So I think this is going to be really good, and I don't say that about everything that comes out of the architecture and design department at the MoMA. Five teams including ARO/dland Studio, LTL, nArchitects, Mathew Baird Architects and SCAPE, participated in an eight week residency at PS1 to create landscape and urban design propositions in response to the rising water levels which will impact New York City as a result of climate change. The teams who each worked on a different site in New York harbor (pictured above) presented their work on January 9th to a standing room crowd at PS1.
The work was introduced by chief curator and exhibition organizer Barry Bergdoll, who explained that the idea for the project is a critique of hard infrastructure and "shovel ready" projects -- which Bergdoll believes "shut down innovation." Bergdoll further argued that climate change is an urban problem that must be addressed, but rather than a doomsday scenario he offered the Rising Currents project as an optimistic exploration of design potential that comes from an unpleasant reality.
What we get IS a lot of potential. Collectively, the five propositions envision a New York whose edges become porous allowing water to enter the city and enliven its public spaces. Teams also employed ecological solutions including new plant life, artificial islands and colonies of oysters to control water levels and minimize the impact of storm surge. The result is new urban conditions that we have never seen before, and this is exciting. More important perhaps is the shift in attitude that occurs in these propositions. Rather than evading nature, they are allow it to come in and make the city a more interesting place.
The one item that does raise eye brows is the participant selection. Most of the selected teams are architects with very thin or no urban design portfolios. For a project that has the potential to provide landscape and urban design with an unprecedented amount of public attention, why were so many of their best thinkers left out? This is not to deny the importance of SCAPE on the participant roster. Kate Orff is one the most refreshing landscape designers in recent memory and I am very excited to see her working here.
Final proposals will be on view at MoMA beginning March 24th.
Pictured below in order are presentation slides from ARO/dland Studio, LTL and SCAPE.
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