Archinect - News

SCAPE completes Living Breakwaters coastal resiliency project for Staten Island

2024-10-01T11:01:00-04:00

SCAPE has completed work on the $111 million Living Breakwater coastal resiliency project in Staten Island, New York three years after the start of construction in the borough's Tottenville neighborhood.

Per SCAPE: "The project consists primarily of 2,400 linear feet of near-shore breakwaters—partially submerged structures built of stone and ecologically-enhanced concrete units—that will break waves, reduce (and eventually reverse) erosion of the beach along Conference House Park, and provide a range of habitat spaces for oysters, fin fish and other marine species."

Image courtesy SCAPE/Ty Cole

Staten Island was heavily impacted by Superstorm Sandy, prompting the launch of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Rebuild By Design competition in 2013. A live oyster installation for the project is expected to follow by 2027.

Image courtesy SCAPE/Ty Cole

NYC completes work on East Side Coastal Resiliency project's first phase, Stuyvesant Cove Park in Manhattan

2023-06-02T17:57:00-04:00

This Wednesday marked the long-awaited opening of BIG’s planned Stuyvesant Cove Park in Manhattan, marking an end to what was for some a contentious process that drew ire from various community groups on the two-year path towards its eventual completion.

Commissioned to be a first-line response to the damage caused to the city during 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, the park becomes the second completed phase of the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project and will be joined later in the summer by an additional segment between East 18th and East 20th Streets.

The city’s Deputy Mayor of Operations, Meera Joshi, said: “Preserving and enhancing public spaces with waterfront views, must be an objective for all coastal resiliency projects. The opening of this phase of ESCR comes at a time when residents will benefit from its design the most, and not just because it’s the start of hurricane season, but also because the warm weather is here.”

Image courtesy NYC Department of Design...

The Army Corps of Engineers reveals initial coastal resiliency plan for New York City

2022-10-03T09:00:00-04:00

The federal government wants to build a massive system of storm surge gates and seawalls to protect the New York harbor region from flooding and has put forth a much-delayed plan that would remake coastal areas from upper Manhattan down to Jamaica Bay. The Army Corps estimates construction on the $52 billion project would begin in 2030 and be complete by 2044. The project must be first approved by federal, state and local officials and funded before any of the work can start.

The New York District, North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a 569-page report outlining a coastal storm risk management feasibility study. According to The City's Samantha Maldonado, a public comment period will be held through January 6th, 2023, as a means to help "inform the design." Maldonado also reported that the government expects plans to be finalized by 2025.

The Army Corps also released an interactive map that details individual aspects of the initial proposal, which Columbia University climate scientist Paul Gallay said will "set the tone for coastal protection and community viability for decades to come."

"We have a lot more room to advocate for environmental justice communities and truly sustainable solutions than many of the other plans would have allowed for," Victoria Sanders, a research analyst at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, told the publication. "There is still a long road and a lot of unknowns between now a...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams appoints Eric Ulrich as Commissioner of the Department of Buildings

2022-05-05T11:57:00-04:00

Former New York City Council member Eric Ulrich has been appointed as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by Mayor Eric Adams.

Ulrich will serve alongside Kazimir Vilenchik, the new First Deputy Commissioner, and replaces Gus Sirakis, who has been serving as the DOB’s Acting Commissioner for the past six weeks.

Earlier on Archinect: NYC Department of Buildings shuts down 322 construction sites in 'zero tolerance' safety sweep

“Our city and our economy cannot recover from the COVID-19 pandemic without a strong construction industry, and this team will deliver while prioritizing worker safety and customer service,” Adams said before thanking Sirakis for his service during the pandemic.

Ulrich comes to the job with a reputation for having played a critical role in New York’s post-Sandy recovery efforts through his role on the council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings. His initiative in that capacity to rezone vulnerable communities in the city affected by coastal ...

New York City announces another round of resiliency pilot programs as de Blasio prepares to step down

2021-11-23T18:17:00-05:00

Outgoing NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has released a new $90 billion dollar resiliency plan that will expand on an existing pilot program using the city’s own climate-based design guidelines as a precept.

