#wetland-restoration

#wetland-restoration

The pavilion is recognized as the first building in Mexico constructed using cross-laminated timber (CLT). This system replaces conventional concrete and steel structures with mass timber, reducing the carbon footprint of the construction process. CLT panels are composed of layered wood elements arranged in alternating directions, creating structural stability while enabling prefabrication and efficient assembly.

Glass Half Full started in a backyard in 2020, and now it's Louisiana's biggest glass recycler.

When I first started working at Wallasea it looked an awful lot like a construction site because that's what it was. But just 10 years on, there's no evidence of the diggers or trucks. There's just thousands and thousands of birds who now use it as a refuge, shelter and nursery for their chicks. It's an almost unbelievable transformation.

As sea levels rise and extreme weather events increase, water is no longer a distant threat but an immediate design condition. Rather than resisting it, these projects look at how architecture can coexist with, adapt to, and even regenerate through natural forces. Together, they suggest a shift toward working with the elements, acknowledging water not as a limit to construction but as an active participant in shaping future environments.

On a recent fall morning, two excavators chewed up boulder-sized chunks of asphalt with distorted bars of rebar sticking out. A chain-link fence ran along the perimeter of a demolition site, where crews have been razing a 1970s-era Motel 6. The old hotel was a relic of midcentury development that buried wetlands in 8 to 10 feet of dirt and pavement. On the edge of the property, a sign read: "Coming Soon: More Nature."

The two ponds returning on farmland are the 25th and 26th ice age ponds to be restored by Sayer's team of academics, volunteers and an enthusiastic digger driver in the Brecks, a hotspot for ancient ponds and pingos formed by ice-melt 10,000 years ago. Over the past two centuries, thousands of such ponds have been filled in as land was drained and improved for crops.