Third Place Winner
88°44’17”N, 88°21’58” W(Floating Ecological Sentinel: Regenerating Marine Biodiversity Beyond the Coast)
Design by
Sayyoung Chang
Juror’s Comment:
Robust offshore structural logic supporting marine regeneration and modular ecological platforms.
Work on:
Enhance spatial diversity within the structure to create more varied ecological niches.
Sayyoung Chang
Sayyoung Chang studied architecture in South Korea before gaining professional experience across art, exhibition design, and architectural practice. Working across a range of scales and mediums has led to a perspective that understands space not merely as form, but as something that operates within broader social and cultural contexts.
Currently, Sayyoung is pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Sayyoung is also a co-founder of the design team S-Square, which stands for Sustainable and System. Through this work, sustainability is explored by organizing climatic and environmental conditions into spatial and structural systems, while remaining attentive to cultural contexts.
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
1. Concept & Vision
What was the central idea behind your proposal, and how did you interpret the concept of the “Symbiocene” in architectural terms? In what ways does your project challenge the conventional human-centered approach to design?
The starting point of my proposal, 88°44’17”N, 88°21’58”W – Floating Ecological Sentinel, was a fundamental question:
How can architecture move beyond observing nature from a distance and instead operate from within it?
This question became more specific in the context of the open sea. Unlike land, there is no fixed ground. Waves, currents, strong winds, and saline conditions constantly shift the environment. In such a setting, it is difficult for humans to exist as part of an ecological network. The moment architecture positions itself within nature, it must confront issues of stability, energy autonomy, long-term habitation, and whether human activity can coexist without disrupting ecosystems.
Therefore, this project does not simply propose “architecture on water.” Rather, it explores architectural solutions to the conditions that make human habitation within ecological networks difficult. The multi-chamber buoyancy system responds structurally to changing maritime conditions, while the self-sufficient energy system absorbs natural forces to minimize dependence on external resources.
Ultimately, this proposal attempts to reposition humans not as external observers of nature, but as participants who operate within it, even under constraint.
I understand the concept of the Symbiocene as a question of what physical conditions are necessary for humans to exist sustainably within ecological systems. Floating Ecological Sentinel is an exploration of those conditions.
2. Multispecies Framework
The brief encouraged reimagining buildings as living frameworks that support multiple species. How does your design accommodate flora, fauna, and ecological systems alongside human occupation?
This project is grounded in the ecological restoration efforts following the Texas Gulf oil spill. Post-disaster recovery is not the restoration of a single species, but the reconstruction of a multispecies network, including microorganisms, algae, small fish, and birds.
The structure is designed as a layered ecological system capable of accommodating multiple species simultaneously. Above the waterline, living quarters for human researchers allow for long-term habitation, enabling humans to remain as participants within the ecological network rather than detached observers. Below the surface, laboratories and analytical spaces are positioned in direct connection with the marine environment, rather than isolated like conventional land-based research facilities.
The submerged exterior surfaces are designed with materials and textures that allow biological attachment, enabling algae and microorganisms to settle and creating habitat for small fish. In this way, the architectural surface functions not as a boundary, but as an ecological substrate.
Birds are also considered integral to the network. While offshore structures can serve as temporary resting points for migratory birds, conventional blade-type wind turbines pose collision risks. To address this, I proposed a bladeless wind energy system that minimizes threats to birds while maintaining energy autonomy.
Through these integrated decisions in spatial organization, material selection, and energy systems, humans are positioned not as dominant agents but as one participant among many species.
3. Ecological Integration
How did you incorporate biodiversity, habitat creation, or ecological restoration strategies into your proposal? Are there specific ecosystems, species, or natural processes that informed your design approach?
Ecological integration in this project extends beyond coexistence to actively supporting and facilitating long-term restoration.
Post-oil spill recovery does not conclude with short-term remediation. The recovery of microorganisms, shifts in plankton density, the return of fish populations, and the reformation of bird migration routes unfold over years.
For this reason, the structure was conceived as a platform that renders restoration observable. It integrates underwater drones, current and pollutant tracking systems, and sensors measuring turbidity, salinity, and temperature. Together, these create a real-time ecological data network responsive to environmental change.