The plan calls for a total of 40 new projects overseen by 23 different capital agencies within a five-year timeframe that will culminate in a strengthened bulwark against the deadly effects of climate change with a particular focus on New York’s oft-neglected “environmental justice areas.”

City entities as diverse as NYCHA and the FDNY will receive between $1 and $3 billion apiece for projects which are the precursors to the soon-to-be-implemented Local Law 41, according to the mayor’s office.

“Climate change is happening now and we have the guide we need to ensure our public infrastructure is protected in New York City,” Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “Roads, hospitals, public housing, and buildings need to be designed with the impact of extreme weather in mind, and the NYC Cl...

Going from bad to worse: Penn Station's massive tunnel system is aging rapidly

2018-01-11T17:35:00-05:00

I’d been assigned to write a story about Pennsylvania Station, but I wanted to get a caboose-eye view of the decaying tunnels leading up to it, because the only imaginable way the station could be any worse is if it were underwater. Penn, the Western Hemisphere’s busiest train station, serves 430,000 travelers every weekday—more than LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark airports combined.

"As the gateway to America’s largest city," Devin Leonard writes in his piece for Bloomberg Businessweek, "Penn Station should inspire awe, as train stations do in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other competently managed metropolises. Instead, it embodies a particular kind of American failure—the inability to maintain roads, rails, ports, and other necessary conduits."

2015 Solar Decathlon winner Stevens Institute of Technology addresses post-Sandy resiliency with the SURE HOUSE

2015-10-19T14:13:00-04:00

The Stevens Institute of Technology of Hoboken, New Jersey won the 2015 Solar Decathlon with their storm-resilient SURE HOUSE this past weekend. One of the crowd favorites in this year's competition, the SURE HOUSE scored the highest in seven out of the 10 contests, which put the team in the lead with a final score of 950.685 points out of a possible 1,000. Along with more than a dozen U.S. and international teams, Team Stevens spent two years designing and planning the SURE House, and constructed it from the ground up in just nine days before the competition began on October 8.

After witnessing — and even personally experiencing — the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Stevens team based their concept of the SURE HOUSE on storm resilience that balances energy efficiency. Built with fiber-composite materials repurposed from the boad-building industry, perhaps the standout element of the house is the bi-folding storm shutters, which are wrapped with fiberglass and made of a composite f...

They've been waiting patiently

2015-03-14T15:11:00-04:00

"Do you have any skills?...You don't need to have any skills to come volunteer...this is still a story".

Jordan Klepper investigates a story of reconstruction in Staten Island. Two and a half years post-Sandy, four locals offer criticism of the NYC Build it Back program. He then chats with Enrique Norten about Mercedes House, a recent TEN Arquitectos project (totaling 1.2 million square feet) in Manhattan, completed in approximately three years. The role of dreaded "bureaucracy" is then referenced and Alana Tornello (a Disaster Recovery Coordinator) urges folks to volunteer and not forget.

For an alternative view of the topic; check out Weathering the Storm: Rebuilding a More Resilient New York City Housing Authority Post-Sandy released by The Alliance for a Just Rebuilding.

Facing the realities of climate change: Staten Island's complicated strategy of Managed Retreat

2015-02-13T15:07:00-05:00

Living at land’s edge has always come with a certain amount of risk: storms coming off the ocean can be violent and proximity to water always carries with it a possibility of getting wet. [...] in three communities on Staten Island, a New York State program to encourage managed retreat through homeowner buyouts has elicited strong interest and vocal support.

Landscape research project takes on Long Island's Jamaica Bay

2015-01-29T14:24:00-05:00

Landscape architect Catherine Seavitt, along with her team at the City College of New York, take those approaches to Jamaica Bay a step further as part of the larger Structures of Coastal Resilience study, which includes three other East Coast bays attended to by university-based teams. As Seavitt explains, her studio follows a growing trend in the field of landscape architecture toward experimental and science-based design processes and active participation in policy discussions.

