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Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park
Discipline : Urban Design, Landscape Architecture & Landscaping
Categories : Landscape Architecture / Public Space Landscape Architecture : Gold Certification
An international model of urban ecology, Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park is an 11-acre public destination that initiated one of New York’s most ambitious developments, eventually including 5,000 units of affordable housing, two schools, a library, and an expanded ferry stop. Numerous green initiatives transform an underutilized site into a laboratory for sustainable thinking; the former wetlands area is both waterfront and city, blank slate and pentimento.
The site’s proximity to the waterfront and rail exchange prompted decades of industrialization… and subsequent abandonment. Today, the park leverages its layered ecological and industrial histories to serve a rapidly-growing community and buffer against extreme weather events. Ecological corridors along the water’s edge link the park’s major precincts and programs. Concrete bulkheads were replaced with new wetlands and pathways to create an infrastructural “soft” edge, while a richly planted bioswale defines the city/park intersection. A new, multi-use green oval offers views across the river to Manhattan as well as space for formal and informal performances, and doubles as a stormwater detention basin.
The site’s dramatic topography is enhanced with a shaded, grassy promontory, a new island reached by a pedestrian bridge, a kayak launch, exercise and picnic terraces, a collection of intimate “break-out” lounges off the pathways, and a dramatic, cantilevered overlook that offers panoramic views of the city skyline.
Collaboration
Engineering : ARUP
