ADAPTIVE URBAN HABITATS

Adaptive Urban Habitats

Red Hook, Brooklyn is an area with great potential for development. Its proximity to Manhattan, low density, and low land costs make it an attractive neighborhood to developers. However, Hurricane Sandy revealed the neighborhood’s vulnerability to devastating flooding. Climate change research suggests an increased frequency of flooding, which along with rising sea levels brings into question Red Hook’s future.

Through an intelligent response to redevelopment, Red Hook can respond to the issues of flooding while simultaneously creating a much denser, vibrant neighborhood. Updated zoning combined with an innovative set of locally produced building components can allow new development in the form of vertical infill. Stilting above the existing neighborhood in a sensitive, contextually responsive manner protects new development from future water damage without neglecting the existing vitality of the ground plane.

This infill becomes a market-driven process that will eventually result in a new elevated connective infrastructure. Red Hook’s natural wetland habitats will be allowed to slowly encroach below the stilted neighborhood, restoring its function as a protective barrier. The adaptability of the wood construction system and the reintroduction of the historical wetlands represents a new ecological approach to market-driven development, a forward-thinking plan that will transform Red Hook into a resilient coastal neighborhood.

An ecologically responsive development strategy for Red Hook, Brooklyn, that embraces the inevitability of change, and the many forms it comes in.

Flooding & Sea Level Rise

Hurricane Sandy devastated Red Hook. Local homes and businesses were flooded, electricity and other utilities were interrupted, and people were stranded in their homes. Cleanup was costly and slow, and plans for future development were reassessed. The risk of recurrent Sandy-level storms is an issue that must be addressed.

How can Neighborhoods Respond to Storms like Hurricane Sandy?

Despite the damage wrought by Sandy, Red Hook residents took great pride in their neighborhood and spearheaded the cleanup effort. Resilient locals pledged to rebuild. But how can we rebuild better?

Predicted Sea Level Rise Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY

As the effects of climate change become more prominent, Red Hook finds itself in a precarious position. Catastrophic storm events and recurrent flooding are increasing in frequency, raising questions about the future of Red Hook.

Low-lying underdeveloped neighborhoods face the immediate threats of sea level rise, though present the opportunity for resilient growth.

Opportunity for Growth

Current estimates speculate NYC’s population to increase by 1 million people within the next 15 years. Given Red Hook’s close proximity to Manhattan and its very low density, the neighborhood is primed for increased density and new development.

New Build-able Space

This available build-able space will be used to promote new stilted construction above the existing city, placing new developments above flood levels. This system increases density while remaining sensitive to the existing context.

New Air Rights for Development

Current zoning in Red Hook consists of very low F.A.R.s, which lead to low-rise developments that fall within flood levels. To counter the risk of flood damage, new construction in the neighborhood should be built above a flood-safe elevation. To achieve this, the outdated zoning must be radically rethought to free up significant air-right space.

Air Rights Development

A standardized kit of parts produced by a local manufacturing facility can be deployed to infill vertically above the existing neighborhood. This strategy increases buildable space and density, protecting future development from rising sea levels and flooding while also being contextually sensitive.

Utilizing dry wood construction allows for ease of assembly, high flexibility, and adaptability. Components can be easily modified and replaced, allowing buildings to evolve with their users. Carbon sequestration inherent in wood mitigates the detrimental effects of typical building practices, and the material’s life cycle promotes sustainable building maintenance and healthy foresting practices.

Neighborhood Catalyst: Local Manufacturing Prototype

The wood manufacturing facility acts as the catalyst for future development within Red Hook. It produces all the components necessary to deploy the stilted air rights development and flood-responsive ground-floor infill. The facility itself is also built of the same components it produces, acting as both showcase and testing ground for these new systems.

Ground Level: Non-critical program

Temporary bike shop, showroom, and parking envelope a performative recreated marsh. Pedestrian pathways connect the ferry passengers to the rest of the neighborhood.

