The first phase of Bjarke Ingels' barrier system designed to protect Lower Manhattan from tidal surges and rising sea levels is getting underway.
A request for proposal (RFP) for has been issued to find a stewardship partner for the BIG U project, which was created by a team that includes the Danish architect's firm BIG and Dutch studio One Architecture & Urbanism.

The scheme was one of several winners in a competition initiated by Rebuild by Design in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which damaged large swaths of the US eastern seaboard in 2012.
The BIG U defences are designed to prevent the extensive flooding experienced by Lower Manhattan during the storm, and combat sea-level rise expected as a result of climate change.

Plans involve creating a 10-mile barrier that would stretch from West 57th Street, wrap around the southern tip of Manhattan, and run back up the other side to East 42nd Street.
Phase one, known as the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project, will focus on a section of the East River Park along the Lower East Side ? using $335 million (£256 million) in combined public and private funds.

A "bridging berm" barrier ? planted with a selection of salt-tolerant flora, and including public spaces and viewpoints ? is proposed to protect the low-lying ground. Ingels explains more about the project in a movie filmed by Dezeen in 2014.
The RPF issued by Rebuild By Design and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) calls for a partner "to explore and ul...