Sea urchins, mussels and crabs are among the marine creatures that are expected to take up residence in a floating structure in the San Francisco Bay that was created by a multidisciplinary team at the California College of the Arts.

The structure ? formally called the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab ? is currently moored in Oakland's Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, where it will remain for three years.
Serving as both a research platform and demonstration project, the structure was created by a team of artists, designers and architects from the California College of the Arts (CCA). The project was spearheaded by the university's Architectural Ecologies Lab, which is led by architecture professors Adam Marcus, Margaret Ikeda and Evan Jones.
The diverse team worked in concert with scientists from Benthic Lab and the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, along with experts at the Port of Oakland.
The Float Lab will test solutions for enhancing marine habitat and alleviating coastal erosion. The floating structure acts as a breakwater, which typically consists of piles of rocks placed alongside a shoreline. Breakwaters help block waves and make the water calmer.
"The Float Lab, a cutting-edge prototype for an ecologically productive floating breakwater, merges expertise from design, advanced digital manufacturing and marine ecology to imagine a new kind of architecture for climate adaptation," the team said in a project description.

The structure measures approximately 14 ...