On Wednesday, a combination of non-profit organizations, companies, and design teams launched the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab, an online exhibit that presents new plans for building a more sustainable Tidal Basin.

Originally intended to be an in-person exhibit, the project was shifted completely online, where visitors can submit feedback and ideas for the Tidal Basin’s future.

The project is a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Trust for the National Mall, and the National Park Service (which manages the Tidal Basin), along with architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and American Express.

The group enlisted five landscape architecture firms to come up with proposals for a reimagined Tidal Basin — DLANDstudio, GGN, Hood Design Studio, Reed Hilderbrand, and James Corner Field Operations, the firm that designed New York City’s High Line.

The 107-acre landscape is home to the Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorials, along with 3,000 cherry trees. But all of that is threatened by the effects of climate change — the area has racked up $500 million in repairs and faces a crumbling sea wall and daily flooding. Last year, the site made it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the most endangered places in the United States.

Currently, the Tidal Basin’s cherry blossoms stand in three feet of water at high tide, according to a spokesperson for the lab. At this rate, the Jefferson Memorial is expected to be submerged in four feet of water by 2040, and by 2070, the MLK Memorial could be in six feet of water at high tide.

“We need to make the improvements and adapt it to the environmental changes that we know are going to happen. The [Potomac] River itself has changed a lot in the last 90 years. It’s risen 11 inches just from urbanization,” Teresa Durkin, vice president of the Trust for the National Mall, tells DCist. “We’re really looking very far out on how this place can change, because it needs to be there in 100 years. We can’t just do nothing.”

The five proposals include milestones from the Tidal Basin’s 130-year history, while analyzing the landscape from an ecological perspective. One plan, for example, includes ideas for improving pedestrian paths and absorbing more storm water. Another re-envisions the walkway that surrounds the reservoir with a vibrant freshwater tidal marsh, boardwalks, and meadow clearings. One design adds a levee to protect the National Mall from flooding and includes a visitor center that extends over the Tidal Basin.

The exhibit’s shift to a virtual model, due to the pandemic, actually might help it reach a wider audience and solicit more ideas, Durkin adds. “We probably should have always had it be a virtual presentation,” she says. “It’s kind of forced us to think a little bit bigger and create this website where now we can collect ideas from the community.”

In a short video, the designers explain the concept behind the project and outline the proposals. There’s even a cameo from Stumpy, the small but persevering cherry blossom we met in March:

“The exhibition is being presented at a moment when the nation is grappling with thorny aspects of its own story, as well as with the question of who gets to write it,” said the exhibit’s co-curator Thomas Mellins in a press release.

There’s no final plan on what the collective will do with the plans just yet, but Durkin says this will be a long-term project that will evolve over the years.

That said, the Ideas Lab creators are seeking input from the public through a handful of surveys and opportunities to share memories tied to the Tidal Basin. People can also share thoughts and stories on social media using the hashtag #SaveTheTidalBasin.