MoMA PS1 EXPO 1: New York

Don’t Fight Later, Rethinking the Rockaways

Directors: Klaus Biesenbach, Hans Ulrich Obrist

Collaborators: Frank Barkow, Niklas Maak, Arno Brandlhuber, Johanna Meyer-Grohbrügge, Sam Chermayeff

Sandscape: All measures previously taken to protect the Rockaways have failed miserably and now more money is being spent on dysfunctional, superficial, illusions of safety. Therefore the means and methods in which we address the Rockaways need to be re-thought. Our relationship toward nature needs to be repositioned and the Rockaways need to be radically re-imagined.

Means: Sand is an abundant material malleable enough to take shape from the wind, tides, and current.

Method: The trail of destruction from the last hurricane was not arbitrary. Regardless how explicit the logic, the index itself is performative in nature and serves as a guide in reconstructing and remediating the water’s edge. Using the index as a guide, the introduction of massive rocks perform in redirecting water and wind flow creating a natural labyrinthical landscape that protects the Rockaways from the next storm. The topographic condition is constantly shifting creating tidal pools, inlets, flex programmable spaces, and in some places – the perfect waves for surfing. The mundane homogenous beach or pier is replaced by a radically topographic, ecologically diverse, programmatically rich, and naturally stable environment. The threshold between urbanization and recreation becomes unclear as the condition is in constant flux. This almost ephemeral landscape provokes visitors and residents to make the beach their own, and to creatively nest in the ever changing sandscape.