Hasta La Ideas

News: architects and designers including OMA, BIG and WXY have unveiled proposals to revitalise parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and help protect them against future emergencies.

The Rebuild by Design competition asked ten teams of architects, landscape architects, engineers and urban designers to develop proposals for different sections of America’s east coast, which was struck by the hurricane in October 2012.

Danish studio BIG has developed a protective system, called Big U, which would wrap around the outside of Manhattan. Designed to shield New York City against floods and stormwater, the three separate sections would also create new public spaces.

For the Hoboken district of New Jersey, Rem Koolhaas’ OMA proposes introducing an “urban water strategy”, where a combination of hard infrastructure and soft landscaping can create a coastal defence integrating natural drainage.

New York studio WXY Architecture worked with landscape architects West 8 on a strategy for the New York and New Jersey harbour, entitled Blue Dunes. The designers made predictions about storms of the future and are promoting the establishment of a research initiative.

The design by New York landscape firm Scape features “a necklace of breakwaters” to offer a buffer against wave damage, flooding and erosion on Staten Island, while urban design studio Interboro have developed a series of approaches for the barrier islands, marshes and lowlands of Long Island.

Other proposals include ideas for Jersey Shore, Bridgeport in Connecticut and Hunts Point in New York’s South Bronx.

The competition was initiated last year by US housing and urban development secretary Shaun Donovan. The winning projects will be announced later this year and will be implemented with funding from community grants.

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