URBAN FLOODPLAINS
1.2 billion people worldwide live in areas that are vulnerable to flooding, and nearly 200 million live in high risk coastal flooding zones
Cities that are extensively paved are especially vulnerable to flood events, because the water has fewer places to go; and floodwaters can be dangerous, with the strength to move cars and more.
Increasing risks of flooding from extreme and unpredictable weather events, exacerbated by rising sea levels, have inspired the residents of the Urban Floodplain to proactively improve the resilience of their city through various methods that absorb, redirect, or harness the power of the intermittent floods. These include soft or “spongy” landscaping that helps to slow and drain the water away from populated areas, lifting buildings up on floats or stilts, and designing grounds that are specifically meant to flood and can be enjoyed in both a dry and watery state.
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Rocks & Scissors
Wildlife Reserve
Archi-Tectonics
Archi-Tectonics’ Rocks & Scissors wildlife reserve, refers to the game of life. Here the human / nature relationship aims to be more mutualistic, hence the research center pushes into the earth volume [as nature], and lifts up to cantilever over the site protecting and studying the wildlife refuge.
Founded in 1994 by Winka Dubbeldam, Archi-Tectonics NYC, LLC is a research-design studio with offices in New York City, Amsterdam, and Hangzhou. Dubbeldam and Justin Korhammer, partner since 2016, lead a multi-national team of architects, engineers and consultants. The studio’s design approach is rooted in systems thinking, exploring the interrelations between cities, buildings, and climate, developing innovative designs optimized across all aspects of a project to excel in the global future.
Case Study: Asian Games 2023
Archi-Tectonics won this international competition for the 2023 Asian Games with a bold and innovative design, fusing landscape and building program into a tri-dimensional land-form. Designed with a ‘Sponge-City’ strategy, the project introduces a hilly oasis programmed for round-the-year recreation that doubles as a green lung restoring the local biome. The plan sites two venues for the games—the Field-Hockey Stadium and the Hybrid-Stadium—at either end of the mile-long site. The park is bisected by a road and river, a ‘Valley-Village’ shopping concept was developed to act as a connector of the 2 halves of the park, creating a social artery.
Cloudtopia Stadium
Multi-use stadium
MeierPartners
MeierPartners’ prompt is a stadium for sporting events and concerts situated within an urban floodpain. Embracing the site conditions, the building is formed out of a cloud as a means to embody the water cycle with in the realm of architecture. As evaporation occurs in the floodplain, small clouds are formed, creating canopied areas. These small clouds converge to form one large central cloud. The surrounding landscape is designed around the central cloud – the stadium. After periods of heavy torrential rain, rainbow bridges are formed, creating paths that bring visitors through a misty landscape and into the luminous, expansive stadium.
MeierPartners’ New York studio is staffed by a diverse team of talented employees with an unmatched range of experience, positioned to offer comprehensive design services encompassing everything from urban planning and architecture to interior and product design – to clients anywhere in the world. With projects recently completed and currently on the boards in South America, Europe, Asia, and across the US, Meier Partners continues to build on a unique legacy of visionary design.
Case Study: OCT Shenzhen Clubhouse
The OCT Shenzhen Clubhouse consists of two buildings set on its own island on the southern edge of Shenzhen, a waterfront financial center north of Hong Kong. Amenities for members and their guests include a restaurant and a multi-purpose area for special events, as well as recreational facilities, a fitness center, and a small exhibition gallery. The programming of the club’s two buildings is complemented by the thoughtful design of the surrounding landscape and gardens, which are interspersed with meandering paths that evoke a strong sense of Chinese landscape philosophy and offer moments of contemplative solitude as well as vistas of the surrounding harbor.
Live with Tide
Community Shelter
David Ling Architect with Chan Chen
A floating community shelter for the underserved move off-shore to live passively in the natural environment. To survive, they live in places where they can only float on the surface of the sea. The design goal of the shelter is to help those in need of housing promote their lifestyles by utilizing modular furniture to create spaces and landscapes designed to enrich family life and community experiences for different families. The space responds to the natural tides to help them withstand risks, improve their social life, and coexist with the ecosystem.
David Ling Architect is an international award-winning practice composed of exhibition spaces, creative offices, high-end retail and high-end residences. Combining his experience he has added floating habitation in his research. The Essence of Ling’s Architecture is the sculptural integration of space, form, light and function enriched by materiality. David Ling’s ultimate goal is to create something never said before, in a timeless manner.
Geode Springs Reservoir and Sponge Garden
Reservoir
Aina Curated (Akilah Swan, Bermuda) with William Hemmerdinger (Los Angeles|Boston)
This two-tiered cantilevered reservoir creates a cascading water feature for the park while also allowing the reservoir to float in consideration of the rising tides and flooding. The sponge garden with geode crystals acts as a reef system funneling water and creating a habitat for wildlife.
Aina Curated is a Bermuda-based architecture agency focused on residential and commercial developments bringing curated elegant design and innovation. William Hemmerdinger is an artist and designer practicing in California and Massachusetts. In addition to painting and sculpture, he is presently designing a Japanese Garden for a private estate in California.
