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Designer, activist, academic,
and author of Lo—TEK,
Design by Radical Indigenism.
A leading expert of Lo—TEK nature-based technologies for climate-resilience.
Her eponymously named studio brings creative and conceptual, interdisciplinary thinking to urban projects and corporate clients interested in systemic and sustainable change. Julia regularly teaches urban design at Harvard and Columbia University.
Manhattan Beach Dune Restoration
Date: 2020
Location: Manhattan Beach, LA
Project Team: MIIM Design + Julia Watson
Client: The Bay Foundation
While the majority of the previous Manhattan Beach dune ecosystem lies buried beneath the city’s buildings and streets, the continued growth of the shoreline over the past 100 years seen by the gradual exposure of sand beneath the Pier, hints at the opportunities designers can catalyze.
“Sensory” envisions a strong sensory narrative that engages the ephemerality of the seasons and cycles that have continued to remake the shoreline throughout time, including the growth of new territory seaward and new topography skyward. Through a process involving four landscape techniques; 1. Planting, 2. Fencing & Fabric, 3. Dune Nourishment & 4. Runoff Capture; our design will generate a sensory spectacle of microcosms within an undulating microtopography
of miniature sand dunes.
With this proposal, the Manhattan Beach community will be able to celebrate the dynamic nature of Manhattan Beach, including the evolving geomorphology; the healthy dune ecosystem; and the wildness of the indigenous biodiversity as an experiential, sensory spectacle. Together, these objectives will redirect the damaging level of historical disturbance to Manhattan Beach, towards a resilient strategy for a sustainable future, even in the face of rising water levels and extreme weather events.
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