A bridge to the White House and man-made islands are among the conceptual proposals five architecture studios have developed for preserving Washington DC's Tidal Basin reservoir and the National Mall.
DLANDstudio, GGN, James Corner Field Operations, Hood Design Studio and Reed Hilderbrand all created schemes to reimagine the site for Tidal Basin Ideas Lab ? organised by National Trust for Historic Preservation, Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service and architecture firm SOM.
Tidal Basin threatened by crumbling sea wall and flooding
Set between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel, the Tidal Basin is intended to capture 250 million US gallons of water (946 million litres) from the river and release it into the channel twice a day. It is now threatened by a crumbling sea wall and flooding caused by rising sea levels. The scope of the ideas lab also encompasses the neighbouring National Mall, America's most visited national park, which is home to some of the capital's most famous landmarks including The Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, The Jefferson Memorial and Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.

"As part of 'America's front yard', the Tidal Basin is home to some of the most iconic landmarks and traditions in the nation's capital," said National Trust for Historic Preservation's Katherine Malone-France.
"Yet current conditions do not do justice to a landscape of such significance," she explained.
"These ideas explore wa...