Architecture, as a practice and as a discipline, needs solid ground and yet shorelines ebb and flow, refusing to commit to a single line that separates water from land. This introduces the idea of an architecture of the sea, a theme that’s the lodestar of “The Built Ocean” conference, hosted by the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Porto from September 10 to 13, and that I’m most excited to be presenting at in the company of so many fellow watery researchers.

Thinking about what I call codscapes, my contribution to the Animals panel is set on Fogo Island and begins with my first night in saltbox house, which taught me that here and in other Newfoundland outports buildings, like shorelines, don’t stay still. In response my paper, Split, Salted, and Staged, will spotlight the Newfoundland fishing stage as an example of liminal and amphibious heritage that is equal parts material, cultural, and environmental.