Breaking Seawalls (First Prize — General Public)
ASA (The Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage)
International Experimental Design Competition 2023
“The proposal touches on one of the biggest public construction controversies in Thailand: hundreds (if not thousands) kilometers of concrete walls along the coastlines. The walls are posing dangers to both marine life biodiversity and human who also conduct livelihood along the seashores. Instead of taking down the entire walls which would also create another environmental catastrophe, the proposal suggests to break down certain sections with the attempt to utilize some parts of the already-built walls. Its simplicity and sensible design approach show the potential solutions to the condition of over-built infrastructure.”
- Rachaporn Choochuey, (Juror Panel)
Design Research & Competition.
Unintentional Death Sentence
Humans are drawn to the natural tranquillity and levity of beaches. Alarmingly, there is an unnerving phenomenon where shorelines are vanishing — a transition that is a result of climate change and legislative decisions. This unassuming reaper disguised itself as the nation’s guardian angel, in the form of an architectural infrastructure called seawalls, erected along the seaside provinces of Thailand.
The seawalls were built in the hopes of stopping coastal erosion, however, they frequently end up as mere eyesores that harm adjacent beaches. In theory, the seawalls are designed to keep areas used for recreation and human habitation safe from the effects of tides and waves. In reality, its static nature acts in conflict with the coast's dynamic nature, preventing the exchange of sediment between land and sea. Pairing the unadaptive quality with the lack of data, modelling, environmental assessments and design testing, we have coastal fortifications that amount to nothing less than a death sentence for sandy coasts and the ecology that makes up the shoreline.
Thai environmentalists have urged the Cabinet to revoke its resolution that gave the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning permission to construct additional seawall projects. Prior to 2013, the requirement for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) on every project set a cap on the number of seawalls that may be built. Yet, ever since the EIA requirement was dropped in 2013, seawalls have proliferated throughout Thailand's coastline. Only 43 seawalls were constructed between 2007 and 2014, costing a total of around 2 billion baht. However, 125 seawall projects with a total budget of 6.6 billion baht were completed between 2015 and 2022. Many of the constructed seawalls have already been demolished because of their apparent negative effects and adverse impacts.
We now enter the chapter of reexamination and active remedy, desperate to find a way to restore lost shorelines and sustain it. The proposal aims to deliver an alternative seawalls removal methodology that rehabilitates sites in parallel, repurposing the demolition waste as part of the rejuvenation process.
01 — Coastal Morphology: Effect on Ecology and Tourism
The disappearance of seawalls is more than just lost recreational sites for humans — it's a ruination of a whole ecosystem. The absence of sandy shores means there’s no grounds for coastal animals to feed, breed, and nest. The selected site, Hat Kaew, Songkhla, suffered this same fate since the conception of seawalls in 2018. Shoreline invertebrates lost their habitat, resulting in the decline of birds in the area from food chain disruption. Constant sand turbulence from wave reflection on concrete seawalls creates murky water that banishes away fishes. In place of the organic natural shore formation is now a flat coastal line that conforms to the anthropogenic boundary of the concrete monolith.
02 — Taking Measures: Rejuvenation Process
The unavoidable demolitions offer a design opportunity in finding new values in waste material and nation’s monetary investments. Demolished concrete can be utilised as aggregates alongside low-carbon cement to create new sustainable interventions, recast into new functional identities.
To limit the amount of waste material produced, the demolition process itself can be incorporated into the design process, a strategic removal of materials to retrofit new beachside seats, tree planters, and tidal pools into the fabric of the seawalls.
Carved out waste materials can be utilised to create new architectural tools to aid the rejuvenation of the site. Temporary offshore breakwater units can be crafted, seasonally dispersed accordingly to help restore natural coastal line through its wave absorption. These units will further provide habitats for marine animals and vegetation underwater, while providing recreational platforms for humans. To support the deployment of these modules, part of the waste materials will be used to construct research and data centres, to help make informed decisions on placement of these mobile temporary units. Elongated strips of temporary wooden walkways connect the different programmes of the site, acting as sandtraps, a strategy informed by vernacular bamboo walls.
03 — Removal: Returning to Nature
The proposal ambition is for the site to regain its natural rhythm, to regain a stabilised exchange of sediment between land and sea. The interventions should be seen as temporary scaffolding during the natural healing process of the site, to be removed once the system is restored. However, with the rising sea-level as a backlash of climate change, there is still a requirement for human intervention. The research and data centre will be left on site, to provide informed insights into employing measures such as sand replenishment and offshore breakwater placements.
Habitable Submerged Breakwater Units
To provide viable habitat for biodiversity to flourish, from corals and seaweeds to fishes and sea invertebrates, new offshore breakwater units offer complexity in the form of carved out spatial pockets and textural transitions.
Rooted Vegetation Breakwater Units
Floating casted structures allows for trees and vegetation to thrive with an attempt to stabilise the shorelines, informed by the root structures and functions of native mangrove typology, a natural form of seawalls.
Anticipated Contagion Effect
The proposal aims to have the same widespread effect for the removal of seawalls as its conception and dissemination across the country. The active interventions will act as a monument, to not only raise awareness on the effect of our careless actions but more importantly, what we can do to fix it. By reworking our anthropogenic interventions through innovation, we can stabilise the shoreline with the remains of what was its designated executioner.
By restoring Thailand’s beach ecology, there will be an increase in community confidence to make investments, redevelop coastlines, and elevate the local economy. Aside from these human incentives, it is important for the project to be a reminder in our role within our immediate environment, learning how to be sensitive and considerate with the living things we coexist with.
