Image: The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) Project, NY, NY / SCAPE
Discover how landscape architects are helping to protect Lower Manhattan from climate impacts through design. Learn about some of the most cutting-edge coastal risk reduction projects.
After Superstorm Sandy, Manhattan below 14th street was without power for weeks. Storm surge flooded buildings and caused widespread infrastructure failures. Since then, plans to create a more resilient Lower Manhattan have been shaped through efforts like NYC’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency and the Rebuild by Design competition. Landscape architects were heavily involved in both projects. These plans have come together in The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) and The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) Project.
These are coastal protection initiatives aimed at reducing flood risk from coastal storms and sea level rise. They seek to increase resilience while preserving access to the waterfront and integrating public space.
As part of this new infrastructure, landscape architects are playing a critical role in combining flood defense with exciting new open space. We are integrating new infrastructure into the city’s fabric and harnessing nature.
The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project – along with other resilience efforts in Battery Park City, South Street Seaport, and the Financial District – are now well underway.
This program is also offered virtually. CLICK HERE to register for virtual event. Register below for in person event.
Panelists:
Gonzalo Cruz, Vice President and Principal of Design, Landscape and Urban Design, AECOM
Gonzalo leads AECOM’s Landscape and Urban Design as a Vice President and Principal of Design in the New York Metro area as well as strategic collaborations across the Americas and abroad. In recent years, his team’s portfolio has put forward innovative work at the intersection of large-scale landscape infrastructure and placemaking, including South Battery Park City Resilience’s Wagner Park and Pier A Plaza, Brooklyn Montgomery Coastal Resilience and Seaport Coastal Resilience Waterfronts in Lower Manhattan and Hoboken’ Harborside Waterfront Resilience Park to name a few. His award-winning practice has received numerous awards from ASLA, AIA, NYC by Design, and the Chicago Atheneum Design Excellence Award in Open Space design for the World Trade Center’s Liberty Park. Gonzalo holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the City College of New York and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Molly Bourne, ASLA, Principal, MNLA
Molly Bourne sees landscape architecture practice as a medium to celebrate and explore the environment and our place within it. She is deeply dedicated to elevated design thinking that advances the public good. Since joining the firm in 1999, Molly has led award-winning, multidisciplinary teams on high-profile projects for waterfront parks, cultural institutions, and urban revitalization. Activating public space dialogue, tackling climate change, reclaiming industrial sites and shorelines, and protecting pollinators are her professional passions. Developing the next generation of practitioners, Molly is a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design and volunteers with the ACE Mentor Program for New York City high school students. She enjoys engaging with the profession and public alike, speaking widely, leading site tours, and exchanging inventive ideas about how to better urban environments. Molly’s key projects include the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, Governors Island Park and Public Space, Waterline Square, South Bronx Greenway Master Plan and Implementation, the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center Master Plan and Implementation, and the Renovation of Roberto Clemente State Park. Molly received her BA at the University of Florida.
Greta Ruedisueli, ASLA, Associate, SCAPEGreta Ruedisueli is a landscape architect and associate at SCAPE with design experience in landscape architecture, architecture, planning and branding. Passionate about the iterative design process, Greta works predominantly on built-work projects with SCAPE, leading design teams from concept and schematic design through design development and construction documentation with a special focus on telling the story of a place through materiality. Greta is currently working on the Northwest Battery Park Resiliency Project and a design-build University landscape. Her past experiences at SCAPE include the design and implementation of rooftop terraces for the New York Disney Headquarters and the design of the Amazon campus in Washington DC. Greta holds a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s in Architecture from the University of Virginia.
Rachel Claire Wilkins, Affil. ASLA, Senior Landscape Designer, BIG/CSM
Rachel serves CMS as a sub consultant to the Bjarke Ingels Group as a Project Lead for the North Battery Park Resiliency project. She is dedicated to building sustainable and resilient landscapes that preserve community fabric and explore the role nature can play in urban environments. She has nearly a decade of experience designing and executing landscape work in a wide range of large-scale projects, including resiliency, parks, corporate campuses, mixed-use developments, and historic preservation. Rachel graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana with a degree in biology/premedical studies. She holds a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Houston. She transitioned to landscape architecture in 2013, with roles at OJB Landscape Architecture and SWA Group.
1 LACES CEU (pending)