GIRLIO | Adaptive Reuse Architecture Reimagines Oil Rigs as Floating Marine Research and Art Communities

Editor’s Choice Entry of Proximity Island 2019

Project by Hannah Rose Stollery, Gene Lee Han, and Andrew Magnus

In an era defined by ecological uncertainty and post-industrial transformation, architecture is increasingly being asked to repair the environmental consequences of previous generations. GIRLIO proposes a radical answer to this challenge through adaptive reuse architecture, transforming an abandoned offshore oil rig into a living center for marine biology, scientific innovation, artistic experimentation, and ocean conservation.

Rather than demolishing obsolete petroleum infrastructure, the project envisions a future where these industrial remnants evolve into productive ecosystems for education, research, and public engagement. Situated within the Adriatic Sea, GIRLIO reframes the oil rig not as a symbol of extraction, but as a catalyst for ecological restoration and cultural exchange.

The proposal was recognized as an Editor’s Choice entry in Proximity Island 2019 for its visionary approach toward sustainable marine infrastructure and adaptive oceanic urbanism.

Reimagining the Oil Rig Through Adaptive Reuse Architecture

At the core of GIRLIO is a compelling architectural question: what becomes of industrial infrastructure after its economic lifecycle ends?

The project answers by converting the oil rig into a hybrid platform for Artists-at-Sea and Scientists-at-Sea. Through laboratories, underwater research facilities, exhibition spaces, residential units, and immersive public experiences, GIRLIO creates a multidisciplinary environment dedicated to understanding and protecting marine ecosystems.

The architecture actively rejects the traditional identity of the oil rig as a monument to extraction and environmental destruction. Instead, the proposal transforms it into an instrument for healing ecological scars and fostering climate resilience.

This adaptive reuse architecture strategy minimizes demolition waste while maximizing the latent structural potential of the offshore platform. Existing gantries, service towers, extraction infrastructure, and circulation cores are retained and reinterpreted into communal spaces, laboratories, housing, and public gathering zones.

A Floating Community for Scientists and Artists

GIRLIO operates as both a research institution and a cultural destination. Scientists conduct marine biological studies focused on underwater ecosystems, coral reef restoration, and climate change, while artists translate scientific discoveries into multisensory installations and exhibitions.

This interdisciplinary relationship becomes central to the spatial organization of the project. Rather than separating public and private programs, the architecture deliberately encourages overlap between visitors, researchers, artists, and residents.

The museum acts as the connective spine of the project, cutting diagonally across platforms and levels while guiding visitors through laboratories, studios, underwater observatories, and communal living areas. This circulation strategy transforms the entire oil rig into an experiential archive for sea life.

Through this layered spatial system, architecture becomes an educational tool, exposing visitors to both scientific research and artistic production in real time.

Modular Living Systems Inspired by Marine Ecosystems

One of the project’s strongest architectural ideas lies in its modular construction strategy. The proposal utilizes prefabricated container-based units that can be assembled, disassembled, relocated, or adapted over time.

This flexibility reflects the changing nature of marine environments and temporary occupation patterns. Similar to coral organisms and underwater reef systems, the architecture is conceived as a living framework capable of gradual transformation.

Shipping containers, former processing rooms, and industrial service spaces are repurposed into housing units, studios, communal amenities, and laboratories. Cranes and construction gantries remain operational as architectural elements that facilitate future adaptation and expansion.

By working with the rig’s existing infrastructure rather than erasing it, GIRLIO demonstrates how adaptive reuse architecture can extend the lifecycle of industrial structures while dramatically reducing material waste.

Architecture Above and Below the Waterline

Unlike traditional waterfront architecture, GIRLIO expands vertically into both aerial and underwater environments.

Above sea level, the project contains:

• Artist studios
• Residential housing
• Cafeterias and communal spaces
• Exhibition galleries
• Public decks and artificial beaches
• Docking platforms for boats and visitors

Below sea level, the architecture extends into submerged laboratories, underwater housing, research chambers, and experiential marine observation spaces.

The underwater spaces become some of the project’s most powerful moments. Transparent enclosures immerse scientists and visitors within marine ecosystems, allowing direct interaction with aquatic life and coral restoration systems.

This dual-world architecture blurs the boundary between built form and ocean ecology. The result is an immersive marine habitat where architecture no longer dominates nature but coexists with it.

Spatial Hierarchy and Collective Living

The project organizes programs into clustered communities spread across multiple levels. Housing units are arranged around shared courtyards and communal terraces to encourage interaction between residents.

Connector bridges establish circulation between towers while preserving visual openness toward the sea. Exterior staircases, suspended walkways, and open decks create an architectural language that reflects the industrial origins of the oil rig while introducing human-scaled experiences.

This layered hierarchy creates varying degrees of privacy and collectivity:

• Public exhibition zones occupy lower accessible decks
• Semi-public communal areas connect research and residential programs
• Private living spaces and labs are elevated into quieter upper levels
• Specialized underwater research facilities remain integrated but protected

The result is a floating micro-city dedicated to collaboration, experimentation, and ecological awareness.

Sustainable Marine Infrastructure for the Future

GIRLIO positions adaptive reuse architecture as a long-term strategy for dealing with obsolete offshore infrastructure worldwide.

Thousands of oil rigs across global oceans are approaching decommissioning, creating significant environmental and economic challenges. Traditional dismantling processes are expensive and often environmentally destructive.

By converting these structures into marine research hubs, ecological tourism destinations, educational institutions, or climate resilience centers, projects like GIRLIO suggest an alternative future for offshore infrastructure.

The proposal specifically highlights coral reef regeneration and marine biology research as essential tools for combating the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems caused by industrial pollution and climate change.

Rather than treating the ocean as a site of extraction, GIRLIO redefines it as a site for restoration, education, and coexistence.

Architecture as Ecological Repair

The visual language of GIRLIO reinforces its conceptual ambition. Industrial cranes remain visible as symbols of transformation rather than extraction. Modular residential units appear suspended within skeletal frameworks. Open public decks invite gathering, recreation, and interaction with the surrounding sea.

Underwater laboratories reveal a new relationship between architecture and marine ecology, where scientific inquiry and environmental stewardship become embedded within everyday spatial experience.

This architectural proposal ultimately argues that sustainability is not simply about energy efficiency or green materials. True sustainability may instead lie in architecture’s capacity to transform existing systems, infrastructures, and histories into new forms of ecological value.

GIRLIO demonstrates how adaptive reuse architecture can move beyond preservation and become an active instrument for environmental healing, social exchange, and climate resilience.

In doing so, the project imagines a future where abandoned oil rigs evolve from symbols of extraction into floating communities dedicated to restoring life beneath and above the sea.