Coney Island

Coney Island will remain a MUTANT appendage at the farthest shore of New York City. Coney is an agglomeration of all of its histories and should continue to simultaneously move each agenda forward. Coney will continue to evolve through mutations— this vision will accelerate its hybridity.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated New York City, estimates predict that Coney Island will mostly be submerged over the course of the next thirty years. If this is a given, Coney Island should embrace these forces alongside the forces that have defined it throughout its own diverse history. Coney Island and Jamaica Bay as a networked refuge for people and creatures as far from the city as possible.

Coney Island floods from the back bay and will inevitably become an archipelago regardless of storm surge protection. Tie these islands together with buildings and allow it to change and accepts this new change of identity. Allow flooding—use debris for archipelago. Build new flood-proof housing over time while allowing the islands to mature and grow. Shift the debris to the islands and allow redevelopment and natural island growth through the accumulation and enrichment of sediments from the tides.

New buildings will be layered hybrids of housing, ecosystems, and workplaces. Vertical and floating massings are desirable among the islands. As land is lost, new land is replaced above any foreseeable water level surges. A lifted city of platforms makes the most sense. Maintain a wild zone free from the city. Evoke the unchecked freedoms of the original amusements but with landscapes instead of structures.