What would happen if Katrina-style flooding hit New York City? Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront, a new MoMA/P.S. 1 program, pairs four teams of architects, engineers, and landscape designers with four sites in New York and New Jersey’s Upper Bay and asks them to come up with designs that would minimize the damage of high storm surges and “provide new ground for recreation, ecologies, agriculture, and urban development.”
The eco-aware project was inspired by On the Water: Palisades Bay, a forthcoming book from Princeton University professor of structural engineering and architecture Guy Nordensen, as well as his independent research with ARO and landscape designer Catherine Seavitt. “The experience of Katrina taught us the value of wetlands,” he had said. “We need to start thinking positively about what we can do to address these scenarios.”
Each team will be given a stipend (!) and residency at P.S.1; the designs will be exhibited at MoMA next March. Some early ideas from Guy Nordenson Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, and ARO below.
An artificial reef made of subway cars
The reintroduction of wetlands
Slips carved out of existing streets in Sunset Park
All images via The Architect’s Newspaper