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
| Aug 11, 2010
Arup, SOM top BD+C's ranking of the country's largest mixed-use design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Mixed-Use Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
10% of world's skyscraper construction on hold
Emporis, the largest provider of global building data worldwide, reported that 8.7% of all skyscrapers listed as "under construction" in its database had been put on hold. Most of these projects have been halted in the second half of 2008. According to Emporis statistics, the United States had been hit the worst: at the beginning of 2008, "Met 3" in Miami was the only U.S. skyscraper listed as being "on hold". In the second half of the year, 19 projects followed suit.
| Aug 11, 2010
Structure Tone, Turner among the nation's busiest reconstruction contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Reconstruction Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Portland Cement Association offers blast resistant design guide for reinforced concrete structures
Developed for designers and engineers, "Blast Resistant Design Guide for Reinforced Concrete Structures" provides a practical treatment of the design of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures to resist the effects of blast loads. It explains the principles of blast-resistant design, and how to determine the kind and degree of resistance a structure needs as well as how to specify the required materials and details.
| Aug 11, 2010
New website highlights government tax incentives for large commercial buildings
Energy Retrofit Group (ERG), the subsidiary of 40-year-old, award-winning Adache Group Architects, Inc., has announced the creation of their new energy conservation web site: www.energy-rg.com.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gensler, HOK, HDR among the nation's leading reconstruction design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 100 Reconstruction Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
The Joule Hotel
Dallas, Texas
The Joule Hotel in Dallas, designed by local firm Coburn & Smith, was constructed in 1927 as the Dallas National Bank Building. Originally one of the finest examples of gothic revival architecture in Texas, it had had most of its gothic elements removed over the years after being converted into an office building and later abandoned. What was left had fallen into disrepair.
| Aug 11, 2010
AECOM, WATG top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest hotel design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Hotel Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
