential planning of the ribbed structure, and the keel as a means of stability within a dynamic environment.
The project proposes a series of concrete keels that support built structures, between, above, and within them. Stress skin panels outline the interior programming, ranging from locker rooms, a mess room, and outdoor showers to storage facilities for essential equipment. The peaks of each panel meet the roof at varied heights, forming a parabolic spine that runs the length of the building. The conoid roof structure rests on top, alluding to an overturned hull.
As means of communication and observation have changed over the years, this life-saving facility does not project itself high into the sky but rather plants itself deeply into the sand like capsized hulls in the water.
As time goes on, more of the structure may be revealed to beachgoers as sand erodes or builds up around the keels. There may even come a time when all that is left are shipwreck-like structures on a sandspit, a relic of past maritime events.