Beyond the Grid's vision to make a Lower Manhattan neighborhood more resilient

2014-12-18T13:58:00-05:00

While independent communications infrastructure, renewable energy, and resilient heating and power systems may all be major priorities in contemporary urban development, the three aren’t typically incorporated into the same project. Beyond The Grid — an ambitious plan underway in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan — does just that. And the fact that the proposal has been created in this neighborhood is no accident.

The Anatomy of Emergency

2014-12-10T14:33:00-05:00

Of all the roles of government, emergency response may be the least controversial. When disaster hits, we expect our fire, police, and other public services to provide immediate relief. But as James McConnell, Assistant Commissioner for Strategic Data at the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM), reminds us, tactical effectiveness in a crisis requires more than boots on the ground, ready at a moment’s notice.

The key...is not more money

2014-11-17T21:52:00-05:00

"We need to retreat, especially intellectually...from the idea that we can keep on building anywhere we want. New Yorkers are tough. They can take whatever nature throws their way. But you just can’t grow forever at the expense of the sea" - Professor Ted Steinberg

Going beyond the more well known and singular, such as U.S. HUD's Rebuild By Design competition, Alan Feuer, Greg Moyer and Melanie Burford highlight various more quotidian infrastructural and planning efforts underway. With an eye toward not just rebuilding but resilience, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Con Edison are spending approximately $1 billion (each) on resiliency improvements over the next few years. Meanwhile, initiatives such as New York Rising or the Business Resiliency Investment Program seek to build community/civic capacity. Yet, others argue that NYC will always be vulnerable, as a result of our own "environmental machismo".

Residents of NYC Adult Home Asked to Repay FEMA Aid From Hurricane Sandy

2014-11-10T14:21:00-05:00

The residents of Belle Harbor Manor spent four miserable months in emergency shelters after Superstorm Sandy's floodwaters surged through their assisted-living center on New York City's Rockaway peninsula. Now, the home's disabled, elderly and mostly poor residents have a new headache: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked at least a dozen of them to pay back thousands of dollars in disaster aid.

Report highlights vulnerability of Amtrak’s NYC tunnels

2014-10-02T13:49:00-04:00

A new engineering report assessing the damage caused to the Amtrak-owned Hudson River and East River tunnels in New York City by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 recommends a phased process of maintenance works, which will require taking individual tunnel tubes out of service for extended periods.

How Holland can help fight floods around the world

2014-04-28T13:32:00-04:00

It’s initiatives such as this that have, in recent years, given the water engineers of Holland their almost mythical status amongst flood defenders the world over. After Hurricane Sandy hit New York, in 2012, the $20 billion protection plan that was subsequently instituted built upon principles that were pioneered by the Dutch. Officials from as far away as China, Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh are currently consulting Dutch experts.

A barometer of risk

2014-04-28T01:04:00-04:00

“At the end of the day, we’re going to be in a better spot...You just stepped the entire gentrification of Ortley Beach forward five years because everything had to be rebuilt" - Eric J. Birchler, the owner of Birchler Realtors

Ronda Kaysen examines how Hurricane Sandy hit the reset button on the Jersey Shore. Post - Sandy redevelopment is booming. Though some worry about loosing the "blue-collar flavor in the area" and others caution that buyers "are taking some real risk" by not worrying about long-term effects of global climate change and rising sea-levels.

Anti-Fragile: The Uncertain Future of Arverne East

2014-04-16T12:45:00-04:00

Superstorm Sandy brought the Rockaways into the forefront of New Yorkers’ consciousness for a period of time, [...] subsequently as a key reference point in debates about rebuilding versus retreating from the flood zone. [...] The last of these sites is Arverne East, 81 acres of City-owned land that have remained vacant since the neighborhood was razed in 1969. Below, Jonathan Tarleton and Gabriel Silberblatt consider Arverne East’s uncertain future.

How to Think Like the Dutch in a Post-Sandy World

2014-04-11T21:12:00-04:00

Dutch water-management experts have done such a good job of protecting their country that they rarely get to practice with water crises — whereas America was facing something monumental that as a culture it didn’t yet grasp. When Donovan arrived back in the U.S., he opened an email from Ovink that said, in effect, “I hope this isn’t too forward, but could I come work with you?”

