Palisade Bay, 2009, Aerial view, courtesy, e-architect.co.uk.

Zone 2. Proposed solution: Wetlands near Staten Island, Credit: Palisade Bay Team: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office.

Zone 1. Proposed solution: Subway car reefs, oyster farms and wind turbines at Statue of Liberty Island, Credit: Palisade Bay Team: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office.

Zone 4. Proposed solution: Offshore wind turbines among oyster racks, Credit: Palisade Bay Team: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office.

Zone 3. Proposed solution: Slip in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Credit: Palisade Bay Team: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office.

Map of project zones, Map by Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, and Architecture Research Office with Lizzie Hodges, Marianne Koch, James Smith, and Michael Tantala.

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Avenue
718-784-2084
Long Island City
Rising Currents:
Projects for New York’s Waterfront
Part 1: Architects in Residence Workshop
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
November 16, 2009-
January 8, 2010
Part II: Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art
March 24-August 10, 2010

Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront, a major, eight-month initiative brings together teams of architects, engineers, and landscape designers to address and create infrastructure solutions to make New York City more resilient in response to rising water levels and to protect endangered eco-systems. The future of New York’s waterfronts has been identified as one of the most urgent challenges the nation’s largest city faces, with the anticipated rise in sea levels due to climate change. Comprising an eight-week architects-in-residence workshop at P.S.1 beginning November 16, followed by an exhibition of the resulting design proposals at MoMA, Rising Currents’ purpose is to address the need for the design of adaptive “soft” infrastructures for New York and New Jersey’s Upper Bay.

“The necessity of a response to the regional and national discourse on infrastructure from a contemporary view of high-quality design that also embraces sound ecology has been of urgency for some years, and has taken on new actuality given the national agenda of looking to innovative infrastructure,” said Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA and organizer of Rising Currents. “Rising Currents undertakes new design research in an interdisciplinary way to solve problems that are both local in application and global in implication.”

Four multidisciplinary teams of rising talent at established New York architectural firms have been selected to participate in the eight-week workshop and create models that propose solutions for the effects of climate change on specific areas of New York and New Jersey waterfronts.

“This is an ideal opportunity to use P.S.1 and MoMA as laboratories for new ideas, and to harness the talent of young design practitioners who may be underemployed as a result of the current economic recession,” added Mr. Bergdoll.

Background
The need for the design of adaptive infrastructures for New York is acknowledged in a report presented by the New York City Panel on Climate Change in February 2009 that predicts higher temperatures and rising sea levels for New York City. Based largely on the preliminary findings of a significant study undertaken by the Latrobe Team, a multi-disciplinary Princeton University affiliated group funded by the Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and led by structural engineer Professor Guy Nordenson, Rising Currents addresses the need to intervene in the New York/New Jersey region in a significant adaptive manner.

The issues that Rising Currents seeks to address are explored in a forthcoming book, On the
Water: Palisades Bay by Mr. Nordensen, who is professor of structural engineering and architecture at Princeton University and a faculty associate of the University Center for Human Values, and is serving as a consultant to Rising Currents.

The Teams
The selection of team leaders for Rising Currents began with a nomination process by which deans, practitioners, journalists, and other members of a multidisciplinary group suggested candidates. Candidates then submitted proposals to a jury of MoMA and P.S.1 curators and invited professionals, including Amanda Burden (Chair of the New York City Planning Commission and Director of the Department of City Planning), David Adjaye (Founder, Adjaye Associates Ltd), Michael Oppenheimer (Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs at Princeton University), and Mr. Nordenson, who made the final selection of team leaders.

Each team leader has assembled a multidisciplinary group of architects, engineers, and landscape designers to focus on a specific geographical waterfront area.

Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David Lewis of LTL Architects and team are working on the Northwest Palisade Bay/Hudson River area, which includes parts of New Jersey, Liberty Park/Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty and waters. Matthew Baird of Matthew Baird Architects and his team are focusing on the Southwest Palisade Bay/Kill van Kull area, which includes Bayonne, N.J., Bayonne Piers, and northern Staten Island and waters. Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang of nARCHITECTS and their team are assigned the South Palisade Bay/Verrazano Narrows area, including eastern Staten Island, and Bay Ridge and Sunset Park in Brooklyn, and waters. Kate Orff of SCAPE Studio, and her team, are concentrating on the Northeast Palisade Bay/Buttermilk Channel and Gowanus Canal area, including Governors Island, the Red Hook area in Brooklyn, and waters.

