Session A.11: Multi-Purpose Design

Were the Gandy Bay reefs pre seeded with oysters?

The pre-fabricated oyster castle units encourage oyster larva to settle, but the design did not include pre-seeding with oyster spat.

What was the key turning point (policy, mitigation, other?) for getting approval for this scale of enhancements built into a scheme?

The Living Breakwater is an outcome of the Rebuild By Design process. After Hurricane Sandy impacted 13 states, costing more than $65 billion in damages and economic loss, President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force launched a design competition, Rebuild By Design, that coupled innovation and global expertise with community insight to develop implementable solutions. In partnership with U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Municipal Art Society, Regional Plan Association, NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, and the Van Alen Institute; and with support from the Rockefeller Foundation the competition guided participants through in-depth research, cross-sector and cross-professional collaboration, and iterative design. The Living Breakwater at Tottenville, Staten Island, NYC, one of ten winning designs, was awarded $60 million from HUD and is being implemented by New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery.