Bjarke Ingels Group recently unveiled the design for its River Street Waterfront Master Plan in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. The design seeks to create a living waterfront, enhance the connectivity of the public waterfront, restore natural habitats, elevate the standard for urban waterfront resiliency, and transform the way New Yorkers interact with the East River.
The urban shoreline will be deconstructed and re-naturalized with the water’s edge expanding into the city. A circular path will frame a protected cove and provide 360-degree panoramic views of Brooklyn and Manhattan. By extending landscape-piers to existing concrete caissons, breakwaters are created that dissipate wave action from river waves and wakes from boats. This new protected cove will support in-water recreation and boating, while mitigating the effects of storm surge on the neighborhood.
The expanded shoreline will create six new acres of park space, which includes three acres of in-water programming. The new space will feature an outdoor tidal classroom, tidal pools, a picnic and hammock grove, and a nature walk.
See Also: Weiss/Manfredi will lead the master plan of the La Brea Tar Pits
In addition to the shoreline work, the project will also feature two residential towers oriented to limit view obstruction from the neighborhood. The mixed-income towers will include 1,000 total units of housing, 250 of which will be below market rate. Also included on the ground floor of the towers is a new 47,000-sf YMCA, 30,000-sf of neighborhood-oriented retail space, and 4,500-sf of community occupied kiosks. The towers and their podiums will be blended to soften the relationship between the buildings and the park.
The project is currently in progress.
Related Stories
Mixed-Use | Mar 21, 2017
Studio Gang commissioned to design its first Canadian building
The project will be a mixed-use tower at the southwest corner of Yonge and Delisle in Toronto.
Retail Centers | Mar 9, 2017
When everyone shops online, what happens to mixed-use retail?
NBBJ’s David Yuan explains how changing retail trends are creating new opportunities for urban experiences and public space.
High-rise Construction | Mar 3, 2017
Detroit's tallest tower to rise at site of former J.L Hudson's Department Store
SHoP Architects and Hamilton Anderson Associates will design the 52-story building.
Mixed-Use | Mar 1, 2017
New hotel and residential tower coming to San Francisco’s Transbay neighborhood
The ground-up development will feature 255 hotel rooms and 69 residential units.
Mixed-Use | Feb 27, 2017
Tallest tower in Miami to begin construction in January 2019
The tower will reach a height of 1,049 feet, the maximum height permitted by the FAA in Miami.
Mixed-Use | Feb 23, 2017
5-tower scheme revealed for Zhengzhou, China
The towers will vary in height and emerge from a shared retail podium.
Mixed-Use | Feb 22, 2017
Hunt Development Group selected to spearhead Cabrini-Green redevelopment
The Chicago Housing Authority selected the firm to develop mixed-income housing and retail space where the infamous housing project once stood.
Mixed-Use | Feb 21, 2017
Coconut Grove’s newest mixed-use development springs from a converted parking garage
Terra says the development will be the first newly built office building in central Coconut Grove in over 20 years.
High-rise Construction | Feb 17, 2017
Zaha Hadid Architects-designed building to have the world’s tallest atrium
A 190-meter atrium will rise the full height of the building between two twisting sections.
Mixed-Use | Feb 8, 2017
Santiago Calatrava’s first major UK project will be the heart of the Greenwich Peninsula transformation
Peninsula Place will cost £1 billion and act as a gateway to the new, master-planned district.