The Workshop
The four teams are in residence at P.S.1, which has been an affiliate of MoMA since 2000, from November 16, 2009, through January 8, 2010.

The workshop is part of the new P.S.1 initiative Free Space, an ongoing program in which artists and non-profit arts organizations are invited to use available gallery space for rehearsals, workshops, research, and events in exchange for an exhibition or live presentation for P.S.1 visitors. Bringing together the New York arts community during a time of economic challenge, several groups and artists have been invited to use P.S.1 as a space for research and development.

There are two Open House events during the Rising Currents workshops, during which the public is invited to visit the teams and view their works in progress. Open Houses are planned for P.S.1 on Saturday, December 12, and Saturday, January 9, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. The public is also invited to follow the teams' progress online at www.moma.org/risingcurrents, where they can participate in an online conversation with curators, designers, and visitors.

The Exhibition
An exhibition of the proposed projects developed by the teams will be installed in MoMA’s galleries for architecture and design from March 24 through August 10, 2010.

In order to provide the context for understanding the problems and issues that the teams were required to address during the workshop phase of Rising Currents, the exhibition begins with a background presentation of the Latrobe Team’s project, including its final master plan and schematic proposals, a detailed atlas of the New York and New Jersey Upper Bay, historical images, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) generated maps examining the current layers of density, transportation networks, topographic and bathymetric data, 100- and 500-year flood zones, and Category 1, 2, 3, and 4 hurricane storm surge zones, as well as projected flooding based on incremental sea level rise.

At the center of the exhibition are the physical and digital models and drawings produced by the four teams, whose members are also involved in designing the exhibition with members of MoMA’s Department of Exhibition Design and Production. The exhibition, therefore, not only presents innovative work for design interventions in the New York/New Jersey harbor and estuaries, but also contributes a new model of exhibition with public participation in every level from the workshop through to the final exposition.

Included in the exhibition are designs for soft infrastructure solutions for a site that encompasses Lower Manhattan, by Adam Yarinsky, Principal at Architecture Research Office (ARO), who worked on the Palisade Bay research study with Guy Nordenson and Catherine Seavitt.

The Rising Currents exhibition inaugurates a new series of Architecture and Design exhibitions at MoMA called Issues in Contemporary Architecture, which focuses on timely topics in contemporary architecture with an emphasis on the urban dimension in order to increase public dialogue around seminal issues in architecture.

Lower Manhattan Zone 0: A New Urban Ground, Adam Yarinsky and Stephen Cassell of Architecture Research Office (ARO) with Susannah Drake of dlandstudio.
Architecture Research Office and dlandstudio's New Urban Ground transforms Lower Manhattan with an infrastructural ecology, Courtesy Architecture Research Office and dlandstudio.

Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, and Staten Island Zone 3: New Aqueous City, Team Leaders: Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang, nARCHITECTS, Courtesy of nArchitects.

Kill Van Kull and Bayonne, Zone 2: Working Waterline, Team Leader: Matthew Baird, Matthew Baird Architects , Courtesy of Baird..

Map of project zones, Map by Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, and Architecture Research Office with Lizzie Hodges, Marianne Koch, James Smith, and Michael Tantala.

Storm surge flooding from Hurricane Categories 1-4 in Palisade Bay (Category 1 shown in dark green, Category 2 in light green, Category 3 in orange, Category 4 in red), Credit: Palisade Bay Team: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office.

Aerial view of Palisade Bay, Credit: Palisade Bay Team: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, Architecture Research Office.

Gowanus Canal, Red Hook, and Buttermilk Channel, Zone 4: Oyster-Tecture, Team Leader: Kate Orff, SCAPE / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PLLC, Courtesy of SCAPE / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PLLC.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
212-708-9400
New York
The Robert Menschel Architecture
and Design Gallery, third floor
Rising Currents: Projects
for New York’s Waterfront
March 24-October 11, 2010

Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront presents architectural proposals that emphasize adaptive "soft" infrastructure solutions for New York and New Jersey‘s Upper Bay to make New York City and surrounding areas more resilient in responding to rising sea levels and more frequent storm surges. Elements of the proposals range from the creation of salt- and freshwater wetlands along the banks of the bay and a Venice-like aqueous landscape, to habitable piers and manmade islands, and a protective reef of living oysters.

The exhibition is a major initiative organized by The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center to propose solutions for the effects of climate change on New York‘s waterfronts, Five multidisciplinary teams of New York-based architects, engineers, and landscape designers selected to participate in Rising Currents developed the proposals during the initiative‘s workshop phase at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, from November 2009 to January 2010.

Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront is organized by Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA. Guy Nordenson, professor of structural engineering and architecture at Princeton University and a faculty associate of the Princeton University Center for Human Values, served as a consultant. Klaus Biesenbach, Director, and Antoine Guerrero, Director of Operations and Exhibitions, at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, were instrumental in the organization of the workshop phase of Rising Currents, which was part of the P.S.1 initiative Free Space, an ongoing program in which artists and non-profit arts organizations are invited to use available gallery space for rehearsals, workshops, research, and events in exchange for an exhibition or live presentation for P.S.1 visitors.

"The innovative proposals developed during the intensive workshop at P.S.1 extend beyond even my most optimistic expectations,? said Mr. Bergdoll. "Not only has Rising Currents created a set of visions for a different kind of harbor city, but it also is illustrative of a new role for P.S.1 and MoMA in stimulating and harnessing debate about vital issues of public concern in architecture and urban planning. Climate change is seen here not simply as a problem to be confronted, but an opportunity to be seized. As the city charts its future in coming decades with the realities of changed sea levels and more frequent storm surges, the proposed projects featured in this exhibition represent realistic possibilities whose impact and influence could be felt in the not-so-distant future. The projects are truly 'glocal,‘ that is, conceived for local conditions, but with global implications."

The five teams of architects, engineers, and landscape designers — led by principals at Architecture Research Office (ARO) with dlandstudio, LTL Architects, Matthew Baird Architects, nARCHITECTS, and SCAPE / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PLLC — have conceived projects for five sites, identified and researched by the Latrobe Team (a multi-disciplinary Princeton University affiliated group funded by the Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and led by structural engineer Professor Guy Nordenson, and including his associates Catherine Seavitt and Adam Yarinsky). The Latrobe Team‘s study, and the related publication, On the Water: Palisade Bay, served as the framework for the teams‘ work toward adaptive and widely applicable infrastructure for the sites, which is on view in this exhibition.

To provide the context for understanding the problems and issues that the teams were required to address during the workshop phase of Rising Currents, the exhibition begins with a background presentation of the Latrobe Team‘s project, including its final master plan and schematic proposals, a detailed presentation of topographic and bathymetric data, as well as projected flooding based on incremental sea level rise. Nordenson, Seavitt, and Yarinsky's work is the basis for the various proposals for the coastline of New York and New Jersey, not only to render it both more resilient for climatic changes to come, but also to reorient the perception and the experience of the city around the water, allowing New York to join a host of cities around the world from Copenhagen and Amsterdam to Singapore and Hong Kong, which increasingly focus on an active waterfront of mixed use.

At the center of the exhibition are the physical and digital models and drawings produced by the five teams, whose members worked collaboratively to create the exhibition with members of MoMA‘s Department of Exhibition Design and Production.

Rising Currents inaugurates a new series of Architecture and Design exhibitions at MoMA called Issues in Contemporary Architecture, which will focus on timely topics in contemporary architecture with an emphasis on the urban dimension in order to increase public dialogue around seminal issues.

The exhibition is made possible by The Rockefeller Foundation and is the first of five exhibitions in the series Issues in Contemporary Architecture supported by Andre Singer.

Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront is accompanied by the publication On the Water: Palisade Bay by Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt, and Adam Yarinsky, with an afterword by Barry Bergdoll. On the Water: Palisade Bay is the collaborative initiative of a group of engineers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and students to imagine a "soft infrastructure" for the New York/New Jersey Upper Bay area by developing interconnected infrastructures and landscapes that rethink the thresholds of water, land, and city. Research from this project is the inspiration for MoMA‘s exhibition Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront. The book is co-published by The Museum of Modern Art and Hatje Cantz, in collaboration with the Princeton University School of Architecture and the Princeton University Center for Architecture, Urbanism and Infrastructure. It is available through MoMA stores and online at www.momastore.org. It is distributed to the trade in the United States and Canada by Distributed Art Publishers (D.A.P.) and outside North America by Hatje Cantz. Hardcover: 302 pages; 350 color illustrations. $50.

Kill Van Kull and Bayonne, Zone 2: Working Waterline
Team Leader: Matthew Baird, Matthew Baird Architects, Courtesy of Baird.

Lower Manhattan, Zone 0: A New Urban Ground, Adam Yarinsky and Stephen Cassell of Architecture Research Office (ARO) with Susannah Drake of dlandstudio, Courtesy of ARO and dlandstudio.

Liberty State Park, Zone 1: Water Proving Ground, Team Leaders: Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis, LTL Architects, Courtesy of LTL Architects.