Grade Changes and Paths Define the Pedestrian Experience
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"3000","speed":"300","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}

DETAILS

LocationBronx, New York, USA
ClientCity of New York
Size0.7 miles

Since the closing of a city-owned landfill in 1963, the site’s transformation into Ferry Point Waterfront Park has been a long, complex process. The new Ferry Point Waterfront Park will be a long linear eastern ecological extension of the previously built and conventionally programmed western Ferry Point Park. Part of a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, this new park extends east from the anchorage of the Whitestone Bridge approximately 0.7 miles along the East River. It is intended to become what the actively programmed western park is not, an environmentally focused place of passive recreation and contemplation.

The armature of this long linear waterfront park is a system of earthworks and grade changes that create an upper park and a lower park within a relatively long and narrow span. To further articulate the park, a circulation system of diagonal cross-grain connectors defines a discrete series of coherent landscape spaces while elongating and accentuating the distance from the upland margin of the site to the waterfront. This path system redirects and choreographs user movements, crenellating the “perceived” water’s edge and revealing site. The interstices of the path system are a series of swatches that vary in texture, tone and ecology. The path system operates along the interface of two landscape typologies affording visitors a varied experience while strolling along the designated path system. These eco-swatches are large enough to be viable ecologies and to accommodate unforeseen future programmatic changes. The cultural ecology will complement the ecological underpinning of the park. The plan includes an urban beach, small boat center and a waterfront restaurant, all of which will help transform Ferry Point Waterfront Park from blight to bright.

Related Projects

Soundview Park

Soundview Park, built on 212 acres of landfill at the junction of the Harlem and East Rivers in the South Bronx, is the most significant recreational facility in Community Board 9. As part of the PlanNYC initiative, Thomas Balsley Associates was selected as the lead designer of Soundview’s master plan. This brownfield remediation will drastically improve both ...

Heritage Field at Macombs Dam Park

The Macombs Dam park ensemble consists of a variety of lush, contemporary green spaces in which the community can relax, socialize, and play.  One segment of the landscape is a 13 acre park on the roof of the stadium parking structure, the largest full-service rooftop park every built by the City; another segment is an at-grade park where the now demolished Ya...

Silver Park

An entire 42nd Street block, in Manhattan’s west side, has been developed as a new residential tower complex whose central public park space is common ground to be shared by the neighborhood and new residents. A strong architectural edge at its 42nd Street sidewalk is created by fall portal light pylons and a trellis “room” from which visitors can view the str...

Curtis Hixon Park

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park has been heralded as Tampa’s missing “here” and the crown jewel in the city’s Riverwalk, a bold new urban plan conceived to reactivate the Hillsboro River and downtown Tampa. To ensure that the park takes its place as focal point of this new cultural district, a master plan was prepared from which the park, Riverwalk, and museums a...

Heritage Field at Macombs Dam Park

The Macombs Dam park ensemble consists of a variety of lush, contemporary green spaces in which the community can relax, socialize, and play.  One segment of the landscape is a 13 acre park on the roof of the stadium parking structure, the largest full-service rooftop park every built by the City; another segment is an at-grade park where the now demolished Ya...

Dubai Expo 2020

From October 2021 to April 2022, the City of Dubai will host the World Expo: a large-scale International Registered Exhibition that will bring nations together with universal themes and immersive experiences. It will comprise an entire new city, built on a 1,083-acre site between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Expo site is organized around a central plaza linked to ...

South Waterfront Greenway

The new urban plan for South Waterfront includes a 1-1/2 mile extension of downtown’s waterfront parks and the reclamation of the Willamette River for public recreation. The design team worked closely with the City of Portland, developers, and natural resource advocates to strike a balance between development, recreation and re-naturalization of this neglected...

Park 101

Description: SWA and John Kaliski Architects are providing landscape architectural and urban design services and advice to the Park 101 Phase 3 study, led by ELP Advisors. The study’s goal is to advance the project from the planning phase to the project implementation phase. SWA is an advisor on programming, design options, development, density, and managing t...