The core strategy is not direct control but the design of conditions. The underwater geometry moderates current flow to create micro-ecological environments that support microbial and algal settlement. Long-term habitation enables observation aligned with ecological time rather than human time.
In this sense, architecture becomes not an external protective device, but ecological infrastructure that records, conditions, and supports the overlapping temporalities of multiple species.
4. Urban Ecosystem Thinking
If your project were implemented within a real urban context, how would it contribute to transforming the city into a functioning ecosystem? What broader urban or environmental impact do you envision?
Although located at sea, this proposal is not isolated from urban thinking. While its form differs, its conceptual framework can extend to cities.
It suggests redefining cities not as human-centered systems but as functional ecosystems supporting multispecies habitation and circulation. Cities have historically been organized around human activity, yet they have always contained diverse forms of life.
Floating Ecological Sentinel demonstrates that architecture and infrastructure can function as habitats, connectors of ecological flows, and platforms for long-term monitoring and restoration. This perspective can inform urban design by encouraging architecture to consciously integrate ecological networks.
Over time, such an approach could influence infrastructural standards and promote the integration of biodiversity into urban policy and environmental planning.
5. Architectural Language & Materiality
How does your choice of form, materials, and spatial language reflect regenerative or symbiotic principles? Did you draw inspiration from natural systems, biomimicry, or ecological patterns?
The form of this project was not conceived as a symbolic gesture, but as a structural response to marine conditions.
Its dimensions and proportions were derived through wave simulations, ensuring stability in open-sea environments. Drawing on naval engineering principles of restoring force, I developed a lowered center of gravity, a multi-chamber buoyancy system, and a central ballast structure to reduce the risk of capsizing or sinking.
Material decisions follow the same logic. Submerged surfaces were designed not only for durability but also to enable biological attachment, allowing ecological layers to gradually form.
Nature-inspired aspects do not manifest as formal mimicry, but as the adoption of operational principles. Just as ecosystems maintain balance through response to external forces, this structure seeks equilibrium amid waves and wind. Its architectural language is grounded in structural stability and coexistence rather than purely formal expression.
6. Climate & Resilience
In the face of climate change, how does your proposal respond to environmental challenges such as heat, flooding, resource scarcity, or habitat fragmentation?
Climate change involves more than intensified weather events; it produces long-term instability in marine ecosystems and habitat fragmentation.
This project does not aim merely to withstand change temporarily, but to function as ecological infrastructure within shifting conditions. Its floating nature accepts sea-level rise rather than resisting it, moving away from fixed-ground thinking toward adaptive coexistence.
Energy self-sufficiency reduces dependence on vulnerable supply chains. I understand resilience not as endurance alone, but as the capacity to reorganize relationships amid change. This proposal presents a regenerative model that forms new equilibria within environmental transformation.
7. Speculation & Innovation
The competition encouraged speculative and imaginative thinking. Which aspect of your design pushes boundaries the most, and how do you see such ideas influencing the future of architecture?
The project expands architectural boundaries not through novel form alone, but through structural integration with other disciplines.
Naval engineering principles, marine ecology, energy systems, and environmental data analysis converge within a unified framework.
In an era defined by climate crisis and biodiversity loss, architecture cannot remain autonomous. It must actively engage with science, engineering, and ecology to coordinate complex systems. This interdisciplinary integration shifts architecture from form-making toward designing relationships and conditions.
Here, architecture is repositioned not as an isolated object but as an integrative platform where diverse knowledge systems intersect.
8. A Message for the Future
If your project could communicate one powerful message about architecture’s role in addressing biodiversity loss, what would it be—and why?
The message of this project is clear: biodiversity loss is not simply a reduction in species numbers, but the collapse of habitats and ecological relationships.
Restoring biodiversity therefore means designing spaces and temporal conditions in which multiple species can once again dwell.
If architecture can function as a medium that reconnects fragmented relationships, we may begin to imagine a different future. To do so, architecture must move beyond occupying or consuming nature and instead operate within ecological systems, forming the conditions for recovery. Humans, in this framework, are not central authorities but participants within a broader network.
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