Hurricane Sandy Reconstruction

Since we started our first year of aid in the Tri-State area, we discovered that as a region, the devastation left by the storm exposed the fragility of our built environment – how prepared or unprepared we were in our properties, our neighborhoods, and our selves. We have seen the large-scale destruction of homes, businesses, streets, and communities. 

More importantly though as we remember today, is that we have moved from recovery to reconstruction.  No longer are we “victims” of Sandy’s wrath. We continue to actively seek opportunities to guide and create a better built environment for those that call this region home.

In the coming months, the Hurricane Sandy Reconstruction program will continue to support and provide resources within our abilities to more property owners, organizations, and municipalities to create sustainable, mitigated, adapted, resilient, and timeless homes, businesses, and communities.  We will continue to explore new and enhance current relationships with like-minded partners to truly make this a place to call home. 

As we look ahead, we also want to celebrate a year of reflection, learning, and progress. We set out to focus on the vulnerable communities and demographics with the greatest need for design and construction services.  Using the power of design to rebuild sustainably and more resiliently, we completed several components of our initial goals:

• Early in 2014, we completed our pilot program of the Sandy Design Help Desk.  Starting in Far Rockaway, Queens, and ending in Red Hook, Brooklyn, we offered free design consultations to a wide variety of property owners.  The consultations offered owners the opportunity to meet with the design professionals that we trained in resilient, sustainable design methodology to provide opportunities to reconstruct their homes and businesses in a responsible manner.
• In late May and early June, our design and construction teams broke ground at Toms River High School North (Toms River, New Jersey) and Washington School (Little Ferry, New Jersey), respectively.  The construction teams progressed through the summer months and, in early September, completed the reconstruction work on time and on budget.
• After this summer’s tourist season ended, we started construction on the sunshade structures on Seaside Heights’ historic boardwalk.  These structures were designed with resilience and timeless thought and are now complete.
• In the spring of this year, we authored and launched our Resilience through Education and Design Centers.  Focusing on assisting small property owners still recovering from the effects of Sandy, the program offers free design consultations through a design clinic where responsible, resilient, and sustainable solutions are offered.  The second phase of the program affords a client to receive pro bono design and construction services in reconstructing their property.
• We have made great strides in identifying and collaborating with new partner organizations, as well as enhancing our existing relationships toward a common goal: to assist the people who live and work around New York City and the Tri-State region to create a more resilient network of communities for generations to come.
• We have identified that there remains a significant need in the region for our services.  Too many people still have difficulty asking the question, “How do I begin to think about rebuilding, let alone do it, and protect my home and family from future storms?”  There are thousands of property owners who still need that question answered. We continue to receive compelling stories from individual property owners seeking sources to reconstruct their homes and businesses.

We have learned much about what we can do and, equally important, what we should not do in the future.  We have seen design competitions present hundreds of incredible ideas that attempt to solve reconstruction challenges in our area in an innovative, resilient, and sustainable manner. We have learned how to help ourselves, how to help our neighbors, communities, and the region.

Links:

• Architecture for Humanity