Exactly a year ago, Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of the United States, which became the largest in the history of the Atlantic and the second largest damage in the history of the United States (total damage is estimated at $ 68 billion). The New York City architecture community celebrated Sandy's "birthday" by announcing the results of the international Rebuild by Design competition, announced in August 2013 by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The competition, which was attended by architects and urbanists from around the world, is intended to be a kind of bank of ideas for planning and urban planning strategies that would effectively protect US coastal cities in the future from natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy. Out of more than 40 participants in the competition, 10 teams were selected for the final, whose projects differ both in theme and scale, as well as geographic reference.
The Danish bureau BIG has proposed to lay a new subway line along the southern tip of Manhattan Island, over which the expressway would be located. Due to the occurrence of an underground level, the route would be significantly raised above sea level and thereby protected from possible flooding. The same purpose is served by special concrete dams, the impressive surfaces of which the architects propose to use for the placement of works of modern art, including street art.
OMA is focusing its attention on the John F. Kennedy Airport and the surrounding areas, which are proposed to be converted into the so-called. aeropolis. Along the airport itself, they are erecting a deaf water-protective wall, which in the event of floods and tsunamis will turn the air hub into a place of quite comfortable living for thousands of people.
SCAPE Landscape Architecture's East Coast Rescue Strategy is based on the idea of recreating oyster reefs here. Oysters will purify water and stabilize sediment, and can also become a topic for environmental studies of schoolchildren and students - special floating classes are planned to be built for observations.
Architects WXY and West 8 propose to build an entire artificial archipelago called "New Venice", which will become a natural barrier to the elements.
A floating pier system similar to the barrier island of Long Beach in New Jersey was designed by the joint Sasaki + Rutgers + Arup team. It is planned to place objects of trade and entertainment infrastructure on these structures.
The MIT + ZUS + URBANISTEN consortium proposed to turn the now semi-abandoned Meadowlands territory into a full-fledged area of New York, building it up with housing and multifunctional complexes. Connecting it to New Jersey with a pedestrian bridge over the Hudson will not only bring metropolitan areas closer to each other, but will also create additional escape routes in the event of a natural disaster.
The team of HR&A Advisors and Cooper, Robertson & Partners focused on creating the most functional and public spaces for the urban fabric, deciding that the numerous non-residential spaces on the ground floors of buildings in themselves serve as a good method of flood protection.
Interboro Partners considered building reliable fortifications around the wastewater treatment plant as a top priority in flood prevention. Where possible, the new structures are intended to be used as landscaped public spaces.
The project of PennDesign and landscape architects OLIN is more of a sociological nature: the authors tried to make technical services for the control and prevention of floods an integral part of the public life of the city, creating for this a kind of "social dams", as well as a system of green channels.
But the Unabridged Coastal Collective staked on the improvement and development of the existing Bridgeport park, having reasoned that, occupying a significant coastal area within the city, it can serve as the city's "green lungs" and its protective buffer, and, most importantly, contribute to the creation of a coherent environment habitat, which today splits into not always attractive enclaves.
