theatre — art — landscape
The south side of the water district is the ecologically focused companion to the north’s human focused waterfront.
The restored salt marshes creates habitat and defense against sea level rise. A rock jetty connects to a small boardwalk amphitheater to create space for people to learn with and about their local ecosystem up close.
Tidal conditions
Clean stormwater is routed in runnels to a collection pool near the visitor center, highlighting the water system as a main feature of the site.
Charlestown water district
2nd year Master of Landscape Architecture Studio
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
November 2022
Team Connor McManus, Gabby Hanssen
2023 American Society of Landscape Architects - Minnesota Student Award
The Charlestown Water District is a vision for a new way to live with water in the context of the next 150 years of Sea Level Rise. By creating an elevated neighborhood on a boardwalk level 16’ above existing grade, the community will be resilient to storm surge, allowing a lower parking level to flood. The district engages people with water in all its forms: the south side of the district connects people to the historic marsh ecology of the shoreline. The north side connects people to people on, in, above, around, and below the tides. The architecture reinterprets typologies from Bunker Hill and the neighboring industrial waterfront. The district provides new housing units of diverse typologies, and vibrant commercial spaces
that frame and engage with the waterfront. The District emphasizes a central theme - Living with Water.
