When people are looking for public space in New York City, they often look to the waterways. Of the many ideas in this vein, a new one is more ambitious than usual: an offshore park proposed for the Hudson River off of 14th Street.
Initial pricing puts the project, called Pier 55, at $170 million, and the proposal states that it would be located 186 feet from land and contain wooded areas and three performance venues, 6sqft reports.
Barry Diller, the billionaire Chairman of IAC, is sponsoring the plan. In fact, he initiated the design competition that produced this proposal. Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio is responsible for the current plan for proposed park.
Diller has promised $130 million from the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, in addition to taking managerial responsibilities for the outdoor space and operating costs for the first 20 years. A veteran supporter of public projects, Diller was also the single largest donor to the High Line. The rest of the necessary funds, about $39.5 million, are to come from the city, state, and the Hudson River Park Trust.
Before the plan can go forward, the board of the Hudson River Park Trust, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation must approve Pier 55.
Heatherwick's winning proposal for the park is based on 300 mushroom-shaped concrete columns, forming a parallelogram shape when combined. These columns would vary in height, making the park closer to the water in some places. This design allows sunlight to enter beneath the park, which is vital for the marine sanctuary in this area of the river.
The largest of the three proposed performance spaces would hold 1,000 people in the seats and 2,500 more on the lawn. The other two spaces would be an 800-seat amphitheater and a small stage with 250 seats.
Renderings courtesy Heatherwick Studios.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Alumni Gymnasium Renovation, Dartmouth College Hanover, N.H.
At a time when institutions of higher learning are spending tens of millions of dollars erecting massive, cutting-edge recreation and fitness centers, Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., decided to take a more modest, historical approach. Instead of building an ultra-grand new facility, the university chose to breathe new life into its landmark Alumni Gymnasium by transforming the outdated 99-y...
| Aug 11, 2010
Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design
When tasked with transforming an early 1920s Italian Renaissance bank building into a fully functional library for the Rhode Island School of Design, the Building Team for RISD's Fleet Library found itself at odds with the project's two main goals. On the one hand, the team would have to carefully restore and preserve the historic charm and ornate architectural details of the landmark space, d...
| Aug 11, 2010
Gold Award: The Lion House, Bronx Zoo Bronx, N.Y.
Astor Court sits at the heart of the 265-acre Bronx Zoo, and its six Beaux Arts buildings were constructed at the turn of the 20th century to house exotic animals from around the world. When the Lion House was built in 1903, the brick and limestone facility was considered state-of-the-art, but as standards of animal care advanced, the lions were moved into a more natural setting, and the Lion H...
| Aug 11, 2010
The pride of Pasadena
As a shining symbol of civic pride in Los Angeles County, Pasadena City Hall stood as the stately centerpiece of Pasadena's Civic Center since 1927. To the casual observer, the rectangular edifice, designed by San Francisco Classicists John Bakewell, Jr., and Arthur Brown, Jr., appeared to be aging gracefully.
| Aug 11, 2010
Platinum Award: Reviving Oakland's Uptown Showstopper
The story of the Fox Oakland Theater is like that of so many movie palaces of the early 20th century. Built in 1928 based on a Middle Eastern-influenced design by architect Charles Peter Weeks and engineer William Peyton Day, the 3,400-seat cinema flourished until the mid-1960s, when the trend toward smaller multiplex theaters took its toll on the Fox Oakland.
