AMPHIBIATION NATION

The Buoyant Foundation Project provides innovative, sustainable, low-impact and low-cost flood mitigation strategies that enhance community and cultural resilience in the face of flooding and climate change, focusing on retrofits of existing housing for vulnerable populations.

PROTOTYPES FOR FLOOD MITIGATION STRATEGIES IN THE MEKONG DELTA ARE NOW INSTALLED

Rice farmers in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam experience flooding every year. This seasonal flooding is essential for crop production, but climate change has increased flooding and it is anticipated that this will continue to be the case.  Building the houses to be perched on stilts is the common solution to flood issues, but as the possibility of worse floods becomes reality this solution is no longer always suitable. The Buoyant Foundation team is working to introduce amphibious retrofitting to residents of the Mekong Delta as a cost sensitive solution to the farmers having to re-build their homes with higher stilts when critical flood events happen. This is also a solution that they will be able to build with local resources and implement on their own.

For three weeks in May and two weeks in June-JulyBuoyant Foundation Project team members travelled to Vietnam to coordinate the retrofitting of houses situated in the Delta. Canadian team members will return during the flood season In October to see the retrofits in action.  Vietnamese team members will monitor the homes during the flood season and conduct post flood interviews with those who live in the homes. 

This work was carried out with the support of the Global Resilience Partnership Water Window Challenge and the Z Zurich Foundation.

See more images from our projects by joining our new Facebook Group.

PROTOTYPE FUNDED BY NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL NEARING TEST PHASE

Indigenous communities in Canada have a deep connection with the land on which they live. However, increased flooding from climate change is posing a risk to their homes. With support from the National Research Council of Canada, the Buoyant Foundation Project is constructing an amphibious pavilion prototype to serve as a proof of concept to demonstrate the benefits of amphibious construction to Canadian Indigenous leaders. The ultimate goal of the project is to provide cost effective retrofits to vulnerable homes on First Nations reserves and develop amphibious construction guidelines for eventual incorporation into the Canadian Building Code.

With a location on the University of Waterloo's main campus, the prototype will sit in an area where there are fluctuations in water level that will allow for demonstration to others and the monitoring of its performance. The pavilion has been constructed in modular components at the School of Architecture and it's installation on main campus is set for late September. 

IN THE PRESS

MEET SOME OF OUR TEAM

Elizabeth English

Dr. Elizabeth English is Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Waterloo in Cambridge, Ontario. She is the founder and director of the Buoyant Foundation Project, a not-for-profit organization based in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, and Cambridge, Ontario, that works on the development of retrofit amphibious foundation systems as a low-cost, low-impact flood mitigation strategy that supports the preservation of traditional housing forms and respects local cultural practices.

Current projects focus on the needs of vulnerable low-income communities in Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, northern Canada and Vietnam. 

Barbara Myltschenko

Barbara Myltschenko joined the Buoyant Foundation Project team in May 2017 and currently serves as Project Manager responsible for managing human talent, ongoing projects, and research partnerships. Barbara has spent the last 15 years working in several regional and national non-profit organizations. Barbara brings to the job a passion for convening diverse groups of people from the public and private sectors to expand the capacity of the project she’s working on to deliver better service and value.

Teresa Tran

Teresa is currently a graduate student enrolled in the Collaborative Water Program at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. Her focus has been on design projects linked and integrated with existing and proposed infrastructural systems such as water collection and filtration, stormwater management, and sewage treatment.

Recently she has also worked in Vietnam on affordable residential projects, using vernacular typologies and materials to achieve modern and sustainable designs. At the moment, she is working on a design thesis exploring modern versus traditional sanitary standards and wastewater management systems within rural villages in Vietnam.