Yesterday, US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced OMA, BIG and four other teams as the winner of "Rebuild by Design", a competition aimed at rebuilding areas affected by Hurricane Sandy focusing on resilience, sustainability and and livability.
In total, HUD have allocated $920 million to the six projects in New York, New Jersey and Long Island to enable the completion of this vision.
Read more about the winning schemes after the break
Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge: a comprehensive strategy for Hoboken
Project Team: OMA
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey
Prize Awarded: $230 million
OMA's proposal, developed with engineering consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV and titled "Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge" proposes a comprehensive strategy for Hoboken, New Jersey, establishing resiliency through the integration of key infrastructural elements that protects coastal neighborhoods and the entire city of Hoboken beyond.
"Hurricane Sandy flooded up to 80% of Hoboken and caused over $250 million in damage," commented Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. "For Hoboken, we need a solution that protects the whole community. OMA and Royal HaskoningDHV developed a comprehensive strategy for our City that improves the resiliency to flooding from both storm surges and rainfall events. We are very confident that their plan will prove to be successful!"
The BIG “U”
Project Team: BIG
Location: Manhattan, New York
Prize Awarded: $335 million
The Big U is a protective system around Manhattan, driven by the needs and concerns of its communities. It protects 10 continuous miles of low-lying geography shielding the city against floods and stormwater and providing social and environmental benefits to the community, and an improved public realm.
The plan comprises 3 systems, each created though consultation with local communities. Describing the scheme, Bjarke Ingels said "The Big U is an example of what we call Social Infrastructure. The High Line shows how a decommissioned piece of infrastructure – the abandoned elevated railway – can be transformed into a public space and green landscape. We asked ourselves: What if we could envision the resilience infrastructure for Lower Manhattan in a way that wouldn’t be like a wall between the city and the water? The Big U will not only make the waterfront more resilient but also more accessible and inviting to the citizens around it."
Living with the Bay: Resiliency-Building Options for Nassau County’s South Shore
Project Team: Interboro Team
Location: Long Island, New York
Prize Awarded: $125 million
In the exposed area of Nassau County on Long Island, Interboro Team acknowledge that there "is no 'silver bullet' solution" for an area that faces multiple water-based threats: from storm surges, to rising sea levels, to frequent storms, flooding in Nassau County can come from a variety of sources. Therefore, the 'Living with the Bay' proposal uses a variety of solutions: protective infrastructure for Long Island's barrier islands, new marshlands to attenuate storm water and a network of slow streams to deliver water away from built up areas.
New Meadowlands: Productive City + Regional Park
Project Team: MIT CAU, ZUS, Urbanisten
Location: The Meadowlands, New Jersey
Prize Awarded: $250 million
The New Meadowlands project aims to protect, connect and grow the existing areas of marshland in an area between Jersey City and Newark at its Southern end, up to Hackensack at its Northern End. An intricate system of berms and marshes will protect against ocean surges, collect rainfall, and reduce sewer overflows in the adjacent towns. The edge of the park will be defined by the Meadowband, which consists of a street, Bus Rapid Transit line, and a series of public spaces, recreation zones, and access points to Meadowpark. The New Meadowpark will add value to surrounding development through its views and recreational offerings.
HUNTS POINT / LIFELINES
Project Team: PennDesign, OLIN
Location: The Bronx, New York
Prize Awarded: $20 million
This collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania School of Design and OLIN envisions an integrated flood protection plan for Hunts Point in the Bronx, New York City. Hunts point is a major economic zone in New York due to the food distribution center, which provides 25,000 jobs and is a key part of the food supply chain which serves 22 million people. "Lifelines incorporates businesses and the community into the design of a project that builds on the special character and capacity of the place - ensuring that the value of resilience investments is felt every day and that New York's waterfront works," said PennDesign team member and instructor Ellen Neises.
Living Breakwaters: Staten Island and Raritan Bay
Project Team: SCAPE / Landscape Architecture
Location: Staten Island, New York
Prize Awarded: $60 million
This layered strategy introduces protective breakwaters and interior tidal flats that can dissipate wave energy and slow the water, while rebuilding sustainable oyster populations within the Harbor. Working with locally impacted communities a range of alternative futures can be developed that are effective, resilient, and complimentary to the ongoing shoreline work of the area.
Correction notice: An earlier version of this article stated OMA as outright winners in the competition, above all other entrants. Apologies for this misunderstanding.