FAR ROC [For a Resilient Rockaway] competition: winners announced

The proposal “Small Means and Great Ends” by White Arkitekter of Stockholm together with Arup and Gensler was recently selected as the winning design solution for the FAR ROC [For a Resilient Rockaway] design competition. The two-phase competition explored innovative strategies for the planning, design and construction of a resilient and sustainable development at Arverne East, an 80+ acre site on the Rockaway Peninsula, New York – in an area that was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The extensive damage to low-lying waterfront zones reinforced the need for resilient infrastructure and redevelopment strategies for existing coastal communities throughout the greater New York area. New York-based firm Ennead Architects’ proposal F.R.E.D. was recognized for Leading Innovation in Resilient Waterfront Design. The FAR ROC Design Competition resulted in 117 design proposals from over 20 countries around the globe. From those entries, four finalists and six honorable mentions were selected. The four finalists each received a stipend of $30,000 to aid in further development of their design proposals, which they then presented to the FAR ROC Design Jury.

“Small Means & Great Ends” incorporates a series of small, affordable, and smart interventions that center on three strategies: reduce and control damage; provide access in the event of a storm; and ensure quick recovery. The design aims not only to better weather future natural disasters, but also to create a stronger socio-economic environment–moving beyond resilience and becoming ‘antifragile’, where both the design and community benefit and improve after enduring stress.

Fostering Resilient Ecological Development, or F.R.E.D., addresses the complex Arverne East site through the implementation of a flexible kit of parts. Comprised of an integrated system of dunes, piers, and housing clusters, the design proposal creates a solution that is not only practical given the economic and physical constraints of the Rockaways, but also replicable for low-lying coastal communities up and down the Atlantic seaboard.