Gingerwood Dam
Dam
Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects
Plot description to come.
With comprehensive experience in parks, urban design, and environmental planning, Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects span the continuum of planning, strategy and design, brining energy and creativity to the challenge of finding what is genuinely sustainable by recognizing the strata of natural and social systems, history, and culture coming together in a specific location.
www.starrwhitehouse.com/
Heirloom Barge
Barge
M. Todd Architect, LLC
Heirloom is defined as a valuable object passed on from generation to generation. This barge is designed as an heirloom for the community with an environmental learning center and sustainable urban garden. The public will learn how the barge works and how to do hydroponic growing themselves. It will contain a greenhouse which uses hydroponic technologies to grow vegetables and fruit. The barge will be powered by a combination of solar energy from photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and a generator that runs on biodiesel waste and vegetable oil. The heirloom barge will generate zero carbon dioxide emissions.
M. Todd Architect, LLC is a full-service architectural and urban design firm specializing in progressive and innovative designs that enhance the environment and existing urban fabric. Our focus is to design and develop projects that are sensitive and responsible to social wellness, cradle to cradle architecture and the planet.
www.mtoddarchitects.com
@mtoddarchitects
Lightship Ambrose
Floating lighthouse
South Street Seaport Museum
At the South Street Seaport Museum, the National Historic Landmark lightship Ambrose recounts her role as a floating lighthouse at the Ambrose Channel, where she guided ships into New York Harbor from 1908 to 1932. During this time, she witnessed over six million immigrants arriving to begin new lives in America.
South Street Seaport Museum, in the heart of the South Street Seaport Historic District, preserves and interprets the history of New York as a great port city. Founded in 1967, the Museum tells the story of “Where New York Begins.” Visit 11am–5pm, Wednesday–Sunday; check seaportmuseum.org for special holiday hours.
www.seaportmuseum.org/
@seaportmuseum
Emerald Terrace Research Center
Research building
Nikolai Katz, Architect & Dache Design
A stepped Research building inspired by the Ifagao rice terraces of the Philippines. The organic shape supports multiple terraces of vegetation and is used as an urban farm for the community and beyond. The roof collects water which flows through the building to the water treatment plant and then redistributed to nourish the vegetation and allow the urban farm to thrive. The complex supports solar panels and wind turbines, making it a net plus building supporting electricity for the flood plain city.
Nikolai Katz Architects and Krista Demirdache, founder of Dache Design is a collaboration of two New York City based full service Architectural firms. All of our projects, ranging from large scale private residences to multi-family buildings in the Bronx and Brooklyn, new Landmark district private townhouse residences in Brooklyn, commercial offices and retail, exhibit our design philosophy. Our design must inspire, engage, perform. We make it a priority to make our buildings eco-friendly.
Parfait Power Palace
Power Station
Erin Hu, Audrey Baker, Jesus Muniz [e+i Studio]
The Parfait Power Palace, a charming Victorian cottage-inspired gingerbread parfait power station, exudes modulated, sleek design. A whimsical fusion of form and function, it sweetly integrates power generation into a quaint and picturesque structure.
e+i studio, is an architecture and design firm based in NYC focusing on projects that aim to be multispecies, balancing social and environmental parameters with aesthetic innovation and ecological empathy. Partner Eva Perez de Vega is collaborating with her M.Arch students from Parsons to design enmeshed waterscape pavilions for Gingerbread City.
www.eistudio.net
@ei_studio
Brittle Bridge
Bridge
Kai Wilson-Charles
Image coming soon.
The Bridge, near the heart of Canal City, acts as a terraced and elevated public square, providing tranquil pockets for canalside relaxation and intimate socializing, but it can also host larger community gatherings, street fairs, artistic installations, and performance events. Like eddies in a stream, the paths accelerate, slow, and intermix around still spaces.
Kai Wilson-Charles is a recent graduate of the Master of Architecture program at Pratt Institute, and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt. Her recent work includes collaborating on a National Science Foundation grant project focused on restoring biodiversity, increasing flood resilience, and connecting communities to the water along urban shores.
Peppermint Pavilion
Pavilion
Thayer Preston and Jamie Gutin (e+i studio)
A gingerbread pavilion for the gingerbread people to observe the candy reserve. A safe space for all the candies and gingerbreads alike.
e+i studio, is an architecture and design firm based in NYC focusing on projects that aim to be multispecies, balancing social and environmental parameters with aesthetic innovation and ecological empathy. Partner Eva Perez de Vega is collaborating with her M.Arch students from Parsons to design enmeshed waterscape pavilions for Gingerbread City.
Seaside Shingle Sweet Retreat
Community
Kligerman Architecture & Design
A collection of charming, shingled structures taking advantage of the coastline, integrating flood resistant flow-through design and materials. The main residence, boathouse, and lighthouse all incorporate different applications of the same materials
Kligerman Architecture & Design is known for distinctive design rooted in tradition but modern in its sculptural forms, taut detailing, glass expanses, and often a touch of whimsy.
