Hudson River Park

In late July, the Tribeca portion of the Hudson River Park was opened to the public. I finally got over there on a Saturday to take some photos. This leg of the Park was designed by Sasaki Associates and Mathews-Nielsen Landscape Architects.


I liked the space and the planting quite a bit. Visitors are provided with benches, lawn and different tiers of pathways.


The boulders above are used for seating, but in other parts of the park, they are used to berm up soil, establishing an area of higher elevation.


At this upper tier, a boardwalk path meanders east and west as well as up and down. (Saturday was such a perfectly clear day, that these photos almost look --to me at least-- like the type of photoshop renderings you would see during a presentation. Does anyone else get that vibe?)


Along the boardwalk, nodes for seating and conversation are punctuated with wooden benches. I would love to know why composite was not used for decking. On a public job like this, it is unfortunate that a more environmentally-progressive material was not used. The planting is primarily warm season grasses which makes sense: they look great in the summer during the park's peak usage period, and the dried out grasses can persist through the winter (if the maintenance crew does not cut them down too soon), so the boardwalk will not look too barren too often.


Above is a clever edge detail for the boardwalk. 2x2s were warped into a curve as much as possible and 6" interruptions helped complete the appearance of an edge that has the same radius as the path itself.

Another little detail that goes a long way is the ADA curb cuts so that the lawn itself is wheelchair accessible:


Finally, this part of the design irked me:



It just seems insane to put such a climbable sculpture like this in the park, and then tack on a sign that says "no climbing." I mean, if I didn't want to climb the damn thing before, I sure want to now. The cynic in me has visions of Rosa rugsosa or Poncirus being planted around the sculpture's base as a way to ward off energetic and rebellious children.