Lynn Has Designs on its Future

The 10 students who worked on the project were asked to redesign the waterfront given that experts expect the waterfront will be vulnerable to 6-foot higher swells by 2066.

In response, the students devised a series of designs that  replaced stores with canals, green spaces that could be flooded but used when they dry, a high school, a water treatment plant, and a public safety facility.

“Rather than fighting to keep the water out,  the students propose that we let it in and learn to thrive with it,” said Arlen Stawasz, a Lynn native, architect, and teacher at Perkins + Will,  the Boston-based architectural company.

Noah Geupel, a 26-year-old student at the Boston Architectural College, who helped create some of the designs, said while some of the plans differ from a master plan done by the city a decade ago, they work.

A wastewater treatment plant may not be conventional and super exciting and there’s opposition because people think it will stink,” he said. “But there’s technology to deal with that and we see it as a public amenity.”

Bill Mosakowski, a former Lynn resident, said he came to exhibition to see what the city is up to.

“This was inspirational,” he said.

Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.