February 16, 2016
By Thor Jourgensen/The Daily Item
He calls it “resilience” planning, but architect Arlen Stawasz’ vision of the Lynnway at the end of this century imagines the city’s waterfront resembling Venice with buildings constructed to be compatible with rising sea levels.
Stawasz, a Lynn resident, and fellow architect Tyler Hinckley of Swampscott selected the waterfront as the focus of a course they taught last fall. They challenged their students to come up with architectural plans and urban design ideas incorporating climate change and rising ocean levels.
“The entire waterfront of Lynn will be underwater by 2100,” said Stawasz.
That prediction is tempered somewhat, said city Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Director James Cowdell, by prospective waterfront developers who are carefully studying coastline flood conditions before they invest in projects.
“Anybody who comes forward looks at it very seriously before they invest money,” said Cowdell.
Cowdell shared the city’s waterfront development vision with Stawasz and Hinckley when the two designers decided to focus on Lynn in their Boston Architectural Collegecourse. |
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Item File Photo
James Cowdell said relatively new Federal Emergency Management Agency maps for the Lynnway are used by developers, including the design team planning a major residential project on the waterfront across from North Shore Community College. |
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