The Great Manhattan Oyster Project

featured in 'The Greatest Grid: The Masterplan of Manhattan 1811-2011' exhibition, Museum of the City of New York, 2011-2012

The recent fury of Hurricane Irene has shown that Manhattan and its unique grid may be under threat from the forces of nature as much as from any human threats. The bodies of water, from the Hudson to the East River, that define Manhattan begin to form a menacing presence. But could the grid be its own saviour? The original grid represented the New Yorkers’ mastery over the natural landscape, imposing a uniform level plane across the swamps and farmlands of lower Manhattan.

This project looks at the potential of extending the grid across the waters that surround it. But in what form?

No greater symbol of the decline of Manhattans natural form exists than the oyster. At one stage its waterways contained massive oyster reefs capable of not only keeping the waters around New York relatively clean, but also feeding a large proportion of the city’s poor. For the humble oyster is an incredible creature: a rich source of iron, zinc and protein, and therefore a good alternative to fish and red meat, it can also filter up to 150 litres of water per day. The original oyster population of the Chesapeake Bay was able to filter its entire volume every 5 days. The fledgling New York grid once played host to thousands of oyster carts plying their trade and oyster fishermen lining the ports.Since the turn of last century the New York oyster has fallen into a steady decline, bearing the brunt of the city’s population booms.

This project looks to revive the oyster in the form of oyster farms on a massive scale. As fish and red meat become more and more unsustainable, the city reverts slowly to a former staple made a luxury over time. The grid is gradually extended by boardwalks and walls formed from the refuse shells, forming a series of barriers and levies to the hurricanes threatening New York’s once placid shores more and more frequently. A midden maze rising from the waters of the Hudson. Over time the great city is an oyster capital reborn, self‐sufficient in food and able to filter much of its water supply.

And in doing so the grid takes on another chapter.