DYNAMIC INFRASTRUCTURE: 300-level
SESSION 27
DATE // START TIME // ROOM NUMBER:
Thursday, September 30, 2010 – 9:00am – Metro 4B
ABSTRACT:
A diverse panel presents the Gowanus Green case study, a proposed neighborhood of sustainable mixed-income housing, parks, community facilities, and retail, to illustrate the reclamation of a brownfield site along Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal and the transformation of disused open space into a ‘sustainable’ public amenity.
MODERATOR:
Guido Hartray, Associate, Rogers Marvel Architects
SPEAKERS:
Stephen Whitehouse, Partner, Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners
Sue McCoy, President, Philip Habib & Associates
Andrew Jackson, Project Manager, Hudson Companies
Carter Strickland, Deputy Commissioner for Sustainability, NYC Department of Environmental Protection
DESCRIPTION:
Gowanus Green—a proposed neighborhood of sustainable mixed-income housing, parks, community facilities, and retail – will reclaim a brownfield site along Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. Among New York City waterways, the canal is one of the most severely afflicted by combined sewer overflows (CSOs), yet the brownfield sites along the canal make conventional retention strategies difficult due to the risk of further contamination. The Gowanus Green Master Plan takes this challenge as a starting point to structure the neighborhood’s urban design around biofiltration. This strategy would reestablish the neighborhood’s ecological and recreational connections to the canal as a shared amenity.
PLANYC has identified inland waterways such as the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek as particular challenges in the city’s work to control CSOs. The waterways tend to concentrate a disproportionate share of sewer outfalls with a history of industrial use and contamination, which makes them incompatible with conventional stormwater mitigation strategies. These two characteristics have overlapped in recent years with a growing drive to recover the waterfront for recreational purpose, which makes finding a solution to improve water quality imperative.
Creating public connections to the water and improving its quality are essential. From this dual challenge emerged the Swale Trail, a richly planted rill that forms the backbone of the project, connecting the wider Gowanus neighborhood to the canal and overlaying the structure of the project’s public space with its hydrology. Along the way, it collects water from streets, green roofs, rain gardens and play areas before arriving at Canal Park in a wet meadow Meditation Garden—the last stop before joining the Gowanus Canal.
The design integrates the need for active and passive recreational space of a dense urban neighborhood with the areas required to handle stormwater. Each aspect of the water management plan responds to complex site constraints and public jurisdictional issues. Site engineering will be coordinated with a complex plan for brownfield remediation to be evaluated through the EPA Superfund review process. Site design constraints include underground parking structures and contaminated substrates that limit the desirability of infiltration strategies. The site, presently in public control, will be parceled into private sites, public streets, and public parks. The intended flow of stormwater from private to public lands will require overflow controls and new agency agreements.
The outdoor spaces of Gowanus Green will comply with newly revised design standards of New York City’s Waterfront Zoning. Accessible from three entrances, Canal Park will be a 1.6-acre city-owned space, featuring an undulating lawn, a waterfront esplanade, an outdoor amphitheatre and a series of native woodland and meadow gardens. These landscapes are framed by residential buildings with a ground floor gallery, restaurant and community center opening onto expansive terraces with flowering trees and ample seating. The dynamic relationship of the ground floor uses and the parkland contribute to an engaging, active public space.
