A section of a 2.25-mile-long series of interconnected parks that act as a flood defence in Manhattan, New York, has opened to the public.
It’s officially called the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), but architect Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) describes it as a “parkipelago” on New York’s East River waterfront.
Its 69.7-million-sq-ft of elevated green areas also provide public amenities for people on the Lower East Side.
The overhauled East River Park around the Williamsburg Bridge has 600 new trees and 21,000 shrubs, grasses and perennials.
The park also now contains basketball and tennis courts, picnic and BBQ areas, a new amphitheatre, extended esplanade and two pedestrian bridges.
A new timber Solar One Environmental Education Center has opened on the northern entrance to the ESCR, designed by BIG and built by Gilbane, with TYLin as engineers and Cosentini Associates as consultants, replacing the former Solar One building.
The two-storey, 6,409-sq-ft contains photovoltaic panels and battery storage for energy generation, plus educational areas and training spaces.
The larger $1.4bn ESCR is being developed by BIG, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, ONE Architecture & Urbanism and AKRF for the NYC Department of Design and Construction (NYCDDC).
It combines floodwalls, sliding gates, bridging berms, and elevated parkland into an unbroken protective system.
Bjarke Ingels, BIG founder, said: “With the reopening of East River Park, we see the first physical manifestation of a decade-long vision: an archipelago of parks forming an elevated, undulating new landscape – a ‘parkipelago’ if you will.
“Each island of green is devoted to a use and character decided by the community. Rather than separating the city from the waterfront, we’ve designed a public realm that invites people in with new connections across the FDR, transforming flood protection.”
Eduardo del Valle, NYCDDC acting commissioner, said: “The new East River Park areas also connect to Pier 42 to the south and the amenities built there in the last few years by NYC Parks and NYC EDC.”
The opening of the East River Park follows the completion of ESCR’s first phase in 2024.
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