Solo Project - Competition Entry 2012 Designing for the Flood Plain

The Lake Pontchartrain Boat Building School is located in Southern Louisiana, where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico begin to converge. The school is designed to adapt to rising flood levels and continue functioning during the increasingly severe hurricane seasons. Located on the shore of the largest watershed in the US, the site in Madisonville can flood up to 10 ½ ft. above ground level.

The site’s existing lighthouse is lifted onto a second-floor gallery that wraps around the school buildings above the FEMA 500-year floodplain level. The threshold provides covered access to the seasonal programming on the ground floor. A central courtyard connects the buildings and doubles as a safe docking area during a flood.

The Shed is a flexible interior/exterior space with massive hurricane-rated folding doors that can open during a flood to allow water through the building. The shed’s ceiling and structure is designed to incorporate five massive gantry cranes that lift wooden decks and the contents of the building to the second floor in the event of a flood.

Project Credits

Project: Miles Kozatch Studio Advisor: Bruce Goodwin AIA