How 3D Technology is Protecting America’s Coastal Communities One Seawall at a Time

When Anya Freeman was a child, her family came to the United States for her father’s job opportunity in pursuit of the American Dream. As a half-Ukrainian, half-Russian immigrant turned U.S. citizen, Freeman never envisioned that her own journey would lead to inventing a solution for protecting thousands of America’s coastal communities threatened by rising sea-levels. 

“We don't have to convince anyone that the sea levels are rising or that there's an increase in storm surges, and every coastal community is really focused on finding solutions,” said Anya Freeman, Founder and CEO of Kind Designs.

Freeman is a career lawyer but after starting her law firm in Miami she faced the continual nuisance of flooding near her home. After seven years of constant frustration, she decided it was time to find a solution. 

“Every time it rained, we literally had to race home as fast as we could to move our cars out of the driveway and into the next street, because if we didn't, they would literally float down the street. That's how bad it was,” said Freeman.

Freeman set out on a relentless pursuit to find a solution that didn’t seem to exist. She discovered this is partially because there is too much money being made by keeping things as they are. 

“The narrative is always doom and gloom. It's always, you have to be crazy to invest in coastal property and in coastal cities. We're all going to be underwater. People are always selling books of this, and it's the easiest thing to sell with fear mongering,” said Freeman. “Seeing that there was not a lot of attention on solutions, and specifically technology that can be used to bring solutions to these cities, I left behind being a lawyer and decided to start Kind Designs, which would number one, find a solution for my home.”

As Freeman investigated solving her own problem, she stumbled on a much bigger one—the broader impacts on coastal communities from climate change and rising sea levels. 

She uncovered crisis scenarios involving climate-displaced populations like the residents of Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana. This is where 400 residents were forced from their barrier island homes because rising sea levels have swallowed 98 percent of the island.

Freeman also investigated the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) plan to construct 50,000 miles of seawalls in 22 states over the next 20 years. The massive undertaking is part of a $400 billion flood control project to protect communities against rising sea levels and coastal erosion due to climate change.

These discoveries underscored an issue extending far beyond the nuisance flooding on Freeman’s Miami street, but one dangerously impacting millions of Americans. The crisis-level need for more solutions seemed to already exist on the radars of environmental and infrastructure experts and yet, there were few options to consider beyond traditional seawalls. 

Freeman found herself at the intersection of an urgent problem and an opportunity. She started Kind Designs with a drive to create a new kind of solution that would leverage modern technology, environmentally sound materials and a habitat responsible design. 

This vision became the nucleus for her new American dream.