2020 | Object | Unbuilt | Collaborators: Sam May, Paul Gruber

The Chilean coast offers the largest natural forest of seaweed in the world. Seaweed harvesting is an important source of income for many Chileans, particularly a group of mostly women known as Algueros who migrate back and forth from the city to dive for seaweed.

The typology of the dock became a structural catalyst for our design proposal because of its simple connection between land and water. Lids with sunken handles can be removed to reveal storage space and these handles also act as plugins for add-ons that the algueros can incorporate into their harvesting practices. A motor plug in can help harvesters travel along subtidal zones; a drying rack can help process seaweed while the platform serves as a workspace, kitchen and space from which to dive.

The construction method of the dock was inspired by Chilotan carpentry techniques. Chiloe is a large archipelago that breaks off from Southern Chile at the mouth of Patagonia. Stemming from both indigienous and European maritime cultures, Chiloe maintains an active industry of traditional wooden boat construction. Local carpenters utilize complex joinery and nail free construction to make vessels used in local fishing and aquaculture. This type of joinery allows the dock to be disassembled into a kit of parts for easy transport and repair.

It is important to understand the individual docks as the beginning of a much longer timescale. Over time, we imagine these modules and elements metabolizing to create a network of docks that grow over time and through its evolution, divers can creatively misuse and hack the docks for other purposes such as selling seaweed directly from the dock, using the dock as a rescue platform, or even selling food from the docks.