*THE BIG U - POST-SANDY NY | Primary Case

New York City, NY, USA
BIG

The BIG U was a winning project in the Rebuild by Design Competition. The project is a protective system around Manhattan that would protect 10 continuous miles of low-lying geography in a U shape from western Manhattan, around the southern tip, and wrapping up around the eastern side of the island. The proposal suggested contouring plans specifically for three regions based on different conditions on the waterfront and surrounding communities, which were titled compartments for the competition. The compartments are in physically separate flood zones, but are coordinated across the region. The primary interventions for each of the compartments were the Bridging Berm along the Lower East Side, deployable wall panels on the southern tip of the island, and a Battery Berm to protect the financial district in key inlet areas identified during Hurricane Sandy. The project involved a period of discussion and community engagement during the competition, but has been significantly altered since its proposal in 2014, when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded New York City $330 million to kickstart the project. A new proposal for the east side of the project discarded the Bridging Berm idea and instead sought to infill the East River Park with landfill to create a wall to hold back the East River that is 10 feet higher than the original proposal. The change was met with outrage from residents, who did not feel the new proposal engaged their ideas or concerns, and worry that the 2020 deadline to begin construction or forfeit funding from HUD rushed the decision making process.

2013 - 2014
64 acres
33 feet above sea level

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