ARC 605- Ecological Practices Studio (Reimagining Casco Bay )- Kristine Stiphany

Additional information, email: stiphany@buffalo.edu

This studio utilizes scenario planning to integrate nature-based solutions into the water-vulnerable landscapes of Casco Bay, Maine. With the aim of building a more resilient future, this studio will primarily focus on Casco Bay’s working waterfronts of downtown Portland and South Portland. The remediation of this water resource depends on ensuring water security, mitigating .ood risks, and promoting environmental equity for communities disproportionately aected by climate change. Students will broadly explore how selected study area problems interact and reinforce one another within the project’s sister ports, while conducting a context analysis of settlement patterns, infrastructure, building types, environmental systems, and character along speci.c urban transects that span Portland and South Portland. 

To create disciplinary reciprocities, this studio (taught by Kristine Stiphany, PhD, AIA) is integrated with a seminar taught by Jason Sowell, RA, MLA. Whereas the studio translates various data sources into design proposals, the seminar prepares students to visualize complex relationships between people, landscape change, and the built environment. The interdisciplinary nature of the studio and seminar and backgrounds of the instructors in Planning, Architecture, and Landscape make this a unique interdisciplinary experience. Students may consider three examples of studio work at https://www.kristinestiphany.com (click “teaching”) or directly: Sensitive Densi.cation Heliopolis, A Housing Line, and Cities After Extreme Events