Archinect - News

NYC breaks ground on important new Battery Coastal Resilience project in Lower Manhattan

2024-05-16T17:27:00-04:00

New York City has broken ground on the important new Battery Coastal Resilience project in Lower Manhattan. The critical $200 million component of the city’s larger Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency strategy is meant to protect 12,000 businesses and about 100,000 New Yorkers. It has been developed in unison with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice.

Map of Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Projects. Credit: NYCEDC

Work in Phase 1 entails rebuilding The Battery’s former wharf and pedestrian promenade. The project will be completed by the end of 2026 and executed to match emissions reduction baselines set forth by the new NYC Clean Construction Accelerator. It joins the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project adjacent to the north in the city's wider plan for Lower Manhattan that includes another large-scale three-phase build on the East Side and other cap...

Army Corps of Engineers considers $4.6 billion Miami flood control project

2020-06-17T11:32:00-04:00

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is floating a $4.6 billion plan to protect the most vulnerable areas in Miami-Dade County, Florida, from future coastal flooding and storm surge damage. The plan is part of the $3 million, three-year Miami-Dade Back Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study, which is examining current and future storm management strategies.

According to Construction Dive, "the proposed plan focuses on seven geographic areas and would include the construction of storm surge barriers with floodwalls and pump stations, as well as nonstructural measures like home elevations and flood-proofing. The plan also includes the flood-proofing of infrastructure outside of the seven areas but still within the county and one nature-based feature at a site in Cutler Bay, about 17 miles south along the coast from the city of Miami."

Despite being in high-risk flood zones, waterfront housing developments are on the rise in NYC

2018-07-06T17:31:00-04:00

Whether these new apartment buildings can endure another major storm does not seem to be a concern for most residents, who are glad to have new options in inventory-starved markets. Critics, though, ask whether the neighborhoods can withstand the surge of new development and the stress it will add to an already strained infrastructure. These new buildings might remain unscathed in a flood, they say, but what about the damage caused by the torrent around them?

This greenhouse can grow legs to escape flooding

2016-01-28T18:47:00-05:00

Constructed in an area which experiences frequent flooding, the Greenhouse That Grows Legs incorporates a novel approach to flood protection. The building is fabricated on a bespoke steel frame with four hydraulic legs, capable of lifting the building 800mm from the ground on command.

According to the designer, Bat Studio, the greenhouse stands on hydraulic legs that can lift it up in case of flooding – a common occurrence in the area.

Built in glue-laminated timber sections, the greenhouse is meant to be both visually-pleasing and functional. The most prominent façade includes externally-expressed "glulam" columns with mirrors bonded to their sides.

"As the building becomes established and filled with plants we hope this effect will become better and better," state the architects.

"The aim was to construct an experimental building exploring a novel approach to flood defence whilst not compromising the quality of the buildings design."

NYC to receive $176 million in federal funds for flood-protection proposal

2016-01-22T15:25:00-05:00

[Through a national competition by the Department of Housing and Urban Development,] The money would be used to help fortify a stretch of shoreline from Montgomery Street on the Lower East Side to the northern tip of Battery Park City. Specific measures have not yet been determined, but could include adding sea walls and temporary flood walls that could be deployed before a storm, and building grass berms that could double as recreational areas.

Not to be confused with the Rebuild By Design competition-winning proposal, "The BIG U", from 2014.

Nijmegen's new approach to flood control — and urban design

2015-05-18T16:35:00-04:00

The people of Nijmegen aren’t taking their good luck for granted. With climate change expected to bring more intense storms like the one in 1995 (and a previous one in 1993), the city is embarking on a massive flood-control project. That may be expected in the Netherlands, a low-lying country where most homes are built behind protective dikes [...]. But even here, the approach underway in Nijmegen is unusual, and filled with ideas that river cities anywhere can learn from.

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.

diji-lab investigates the future of flood-damage control with BIM and digital design

2014-02-24T18:47:00-05:00

With strange weather patterns becoming the norm, who knows when or where the next natural disaster will strike and affect local neighborhoods. And architects are trying to work with nature to find effective and economic solutions in disaster rebuilding. Some of those architects include Ida D.K. Tam of the diji-lab — a Building Information Modeling (BIM) and digital design consultancy in New York City — in collaboration with Runsheng Lin and Julia Pascutto.

The team investigates the possibilities to integrate BIM, digital simulation technology, and natural systems in an effort to mediate floodwater damage in the context of New Orleans.

Keep reading for a more detailed summary of the project:

"Owing to the inseparable links between nature, performance and efficiency, it is time that digital simulation, building information modeling technologies and natural systems play larger roles in design and construction.

Reversed tributary housing system is an ecological flood water management orient...

Going With the Flow

2013-02-14T11:12:00-05:00

Another way to phrase it is that hard decisions need to be made to cope with rising waters and severe weather. Notwithstanding the obvious difference between a group of farmers on a Dutch polder and communities in the Rockaways or Coney Island, good government makes those decisions while giving affected residents adequate knowledge and agency: the ability to make choices, and the responsibility to live by them.