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This is the documentary The Cultural Front Line from the BBC World Service.

Back in 2012, parts of New York City were devastated by floods. People died. The city came

to a standstill, including the stock exchange, and the damage cost almost 20 billion dollars.

I think all of us obviously have been shocked by the force of Mother Nature as we watch it on television.

At the same time, we've also seen nurses at NYU Hospital carrying fragile newborns to safety.

We've seen incredibly brave firefighters in Queens, waste deep in water, battling infernos and rescuing people in boats.

I'm Rosia Iqbal and today we're going to meet the Danish architect Biaka Ingalls, who is responsible

for the Manhattan flood project designed to tackle the impact of climate change.

In the case of a storm warning, this whole thing, it looks like something from Star Wars,

this giant element actually rolls along these tracks and hits the kind of rounded wall on the other side and it creates a tight seal so that if the entire East River comes up as it did with Sandy,

it's going to stay on the water side and not come into the city side.

I moved to New York a few months ago,

and the apartment I live in I chose precisely because of the panorama it gives me.

I get to see Central Park on the east side, I get to see the Empire State Building and as I move

around to the west of New York there are two buildings that are fairly new in this city, both of them designed by Biaka Engels.

One's called the spiral and the other is called Via 57, which overlooks the Hudson River

and is like a knife slashing its way through the Hell's kitchen area

And here we are just six blocks away from my apartment and I'm standing in front of Via 57.

It's an entrance to Manhattan via 57th Street.

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