Ian McCusker/Manship School News Service
LSU Associate Professor of Architecture Jeff Carney contrasted two settlements, one in Peru and the other in Louisiana, as examples of building in a way that considers rather than contains constantly changing geography.
The Incan city of Machu Picchu took advantage of natural structures in the mountains of Peru, fertile land and proximity to fresh water. On the other hand, he said, the long, narrow lots of early Louisiana settlements hugging the Mississippi River were good for agriculture and convenience but ignored the meandering nature of the river.
Change is a constant, noted Carney, director of LSU’s Coastal Sustainability Studio, and nowhere is that reality more pressing than along the Gulf region where coastal erosion has exposed several areas to additional risk of floods.
Part of the LSU Science Café monthly series held in the Schlitz & Giggles bar, Carney addressed the complex question Tuesday night of establishing control of the environment when building housing and flood protection systems. ““How do we introduce the natural ebb and flow of the system?”
The event is sponsored by Office of Research and Economic Development, “Science Café” is held from 5-7 p.m. on the final Tuesday of each month and features LSU professors.
The Costal Sustainability Studio draws upon ideas from the involvement of students and faculty researchers from vastly different fields, including science, design and engineering to address coastal problems.
That transdisciplinary approach was on display with Carney’s interpretation of an early 19th century oil painting by Caspar David Friedrich called “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. ”The painting depicts a man from behind who stands upon a rock safely above but very much subject to the elements of nature.
The levees built to protect the long, narrow parcels along the Mississippi River cut off surrounding areas from land-forming sediment which a flooding river provided. Land development since has traded a gradual, indeterminate edge – wetlands – for a clear barrier of levees and floodwalls.
Flood protection has not only been inadequate for distancing people from danger, but removes “the perception of risk,” said Carney.
One such system emerged from Project Design Flood in response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, he said, explaining that the Army Corp of Engineers spearheaded the plan to account for the Mississippi River’s shifting nature with a system of outlets based on worst-case flooding scenarios. That system, however, has been blamed for complicating the problem of erosion.
Carney acknowledged continuing coastal restoration efforts would mitigate the worst-case scenario.
but he emphasized those efforts must reflect the dynamics of the region by reintroducing natural systems and allowing the river to re-emerge in the landscape.