Project by Julio Viejo Romero-Mazariegos and Hyunyoung Kim
The Living Shoreline addresses Jamaica Bay’s ongoing marsh loss caused by dredging, hardened shorelines, and climate-driven erosion that disrupt sediment accretion and accelerate land loss. Instead of disposing dredged material offshore, the project repurposes it as a construction resource, using sediment to 3D-print porous earthen walls along vulnerable marsh edges. Submerged within the tidal zone, these walls dampen wave energy, capture sediment, and create protected environments where marshes can regenerate. Rather than functioning as fixed defenses, the earthen walls operate as a dynamic system that evolves over time. As sediment accumulates, the walls can erode, thicken, merge, and in some areas rise through accretion to become emergent structural extensions of the marsh landscape. Above, an expanded trail network provides public access while acting as a stable armature that anchors the system without fixing the shoreline in place. As marsh edges migrate outward, new walls are printed along emerging boundaries, enabling continuous, bay-wide restoration. The project reframes shoreline protection as a living, adaptive infrastructure that grows, transforms, and integrates with Jamaica Bay’s ecological processes.
