Project name: Boston Coastal Flood Resilience Design Guidelines & Zoning Overlay District
Project narrative: Boston’s Coastal Flood Resilience Design Guidelines is innovative in its approach to flood resilience because of its forward-looking approach as well as the specificity of resilient design strategies to the Boston context. Few cities have implemented resilience regulations and policy tools based on future sea-level rise. Boston’s guidelines raise awareness to coastal flood risks for the 2070 time horizon, and in doing so, Boston is setting a new course by taking a proactive approach so that its built environment is climate ready. Designs for elevating buildings, flood-proofing, and building adaptation are right-sized to Boston-specific building typologies.
Project location: Boston, Massachusetts
Firm name: Utile, Inc.
Completion: 2019
Project type: Flood Resilience Design Guidelines
Project information: New construction, Addition, Adaptive reuse, Renovation/restoration
Client: Boston Planning & Development Agency
Jury comments: The jury was impressed with the simple but effective ideas outlined in the Boston Coastal Flood Resilience Design Guidelines & Zoning Overlay District. Climate resiliency is a topic of great importance, and while the jury struggled with the zoning-based approach to this solution, we found the strategies for risk mitigation to be simple, effective, and feasible. We recommend that all home and business owners in this area be given a copy of these ideas as an important community resource.