The final proposals of the 10 shortlisted Rebuild by Design teams

2014-04-08T17:18:00-04:00

The ten Rebuild by Design finalist teams spent the past eight months doing intensive research and engaging with local communities to find local and resilient solutions to rebuild the Eastern Seaboard cities affected by Hurricane Sandy...Each team presented their final proposals to the public at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ late last week. Secretary Shaun Donovan of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will announce the winning projects later this spring.

BIG, WXY + West 8, OMA, Sasaki Associates, Interboro Partners, and notable universities are only a few of the multidisciplinary team leaders in this global group of finalists.

While we wait for the winning results, check out the final proposals below.

BIG U by the BIG team
Location: New York, New York

The Commercial Corridor Resiliency Project by HR&A Advisors, Inc. with Cooper, Robertson & Partners
Location: Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York; Far Rockaway, Queens, New York; Asbury Park, New Jersey

Living with the Bay: A Comprehensive Regional Resiliency Plan for Nassau County’s South Shore by the Interboro team
Location: Long Island, New York

New Meadowlands: Productive City + Regional Park by MIT CAU + ZUS + URBANISTEN
Location: The Meadowlands, New Jersey

Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge: A Comprehensive Strategy for Hoboken
by OMA
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey

Hunts Point Lifelines by PennDesign/OLIN
Location: Hunts Point, Bronx, NY

RESILIENCE + THE BEACH by Sasaki/Rutgers/Arup
Location: Jersey Shor...

Oysters Could Save New York From More Sandys

2013-11-12T19:42:00-05:00

Kate Orff wants to grow oysters in New York’s Jamaica Bay. Not for you to eat, but to save the shore from mighty storms. Great piles of mollusks will diffuse the energy of 10-to-15-foot waves, like those from Sandy that shattered boardwalks and beach homes and shot like missiles up city streets.

Giant tunnel plug could limit future subway flood damage

2013-10-31T13:37:00-04:00

[...] officials viewed a tunnel plug under development by ILC Dover, a Department of Homeland Security vendor and supplier to NASA, to protect subway portals where grade level tracks transition to underground subways. If successfully tested, the MTA hopes the technology could be applied to portals and stairwell locations throughout the system. The tunnel plug demonstrated inside the station is not designed for use inside the subway system, Cuomo's office said.

Exactly one year ago in the Archinect News: MTA Video Release: Hurricane Sandy - South Ferry and Whitehall St Station Damage

Click here to learn more about this Inflatable, 35,000-gallon subway plug.

Winners of ONE Prize 2013 “Stormproof” competition

2013-10-30T15:37:00-04:00

The winners have been revealed for the ONE Prize 2013 international design competition! For this year's "Stormproof" theme, participants had to create smartly designed resilient cities ready to face the challenges of severe climate conditions. The competition, organized by Terreform ONE, drew submissions from 168 teams and 310 team members from more than 15 countries and five continents.

For many post-Sandy "lifting a house has become the go-to solution"

2013-10-27T23:36:00-04:00

"what is unprecedented here is the capacity...people are going to have to wait...there is going to be contractor backlog" - Sammy Chu

Charles Lane of WSHU in Long Island reports the rush to lift houses has regulators scurrying to catch up.

NYC Design Chief on Climate Resilience after Hurricane Sandy

2013-10-10T19:20:00-04:00

I step out into the street but realize that I’d better not — there’s a current — and as my hallway fills, I remember the electrical panel in the basement. It shorts out, and I hear the breakers fall. Then there is an explosion outside, and the neighborhood goes dark.

In October 2012, as Hurricane Sandy approached New York, Alexandros Washburn defied evacuation orders and stayed fast in his home in Red Hook, watching as his street flooded and became a "full-fledged river." But he had good reason; the city's chief urban designer wanted to observe first-hand "the dynamics of the storm surge and its effect on our streets and structures." In an excerpt on Places from his new book The Nature of Urban Design, Washburn recounts his experience during the storm and the hugely complicated — and ongoing — municipal recovery and response.

