University of Houston College of Architecture

Architecture Studio Project and Research led by UltraBarrio Partner Marcus Martinez

Dredge of Tomorrow

Recycled Dredging Facility + Institute for Landscape Architecture

Credits: All graphics and images by students of Architecture Studio 3500 Fall 2020, including cover icon.

Studio Program

Context

Investigations focus on rapidly evolving landscapes. Brady Island was created as the result of Houston Ship channel dredging along the Neighborhood of Harrisburg and along the 50-mile Houston Ship Channel. With ample time- all land is fluid. While the dredge cycle begins with erosion- geological or naturally occurring erosion makes up for 30%, and human activity accelerates the remaining 70%. For further scale reference of this acceleration over time -- in Egypt 2500 BC annual earth moving per year was 600kg per person, today world wide is 6 tons per person and nearly 30 tons per person in the US.

The island, oscillates between neighborhood living and logisitcal landscape. The locale has a famous local restaurant ‘Brady’s Landing’ hosting waterfront weddings to local patrons and the site Island heavily logistical to the east with a recycling facility, and along the south are industrial focused businesses and services.

Inquiry

Central to this project will be the concept of Recycling or more precisely- recovery of Ship Channel dredging material. To keep Port Houston’s waterways navigable, City of Houston has to dredge to reinforce commerce. ‘Port Houston has received $70.4 million for maintenance dredging in the 2020 fiscal year. The money, up from the $20 million to nearly $30 million received in past years, is to maintain the waterway's current width and depth.’

Dredge material can be recycled and ‘processed into engineered structural fill and employed in wide variety of beneficial reuses including mine reclamation, landfill capping, golf course contouring, and the redevelopment of brownfields’ Through this project we will understand this resource over time as an ecological resource, an economic tool manufacturing pathways and terrain, and capture untapped social qualities.

Credits: All graphics and images by students of Architecture Studio 3500 Fall 2020, including cover icon.