Coastline as Commons: Using Spatial Devices to Link Littoral Temporalities

Abstract

This thesis argues that architectural interventions can extend the water commons to the fluctuating littoral zone of Kjipuktuk/Halifax Harbour. The present composition of the Harbour as a working waterway favours a colonial perspective and marginalizes already-othered surrounding communities. The dynamic nature of the Harbour body and the tacit, layered stories embedded within it are activated to strengthen the connections to the coast. A looped path, two ferry stops, and an annual event act together to make explicit the changing sea level and give equal access at three spatial-temporal scales: the Harbour, cultural characters, and the individual. The rising sea level, fluctuating intertidal zone and passage of time are emphasized, measured, and framed architecturally using grids and nodes to position and tell a story through a symbolic event. The thesis imagines the role of architecture as a mediator between perceived and constructed spatial-temporal changes in the landscape and actual change.