NEW YORK'S WATERWORLD
22 Feb 2018
New York-based architecture studio DFA has proposed a selection of affordable housing, recreational and commercial facilities in Manhattan that will “float” above water in order to combat rising sea levels.
DFA (D Form A) established the Pier 40 plan in conjunction with a range of development proposals that intend to create a more sustainable and affordable future for New York City. The company, founded by British architect Laith Sayigh, analysed the area of Manhattan’s Pier 40, currently home to car parks, a football field and office spaces, and designed a development project that would combat housing affordability and rising sea levels. A series of latticed apartment towers, commercial and recreational complexes will be constructed, extending 250 metres over the Hudson River.
With this development DFA are preparing for the longterm prospects of rising sea levels. "We see so many projects going up in New York that are quick, chart-driven responses to serious problems," explained Sayigh. “These short-term resolutions will not safeguard the city from rapid changes in the environment or protect future generations of people.”
The disused pier, built in 1962, is the perfect playground for this new, innovative development. As the largest pier on the Hudson River, consisting of a 15-acre footprint, it generates approximately 30% of the river park trust’s annual operating budget. Due to the millions of dollars that are needed to fund the deteriorating pier, the proposed real estate opportunity is a welcome one that will see it revitalised into a mixed-housing development.
The project is founded on the concept of 19 cylindrical high-rises encompassing 450 units, from 29 to 138 metres high, and clustered into 11 tower groups. The towers will be cocooned in gold net-shaped window frames and planting, and the prices will range from the extraordinarily affordable to the extraordinarily pricey – from one-bedroom to three-bedroom apartments. The recreational towers will provide a theatre, boathouse, retail complexes and sports facilities. Landscape pods will provide additional spaces for recreation, oyster beds and plantings, and will float around the complex to act as a buffer for storm damage.
Each tower will have at least three structural connection points to support the weight of the buildings. The structural base of the pier is comprised of thousands of concrete-reinforced steel H-pile girders that provide a solid foundation for the development. The complexes will utilise six glulam core and superstructure members to minimise contact with the pier deck and elevate the units. CFT bracing panels and steel joining plates with be fixed between the core structure.
The design is based around longterm prospects and predictions. The residential units are to be elevated above 1.5 metres from the predicted stormwater and rising sea levels. Above the communal pavilions a 360-degree observation deck will provide breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape.
The pavilions will stay open up until 2050, accessed by elevators and stairways. After 2050 when the water levels are predicted to increase up to 76 centimetres, the deck will provide primary access to the complex. By 2100 the water levels are predicted to rise 1.9 metres higher, causing the pavilions to be entirely submerged.
"Beyond 2050, as regular flooding begins to engulf the coastline as we know it, the landscape deck transforms into a floating island with new pathways built to connect the evolved wetland ecosystem to Manhattan," explained DFA in a statement.
The Pier 40 complex provides an innovative development strategy in order to combat the increasing concerns of rising sea levels, and could be the catalyst to the development of more floating commercial and residential compounds.