Waterfront Architect—Changing Concepts for a Changing Littoral
By Warren Miller, Marine Construction Magazine
Architecture in New York City is, by dictates of geography, almost entirely waterfront architecture. Until recently, though, the specialty within the architecture profession was not as prominent as it is today. In the late 19th century through the 20th century, the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan were anchored deep into granite and in the center of the island. The site of the Empire State Building, for example, is 50 feet above sea level. Waterfront locations were industrial sites and shipping docks and often rundown.
That’s changed for a number of reasons. Real estate along New York City’s harbor and its many rivers is highly desirable. Redevelopment projects on historic waterfront sites—the majority of them for mixed-use purposes—have become an important marine construction activity.
At the same time, building on the waterfront has become more challenging. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 flooded downtown Manhattan and beach communities in Queens and Nassau County, forcing a greater focus on rising sea levels and the exposure of the city to natural forces. Meeting the demands of climate change, demands that are both current and future, requires creativity and teamwork. Those are among the challenges that drew architect and engineer Dena Prastos, the founder of the multidisciplinary company Indigo River, to the New York City waterfront. Marine Construction Magazine spoke with Prastos about her background, her practice and her thoughts on the future of the profession.
Miller: Architects tend come to the discipline from the art side or the math side, don’t they?
Prastos: That’s absolutely correct, and I straddle both those worlds on a daily basis. At different points in my career, I leaned more toward one or the other but I embrace both. I enjoyed geometry as well as art classes.
When did you first think about architecture as a profession?
When I was in fifth grade, the school I attended had a school-wide competition to redesign the entrance to the school. They went to the students and asked, “What do you think the entrance should look like?” I went to town on it, probably more so than any other student. It was an eye-opening signaling to my future self, a foreshadowing of the work I do.
You grew up in Alaska. How did you get from Alaska to New York City?
I played soccer in high school and was recruited to play Division 1 soccer, first at the University of Connecticut, which has a phenomenal athletics program. But they didn’t have an architecture program, so I diverted from my initial interest by enrolling in a general undergraduate program.
In my second semester, though, I departed from what my academic advisors recommended and took everything related to architecture that was available— art and architecture history, drawing and technical writing courses. That validated my interest and that summer, I transferred to the New Jersey Institute of Technology, which had a School of Architecture. I was able to transfer credits, continue playing Division I soccer and complete a five-year architecture program that enabled licensure without a master’s degree.
How did you start your practice?
When I finished school in 2008, the architecture realm was seizing up. One role available to me in an architectural office at the time was to work as a CAD jockey until the economy picked up, but I wasn’t interested in that. But even though I’d gotten high marks in design areas, I had some concern about my technical ability, so instead of joining the workforce I went back to school and got a civil engineering masters.
That helped round out my understanding of the technical side of practice. When I was finishing that degree, I decided to learn more about what was going on in the field. I took my first position as a field engineer for a civil contractor, and it helped shape the rest of my career.
The first project I worked on was the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, which happened to be a waterfront site. I learned that there are many nuances to working on the waterfront that you don’t always get exposed to working on traditionally upland, landlocked sites.
Your civil engineering degree must have been a big plus. There’s a civil engineering component to everything built on the waterfront, isn’t there?
Absolutely. I’m a huge advocate for having specialties within the architecture profession, as well. It hasn’t been the norm. There are firms that specialize in healthcare or other programmatic building types, but it was a geographic typology that attracted me to waterfront architecture, for many reasons. It was my calling.
Did you work in another studio before starting your own practice?
I worked for six years for a heavy civil construction company, which sent me abroad to work for the Army Corps of Engineers. I worked for a design engineering firm in the Marine Engineering Department. And finally, yes, at an architecture firm. To get your architecture license, you must work for some time under a licensed architect for a period of time. Soon after those experiences and once I received licensure, I launched Indigo River.
What was your plan with Indigo River?
The opportunity I saw to create Indigo River came out of a couple of schools of thought. When I was an engineer working closely with contractors, I was often the only architect in the room. I often felt the architecture and design were an afterthought when in reality, design-led projects have the potential to create so many more opportunities for our communities. Architecture should be integral to the entire development process.
Working on the waterfront goes hand-in-hand with climate adaptation. Specializing in the climate adaptation as an architect is not only wise in the face of increasing environmental challenges but also a responsible and impactful career path.
As an architect, specializing in climate adaptation via the waterfront affords me the opportunity to play a critical role in designing and retrofitting structures to withstand these challenges. Architects are in a unique position to connect all the dots, collaborating with a range of experts that include urban planners, engineers, ecologists, and policymakers. Architects look at a project from a high level and synthesize the technical pieces into whatever the design intent is.
You work in a dense and heavily regulated market, the New York-New Jersey harbor.
The New York Harbor is perhaps the most heavily regulated within country, if not the world, and also the most incredibly vulnerable to sea level rise, climate change and storm surge. At many different levels, the pieces are coming together that signal a tremendous opportunity for others to join the cause and try to leave our environment in better shape than how we inherited it.
Do you find that the materials that are best in a marine environment are different than what you’d use in an upland project?
Absolutely, and that’s a function of constant and dynamic exposure to natural forces as well as prolonged contact with water and salt water, depending on the exact location. We devote a lot of time to staying current on emerging materials, talking with manufacturers and engaging with them early in the design process.
Are you seeing more women looking to go into architecture?
Yes. It’s both somewhat organic but also somewhat contrived. By contrived, I mean there’s more discussion around diversity and equity in the profession and representation within the field. As a profession, we’re impacting the built environment and that affects the entire public, so having that empathy and representation of many different people within the field, at every level and at every step within a project’s development, is crucial.
One recent development that I believe will help bring more women into architecture is that the National Council for Architecture Registration Boards (NCARB) recently eliminated their rolling clock— previously, you had a five-year window to take and pass all the exams. The Board asked themselves the question, “how is the five-year rolling clock helping or hindering health and welfare within the profession?” and they realized that the effect it was having, particularly on women around child-bearing age, was a negative one. By removing the rolling clock, it allows women to maintain momentum throughout that stage of their life, rather than being discouraged from picking back up and feeling punished for taking personal time before getting back into the game.
You mentioned bringing “empathy” to the design team, which isn’t a word that’s often used in that context. Will having more women in architecture increase consideration of the end users of buildings when planning projects?
Yes! Even if it’s not more empathy, it’s a different empathy. Same thing with minority representation. It’s different when you’ve felt and experienced different things, whether it’s being disabled or a woman, as opposed to the predominately white men who have historically been leading the profession. It opens the door for more creative and more relatable design and construction that eventually permeates the fabric of the built environment for the betterment of the public
Reprinted from Marine Construction Magazine Issue V, 2023.