Case Study: Watch Hill Aerie
Set on a peninsula in Rhode Island, this origami house is wrapped almost exclusively in Alaskan yellow- cedar shingles above and horizontal louvered boards at the ground level. Triple-hung windows and plate glass come down to the floor, flooding the room with sunlight, showcasing the water views. The raised first floor conveys the sense of being on a boat.
SkiWave Summit
Water treatment facility
M.Arch students [E+I Studio]
Imagine a water treatment facility crowned with a cascading ski slope. This visionary concept seamlessly integrates recreation and utility, offering a thrilling skiing experience atop an environmentally conscious structure. Explore the synergy of leisure and sustainability in this water treatment wonderland
e+i studio, is an architecture and design firm based in NYC focusing on projects that aim to be multispecies, balancing social and environmental parameters with aesthetic innovation and ecological empathy. Partner Eva Perez de Vega is collaborating with her M.Arch students from Parsons to design enmeshed waterscape pavilions for Gingerbread City.
The Éclair Eco Resort
Hospitality resort
MA | Morris Adjmi Architects
The Éclair Eco Resort is a unique hospitality destination focusing on sustainability, education, wellness and mindfulness.
MA | Morris Adjmi Architects provides a comprehensive approach to architecture, interior design, placemaking, and art services. With a combined staff of nearly 100 in New York City and New Orleans, the award-winning firm has designed over 27 million square feet of built space in more than 25 cities worldwide.
www.ma.com
The Ginger Museum Of Confectionary Art
Museum
M.Arch students [e+i Studio]
A structure of stacked gingerbread in a masonry technique with varying heights and a vaulted roof. An outdoor exhibition space with art work and candy trees. An entrance before the outdoor exhibit with a dome.
e+i studio, is an architecture and design firm based in NYC focusing on projects that aim to be multispecies, balancing social and environmental parameters with aesthetic innovation and ecological empathy. Partner Eva Perez de Vega is collaborating with her M.Arch students from Parsons to design enmeshed waterscape pavilions for Gingerbread City.
The Greenwater and Prompt Succor
Residential barges
HEINI LLC
The Greenwater and Prompt Succor are a pair of residential barges that rely on HEINI’s expertise in temporary structure and adaptive design. Both repurpose structural elements and green roofs to respond to environmental challenges and provide protection for their inhabitants and the surrounding environment.
HEINI is a small construction studio based in Brooklyn, NY specializing in temporary structures and technical installations for semi-permanent and permanent applications. We believe construction is the endpoint of the architectural pursuit and take pride in applying our expertise to deliver high quality results with expediency.
www.heini.build
The Wave
Housing complex
Arquitectonica
The Wave is a housing complex that is defined by a series of organic, undulating terraces that stretch along the waterfront. It is flood resilient as it sits upon an elevated stilt structure and is accessible by both land and water. The terraces allow for bird viewing as they migrate.
Founded in 1977, Arquitectonica is one of the leading architecture and design firms in the world. The firm has designed signature buildings, interiors, and landscapes in more than 59 countries on five continents, including prominent buildings in the world’s most cosmopolitan cities and landmark districts.
www.arquitectonica.com/
Wetland Birding Totems
Wetlands Center
E+I Studio
e+i studio, is an architecture and design firm based in NYC focusing on projects that aim to be multispecies, balancing social and environmental parameters with aesthetic innovation and ecological empathy. Partner Eva Perez de Vega is collaborating with her M.Arch students from Parsons to design enmeshed waterscape pavilions for Gingerbread City.
TerrAqueous University and Wildlife Preserve
University
KOL/MAC Architecture + Design
For the TerrAqueous University, the studio created an enchanted landscape of islands (custom-baked gingerbread), water (liquified and marbleized candy), rock (handcrafted and broken honeycomb candy), sand (ground honeycomb candy), and plants (heated and manipulated licorice and gummy) anchored by two rock-like buildings (washed and fused Turkish Delights and cut Halva).
This coastal zone presented an opportunity to explore a terraqueous materiality- equal parts water and land, liquid and solid- and a viscous university that adheres together inside and outside, the classroom and the field, the hand and the mind.
KOL/MAC Architecture + Design is a professional architecture and design firm based in New York City and operating internationally. Widely acknowledged as a leader in architecture and design for its innovative digital approach, the firm’s current work is focused on linking unique digital design methods to new methods of construction, new technologies of production and a new generation of materials.
Explore other climate zones
The Museum of Architecture is pleased to debut for the first time outside of the UK its hugely popular annual exhibition The Gingerbread City® at
25 Fulton Street in the Seaport
November 18 2023 – January 7 2024
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
GINGERBREAD ACTIVITIES
TO DO AT HOME
Buy Creative Kits
BOOK YOUR EXHIBITION TICKET
Join one of our festive gingerbread house-making workshops taking place every day during the exhibition. Advance booking is essential.