Floors 2-3: Manufacturing Facility

The occupiable truss allows for flexible production spaces. A central circulation zone rings the courtyard, anchored by the freight elevator.

Floors 4-7: Residential Units

The residential corridor remains on the north side of all units, allowing for maximum southern exposure. Communal spaces are nestled within corners.

NYC has lost much of its historic wetlands to filling and draining. The courtyard of the building reintroduces wetland as a performative landscape in an urban environment. A variety of plant life gradually filters stormwater runoff from the surrounding community and recycles it on site.

Adaptive Ground Floor

Given the time preceding permanent sea water in Red Hook, maintaining a lively street condition remains a priority. This new infill system allows for densification below flood levels, and is an ideal solution for the neighborhoods’s abundance of vacant lots. These units are produced at the local manufacturing facility and can be used for a variety of programs, ranging from housing to storefronts. Their layered, modular design makes for easy connection between units, allowing for expansion.

This system is ideal for flood prone areas due to its easy disassembly. When threatened by an approaching storm, units can be removed and temporarily relocated to higher ground, protecting their owner’s investments. After waters have receded and cleanup has occurred, the units can be returned to their original locations. This active flood-response strategy ensures neighborhood vitality before and after disasters.

As land is lost to rising sea levels and returning wetlands, the new connective infrastructure of the neighborhood serves as the primary means of circulation.

Stilting Begins

The manufacturing facility begins to spur development across the neighborhood. Stilted development combined with ground floor infill begins to increase the density in Red Hook, elevating the profile of the neighborhood.

Increased Density

As development continues, corridors such as Van Brunt begin to emerge as hots spots of growth. Density in the neighborhood has increased significantly, driving the city to reassess its lack of public transportation within Red Hook.

Maximum Density

By 2100, the neighborhood has reached its full density. Each block is connected via an elevated infrastructure . An elevated rail connects the neighborhood to greater NYC, as the historic marsh begins to return.

Wetlands Return

By 2300, Red Hook’s coastline has returned. With several feet of water permanently on-site, the elevated infrastructure connects the neighborhood. Public water transit expands to supplement the elevated rail.

Connective Zoning

The masterplan for the neighborhood begins with a zoning plan. This zoning limits height while increasing F.A.R.s, allowing for buildable space in the form of air rights. A public right-of-way is zoned in the center of each block, planning for a future connective elevated infrastructure.

Initial Development

The buildup of the neighborhood starts with the introduction of flood-responsive units on vacant lots within Red Hook. Developers also begin stilting structures on a lot-by-lot basis. The publicly-zoned central spaces are initially privately occupied, and are accessed by the CLT cores.

Partially Developed

As blocks continue to infill, adjacent outdoor areas become connected and transform into larger, communal spaces. This slow transformation represents the gradual shift from privately occupied to publicly shared space, hinting at the connective infrastructure to come.

Fully Developed

As blocks reach full development, the elevated outdoor areas have completed their transformation into fully public connective infrastructure. The blocks have now inverted, shifting the street into the interior, as the old streets slowly flood and become canals.

The Adaptive Urban Habitat of Tomorrow

With its controlled density and the promotion of progressive urban strategies, Red Hook has the ability to become an archetype for environmentally-sustainable urban coastal living. These strategies could be applied to greater NYC, as well as all cities facing the threat of encroaching waters. A comprehensive rethinking of all urban systems, from building technology to transit, local ecology, and human behavior represents a new mode of conscious urban development. Breaking down the barriers between human habitation and local ecologies reestablishes a symbiotic relationship between people and their natural environment currently missing from modern discourse and practice.

Location: Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY, NY, USAType: AcademicGroup Project with: Debby Yeh, Lukas Laliberte, Matt StonerRole & Contribution: Project leader: envisioned design solution and managed team to research, develop, refine, and produce final documentation. Level of Project: Fifth Year Senior Thesis, UndergraduateDate: Spring 2013Awards: 1st Place Jury Selection of Operation Resilient Long Island’s 3C Competition

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