Manhattan's Flood Protection Ribbon Awarded

The Dutch-Danish-US consortium received the Global Award for sustainable construction for their Dryline project that addresses New York City’s vulnerability to coastal flooding with a protective ribbon in Southern Manhattan

Rebuilding by design
The Dryline project origines from the Rebuild by Design competition, an initiative that challenged design teams from all over the world to develop new ways to rebuild the hard hit region of New York after superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Dryline is a vision for flood protection of the 10 miles long waterfront around Southern Manhattan that comprise an incredibly dense, vibrant, and vulnerable urban area.

The Dryline consists of multiple but linked design opportunities; each on different scales of time, size and investment; each local neighborhood tailoring its own set of programs, functions, and opportunities. Small, relatively simple projects maintain the resiliency investment momentum post-Sandy, while setting in motion the longer-term solutions that will be necessary in the future.

Statement for enhancing cities
Yolanda Kakabadse, president of WWF International and member of the jury, praised the project’s sensitive blend of hard flood protection infrastructure and solutions for community needs that foster local commercial, recreational, and cultural activities.

She enthusiastically commended the project for making a political statement by means of an architectural and urban proposition that demonstrates how the future challenges of sustainability can be a mechanism for enhancing our cities.

"The jury had a difficult task with many high quality submissions, but could clearly see The Dryline’s potential as a model to be applied in susceptible regions around the globe, especially in regions with limited economic resources," she said.

Multifaceted problem-solving
Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and also member of the jury, commented on the scope of the project and its multifaceted problem-solving approach. "This is a bold proposition to tackle future challenges by means of a construction that offers a multiple value to society – turning a problem into an opportunity. The Dryline makes an outstanding contribution in terms of risk and resilience, and was selected out of more than 6,000 submissions from all continents to receive one of the top three global prizes", he said.

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Taxonomy

• Flood Management
• Solutions
• Sustainability