Flood-proofing furniture - Manhattan style

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) recently unveiled the second of three prototypes of multi-purpose “street furniture” that will prevent flooding while allowing ventilation of the subway system.
The latest design, in front of 151 West Broadway in lower Manhattan, provides benches and bicycle racks, and will be replicated at 15 locations in that area, according to the MTA.
According to the agency, special furniture to curb the flow of stormwater into the subway system is one of many initiatives undertaken in response to the storm of August 8, 2007, which caused chaos for subways and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR).
The street furniture is on view to be tested by cyclists, pedestrians and the local community, before the additional units are installed, according to the announcement on Wednesday, October 1.
The units, which will range in length from 16 to 26 feet, join the raised grates and benches in Jamaica, Queens, built for a similar purpose. The prototype of those units that were designed by a different firm was unveiled on Friday, September 19.
In contrast to the Manhattan design, the Queens prototype has a mottled finish, no bike racks and only one bench.
The undulating grate on top, that might serve as a bench, is studded with protruding plates, making it impractical to sit on and downright uncomfortable to lie down on the furniture.
“We customized the designs to meet the flooding conditions in each particular location,” said MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan. “That part of Queens has always had the worst flooding in the entire subway system,” he said.
“We got feedback from the community boards in the areas where the furniture was to be installed,” Donovan continued. “The reception we got was largely ‘let’s not delay installation’ on account of the flooding,” he added.
There is a difference in recollections.
“I read about it in the paper,” said Yvonne Reddick, District Manager of Queens Community Board 12 (CB12), which covers Jamaica from the centerline of Hillside Avenue to the south.
Marie Adam-Ovide, District Manager of CB8, which covers the other side of Hillside Avenue and points north, did remember hearing about it.
“The MTA made a presentation at the Borough Board,” she said. “They just showed us the different designs,” Ovide recalled, “I don’t remember any real discussion about it.”
Nevertheless, authorities in Manhattan are thrilled.
“By partnering with so many leaders of the design community, we achieved both the highest caliber of design excellence and a much needed functionality,” raved Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and a Queens resident.
“The fact that this new street furniture does more than double-duty as protection from stormwater by providing seating and bike racks shows that good design can turn problems into assets,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of the city’s Department of Transportation.
“What could have been unattractive interventions on our sidewalks, will now be successful public amenities,” said landscape architect and Vice President of the city’s Public Design Commission Signe Nielsen, of the multi-purpose furniture.
Among other flood control responses, both the LIRR and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection are making sewer improvements around the Bayside station, which was so severely flooded as to resemble a canal after the 2007 storm.