Career
Daniel S. Natchez and Associates 2017- Present
Desert Coast Marina
I did not produce above Image.
This marina is currently under construction off the coast of Peru.
Our firm's focus for the project was mainly the marina basin and the series of breakwaters. The project went through several iterations before landing on the version that is being contracted to the left.
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Dealing with an international client during the pandemic has created interesting issues including, but not limited to, language barriers, quarantine and travel restrictions, maintaining communication with the different designers and contractors, as well as sourcing the material as specified through the different phases of the lockdowns, and political uneasiness in both places.
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We became part of this project after much of the environmental studies had been done as well as an initial concept plan from the marina. The project has drastically changed both by the client demands, and the wave environment off of the coast of northern Peru.
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The project also includes in the master plan a yacht club, condos on both the north and east sides of the marina basin, a functional boatyard off the northeast corner of the marina, a waterski lagoon, a conference center, townhomes, residential lots, a commercial connection strip adjacent to the Pan-American Highway and an operating airport. While also capitalizing off of the beautiful pristine beaches and calm warm waters off the northern coast of Peru.
The design of the project is to be the only full-service marina between The Panama Canal and Lima, Peru. As the project evolved the creation of an outer basin between the breakwaters gave rise to the ability to become a mega-yacht port. This means that it will also be the only resort with the ability for mega-yachts to dock below The Panama Canal that allows docking of 120ft+ ships outside of shipping ports.
As the specifics of the project were hammered out I had the privilege to work with contacts throughout the world, including Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Peru, and Ecuador.
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Site Plan
Mega Yacht Docks
Sound View
Sound View was a project where the clients wanted a lap pool and a hot tub that would fit within their deeds viewshed restrictions.
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The result was a pool fit into the widest section of the remaining lot perpendicular to the house and off of the family room. The downhill side of the pool and hot tub had to be terraced with concrete form worked wall, as they could not change the grade of the lawn within the viewshed.
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The other main issue involved was "hiding" the pool fence from the house and the adjacent property to the north. The concrete terraces mentioned above helped to hide the pool fence from the house, and with the help of the planting on top of the wall, further concealed the fence. To hide the fence from the neighbor's property on the northside it was decided that it would be concealed with native grass plantings along the exterior of the fence that would then blend into the native grass on the southern boundary of the property.
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The other constraints of the project included allowing lawnmower access within the pool fence and hiding the pool's profile from all sides.
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Proposed looking to Long Island Sound
Proposed looking back towards the house
Proposed looking from the neighbor's house
Century Old Connect
Site Plan
Pipe Cross Section
Century-Old Connect came about due to a dispute between property owners. The properties were originally created from a single lot. The original owners decided to put in only one sewer line, which ran under the second property to the south for most of the length. The new owner, wanting to maximize the usage of their lot, no longer believed it was a beneficial relationship.
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The biggest problem was creating a plumbing system that worked with the relatively high municipal sewer line and could still handle the four-bedroom house with a doctor's office on the ground floor.
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The final route squeezed through the narrow space on the south side of the house, and completely abandoned the old line for a new line.
Site Investigation
Work in Progress
Above the Water
Boatyard buildings from the water
Stormwater runoff Diagram
Cross Section of stormwater planter
Above the Water was a marina with a boatyard that was lifting their office buildings to be outside of the annual flood plain but still allow views of the marina.
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The boatyard is enterally gravel surfacing, but due to stormwater restrictions, the gravel of the yard does not count toward treatment. The owners decided to make stormwater planters that would also improve the view of the buildings from the harbor, which is considered part of the waterfront district.
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Fairly straightforward in design, the planters were sized to accommodate a 50-year storm's water quality volume. With stone strips placed at the bottom of each of the downspouts to reduce the speed of the rainwater, it would then seep into the planter. With the water being released through a perforated pipe at the bottom of the planting box. A 1" weir on the outboard side of the planters would allow excessive rainfall to overflow the planters.
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Longitudinal Cross Section of stormwater planter
Water Views
Water Views was trying to balancing the needs of the boatyard, our client, with nearby residents and maintaining their share of the water views. The above picture was from the backyard of one of the biggest opponents to putting up the new building, believing it would infringe more on their views than the existing structure. To highlight the impact of just the building, the two trees in the neighbor's yard were edited out to show that the minor increase in the height of the building would not be detrimental. ​
It was decided to go with a blue building to help to shrink and camouflage the building into the existing waterfront. The boatyard needed to rebuild their building before it fell and reduced their workable space by 1/3 while maintaining the cultural integrity of the boatyard and the neighborhood.
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Out into the Water
While I was not the original designer on Out into the Water, I was the site supervisor who worked through the issues we faced due to the location and other construction snafus in the build.
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The site, as you'll see in the photos, was at the base of a rock out-cropping with the main access down to the location from the side through a series of rough-hewn stone steps, which made the transportation of any material improbable, so with the exception of the rebar, stone, and cement everything was brought in by barge, and was subject to the tides and weather.
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The learning curve on this project was quick and effective, as this was the first dock and waterfront construction that I had to deal with directly out of college. That being said, it is the supervisor's job to be very well acquainted with the drawings and limitations of the site, which I was before the construction began.
