Catherine Seavitt (B.S.’91) is co-author with fellow New Yorkers, engineer Guy Nordenson and architect and former Muschenheim Fellow Adam Yarinsky, of a 360-page blueprint to address the potential effects of rising water levels and apocalyptic storms on New York City. The solutions they propose are based on principles of “soft infrastructure,” which proposes flexible ecological systems—e.g. networks of piers, wetlands, and oyster beds—as an alternative to “hard” solutions like concrete dams and storm barriers.

The New York Times reported recently that the Museum of Modern Art’s curator of architecture and design proposed a six-month research program, titled Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront. Four teams will be selected to participate in a program to design four projects in New York Harbor inspired by guidelines in the Nordenson-Seavitt-Yarinsky document. The teams, which will be announced in the next few weeks, will be provided with studio space on three floors of the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, an affiliate of MoMA, in Long Island City, Queens. The designs could include anything from parks to public housing but must respond to specific site conditions.

The exhibit opens at the MoMA on March 24, 2010 and runs through August 9, 2010.

Related links:
Read the Rising Currents Blog
Read what Architect's Newspaper had to say about Rising Currents
Read about Rising Currents in the New York Times