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Architects: SWA/BALSLEY, WEISS/MANFREDI
- Area: 239580 ft²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:David Lloyd/SWA, Bill Tatham/SWA, Albert Vecerka/ESTO
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Manufacturers: Kebony, BPDL, Landscape Forms, Landscape Structures, Vermont Stone Art & VIF
Text description provided by the architects. Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park Phase II, opening summer of 2018, transforms 5.5 acres of an abandoned industrial landscape into a new waterfront park. Phase II of the park begins south of 54th Avenue and wraps around Newtown Creek to complete the full vision of Hunter’s Point South Park initiated with the Phase I park, resulting in nearly 11 acres of a continuous waterfront park. The park offers places of retreat and invites intimate connections with nature at the water’s edge, complementing the active recreation spaces in the Phase 1 park.
The park is also a new model for waterfront resilience, with a “soft” approach to protecting the water’s edge from floodwaters. A trail meanders along the causeway, elevated slightly above the river, a stroll of shifting perspectives of the skyline and close-ups of the marsh habitat along the river’s edge and protects nearly 1.5 acres of newly established wetlands. The design also leverages the site’s dramatic topography 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 hovers above the wetland and offers panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.
The park was a design collaboration between SWA/BALSLEY and WEISS/MANFREDI with ARUP as the prime consultant and infrastructure designer. The design re-establishes the site’s former marshland identity and introduces a resilient, multi-layered recreational and cultural destination, bringing the city to the park and the park to the waterfront.
