A green seam stitched between neighborhood and storm

King tides and winter storms had been pushing water across the Anchor Basin waterfront for years, flooding the harbour walk and the streets behind it. The city needed flood protection, and the neighbourhood did not want a wall.

A landform, not a barrier

Our answer was a long, gently rising berm that lifts the protected edge to 12 feet NAVD88 while still reading as a park. A path runs along its crest, giving people new views over the channel, and the slopes are shallow enough to sit on.

Water that has somewhere to go

On the inland side, nine bioretention cells catch rain running off the streets and the berm itself. Each cell is sized for a 100-year storm, and together they absorb 2.5 inches of rainfall in under 90 minutes.

Designed with the neighbourhood

Twelve community workshops shaped the planting palette, the seating and the path alignment. Since opening, a sensor network has tracked soil saturation and runoff after every storm, and the data is shared each year with the city's climate office.