Pro-Active Recovery Community Systems // Version 2

PARCS v2: Beaufort Studio (2015)

Project Summary

This design studio organized architecture and landscape architecture students into a laboratory for confronting these issues in a comprehensive and collaborative way. The course relied on a partnership with the Town of Beaufort, North Carolina. By engaging community and government stakeholders, and consulting with researchers, students developed problem statements that enable implementation and future adaptation of multiple-scenario, holistic design propositions.

The semester was split into a research phase and a design phase. During the first phase (6 weeks), LAR and ARC students collaborated with residents, stakeholders, and community leaders in Beaufort to produce a series of analytical videos that examined these topics: social systems, cultural characteristics, local economy, built environment, and natural systems. In the second phase (10 weeks), students worked independently and in teams to define a network of projects throughout the town.

The design schemes are based on a resilient and adaptive design concept called P.A.R.C.S. (Pro-Active Recovery Community Structures), and they provide innovative solutions for disaster mitigation and post-disaster recovery for residents of the Outer Banks.