Client: Fort Point Arts Community

Location: Boston, MA, United States

Completion date: 2020

Artwork budget: $50,000

Project Team

Lead Artist, Assistant Professor Landscape Architecture

Carolina Aragon

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Site construction

Robert Gilmore

Gilmore Landscape Architecture

Artist/ Floating art specialist

Patrick Bowler

Project Manager

Claudia Lafontaine

Overview

FutureSHORELINE is a temporary floating and land based installation that shows the projected flooding for the Fort Point Channel in Boston, MA, due to sea level rise, as well as proposed adaptation strategies. The different colors and levels visualize expected water levels for the 1% annual chance flood for 2030, 2050 and 2070 based on the latest scientific modeling. The land portion of the artwork suggests the height of the proposed landform berm, which is part of the climate adaptation planning for this site. This project is the first to ponder on the physical impact that climate adaptation will have on the Boston shoreline and other vulnerable cities. As such, it seeks to inform and make this type of information available and understandable to a wide audience. FutureSHORELINE was awarded the Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) Foundation’s “best climate change project of the year” award in fall 2021.

Goals

The primary goal of this project was to provide site-specific visualization of flood threats to this specific site--a flood pathway to a major neighborhood in Boston--along with the proposed adaptation strategy: a 6 foot berm which will be installed to protect this community from flooding.

Process

FutureSHORELINE is the result of collaboration with local scientists, depicting site specific flood projections using the latest models, as well as community groups, the City of Boston Planning & Development Agency, private industry, engineering and fabrication teams, and students from the University of Massachusetts.

Additional Information

FutureSHORELINE was constructed using local and U.S. made materials, such as the lobster cages, and is designed to be repurposed and/or recycled in its entirety.