Wetlands
World Wetlands Day: February 2
United Nations World Wetlands Day
Wetlands are in danger with the highest rates of decline, loss, and degradation. These lands are critical to people and nature, given the intrinsic value of these ecosystems, and their benefits and services, including their environmental, climate, ecological, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic contributions to sustainable development and human wellbeing.
Types of Wetlands
SWAMPS
Forested wetlands, dominated by woody plants and permanently saturated by water.
They are often inundated with floodwater from nearby rivers and streams.
MARSHES
Soft vegetation wetlands, frequently or continually inundated with water.
They receive most of their water from surface water, and many marshes are also fed by groundwater.
BOGS
Mossy wetlands, dominated by spongy peat deposits and mud.
Most of their water comes from precipitation rather than from runoff, groundwater or streams.
FENS
Peat-forming wetlands that are rich in nutrients and minerals.
They are often fed from upstream drainage and groundwater movement.
Wetlands Around the World
Wetlands are defined as any landform that are wet for the entirety or majority of the year. Coastal wetlands consume and process carbon up to 55% faster than tropical rain forests. This helps to clean the air we breathe. Wetlands are a natural solution for climate change. They absorb carbon dioxide and help to slow global heating and reduce pollution in the air. They are known around the world as the “Kidneys of the Earth”. Wetlands are a general term for wet areas of land that are comprised of bogs, coastal dune lakes, dunes, estuaries, freshwater wetlands, mangroves, peatlands, patties, saltwater wetlands, sloughs, swamps, and wet prairies.
Unfortunately, not everyone views the benefits of wetlands and thus they are being drained and destroyed at a vast rate. This, in turn emits a substantial amount of carbon back into our air. Wetlands are considered to be unusable land by a large portion of the population and are being cleared at a rapid rate. Wetlands have been lost rapidly over the last 50 years, due to drainage, infilling (for agriculture and construction), pollution, overfishing, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change.
“Globally we are seeing evidence of a stressed planet. One that is increasingly burdened by human impact.”
-Lea D’Auriol, founder of Oceanic
Florida Wetlands - The Everglades
“The Native Americans who lived on the land called it “Pa-hay-Okee” which translates to grassy waters.”
The Florida Everglades were once the second largest in North America, spanning over 11,000 square miles. The Everglades spanned from the Kissimmee River which fed into Lake Okeechobee and then ran down into southern Florida covering the majority of the southern tip of Florida in a slow steady moving (4mph) river that flowed all the way to the ocean. It connected ponds, sloughs, sawgrass marshes, hardwood hammock and forested uplands for thousands of years. It is made up of coastal mangroves, sawgrass marshes, and pine flatwoods, creating habitats for hundreds of fauna and unique flora. Due to land developers desire to have “usable” land, the Everglades were sculpted and redirected using a system of roads, channels, canals, and levees, designed by the Army Corp of Engineers. This containment destroyed the Everglades as they were. It cut off the life blood supply of water that created grassy waters. They also began to drain the Everglades and it began to completely dry out. Creating drought like conditions and all the water animals were sequestered to the deepest ponds within the glades. The sawgrass marshes were cleared to and replaced with sugar cane crops to sell and bring income to the area. There were poachers that came to the area and began to hunt the resident migratory birds for their plumage to be used in hats of the time. The Everglades did not become protected land until 1947. The Everglades National Park has 1.5 million acres of protected wetlands and is currently 7,500 square miles and is home to various endangered species including the leatherback turtle, the Florida Panther, and the West Indian Manatee. The restoration has begun to bring the Everglades back to their former glory.
Rhodes + Brito Wetland Projects
Tyndall Air Force Base
Tyndall Air Force Base, located in North Florida, is designing and constructing a new Fire Station #4, located in the Silver Flag District, Zone #12. The project is being initiated to reduce the response times of the existing fire stations currently located within the area to preserve the safety of base personnel, property, and the public. The new building will be a single-story, 2 bay satellite structural firefighting vehicle station, with 2 drive-thru apparatus bays for medium vehicles. Due to Hurricane Michael making landfall in 2018 as a Category 5 storm, Tyndall Air Force Base was heavily damaged. Fire Station #4 will be located in an undeveloped wooded area that was also severely damaged during Hurricane Michael. Utilizing an 18.00’ NAVD88 height above sea level and designing with the flood prevention in mind are some, not all inclusive, of the considerations being taken due to the site being located within wetlands.
The Master Landscape Plan for Tyndall incorporates the existing wetlands and even go so far as to add man-made wetlands to sculpt the site to help prevent impact from storm surge waves. Wetlands are powerful sponges that absorb huge amounts of excess rainfall or storm surge waves. Since Tyndall is situated on Florida’s Panhandle between the East Bay and St. Andrew’s Bay which is just inside the coast from the Gulf of Mexico. By employing a nature based infrastructure strategy across the base they are able to achieve multiple lines of defense against high winds and tidal surges typically experienced during hurricanes. With the use of dunes, wetlands, Longleaf pine forests, and Urban Forests as the inland defenses the water is absorbed naturally. This nature-based infrastructure relies on organic matter to improve water retention in the soils. It depends on bioswales, constructed wetlands and shallow depressions to intercept runoff. Pervious pavements were also incorporated in the parking areas and plazas around the base while impervious surfaces were sloped to drain into the landscape.
Project Sustainability Note:
Tyndall Airforce Base Fire Station #4 building design (and construction) complies with the United Facilities Criteria (UFC) High Performance and Sustainable Building Requirements (HPSBR) Guiding Principles and industry standards for high performance and sustainable buildings. The fire station employs integrated design principles, optimizes energy performance, protects, and conserves water, enhances indoor environmental quality, reduces environmental impact of materials, and addresses climate change risks. Per Department of Defense (DoD) Sustainable Buildings Policy, a newly constructed building that complies with all the requirements of UFC 1-200-02 (HPSBR), is considered compliant with all federal sustainability requirements.
Reclaiming Wetlands Through Design
Architecture is shaped by its environment and natural forces. Inherently, the discipline focuses on the design of objects over systems, on formal morphology over networks or ecologies. However, no building exists outside its context; every structure is sited among ever-changing climates and cultural conditions. How designers respond and connect to these larger systems can radically change the nature and quality of their work.