Active Layer

Utqiaġvik, an Iñupiat community for the last 1500+ years, sits on the Chukchi Sea coast, on the far northern tip of Alaska. The permafrost ground is frozen ~1300 feet down and thaws only at the top. That thin seasonal thaw is the active layer, and it is getting thicker with the warming climate. Everything the town needs to do — build, bury a pipe, bury a body, hold a road in place — requires careful negatiation with this living force.

This studio research for my MLA was carried out with the Arctic Design Group under Leena Cho and Matthew Jull. The work asked how new housing can be built, and old housing adapted to the increasing volatility of the thawing ground. Research was conducted alongside community partners in Utqiagvik and results were presented back to residents and representatives from the North Slope Borough Planning department.