Adapting Assateague was a graduate-level architecture course that was offered in the Summer of 2021 at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. The nine-week course was developed and co-taught by Jana VanderGoot, Associate Professor of Architecture, and Michael Ezban, Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources collaborated with the UMD School of Architecture in a UMD PALS Project (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability).
The goal of the collaboration was to provide the DNR with a vision for the future in the age of climate change—fresh thinking, provocative representations, and creative design strategies for both resiliency planning for the Assateague State Park at Assateague Island, as well as the design of a new, 3,100 sf Ranger Station building for the park.