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ABOUT


Surfside, FL—is a town in Miami-Dade County on a coastal barrier island in the northern extension of Miami Beach. In many ways, the Biscayne Bay, Florida, can be considered among the “ground zero” territories for the study of coastal resilience and the consequences of extreme weather as one of the most recognizable, culturally valuable and environmentally vulnerable landscapes in the world, the present and escalating effects of climate change confronting the built environment here are exemplary for coastal communities everywhere.

Platform Surfside is a multi-year campaign initiated by Syracuse University School of Architecture with the goal to participate in the conversations around issues of coastal adaptation and flood mitigation. With each studio, a different scale and strategic approach is examined, from territorial to domestic to urban.

In addition to design studios, Platform Surfside hosts workshops with researchers from diverse institutions, lecture series, and exhibitions to continue the conversation of coastal resilience, and engage a broad range of stakeholders and residents.

Platform Surfside has dedicated it’s efforts to studying adaptation strategies through the lens of Territorial, Urban and Domestic scales within the town of Surfside, through studios and elective classes in the Fall 2023, Spring 2024 and Fall 2024 semesters.

TERRITORIAL
Ground Matters Elective / Led by Prof. Ted Brown / Fall 2023
Ground Matters broadens the scope of research on the crisis in Surfside, Miami, looking importantly to the past and future through a series of case study responses to individual issues addressed at the territorial scale of Surfside.

URBAN
The Adaptive City / Led by Visiting Critic Pablo Sequero / Fall 2024
The Adaptive City analyzes the urban scale of Surfside through the lens of bringing adaptation and flood mitigation strategies to the existing residential block typologies through a kit of parts, applicable to all coastal communities. The proposals operate through physical models at the scale of the Surfside block, and  the scale of the single family home, and bring to the fore ideas around a mid-rise typology, for vertical densification and  smaller footprints for buildings.

DOMESTIC
The Resilient Case Study House  / Led by Visiting Critic Laura Salazar / Spring 2024
The Resilient Case Study House designs an inhabited platform, investigating the nature of contemporary domestic environments while addressing strategies of coastal resilience through a single family residence. Special attention is dedicated to the understory conditions that appear from elevating a house on stilts. What types of new uses and rituals that might benefit community activities can be explore within these new spaces?



The studios have been led by
Laura Salazar (salazarsequeromedina architects) Visiting Critic Spring 2024
Pablo Sequero (salazarsequeromedina architects) Visiting Critic Fall 2024
Professor Ted Brown Elective Course Fall 2023


Including the work from
Andrew Wheeler, Emily Adomako, Khoi Nguyen Chu, Kyle Lenihan, Laura Duke, Luke Samuels, Michael Gallo, Raquel Rojas, Sara Lin, Troy Schleich, Zhi Fei Li, Stella Shao, Ailed Torres Espinosa, Claire Urbas, Charlie Lim, Cheng (Anthony) Lu, Jaeah Lee, Yiduo (Stephanie) Yao, Dhruv Jadhav, Max Walewski, Emma McDevitt, Arianna Ramirez, Alex Barney, Jacqueline Motsiff, Kristian Nunez, Ainsley Dahl, Casey Pedersen, Madeleine Best, Gabrielle Knauf, Sarah Crawford,

Web design
Grace Hong

Special thanks to School of Architecture alumnus and Surfside resident Roy Raskin ’95 for pioneering Platform Surfside, and Dean Speaks for the continued support.


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