Clouds Architecture Office
Aqualta is a—play on acqua alta, the term for the increasing high tides flooding Venice. This series of images explores what a coastal metropolis might feel like a hundred years from now with rising sea levels. The images illustrate New York adapting to rising waters. Aqualta imagines city dwellers migrating to higher and dryer elevations as water levels gradually increase. Piers, boardwalks, and systems of navigable canals reestablish the transportation network lost below. Residents repurpose rooftops for farms and greenhouses. Wetland ecologies and oyster beds thrive and take root to better protect coasts from future storms. The cities are shown without combustion—no engines or, power plants; all emissions are rendered obsolete—resulting in cleaner, quieter neighborhoods. Aqualta reveals an adaptable city infrastructure capable of acclimatizing to nature.