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Pru & Louis Ryan Resilience Lab

We’re Building a More Resilient Future. For All – Including River Life.

As communities everywhere wrestle with the growing impacts of climate change, The Pru & Louis Ryan Resilience Lab of the Elizabeth River Project will serve as a global model for urban coastal living that protects both the ecosystem and humans as sea levels rise. Now being built along Knitting Mill Creek on one of Norfolk’s fastest growing commercial corridors, this $8 million living laboratory is funded through the future-minded philanthropy of its namesakes, Pru and Louis Ryan of Norfolk, and many generous donors to our Next Wave Campaign.

Make Your Mark on the Future.

Support this project of the future with a tax-deductible naming gift, and put your name on a learning station, plaque, native garden or other space.

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What’s the Resilience Lab? We’re glad you asked.

  • Engineered To Withstand Flooding And Respond To Sea Level Rise
  • Environmentally Sustainable Design & Construction Techniques
  • For Residents, Businesses And Developers
  • Solar Equipped/Net-Zero Energy Consumption Goal
  • Toilets Flushed With 100% Harvested Rainwater
  • Goode Family Entry Pavilion Floats During Flooding
  • Brock River Room for Workshops, Events
  • Northern Cornerstone: Norfolk Innovation Corridor
  • Anchor for Planned Eco-District
  • “Living Shoreline” of Restored Wetlands, Oysters, Native Plants
  • HRSD Research Dock For Higher-Education Partners
  • Changing Research Displays
  • Perry Family Boardwalk Observatory
  • Continuous Rain Gardens

Follow along with the Resilience Lab construction updates

See Updates

Welcome to the Future.

$8 million
cost of build
2023 

opening date
zero
net energy use
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“Developing on-land solutions to rising tides and rising sea level is not just a case of trying to make it more inhabitable for human beings. It’s also a case of making the land more friendly to the river.”

LOUIS RYAN

OFFICER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Elizabeth River Project

In the News

Resilience lab in Norfolk marks milestone in construction process

The Elizabeth River Project placed the final beam on the Ryan Resilience Lab, which will help homeowners and developers learn how to adapt to climate change.
Watch Now

Elizabeth River Project’s new lab reaches construction milestone

Elizabeth River Project marked the latest progress in the building of its Ryan Resilience Laboratory Friday with a “topping out” ceremony. The complex will serve as a research, education and outreach center dedicated to the environment.

Watch Now
The Washington Post logo

Meet the multimillion-dollar building deliberately built to drown

As coastal cities wrestle with increasing threats from rising waters, a nonprofit’s costly new headquarters offers an answer that is both defiant and prescient…
Read Now

Changing Coastlines and the Rolling Conservation Easement

Questions loom about how to handle homes, businesses, and entire cities that are at risk of flooding, and there rarely seems to be an answer that makes everyone happy.
Read Now

Youth Water Monitoring Results

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