The Park That Is Built Into The Hudson River
A 2.4-acre of the Hudson River are now occupied by a park. British designer Thomas Heatherwick...





A 2.4-acre of the Hudson River are now occupied by a park. British designer Thomas Heatherwick, engineering enterprise Arup, and NYC landscape architects MNLA have come together to make Little Island Park stand on 132 concrete columns positioned in the Hudson River. More precisely the park is situated on Manhattan’s West Side in Chelsea. To access Little Island Park, you can walk on one of the two bridges that link the venue to the land. The project was going to be named Pier 55, in accordance to Pier 54 being the inspiration of Heatherwick. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and her husband Businessman Barry Diller put in $260 million to make this project happen. Back in 2016, Thomas kicked off the construction that was quickly paused for a year because of local groups campaigning and lobbying against it. The columns are made from concrete and look like mushrooms. They have different heights to form this rippling effect, and of course have the right engineering to resist the dangerous river conditions. Every column can hold up to 350 tons and are planted 61 meters under the waters. The soil on top of the columns has400 plant species and another 100 trees kinds picked by MNLA. The flora halts the fast river winds from hitting visitors’ faces – or they can lay down and bask in the sun during the hotter months on the lawns. Little Island is a park and has two performance venues and one amphitheater that can welcome 700watchers. The main space can fit 3,500 people, and the smallest venue can host an intimate gathering of 200 people for a round of spoken-word. To optimize the space and make most of the seamless view, backstage areas are built under the park.
- date publishedJuly 7, 2021
- categoryArchitecture
- original sourceDezeen↗