Central Waterfront, Seattle, Washington, USA, 2015.
As part of their collaboration with the Elliott Bay Seawall Project design team, led by the Seattle Department of Transportation and Parsons, Haddad|Drugan worked with a team of engineers and scientists to develop a texture for concrete seawall face panels. While in many ways the seawall is an engineered structure, it is also a dynamic seam where a myriad of elements, forces, and life forms interact in complex ways. The Seawall Project includes a critical goal to improve ecosystem functions along this edge. A primary means is roughening the wall face with texture and shelves that promote the growth of intertidal marine life through the increase of surface area and incorporation of crevices. That surface is a fantastic canvas for a sculptural relief that can merge conceptual meaning with functional requirements.
The concept behind Haddad|Drugan’s design stems from the philosophy put forth in their Seawall Art Programming Plan of articulating the seawall with experimental art that operates as both a catalyst and barometer of ecological function. The Habitat Strata concept is based on theories of biomimicry (the emulation of natural patterns for use in sustainable design) and secondary growth (the colonization of one intertidal species on top on another). The design creates geometric textures that mimic the marine life it is trying to attract. The design includes enlarged geometric renditions of barnacles, mussels, anemone, starfish, and rockweed, arranged vertically on the wall panels in rough alignment with where these life forms live within the intertidal zone of Elliott Bay.