U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced 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 deBlasio 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, N.J. The town was hit by an eight foot surge of water during Hurricane Sandy and will benefit from a winning proposal.
HUD is allocating approximately $920 million to 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.
"Countless New Yorkers found themselves without power, heat, or running water after Sandy hit. With a changing climate, we know it's not a question of if, but when the next big storm will hit- and that's why we have a comprehensive plan to adapt our city's infrastructure and neighborhoods," New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio said. "The Rebuild by Design projects announced today are a part of that plan and will help ensure that we're better prepared for the risks of the future. Thank you to HUD and Secretary Donovan, Senator Schumer, Governor Cuomo, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and congratulations to the winning teams. Now, let's get to work."
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 following teams were among the 10 finalists:
►HR&A Advisors with Cooper, Robertson, & Partners
►Sasaki/Rutgers/ARUP
►WB/unabridged with Yale/ARCADIS
►WXY/WEST 8
“There is no doubt that climate change is real and that it is here,” said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. “As we learn the lessons of Superstorm Sandy, these bold, inventive projects will bring together some of the brightest minds and best ideas to help develop a storm-resilient strategy and ensure that communities throughout New York are armed with innovative practices to protect against future disasters.”
Rebuild by Design was created in the summer of 2013 by President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force as a way to develop ideas capable of dramatically improving the physical, ecological, and economic resilience of coastal areas. The competition has produced regional, cross-disciplinary collaboration between state and local governments, the ten design teams, regional nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and the public. The Rockefeller Foundation has been the lead financial supporter of the competition. Teams worked to create coalitions with local and regional stakeholders to develop locally-responsive proposals to improve the resilience of waterfront communities.
“The winning proposals are truly transformative and serve as blueprints for how we can safeguard the region and make it more environmentally and economically resilient,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “It’s my hope that Rebuild by Design will inspire other public-private partnerships to spur innovation and resilience in other parts of the country and around the world. By investing in these proposals, we are going to ensure that when the next storm comes, the region will be safer and better prepared.”
