PM Network - August 2014

hen Hurricane Sandy whipped across the East Coast of the United States in October 2012, it became the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Within its path of destruction lay Rockaway Beach, a miles-long stretch of sand that’s been popular with New Yorkers since the early 1900s. Sandy pummeled its boardwalks and recreational facilities.

By December 2012, New York City had assessed the scope of storm damage and committed to reopening the iconic beach by May 2013, so residents could kick off the summer season as usual. Under normal circumstances, the US$140 million project would have taken three and a half years, but the city’s ambitious deadline meant architecture firm Sage and Coombe had less than six months.

The project’s scope included designing and constructing three raised platforms, or islands. Each 100,000-square-foot ( 9,300-square-meter) island needed to provide outdoor showers, shade and access to concession facilities and needed to be built at the elevation of the former boardwalks, to allow access to and from the street and beach.

At times, fast-tracking the project meant favoring pragmatism. “We had to design within the existing footprint so we didn’t have to trigger the need for new environmental approvals,” says Jennifer Sage, Sage and Coombe’s co-owner. But compressing the schedule also meant making last-minute adjustments along the way.

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Team members initially assumed they would use precast planking, a concrete, factory-fabricated planking with a preapproved pattern. Then they learned it could take up to 12 weeks to fabricate. So the team decided to cast the concrete on-site, which allowed site work to start sooner and avoided a lengthy fabrication process.