Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park Phase II

Studio: SWA/Balsley Weiss/Manfredi
Project: Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park Phase II
Location: Long Island City, New York / USA
Year: 2018
Category: Landscape & Public Space
Credits: Barrett Doherty / David Lloyd / Bill Tatham / Albert Vacerka

Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park Phase IItransforms 5.5 acres of an abandoned industrial landscape into a new waterfront park. Phase II of thep ark 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 continuous meandering causeway, elevated slightly above the river, offers a walk along the river’s edge and protects nearly 1.5 acres of newly established wetlands. The design also leverages the site’s dramatictopography 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.