California Changing: 50 Sites of Climate Change in Augmented Reality

The state of California has emerged as a pioneering force in designing for climate change, yet it has also faced the devastating impacts of numerous climate-related disasters, including droughts, wildfires, and rising sea levels.

This book offers a unique climate change tour, delving into architectural scale sites across the state. From innovative houses using sustainable techniques to historical locations ravaged by the combined forces of drought and wildfire, the book explores a range of poignant examples. The main visual contents are a set of architectural site illustrations that are each enhanced by an augmented reality component showcasing the interplay between past, present, and future scenarios. The publication caters to architects, landscape architects, planners, design enthusiasts and general audiences alike, fostering a curiosity about climate change and its relevance to our daily lives.

This book takes a small-scale approach seeing the ways that climate vulnerability and resilience has changed and is changing the very places we reside. A cabin at risk of wildfire. A house at risk of erosion. A public walkway that is estimated to be underwater in ten years time. This book is illustrated with 50 sites across California—an atlas of sorts—raising questions about how we live, what we value, and issues we might consider as we plan for the future.

Brett Snyder researches and works at the intersection of architecture and media. Snyder is an associate professor of design at the University of California Davis, and a principal of Cheng+Snyder, an experimental architecture and design studio based in Oakland, California.