Beautiful sites with stunning views along the waterfront of major cities often go unused due to the industrial remains of a past economy based on shipping and manufacturing. The move away from these economic sectors and the potential of these sites has contributed to a move to adapt these spaces into public amenities. While some cities' approach has been to demolish and start from scratch completely, the thirteen-year transformation of the Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City's waterfront included keeping some of its industrial character. In their upcoming book "Brooklyn Bridge Park," Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates discuss their design process, including using the existing materiality and structures along the piers to embed the site's history in the park.
Once a desolate port in the 1980s, the Port Authority donated Brooklyn Bridge Park's eighty-five acres and six piers to the city after a decade of grassroots efforts. This would begin a decades-long design and phased construction process that would conclude in December 2021.
Instead of viewing the failing and eroding infrastructure as a limitation, MVVA saw it as an opportunity. They used the site's inherent challenges to create a vision for a unique type of public space. They preserved the structure of existing warehouses, using them in different ways throughout the park. In some instances, they are armatures for lighting; in others, they are used as shade structures. They also painted these repurposed frames blue as an homage to the Port Authority's color on the sheds decades earlier. The largest original structure preserved is a sports pavilion designed by Architect Maryann Thompson, which uses the original shed structure and a reinstalled corrugated roof.
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On top of keeping the structure of the sheds, they also repurposed reclaimed material, including salvaged parts from the site and city infrastructure. Removed concrete portions of the pier were relocated and used as sculptural features in a water playground. Lumber from the National Cold Storage warehouse was repurposed for benches, picnic tables, and playground equipment. Granite from the reconstruction of two New York City bridges was also repurposed and incorporated as embankments and seating.
Hassel Studio used a similar approach in West Bund, China. Originally an industrial hub part of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, the city transformed its riverfront into a thriving public space. The preservation and celebration of the existing site were crucial to their design strategy. A series of buildings along the waterfront were preserved and turned into museums—reclaimed materials, such as existing concrete panels and paving, were also used.
Great potential lies in the transformation of industrial structures into public spaces. Both in terms of the juxtapositions that can emerge between the old and the new and in the kinds of public infrastructures it can generate. An approach that reuses the existing can both promote sustainable construction practices as well as produce spaces distinct to their location. The outcome can be the creation of landmarks that speak not only to a city's history but also to its evolving relationship with it.
