The scale of New York City’s flood risk has only recently come into focus now that storm systems are becoming more frequent and more powerful. The hundreds of dense residential blocks which surround Jamaica Bay face the brunt of the risk, forcing middle-class homeowners to decide between paying for increasing flood insurance premiums or costly adaptations. This decision is further complicated by the profusion of rowhouse type housing within these blocks, which are often unable to be individually lifted above the base flood elevation. Threatened both physically and financially, homeowners will likely be forced to leave their communities and attempt to find housing in the already overburdened New York City housing market. Therefore, this thesis proposes a system of architectural interventions at the scale of a residential block to enable the gradual introduction of elevated housing. To achieve this goal while ensuring the individual agency of existing homeowners, a design code will be created that will phase the introduction of new housing in between remaining structures on the site. This new housing will be linked by an elevated platform which will extend the public realm of the block while freeing the ground plane to return to a more natural and porous state.
Residents of Canarsie, Brooklyn were not physically or financially prepared for the five-to-seven-foot storm surge which inundated the neighborhood during Hurricane Sandy.
A new design code will phase the introduction of elevated housing in between remaining structures on the site.
Residential towers, which occupy the site of vacated row houses, utilize the air rights of adjacent buildings to achieve a higher density while staying under six floors.
The tower is draped in an operable mesh screen which allows residents to individually control light and heat access into their units.
While the platform elevates residents above the floodplain, it also allows them to connect with a more natural landscape than previously possible.
In addition to supporting new housing, the platform also creates a new public streetscape that cuts through the center of the residential block.
The platform serves as both the primary structure for the housing above as well as its utility connection. Pipes and conduits are hidden within a concrete shell underbelly which minimizes the scale of the structure.
The new tower replicates the scale of the existing row houses while also introducing ample opportunities for light and air access.
The housing which develops atop the platform can be flexible and individualized to a specific residential block. This scheme utilizes a series of 1–3-bedroom units accessed from an exterior walkway.
The core of the residential tower is offset to one side to allow access through the vacated site and into the interior of the residential block.
As rowhouses are vacated, the impermeable patios, roadways, and sidewalks are removed to return the ground to a more natural state.
The first stage of the block’s transformation involves the introduction of dense towers within the footprint of vacated rowhouses.
As new housing is introduced within the block, residents are given the first right of refusal to ensure that the community can remain in place during the transformation.
The new landscape which develops underneath the elevated platform becomes a natural asset which is owned by the community.
