Link to article

This project explores how an architecture informed by indigenous building practices and technologies can address the need to adapt today’s design- and installation priorities and processes for climate change, coastal erosion, and flooding. The resulting nature-based nomadic pavilion design considers a site-responsive, adaptive design bridging industrialized construction, local ecological responsivity, and cultural heritage for constructability and temporality. Sited in Jacksonville, Florida, the project proposes locally sourced materials, including oyster shells, marsh reeds, and beeswax, all of which are features in both the project’s performance requirements and aesthetic. Through advanced computational design, analysis, and digital fabrication, the pavilion's nature-based elements are set within a modular framework optimized for portability and site adaptability. Ultimately, the pavilion design demonstrates a fusion of experimental natural materials and modern architectural processes in a resilient, site-responsive kit-of-parts. The project asks architecture and engineering professionals to consider in their own work mobility as their primary design- and hazard responses and to interrogate local materials as an opportunity for invention. The kit-of-parts solution offers construction professionals and prospective clients a materially-experimental installation with minimized risk to construction schedule, budgetary overages, and storm impacts.

INTRODUCTION

The Nature-based Nomadic Pavilion, initially conceived in response to imminent climate emergencies and conditions at Betz Tiger Point Preserve in Jacksonville, Florida, is a research-driven prototype proposal that rethinks resilience in digital design and fabrication by prioritizing adaptability and ecological integration. Inspired formally and materially by the huts of the Timucua people of North Central Florida, the pavilion also incorporates nomadic Mongolian yurt strategies for portability, recapturing lost elements of Indigenous built heritage.

Timucua History and Architectural Influence in Jacksonville

Building practices must adapt to greater uncertainty and extreme natural disaster events that are on the rise due to climate change. Temporary architecture offers an alternative way of inhabiting vulnerable areas. At Betz Tiger Point Preserve, destructive climate forces and challenges have been identified (Figure 1, left). Short-term events, such as flooding and hurricanes, have long-term effects, including erosion, marsh migration, and sea-level rise leading to habitat loss. Some species documented through point-location data have already adapted their own means of survival: migration. Fungi, crabs, birds, oyster reefs, and even marshes are all adapted to move from locations that are not optimal for their self-preservation. Humans may need to adopt this strategy for the same reasons, ahead of a more drastic response like managed retreat.

In North America, the Timucuans who occupied the Betz-Tiger Point Preserve were eradicated in the 16th century through colonization. They were semi-nomadic, staying within the same general area. Their dwellings were circular in footprint and tapered upward. A hut’s primary structure comprised 8–10 pine sapling posts, sunken into holes in the ground, bent at the ends, and tied at the top, leaving an interior floor area about 25' in diameter. Thin pines and grapevines were woven between the supports to create a lattice structure, starting 3' from the ground and stopping 1.5' short of the top, forming a smoke escape, like yurts. Vertically oriented palm fronds were then thatched into the horizontal lattice to provide water protection, shade, insulation, and to create a convection-cooling chimney (Figure 2, left). The huts were primarily used for shelter, while daily activities were conducted outside.

By applying the migratory capabilities of the yurt to the Timucua hut in the project's design intent, a resilient building type that reflects both locally informed design sensibilities and responds to the current vulnerability of the site can be realized (Figure 3).

METHODOLOGY

Project Brief

The Nature-Based Nomadic Pavilion, sited on the eastern coast of the preserve (Figure 1, right), presents a cone with a roof that slopes upward toward the center. The circular plan is translated into an octagon, yielding a more easily assembled, faceted, modular design. Just as the Timucua erected eight posts for their entire structure, the pavilion has eight columns, which transition into roof beams of the same profile and size to maintain visual continuity between the walls and the roof. An opening in the roof forms an octagonal oculus that recalls the smoke escape of its historic precedent. While the pavilion’s formal appearance is aligned with the Timucua hut, the selected geometries allow for the incorporation of the migratory logic of the Mongolian yurt.

The pavilion design is a kit-of-parts to produce a demountable, modular assembly, following Mongolian practices and allowing the pavilion to be relocated or broken down and stored in the event of a natural disaster or imminent hazard.

Within each module, a nature-based approach guides the material selection for function and performance. The floor system will feature oystercrete terrazzo pavers, combining durability with restorative ecological potential. Wall panels will be constructed using marsh reeds sewn into panels, providing natural ventilation, shade, and a tactile connection to local resources. The roof and structural framework will integrate waxed canvas panels, merging lightweight construction with flexibility and water resistance. The organization of materials addresses functional requirements and reflects a commitment to environmentally and culturally attuned design.

Oystercrete Terrazzo: Sustainable Coastal Flooring

For the Timucua, oysters were a food source, and shells were used as tools, decoration, and in ritual ceremonies. Oysters also play a vital role in environmental health: filtering water, sustaining biodiversity, reducing pollutants and storm-surge impact, and mitigating shoreline erosion.

The oyster shell in the project’s terrazzo floor paver samples was sourced from Florida’s St. Augustine coast, in collaboration with the GTM Research Reserve and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to ensure responsible harvesting (Figure 4, left). Drawing on this ecological and cultural heritage, the project transforms oyster shells, discarded from a vital food source of the Timucua, into a contemporary building material, bridging history, ecology, and design.

The terrazzo floor pavers combine concrete, pulverized oyster shells, crushed shell aggregate, fibers, water, and natural pigments to create a colored, durable, nature-based material (Figure 4, right). The incorporation of oyster shells into oystercrete both reuses waste material and lowers CO₂ emissions, contrary to standard carbon-intensive concrete production. If the pavers ever become permanently submerged, oyster larvae would be attracted to the chemical composition, attaching and establishing new beds.

Reed Panels

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of reeds as components of marshland ecosystems for preventing coastal erosion and improving water quality when properly managed.

Though the project aspires to ultimately use locally harvested black needle rush reeds (Figure 5, left), to protect the fragile coastline of the Preserve, the experimental material samples use Peruvian totora reeds, a common building material used by Indigenous peoples (Figure 5, right). The pavilion’s vertical envelope is composed of composite modules of sewn reed panels set in a steel framework. This breathable, panelized skin leverages the reed's natural spongy plant tissue, which transports gases through the plant. When harvested and dried, it can function as an insulator, helping maintain a stable temperature and preventing the steel frame from heating. Beyond these temperature qualities, the reeds’ high strength-to-weight ratio and rapid biorenewability make them a sustainable material source.

In nomadic woven assemblies, cross ventilation is correlated to how densely the material is woven. Depending on its configuration, the material may also serve as a solar-shading screen, as proposed in the pavilion; rainscreen-type protection through thatch; or, in vertical orientation, also as proposed; and as high-density mats for thermal insulation.

After drying, the reed stems are cut to length and mechanically fed into an industrial sewing machine at a controlled cadence; a calibrated stitch distance ensures that each stem is secured by at least two points of contact. Cotton thread is used for stitching, maintaining precise control over the spacing intervals (Figure 6, left). This method blends traditional material knowledge with industrialized production techniques to explore the lightweight skin's versatility. The resulting panels are installed in the frame as offset, crosshatched layered screens. The horizontally oriented screen can be rolled up, while the vertically oriented screen remains fixed to shed water, creating an interactive assembly of different visibilities and patterns (Figure 6, right; Figure 13, right). This layering mirrors the dual function and performance of Indigenous woven built elements, from porous weavings for shade to dense, insulated enclosures.