Designers Confront Rising Sea Levels

In Amsterdam, German-Iranian artist Siba Sahabi has created a pavilion – named Pavlopetri, after the submerged ancient Greek city – which explores the Netherlands’ relationship with rising sea levels and hopes to make the consequences of the climate crisis tangible.

Created with Dutch composer and sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt, the installation evokes an underwater world via a soundscape and animated reflections of undulating water projected onto the ceiling.  At four metres tall, with a ceiling at two metres – Amsterdam’s depth below sea level – Pavlopetri’s reflective golden exterior and open design invite visitors to engage with its surroundings and provoke the question: what can be done to keep the city from a similar fate?

Meanwhile, in London, an installation commissioned by Create London for The London Festival of Architecture examines the reality of building in areas at risk of flooding. Created by local architecture practice Material Cultures and acclaimed Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari, Rising from the Water: Designing in a Climate Emergency is an experimental flood structure inspired by Lari’s 2011 project, the Darya Khan Women’s Centre – a bamboo construction on raised stilts built to avoid flooding in Pakistan.

Located in the East London suburb of Barking, Rising from the Water explores the potential of using plants that grow in wet and flooded areas, such as willow and reed, for construction. Built by architecture students, the project aims to spark conversations about climate change, flood risk in East London and what it means to build during a climate emergency.

For more on water management, climate-resilient architecture and positive climate education through storytelling, see Solutions for the New Climate Era across Product Design, Colour & Materials and Retail & Brand Comms.