Rebuild By Design

The best spots for free outdoor music in NYC this summer

$5.9M Civil War-era Clinton Hill mansion is a three-family home and an architectural gem

$1.8M restored Marcel Breuer house on the Hudson has kept its mid-century modern spirit intact

July 18, 2018

First phase of Bjarke Ingels’ BIG U storm protection system begins planning process

By Dana Schulz

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild By Design contest sought proposals for flood protection systems. Among the seven finalists was Bjarke Ingels' and One Architecture & Urbanism's BIG U, a flooding solution for Manhattan that doubles as a social environment. Now after five years, the first phase of the 10-mile barrier system is getting underway. Rebuild By Design and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) have released an RFP for a stewardship partner for the BIG U's East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), a $335 million reconstruction of the 64-acre, 1.5-mile East River Park. With construction expected to kick off in spring 2019, the partner will "explore stewardship models with funding mechanisms that could enhance the long-term operating budget while addressing issues of equity."
All the details

July 6, 2016

NYC May Get a Big Ugly Wall Instead of Bjarke Ingels’ Storm Protection System

By Michelle Cohen

"Not only is New York City going to build the cheapest, ugliest version of the big dumb wall, there’s a very good possibility that it won’t even be big enough." According to a recent Rolling Stone article titled "Can New York Be Saved in the Era of Global Warming?" the level of storm protection put in place to protect the city from future superstorms may fall short of the elegant solution that was originally promised. According to the story, the city funded a proposal–Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)'s winning submission in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rebuild by Design contest–that involved a 10-mile barrier system that would protect Lower Manhattan from the ruinous effects of storm surges and sea-level rise. Called the Big U, the $540 million infrastructure project would be designed to contain parks and public spaces. But because of cost issues, the project may not materialize as planned.
Find out how the proposal may have changed

Living Breakwaters: An Award-Winning Project Brings ‘Oyster-tecture’ to the Shores of Staten Island

Image courtesy of SCAPE / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PLLC

January 28, 2015

Living Breakwaters: An Award-Winning Project Brings ‘Oyster-tecture’ to the Shores of Staten Island

By Michelle Cohen

We know what you're thinking: what is oyster-tecture, anyway? Just ask Kate Orff, landscape architect and the founding principal of SCAPE Studio. SCAPE is a landscape architecture and urban design office based in Manhattan and specializing in urban ecology, site design, and strategic planning. Kate is also an associate professor of architecture and urban design at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she founded the Urban Landscape Lab, which is dedicated to affecting positive social and ecological change in the joint built-natural environment. But the Living Breakwaters project may be the SCAPE team’s most impactful yet. The “Oyster-tecture” concept was developed as part of the MoMA Rising Currents Exhibition in 2010, with the idea of an oyster hatchery/eco-park in the Gowanus interior that would eventually generate a wave-attenuating reef in the Gowanus Bay. Describing the project as, “a process for generating new cultural and environmental narratives,” Kate envisioned a new “reef culture” functioning both as ecological sanctuary and public recreation space.
Find out more about what oysters and other creatures can do for NYC

June 3, 2014

The Results Are In: Rebuild By Design Announces Winning Proposals for Post-Sandy Flood Protection

By Aisha Carter

Over a year after Hurricane Sandy tore through the metro New York area, destroying lives and homes, some areas are still in the process of rebuilding. In an effort to ensure New York City is never caught off guard from a natural disaster like we were in the fall of 2012, the Department of Housing and Urban Development launched Rebuild By Design, a contest to develop ways to rebuild the city’s most vulnerable areas in such a way that they’ll be better prepared for nature’s unpredictability. 140 proposals were submitted over a year ago, coming from 15 different countries. Last June, 10 finalists were chosen to refine their plans, developing protective strategies for all of the vulnerable areas that were struck, and will likely be struck again. After nearly a year, the Department of Housing and Development has just announced six winners that will receive a piece of the federal government's $4 billion disaster-recovery fund.
Take a look at the winning designs here

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More than just current events, here you'll learn about the places, people, and ideas that are shaping your city.

The best spots for free outdoor music in NYC this summer

$5.9M Civil War-era Clinton Hill mansion is a three-family home and an architectural gem

$1.8M restored Marcel Breuer house on the Hudson has kept its mid-century modern spirit intact

First phase of Bjarke Ingels’ BIG U storm protection system begins planning process

NYC May Get a Big Ugly Wall Instead of Bjarke Ingels’ Storm Protection System

Living Breakwaters: An Award-Winning Project Brings ‘Oyster-tecture’ to the Shores of Staten Island

The Results Are In: Rebuild By Design Announces Winning Proposals for Post-Sandy Flood Protection

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