New York-based landscape architecture firm SCAPE won the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s 2014 Fuller Challenge, billed as socially responsible design’s highest award.
The development project, Living Breakwaters, is a climate change adaptation plan. A 2014 Fuller Challenge senior advisor and jury member, Bill Browning of Terrapin Bright Green, said about the project: “Living Breakwaters is about dissipating and working with natural energy rather than fighting it. It is on the one hand an engineering and infrastructure-related intervention, but it also has a unique biological function as well. The project team [understands] that you cannot keep back coastal flooding in the context of climate change, but what you can do is ameliorate the force and impact of 100 and 500 year storm surges to diminish the damage through ecological interventions, while simultaneously catalyzing dialog to nurture future stewards of the built environment.”
According to SCAPE, Living Breakwaters “reduces risk, revives ecologies, and connects educators to the shoreline, inspiring a new generation of harbor stewards and a more resilient region over time.”
This is accomplished through a series of projects, including designing “reef street” micro-pockets of habitat complexity to host finfish, shellfish, and lobsters.
A release from the Buckminster Fuller Institute explains that the Living Breakwaters project "integrates components ranging from ecologically engineered ‘Oystertecture,’ to transformational education around coastal resiliency and the restoration of livelihoods traditional to the community of Tottenville in state Island,” while also encouraging systemic change in regulatory pathways at the state level.
Fuller Challenge's Program Manager Sarah Skenazy said, "This year’s Challenge winners deeply know that doing a physical intervention off the coastline would not be enough to create systemic change. Living Breakwaters is a project based in connections—the leadership team brings their deep expertise in technology and ecological science into the social dimension onshore in partnership with the community itself."
On winning the award, SCAPE’s Kate Orff said, "We are so honored to be the 2014 Fuller Challenge recipient. Fuller was optimistic about the future of humanity and deeply believed in cooperation as the way forward. As climate change impacts threaten shoreline populations, Living Breakwaters hopefully represents a paradigm shift in how we collectively address climate risks, by focusing on regenerating waterfront communities and social systems, and enhancing threatened ecosystems."
Orff will accept the Fuller Challenge prize and a $100,000 cash award on behalf of SCAPE at The Wythe in Brooklyn, N.Y., on November 20.
Learn more about the project at SCAPE.
Related Stories
Smart Buildings | Dec 3, 2014
Arup research explores urban infrastructure design in 2050
The report projects a future where highways will be made from self-healing, glow-in-the-dark materials and will be governed by sophisticated technologies that communicate with cars, road infrastructure, and GPS systems.
Smart Buildings | Oct 30, 2014
Energy Department pledges $9 million for energy efficiency improvements on commercial buildings
The U.S. Dept. of Energy will spend $9 million to encourage investments in energy-saving technologies that can be tested and deployed in offices, shops, restaurants, hospitals, hotels and other types of commercial buildings.
Smart Buildings | Jun 8, 2014
Big Data: How one city took control of its facility assets with data
Over the past few years, Buffalo has developed a cutting-edge facility management program to ensure it's utilizing its facilities and operations as efficiently, effectively, and sustainably as possible.
Smart Buildings | May 19, 2014
New York should forget about surge barriers for most cost-effective resiliency plan, say researchers
Massive storm surge barriers would be too costly for the potential benefit to protect New York City from violent storms like Hurricane Sandy, researchers say.
Smart Buildings | Apr 28, 2014
Cities Alive: Arup report examines latest trends in urban green spaces
From vertical farming to glowing trees (yes, glowing trees), Arup engineers imagine the future of green infrastructure in cities across the world.
Smart Buildings | Jan 7, 2014
9 mega redevelopments poised to transform the urban landscape
Slowed by the recession—and often by protracted negotiations—some big redevelopment plans are now moving ahead. Here’s a sampling of nine major mixed-use projects throughout the country.
Smart Buildings | Sep 13, 2013
Chicago latest U.S. city to mandate building energy benchmarking
The Windy City is the latest U.S. city to enact legislation that mandates building energy benchmarking and disclosure for owners of large commercial and residential buildings.
Smart Buildings | Feb 14, 2013
Minneapolis joins energy benchmarking trend for commercial buildings
Minneapolis is the latest major metro to require large commercial buildings to benchmark and disclose their energy and water use.
