Studio Shaffer Lutsko

Beginning in January 2024, our practice, in collaboration with Alianza Coachella Valley, initiated a series of prototyped urban elements for the North Shore master plan. Supported by Alianza and the National Endowment for the Arts, the first aluminum components were designed, detailed, and fabricated in advance of three community engagement events centered on water, sun, and wind. At the second event, held in March, we demonstrated the assembly of a shade structure—an archetypal element envisioned along the project’s path—while gathering pledges of support from community members, critical for advancing resources for future masterplan construction. Alongside these prototypes, we have been developing a pier structure that engages the unstable ground conditions of the receding shoreline, where a high water table and salt deposits present unique geotechnical challenges. This element is conceived to materialize the bathymetric contours of the Salton Sea as they shift over time, embedding the dynamics of environmental change directly into the design.