# NEW YORK | The Big U Flood Barrier and Park



## weidncol (Nov 13, 2013)

*Bjarke Ingels’ Copenhagen and New York-based architecture firm BIG is one of six winners announced this week. The proposal is called the Big U, and it won $335 million to buttress Manhattan in preparation of the next superstorm. The other winners will focus on the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, and New Jersey.

The Big U will stretch eight miles along Manhattan’s coastline, looping south from West 57th Street and then back up to East 42nd Street—a perimeter that hugs the area of Manhattan hit by the blackout. Much of the protection offered by the Big U will be from elevation. But unlike standard dikes, which can actually trap water, the plan calls for a more organic, sloped barrier that’s built into the landscape.*

http://www.wired.com/2014/06/a-335m-project-to-save-nyc-from-climate-catastrophe/

I didn't see a thread on this. $335 million seems low...


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## Ghostface79 (Jun 27, 2013)

The 335 mil is only for designing the project, it will need more funding to build it.


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## weidncol (Nov 13, 2013)

Oh well that makes more sense. I couldn't imagine this project being so inexpensive based on their plans.


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## webeagle12 (Oct 1, 2007)

Ghostface79 said:


> The 335 mil is only for designing the project, it will need more funding to build it.


So pretty much in other words we need 335 billion dollars to build it in NYC


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

And Silverstein's struggling for 2 billion dollars...


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## droneriot (Apr 1, 2008)

I live near the North Sea coast and near the Netherlands, basically in the homeland of dikes, and I have never heard about them trapping water.


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## Kirov88 (Jan 12, 2013)

droneriot said:


> I live near the North Sea coast and near the Netherlands, basically in the homeland of dikes, and I have never heard about them trapping water.


It's just poorly written. The author is trying to say that the dike is integrated in to the landscape in stead of a pile of dirt and stone on the coast.


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## weidncol (Nov 13, 2013)

Yes, so it will essentially raise the elevation of the coastline by creating a slope, if you will.


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## droneriot (Apr 1, 2008)

That's what a "standard dike" is here.


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## Kirov88 (Jan 12, 2013)

droneriot said:


> That's what a "standard dike" is here.


But usually not used as public space, apart from the occasional road.


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## droneriot (Apr 1, 2008)

I'm still talking about how this is any better at not trapping water than all the dikes in Northwest Germany and the Netherlands. Seems like it's exactly the same thing but with a park on top, making the article very confusing.


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## seb.nl (Jan 29, 2010)

I like the idea of quite rigorous safety precautions doubling as a nice environment


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## Maximalist (Dec 1, 2007)

With the oceans steadily rising into the future, this may protect New York against a few storms into the future, but how long will it be before the berms have to be made higher?


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