Flooding caused by Hurricane Ike in September 2008 resulted in major damage around Galveston Bay and Houston, Texas. MSc student Robert de Boer (TU Delft ), studied the concept of ‘ Building with Nature’ ( BwN ) for his MSc thesis. For Galveston Bay, a method was developed to gain insight in the value of the Building with Nature concept in the light of creating opportunities for nature in combination with flood prevention. After this, a design was made with BwN elements. To reduce flood risk in Galveston Bay significantly, BwN measures could be combined with ‘hard’ protection can be combined.