Architects to the Rescue?

2013-09-09T14:19:00-04:00

Almost a dozen major architecture contests are underway. By calling in the pros, city and federal officials are casting a wide net for fixes. “We don’t have all the good ideas, and I don’t care who does have them,” Mayor Bloomberg said recently.

New York City and the feds are turning to design luminaries from the city and around the globe to help the five boroughs rebuild. But are the designers up to the task of saving the city from the next disaster? And will anyone actually follow their advice?

Rebuild by Design - The Ten Stage One Finalist Teams

2013-08-14T14:20:00-04:00

In a post yesterday, we already featured one of the ten submissions which emerged as Stage One Nominees in the Rebuild by Design competition. Here's now also the complete list of the shortlisted design teams as recently announced by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.

Office of Metropolitan Architecture with Royal Haskoning DHV; Balmori Associaties; R/GA; and HR&A Advisors.
Bjarke Ingels Group with One Architecture; Starr Whitehouse; James Lima Planning & Development; Green Shield Ecology; Buro Happold; AEA Consulting; and Project Projects.
Sasaki Associates with Rutgers University and ARUP.
Interboro Partners with the New Jersey Institute of Technology Infrastructure Planning Program; TU Delft; Project Projects; RFA Investments; IMG Rebel; Center for Urban Pedagogy; David Rusk; Apex; Deltares; Bosch Slabbers; H+N+S; and Palmbout Urban Landscapes.
PennDesign/OLIN with PennPraxis, Buro Happold, HR&A Advisors, and E-Design Dynamics.
WXY architecture + urban design / West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture with ARCADIS Engineering and the Stevens Institute of Technology, Rutgers University; Maxine Griffith; Parsons the New School for Design; Duke University; BJH Advisors; and Mary Edna Fraser.
HR&A Advisors with Coope...

WXY+West 8 to participate in Rebuild by Design competition

2013-08-13T16:19:00-04:00

The New York-Netherlands team, WXY + West 8, was shortlisted to advance to the Analysis and Design stages for the "Rebuild by Design" competition on August 9. Rebuild by Design is a four-stage regional competition to find locally contextual and resilient solutions to rebuild the Eastern Seaboard communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The nine other world-class teams shortlisted are: OMA, BIG, Sasaki, PennDesign/OLIN, HR&A, Interboro Partners, MIT/CAU + Dutch Delta Collective, SCAPE, and unabridged.

UPDATE: Rebuild by Design - The Ten Stage One Finalist Teams

For a Resilient Rockaway (FAR ROC) Design Competition Finalists

2013-07-19T17:35:00-04:00

Four finalists have just been chosen from Phase I of the two-phase “For a Resilient Rockaway” (FAR ROC) design competition. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), L+M Development Partners, The Bluestone Organization, Triangle Equities, American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIA New York) and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Enterprise) made the announcement at the Center for Architecture in New York City.

Launched in April, the FAR ROC competition sought ideas for developing an 80+ acre site called Arverne East into a new mixed-use, mixed-income, sustainable and storm-resilient community that will meet the new physical and regulatory challenges of waterfront development while maintaining the balance between innovation and affordability.

UPDATE: White Arkitekter wins “For a Resilient Rockaway” (FAR ROC) Design Competition

Task force created to prepare New Yorkers for extreme weather

2013-06-13T15:01:00-04:00

New York City must take urgent steps to protect New Yorkers and its buildings from the next extreme weather event, according to a report released today by the Building Resiliency Task Force at a press conference.

In the devastating aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn charged the task force with giving recommendations to improve the resiliency of city buildings and maximize preparedness for extreme weather conditions like high winds, high temperatures and flooding. Urban Green Council led the 200+ member task force.

Highlights of specific suggestions:

Create stronger buildings—require new and replacement doors and windows to be wind resistant; anchor homes to their foundations; design sidewalks to capture storm water.
Ensure reliable backup power—make it easier for buildings to use backup generators and solar energy; require buildings to keep stairwells and hallways lit during blackouts; add hookups for roll-up generato...