WINNERS "REBUILD BY DESIGN". Interboro, BIG, OMA, SCAPE, PP/Olin, MIT

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that six design proposals have been selected as winners of HUD’s Rebuild by Design competition. Secretary Donovan was joined by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Charles Schumer, and Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York City at the Jacob Riis Houses on the Lower East Side to announce winning proposals that will benefit New York and New York City. The Riis Houses and surrounding area experienced severe flooding during Hurricane Sandy and will benefit from a winning proposal. At a second event, Secretary Donovan was joined by Governor Chris Christie and Mayor Mauro Raguseo in Little Ferry, NJ. The town was hit by an eight foot surge of water during Hurricane Sandy and will benefit from a winning proposal.

OMA – Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge - Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City.

HUD is allocating approximately $920 millionto New York, New Jersey, and New York City to begin implementation of the winning projects that will make the region more environmentally and economically resilient. This funding was included in HUD’s most recent allocation of approximately $2.5 billion in Community Development Block Grants- Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) for the Sandy region.

The winning proposals come from six interdisciplinary teams representing some of the best planning, design, and engineering talent in the world. These inventive proposals are a blueprint for how communities can maximize resilience as they rebuild and recover from major disasters. HUD chose the winners for their excellence in design and resilience and their engagement with local communities. These ideas will serve as a model for how we can mitigage the effects of climate change and natural disasters in communities throughout the Sandy region, the United States, and the world.

The six teams with winning proposals are:

The BIG Team – The BIG U (East River Park) - Manhattan
The Interboro Team – Living with the Bay (Slow Streams) - Nassau County, Long Island
MIT CAU+ZUS+URBANISTEN – New Meadowlands - Little Ferry, Moonachie, Carlstadt, Teterboro
OMA – Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge - Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City
PennDesign/OLIN – Lifelines - Hunts Point, South Bronx
SCAPE/Landscape Architecture – Living Breakwaters -Tottenville, Staten Island

The $920 million is being awarded to New Jersey, New York, and New York City to assist with implementation of winning proposals in these areas:

Grantee	Region	Proposal Design Team	CDBG-DR Funds
New Jersey	Meadowlands	MIT CAU+ZUS+URBANISTEN	$150 M
New Jersey	Lower Hudson	OMA	$230 M
New York	Nassau County	The Interboro Team	$125 M
New York	Staten Island	SCAPE/Landscape Architecture	$60 M
New York City	Manhattan	The BIG Team	$335 M
New York City	South Bronx	PennDesign/OLIN	$20 M

The following teams were among the ten finalists.

HR&A Advisors with Cooper, Robertson, & Partners
Sasaki/Rutgers/ARUP
WB/unabridged with Yale/ARCADIS
WXY/WEST 8

Winning Proposals

The BIG Team - The BIG U (East River Park) - Manhattan

The BIG proposal presents a protective system around Manhattan’s edge, driven by the needs and concerns of the community. Building on the New York City Special Initiative for Recovery and Rebuilding (SIRR) report, the BIG Team married infrastructure investments with a community approach.

The overall proposal protects ten continuous miles of low-lying geography that comprise an incredibly dense, vibrant, and vulnerable urban area. The proposed system not only shields the city against floods and stormwater, it also creates and provides social and environmental benefits to the community through an improved public realm.

CDBG-DR funds will be used to implement the first phase of the proposal along the Lower East Side, creating a ‘bridging berm’ at the East River Park. The bridging berm provides robust vertical protection for the Lower East Side from future storm surges and rising sea levels. The berm also offers pleasant, accessible routes into the park, with many unprogrammed spots for resting, socializing, and enjoying views of the park and river. Both the berms and bridges will be wide and planted with a diverse selection of salt-tolerant trees, shrubs, and perennials to create a resilient urban habitat.

OMA – Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge - Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City

The comprehensive urban water strategy developed by the OMA Team provides protection along all of the Hoboken waterfront and parts of Weehawken and Jersey City. It deploys programmed hard infrastructure and soft landscape for coastal defense (resist); policy recommendations, guidelines, and urban infrastructure to slow rainwater runoff (delay); a circuit of interconnected green infrastructure to store and direct excess rainwater (store); and water pumps and alternative routes to support drainage (discharge). The objectives are to manage water for both severe storms and long-term growth; enable reasonable flood insurance premiums through the potential redrawing of the FEMA flood zone following completion; and deliver co-benefits that enhance the cities and the region.

Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken are susceptible to both flash flooding and storm surge. CDBG-DR funds will support the first phase of the proposal that provides a comprehensive approach for Hoboken that recognizes the density and complexity of the urban area, brings together a diverse community of beneficiaries, and defends the entire city, its assets, and citizens.

HUD funding for this project is intended to incentivize additional public and private investment by reducing risk and driving down insurance premiums. this investment provides a unique opportunity to create a new form of public-private financing mechanism that is locally-driven but participated in by multiple levels of government as well as investors and property owners. Such a “Flood Development Corporation” or “Resilience District” model would create real financial savings for a variety of stakeholders as a result of infrastructure improvements and other resilience measures.

The Interboro Team – Living With the Bay (Slow Streams) - Nassau County, Long Island

The Interboro teams proposal presents a comprehensive, regional resiliency plan for Nassau County’s South Shore. The plan consists of a variety of elements which provide a range of integrated adaptive measures that keep Nassau County residents safe, while adding to the economic, ecological, and social quality of the region.

CDBG-DR funds will implement the “Slow Streams” element of the proposal. The areas around Southern Nassau’s north-south tributaries are threatened both by surge water flooding and storm water inundation. The proposal will address these threatsthrough a set of interconnected interventions, transforming the Mill River into a green-blue corridor that stores and filters water, provides public space, and creates room for new urban development. These river corridor improvements will also address other challenges such water quality, ecological recovery, and aquifer recharge.

MIT CAU+ZUS+URBANISTEN– New Meadowlands - Little Ferry, Moonachie, Carlstadt, Teterboro

The New Meadowlands project articulates an integrated vision for protecting, connecting, and growing this critical asset to both New Jersey and the metropolitan area of New York. The first phase of their proposal focuses on Little Ferry, Moonachie, Carlstadt, and Teterboro. By integrating transportation, ecology, and development, the project transforms the Meadowlands basin to address a wide spectrum of risks, while providing civic amenities, and creating opportunities for new redevelopment.

CDBG-DR funds will be used for the first phase pilot area to restore water-absorbing wetland and reduce flooding in Sandy-impacted communities. The project includes the creation of additional wetlands and a multi-purpose berm that will provide flood protection to the many residents of the community damaged by Sandy flooding.

SCAPE/Landscape Architecture– Living Breakwaters- Tottenville, Staten Island

Funding for the Scape proposal is to build out the entire Tottenville section of the Living Breakwaters project which will reduce risk, revive ecologies, and connect educators and local students to the shoreline, inspiring a new generation of harbor stewards and a more resilient region over time. The in-water solution will reduce wave action and erosion, lowering risk from heavy storms by designing “reef street” micropockets of habitat complexity to host finfish, shellfish, and lobsters. The proposal examines how and where it can most effectively protect communities. This living infrastructure will be paired with social resiliency frameworks in adjacent neighborhoods. Through the Billion Oyster Project and an associated network of programmed water hubs, local schools will be empowered with science, recreation, education, and access to the water.

PennDesign/OLIN –Lifelines, Hunts Point, South Bronx

Hunts Point is the hub of the region’s food supply chain and a local living-wage employment center in the poorest Congressional district in the country. The PennDesign/OLIN proposal sets out four strategies: Integrated and Adaptable Flood Protection systems to safeguard the whole neighborhood and create public amenities along the Hunts Point waterfront; Leadership efforts to build capacity for social resilience; a Marine Emergency Supply Chain to enhance the waterways as critical infrastructure; and Cleanways to improve air quality.

CDGB-DR funds for this proposal are not for full implementation, but for continued robust planning and study related to the future of the food market and a small pilot/demonstration project (to be selected/identified by the City). This will enable the process to continue and incorporate whatever investments the private sector and the City commit toward improvements and implementation in the future.

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The Interboro Team – Living With the Bay (Slow Streams) - Nassau County, Long Island.

MIT CAU+ZUS+URBANISTEN– New Meadowlands - Little Ferry, Moonachie, Carlstadt, Teterboro.

SCAPE/Landscape Architecture– Living Breakwaters- Tottenville, Staten Island.

PennDesign/OLIN –Lifelines, Hunts Point, South Bronx.

The BIG Team - The BIG U (East River Park) - Manhattan.

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More information

OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.

OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

BJARKE INGELS

Bjarke Ingels (born in Copenhagen, in 1974) studied architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and the School of Architecture of Barcelona, obtaining his degree as an architect in 1998. He is the founder of the BIG architecture studio - (Bjarke Ingels Group), a studio founded in 2005, after co-founding PLOT Architects in 2001 with his former partner Julien de Smedt, whom he met while working at the prestigious OMA studio in Rotterdam.

Bjarke has designed and completed award-winning buildings worldwide, and currently, his studio is based with venues in Copenhagen and New York. His projects include The Mountain, a residential complex in Copenhagen, and the innovative Danish Maritime Museum in Elsinore.

With the PLOT study, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2004, and with BIG he has received numerous awards such as the ULI Award for Excellence in 2009. Other prizes are the Culture Prize of the Crown Prince of Denmark in 2011; Along with his architectural practice, Bjarke has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University and Rice University and is an honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen.

In 2018, Bjarke received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog granted by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. He is a frequent public speaker and continues to give lectures at places such as TED, WIRED, AMCHAM, 10 Downing Street or the World Economic Forum. In 2018, Bjarke was appointed Chief Architectural Advisor by WeWork to advise and develop the design vision and language of the company for buildings, campuses and neighborhoods around the world.

Alessandro Cambi - Ludovica Di Falco - Francesco Marinelli - Paolo Mezzalama SCAPE

SCAPE is an Italian architecture firm with offices in Rome and Paris that has made Internationalisation its main strength. Conceived as an idea in May 2002 by Ludovica Di Falco, Francesco Marinelli and Paolo Mezzalama, the firm –scape s.p.a. was concretely established in 2004. Alessandro Cambi joined as fourth partner in 2005. They set up an office in Paris in 2008 and they founded a French architecture firm, Offscape s.a.s., in 2013.

Alessandro Cambi was born in Siena on 6th June 1976. He enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence in 1996 and graduated in July 2002. He worked with architectural practices in Siena, Paris and Rome, while continuing his own architectural research through design projects and competitions. The result of this line of activity was his affiliation with SCAPE in January 2005. He has tutored national and international workshops and held conferences at the university architectural faculties of Ferrara, Genoa, Reggio Calabria and Rome. Since 2010 he has been a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Roma Tre, and also at the University of Ferrara since 2012.

Francesco Marinelli was born in Rome on 7th November 1975. He entered the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Roma Tre in 1994, where he followed a line of study involving architecture and the city and architecture and landscape in their various forms. He graduated in 2002. He has tutored and coordinated numerous workshops, both national and international, and has held conferences at the Faculty of Architecture in Milan, Genoa, Florence, Reggio Calabria, Rome, the Pratt Institute-Rome and the University of Waterloo-Rome. From 2002 to 2010, he collaborated on courses of Design and Planning with the Faculty of Architecture, Roma Tre. Since 2010 he has been a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Roma Tre. In 2002, he set up the SCAPE project with Paolo Mezzalama and Ludovica Di Falco.

Ludovica Di Falco was born in Naples on 17th September 1975. In 1993 she enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at Roma Tre and in 1996 studied at the Technische Universität, Vienna, where she was able to develop her research on the theme of residential building. In 2001 she took a first class degree with a project on the restoration of the Bagnoli industrial zone in Naples, mentored by Alessandro Anselmi. After working for with various Roman architectural practices, due to her interest in France and French culture, she moved to Paris, where, in 2002 -2003, she collaborated with Buffi Associés SA. At the same time, in 2002, she set up the SCAPE project with Paolo Mezzalama and Francesco Marinelli. Since 2010, she has been a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture at Roma Tre. She lives now between Paris and Zurich

Paolo Mezzalama was born in Rome on 4th June 1975. In 1993 he enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at Roma Tre, where he developed his interest in architectural planning, above all at an urban development level. He graduated in February 2001. In 2001-2002, collaborating with Studio Salvioni in Rome, he worked on various residential building projects and, with Francesco Cellini, on the project for a housing complex in Orvieto and the new FAO headquarters in Rome. From 2001 to 2009 he was assistant to Stefano Cordeschi at the architectural planning course at the Faculty of Architecture at Roma Tre. He has held conferences in the university faculties of Milan, Rome, Waterloo-Rome and the March School of Architecture in Moscow. In 2002 he set up the SCAPE project with Francesco Marinelli and Ludovica Di Falco. Since 2010, he has been a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Roma Tre.