Entangled Futures
Entangled Futures, group show with Forest for the Trees Collective, Climate Imaginarium, Governor's Island, New York City, 2024
First and Last Building Bisected by the FEMA Floodplain: US Route 1 Florida to Maine is a linework drawing of the first and last buildings in every state
along US Route 1, the easternmost interstate in the United States, that
are bisected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Floodplain. The FEMA floodplain represents places that have historically
flooded due to storm surge or inland flooding, which are therefore
likely to flood again. Critically, because FEMA maps historic flood
boundaries, the extents of the floodplain should be considered a
conservative estimate of flooding that does not represent real future
flood risk that is exacerbated by climate change. Each building is drawn
consistently to scale to compare the variety of architecture at risk
due to increasingly erratic precipitation patterns and coastal storm
surge across the eastern seaboard.
The drawing is organized in two
parts: the “frame” and the “body.” The buildings around the “frame” of
the drawing are arranged from the north of Maine to the south of
Florida. The part of each building in the FEMA floodplain is drawn in
black, while the part of each building out of the floodplain is drawn in
architectural detail.
The “body” of the drawing is a “megabuilding”
in which the unflooded remains of each building are arranged into an
exquisite corpse that serves as a graphic representation of retreat
efforts to higher ground. The drawing serves to raise awareness about
the wide range of homes and businesses that are increasingly at risk of
flooding, while speculating on a wild new form of urbanism that might
emerge if we act proactively to retreat from the floodplain.