Project by Ridhi Sawhney @ridsaw16
Dubai operates as a planetary destination shaped by flows of capital, labor, and materials, extending itself into the sea through engineered islands such as the Palm Jumeirah. While these projects project an image of luxury and global tourism, they rely on dredging and coastal engineering that disrupt marine ecologies and alter water systems. This project reframes architecture as process, examining how land-making reshapes environmental conditions, with the breakwater understood as a critical interface between construction and ecology. Looking ahead, rising sea levels are treated not as a threat to resist but as a condition to design with. The proposal introduces porous breakwaters and modular, hexagonal blocks made from recycled construction and hospitality waste, enriched with calcium to support marine growth. Over time, these elements transition from human-use surfaces to marine habitats, transforming static infrastructure into living systems and enabling a future of coexistence between human occupation and marine life.
