Nature's architect: How oyster-tecture can protect New York city

By Will Bugler

"There is nothing like waves lapping at the foot of 14th Street to get people's mindsets to shift about how we are living in cities, within a larger environmental context" explains Kate Orff, Founder of SCAPE Landscape Architecture, based in New York. The firm is unusual amongst architects as it focusses on building architecture from natural ecological systems.

It's hard to imagine today, but Pearl Street in New York, is so called because it used to be paved with oyster shells. Such was the abundance of oysters in New York harbour, that they would be sold in street wagons as a curb-side snack. The oysters were over exploited and today the once huge oyster reef is non-existent. However, when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, causing an estimated US$75 billion in damage people started to ask serious questions about the city's preparedness for coastal flooding and storm surges. It turns out that the vast oyster reef offered the city substantial protection, breaking up waves before they crashed on shore.

Today there are efforts to restore parts of the reef, as part of wider plans to increase the degree to which natural ecosystems contribute to urban resilience. In this video, Kate Orff, explains how her firm integrates natural systems and infrastructure to rehabilitate New York's infamously polluted Gowanus Canal.