Floating Fortress of Industry —
an over-salinated utopia


AUD414: Major Building Design
Instructor: Jimenez Lai
Collaborators: Jenn Peterson Ruiz, Xavier Ramirez, Markus Russell
Duration: 4 weeks

Through an exploration of the typology of a ferry terminal, this project arrives at the intersection between low-lying coastal communities and the near-future threat of rising tides. Using the Royal Saltworks by Ledoux as precedent, this ferry terminal produces a utopian critique of the typology by challenging it to produce a phalanstery through its micro-economy.

Taking industries from neighboring areas of Oxnard, this condensed economic community brings agriculture, cultural / recreational facilities, housing, and a desalination plant onto a rig that responds to rising sea levels, ensuring the longevity of Oxnard's relevance along the fragile California coast.


UCLA Architecture and Urban Design
Spring 2020



Aerial view of rig in Oxnard Harbor (left moniter), Google Earth animation highlighting the reallocation of industry from surrounding regions (right moniter), and programmatic and construction technique (corkboard).







The project mediates between the leisure and labor landscapes that surround Oxnard’s coastal urban environment in order to raise forward a social consciousness to the industries of labor that allow for worlds of leisure to exist.









It seeks to negotiate and subsequently absorb surrounding industries in order to allow for a return of the public realm to Oxnard Harbor.






- Artin Sahakian -