It’s been seven months since Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York City-area beaches, decimating facilities like lifeguard stations and changing rooms, and it’s been a race against the clock to get the beaches back in shape for the summer season. As part of the rebuilding effort, Garrison Architects were tapped to create 37 modular beach pavilions to replace the ones that were washed away — and starting next week, they’ll be popping up at destinations like Rockaway Beach and Coney Island.
There are three types of structures: one for comfort stations, one for lifeguards, and one for offices. Each unit will sit on concrete stilts, which raise the rooms off the ground to meet FEMA’s storm standards, and they’re accessed by stairs and ramps from the boardwalk. Each one’s 15 feet high by 12 feet wide, jibing with interstate shipping limitations since they’re being driven up to NYC from Pennsylvania.
As rebuilding efforts generally go, the new modules are better and stronger than the buildings Sandy swallowed back in October. They’re made of galvanised steel frames designed to withstand severe weather, in the event we’re hit with another beach-bombing natural disaster. Finished with high-grade stainless steel and reinforced concrete, they also have rain screen cladding systems and double ventilated roofs with solar panels on the top to save on energy consumption. And most importantly, they’ll be at the beach just in time for summer. [Garrison Architects via Architizer]
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