THE WORK OF SHAWN SWISHER
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The Long Line


Center for Unnatural Ecology


Projecting from the western end of University Avenue into San Francisco Bay, the Berkeley Pier developed from cultural infrastructure, as a freight transshipment point and auto ferry terminal, into ecological infrastructure as a fishing pier and ocean-life habitat. The Long Line continues that evolution, creating an environment for all Bay Area inhabitants – man, animal, and plant – that both studies and exhibits the Bay’s unnatural ecology. Fishing decks, water access, and public space combine with research spaces, a seed & egg library, and a permeable floor plane exhibiting the sea life below. Structural frames that span the 3000 linear feet of the existing pier and create this new architecture become the surfaces for fish to lay eggs, bay grasses to grow, barnacles and mussels to attach, birds to perch, and other creatures to nest. As the tide ebbs and flows, users are able to see all aspects of the Bay interact with the structure. Slowly the sea level will rise over the next century or more and the Long Line, submerged beneath the water, will blossom with the life of a new ecology.

THESIS PROJECT COMPLETED AT UC BERKELEY CED STUDIO ONE