In the back of a million-dollar mansion under construction in Miami Beach, contractors are installing what may be the future first line of coastal defense from erosion and climate-driven sea-rise.
It’s a seawall but not your old-school plain poured concrete installation. This is a “living seawall” and it’s cutting-edge in both its design and how it is made.
For one thing, the wall— developed by a Miami-based tech start-up called KindDesigns — is produced in large sections by what is billed as the fastest 3D concrete printer in the world. Its robot arm can sculpt a 10-foot long segment out of concrete in just an hour that can be installed in pieces. But perhaps more important, it features raised areas inspired by mangrove roots that are intended to both provide nooks and crannies for fish and crabs and other marine creatures and also better absorb some of the impact from waves and storm surges.
“We wanted to build something that would be awesome for the environment and the whole marine ecosystem,” said Anya Freeman, the founder of KindDesigns. “And there’s no green premium, the environmental benefits don’t have this huge added cost.”
A green premium means climate-friendly stuff usually costs more. This system is roughly similar in cost to traditional sea wall construction.
The Miami Beach living sea wall is the first one that KindDesigns has installed in the county. The seawall is the same strength as the ones that have gone in the water for the last century, Freeman said, but uses half the rip rap, or boulder rocks, that are required in front of the older designs. The company has tapped advice from high-profile experts and attracted big-name investors.
“We’ve brought in some concrete experts Elon Musk was working with at the Boring Company to help us maximize our material for strength and speed,” Freeman said.
As a member of Miami’s ClimateReady Tech Hub —a county backed incubator that connects local startups with academic researchers — KindDesigns has access to a University of Miami’s Olympic-sized pool that simulates Category 5 hurricanes. They’re running a test this month to determine what happens when waves break on the structure.
“I anticipate that it should perform well, I’ll be able to quantify that after the testing,” said Brian Haus, a professor and department chair of ocean sciences at the University of Miami.
A typical sea wall is a mirror to the waves that just bounce off it. Haus said that can create problems:
“Even though it does protect the property behind it, it can lead to more waves in the canal and cause problems for other boaters, or property owners.”
A year ago, KindDesigns brought in $6M from recognizable investors including Mark Cuban and Patrick Murphy, a former Florida congressman and general contractor with Coastal Construction. With that funding, they bought a warehouse, grew the team and got three cutting-edge 3D printers.
“It’s faster, less expensive and green – its a win, win, win,” Murphy said. “If we’re going to be serious about climate change, which is something I’m passionate about, the construction industry is a big piece of that that flies under the radar.”
Murphy underlined data points that point to the industry being responsible for more than 40% of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Growing up you ignore seawalls and now they can be art and appealing -- and better for the environment” Murphy said.
Better for the fish
As our natural reefs are under increasing threat, artificial structures like living seawalls may become key to maintaining marine life, said Alastair Harborne, a coral reef and fish ecologist from Florida International University.
“Sea level rise means that defenses and seawalls are going to be really important going forward and just putting a flat concrete block does not provide a lot of habitat for fish and other organisms,” Harborne said.
Harborne and his graduate student will monitor the living sea wall installed on a home off the Venetian Causeway in Miami Beach for a year to see what life settles on it.
For fish to use it for sanctuary, he said the structure is more important than it is for it to be alive. But the wall’s rough texture is expected to encourage animals like coral, crustaceans and snails to attach to it.
Meets code, ready to scale
Troy Wilson, the contractor installing the wall, said KindDesigns ends up costing roughly the same price for the property owners to install as a typical concrete seawall.
For a 10-foot tall seawall, that would run about $1500 to $1600 a foot, not including the rip rap rock. Both are cheaper than another alternative of steel panels, which he said can run about $3,000 a linear foot.
While it needs half the amount of rock and does not require the excavation and form construction to pour the concrete on site, the living seawall does costs more to transport. That, he said, makes it a “wash.”
“So it’s maybe a little bit cheaper but pretty comparable to the regular concrete walls,” Wilson said.
His client’s appeal to them so far has been the different and unique look but he said it’s “still very fresh” on the market.
“Some people are a little bit nervous because they’re not out there so they question how will they hold up in the environment over the years,” Wilson said. “I think some of these higher-end builders will go to it because they’re looking for new products. And, you know, who wants to look that ugly sea wall? Well, we don’t think it’s ugly because that’s what pays our check.”
While KindDesigns focuses on residential properties, they won government contracts on the West Coast in Longboat Key and Bay Harbour Islands in Miami Beach. In Bay Harbour, the plan is to design 25 coral reef structures with six of them sculpted into famous Floridians. There’s no word on who the busts will be yet, but the site will be visible by plane.
Now that the new and approved seawall is on the market, Freeman is ready to scale the operation.
“I wanted to start KindDesigns to first find a solution for my home, this beautiful city. But number two to create something that can be scaled and duplicated so that we can bring this technology to every coastal city at risk globally,” Freeman said.
This climate report is funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of all content.
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