City on the Loop, Brooklyn architecture, USA mixed-use concept building design, New York real estate photos
January 28, 2026
Architects: Ruxuan Zheng
Location: Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York City, NY, United States of America
Images: Ruxuan Zheng, Haoyuan Wang
City on the Loop, USA mixed-use concept design
City on the Loop: A Visionary Architectural Strategy for Coastal Living
The design unfolds in three phases
Phase One retrofits Belt Parkway—formerly a dividing barrier between neighbourhood and water—by elevating a new housing and transit spine above it. Phase Two builds on this looped structure with additional housing, light rail, and water-based transit. Phase Three activates the edge with a hotel and commercial district that brings public life to the waterfront, while promoting awareness of long-term coastal sustainability.
Each phase responds to projected 100-year flood levels in Canarsie for 2025, 2050, 2100, and 2500, based on FEMA data. The structure grows vertically with time, integrating green roofs, terraces, and elevated walkways.
Living with water, not against it
Rather than fighting the sea with singular barriers, City on the Loop imagines infrastructure as a cohabitation system—one that evolves with its environment. Wetland buffers, elevated gardens, and public platforms allow natural and urban systems to coexist. The loop is not a line of defense, but a living edge: flexible, continuous, and community-oriented.
“We wanted to treat sea-level rise not just as a threat, but as a prompt to reimagine how we live, move, and relate to the coast,” said Ruxuan Zheng. “Architecture can become a dynamic mediator between land, water, and people.”
Toward a future shoreline
Though unbuilt, the project opens new ways of thinking about the role of architecture in climate futures. It demonstrates how speculative design can address deeply practical issues—such as housing, transportation, and environmental risk—while also reshaping the cultural and spatial identity of coastal cities.
City on the Loop is not a singular solution, but a replicable concept: a system that could continue to grow along the Belt Parkway, forming a new shoreline and city edge for New York and beyond.
City on the Loop in Brooklyn, USA – Building Information
Architects/designers: Ruxuan Zheng – https://www.instagram.com/zheng_ru_xuan/
Official Project Name: City on the Loop
Location: Canarsie Pier, Brooklyn, New York, USA (speculative site)
Client: N/A (academic-initiated, independent speculative project)
Architects / Designers: Ruxuan Zheng, Haoyuan Wang
Design Team: Ruxuan Zheng, Haoyuan Wang
Engineers / Consultants: Conceptual only (no consultants involved)
Landscape Architect: Integrated by design team
Project Sector: Architecture, Urban Design, Coastal Infrastructure
Project Type: Speculative masterplan, housing, transit, and public space
Budget: Not applicable
Project Completion Date: Ongoing (initial design begun 2019, updated through 2024)
Photography / Renderings
Ruxuan Zheng
Haoyuan Wang
About Ruxuan Zheng
The firm operates as an independent design collaboration, rather than a formal company. Their work focuses on speculative architecture, infrastructure, and ecological adaptation, with a particular interest in coastal conditions and how design can respond to long-term environmental challenges while shaping new public and residential typologies.
Their ongoing project, City on the Loop, reimagines Canarsie Pier in Brooklyn as a phased, climate-responsive architectural system. Developed over multiple years, it has become a platform for exploring how architecture, mobility, and flood infrastructure can come together to support new ways of living with water.
Renders: Ruxuan Zheng, Haoyuan Wang
City on the Loop, Brooklyn, USA mixed-use concept design images / information received 280126
Address: Brooklyn, New York City, NY, United States of America.
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