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High Watermark, an Evolving Landscape Legacy

Part 2 Project 2023
Gracie Grew
 University of Sydney | Australia
Written into England’s possession in 1901, the high water mark remains today a legal solution for an ever shifting boundary moment, bringing into existence two separate entities of ‘wet’ and ‘dry,’ on either side of a property title.

Stepping away from the desktop screen-saver image of nature, High Water Mark seeks to re imagine climate affected rivers, dams and floodplains as sites of terrain vague - uncertain, or non-defined landscape conditions. As opposed to being land’s binary opposition, the ambiguity, change and movement of water territory points towards the irreducible link between land and water, forming a new terrain of creative and social intervention.

A string of landscape interventions along a water’s edge, a lookout, a cultural camping site, reflective pool and visitor center seek to re-interpret the cartographic separations of Manly Dam as a site where conditions of flood management, visitor movement and education are gently interwoven with water. At architectural scale, a visitor center bridges over a re-naturalized creek corridor, three pavilions sheltering under a continuous canopy.

Leading visitors towards new recognitions in history and climate, the project seeks to advocate for a new liquid urbanism, reconciling the natural variation of water territory with human activities. Whilst architects cannot heal 200 years of occupation, precise and phased intervention can facilitate heightened experiences of landscape and storytelling, promoting institutional recognition and change.


Tutor(s)
2023
High Watermark, An Evolving Landscape Legacy
The divide between land and water is a colonial separation imposed since Sydney’s colonization. Manly represents an interesting intersection of political, topographical and social forces today, many which reinforce the harbor and lagoon areas as real esta
Maps and plates were central to dignifying Sydney’s conquest by England. To draw a terrain to was to ‘know’ the landscape and thus own it. By virtue of being too wet to build upon, the largest territory that evaded subdivision from the Crown in Sydney wa
Despite these foreign allotment inks, examination of Sydney reveals how cartographic lines are ever-blurring. It is in fact Sydney’s rich surface hydrology and sandstone bedrock which ensured the survival of the harbour’s flooded valley despite two centu
A string of landscape frames positioned at the water’s edge, High-Water Mark reimagines the cartographic separations of Manly Dam as a site where conditions of flood management, everyday users and visitors are gently interwoven with water. Reinstating dam
Manly Dam, the beginning of an ancient flood plain linked to the ocean
A ‘double collusion’ between a strided bold and rational geometry forms contrast to the wild and indeterminate, providing a neutral platform to experience tactile and enchanting geographies. Together the larger systemic methodological thinking and smaller
Providing new visitor infrastructure to support the community education, interpretation programs, the structure relocates and centralises facilities affected by flood and run off, its scale reflecting the significance of the site and growing surrounding c
A clear corrugated roof allows sun to filter through the pavilion. Periodically broken by white zincalume, shutters and louvers, it forms a lantern which glows and exposes its timber frame as light fades. Breeze can sift in and out of the colonnade, leave
Open, generous and welcoming, it touches down and encloses only where it needs to. Hosting community workshop space, a specimen greenhouse garden, ranger’s office, canteen and public kayak hire, the visitor centre supports the wider use and educational ag
Advocating for a new liquid urbanism, reconciling the natural variation of water territory with human activities. Whilst architects cannot heal 200 years of occupation, precise and phased intervention can facilitate heightened experiences of landscape and
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