RISD Beach: DP Site Instillation

In my Fall 2025 Design Principles Studio, I worked collaboratively with fellow first-year MLA students to construct an ecologically responsive site installation at RISD Beach.

We were brought together by a shared passion for hydrological cycles, grounding our work within the inlet, a dynamic coastal system that bridges bay and marsh. Heavily influenced by Dilip da Cunha’s Decolonizing Wetness, we began to understand water as both an atmospheric and geological force and a surface that is indistinguishable from “ground.”

Assigned nearly one hundred sandbags at random, we reconsidered their conventional role in reinforcing coastlines against storm surge. Hesitant to disrupt the natural ebb and flow of the tides, we repurposed them instead as a social barrier, slowing people rather than water.

I was particularly drawn to the materiality of the polypropylene bags, which led me to research U.S. Army Corps construction manuals to better understand how sandbags resist and redirect hydrological flows. We heat-fused two bags to form a keystone for a spiraling arch, reinforced with bamboo for stability.

At its center, the structure draws attention to the sky as an essential part of the landscape, inviting those who typically move laterally across the beach to slow down. Installed along the shoreline, the project sparked frequent engagement with the Barrington community, creating moments of curiosity and shared reflection within a landscape many consider home.