Thesis Book

Sea Change:

Demonstrating Water as a Transformable Process of Natural Evolution on Floyd Bennett Field.

Adam Sexton

This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

MAY

05, 2010 Date

Wendy Jacobson, Associate Professor + Project Advisor 5.0

3.0

1.0

ft

ft

ft

Benjamin Johnson, Professor + Project Coordinator

Brian Katen, Associate Professor + Program Chair, Landscape Architecture

Acknowledgements

MY FAMILY MY FACULTY

Mom, Dad + Jamie; Grammie + Granddad; Grandmom + Granddad Sexton Wendy Jacobson Dean Bork Benjamin Johnson Terry Clements Brian Katen Patrick Miller Mintai Kim David McGill Teresa Phipps

MY FRIENDS

Ashleigh Marshall Autumn Visconti Caroline Wallace Kent Hipp Jordan Clough Joshua Franklin + The LAR Class of 2010

In Loving Memory of: Bettina Sexton

THANK YOU.

Foreword I am pleased to present my proposal for the redevelopment of Floyd Bennett Field. The design shifts to parallel our changing perceptions as a society and adapts in response to the unpredictable forces acting upon it in this uncertain future.

By creating a strategy for redeveloping Floyd Bennett Field - one that represents its transformation from marsh to aviation concrete, its acquisition by the National Park Service and its desire for a viable future – the project took shape to show water in a way that does not represent a destructive force, but a transformational process of natural evolution.

Through this process, I have learned that ii we have to let go of our creation, allowing it to change in response to what the world wants from it. I have come to recognize this as an essential part of the design process – allowing our designs to make their own way in the world.

Adam Sexton

Bachelor of Landscape Architecture; 2010

Current aerial view of Runway 6-24 and Runway 1-19 in the Northern portion of Floyd Bennett Field. Tarmack 6-24 was constructed in 1942 and lengthened to 6,000 ft. in 1952. Tarmack 1-19 was constructed in 1936 and lenthened to 7,000 ft. at an unknown date and is the longest diralect runway at FBF. Photo: Don Riepe of The American Littoral Society.

“...But doth suffer a sea change Into something rich and strange.”

Shakespeare’s Tempest

1610

Table of Contents Acknowledgements

i

Foreword

ii

Table of Contents

iv

Introduction

01

Overview of Floyd Bennett Field

07

Organizing Ideas

17

Site Design

26

Areas of the Park

39

Conclusion

54

Endnotes and Resources

55

Edge conditions visable on Floyd Bennett Field. The project explores the necessity to rethink the boundary between land and water, transforming it to one of exchange rather than one that is unyielding. Using water to transform the site is not a quick and exact process, however allowing nature to do as it wishes will truly create a space that is rich and strange. Photos: Don Riepe.

Introduction Project Background

02

Floyd Bennett Field

03

Project Mission

06

Floyd Bennett FIeld’s runway 6-24 located in the northern portion of the site looking west.

Photo: Flickr.com

Project Background

02

Edge of Jamaica Bay and Floyd Bennett Field.

The coast is where the boundary between land and water exists. It is a dynamic landscape to which many people have a strong connection.

It represents a place where people have a bond to a vast component of nature.

In urban centers, like New York City, this relationship between land and water is something that needs to be rethought and adapted before the effects of global climate change drastically disrupts this theoretical bond.

The framework of Sea Change explores the speculative character of climate change.

Climate change, specifically sea level rise, is an unpredictable force that embodies and reveals people’s fear of nature. This issue calls for critically altering our existing philosophy towards nature. The boundary between land and water is primarily one of resistance within the urban realm, and if it does not respond to sea level rise, the water will take over the only thing it has yet to claim - our built environment on land.

However, this does not have to be the case.

This project proposes to work with sea level rise and climate change on a site that has an opportunity to demonstrate the valuable circumstances water is responsible for generating. Allowing the boundary to be mitigated provides a space where land and water can have a more appropriate dialogue.

Floyd Bennett Field

Satellite imagery of Floyd Bennett Field on Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn, New York at 40°37′29″N 73°57′8″W.

Sea Change looks at Floyd Bennett Field as a place where the issue of sea level rise will be the main vehicle for redesigning the site. Floyd Bennett Field is currently the fifth most visited National Park in the United States, but as it currently sits, recreational activities are stagnant and lifeless. The ecological benefits Jamaica Bay has to offer are not represented on the site and with the looming aspect of sea level rise the site is in dire need of mitigation due to the flat nature of the airfield landscape that in the future could become completely inundated with water.

Photo: Google Earth.

Sea Change recognizes the necessity for growth, adaptability and strength. A sacrificial landscape that inherently returns land taken from the water back in a way that reverts and reinstalls the native conditions of the site allows this site to remain for future generations, continuing to emphasize the unique contrast between urbanity and nature within the great metropolis of New York City.

Floyd Bennett Field is surrounded by water on three sides: Jamaica Bay, Rockaway Inlet and Dead Horse Bay. The surrounding Jamaica Bay area is made up of bungalow style neighborhoods mixed with ethnically diverse communities belonging to Brooklyn and Queens. Manhattan is only a 45-minute drive from Floyd Bennett Field.

MANHATTAN

NEW JERSEY

NEW YORK QUEENS

BROOKLYN

04

GATEWAY NRA

JAMAICA BAY UNIT

GATEWAY NRA

STATEN ISLAND UNIT

PORT OF NY AND NJ

GATEWAY NRA

SANDY HOOK UNIT

Floyd Bennett Field Gateway Context map of New York City and its relationship with the Gateway National Recreational Area.

Data: New York City Planning Department.

Floyd Bennett Field is 1,358 acres in area, more than 1.5 times the size of Central Park.

Its area encompasses a former airfield, Dead Horse Bay, Gateway Marina and the Gateway Driving Range. Once a collection of small islets, it has been progressively filled in since the 1800’s and is now a peninsula. In many ways, Floyd Bennett Field presents a microcosm of the possibilities of the surrounding natural area.

Floyd Bennett Field’s peninsula extends into Jamaica Bay, a 12,400 acre tidal estuary, which gives the site a unique relationship to the natural qualities the bay provides.

Jamaica Bay, home to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, is also home to several marsh islands and wetland systems that contrast beautifully to the dense urban centers of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

FLOYD BENNETT FIELD COMMUNITY GARDEN

GATEWAY ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY CENTER

JAMAICA BAY

Aerial photograph of Floyd Bennett Field, looking South, with the inventory of dispersed elements and facilities.

Photo: Ron Peel, NPS.

Floyd Bennett Field’s past, cultural history and ecological potential make it a great destination for millions of urban residents.

As Brooklyn’s Big Nature Park, Floyd Bennett Field has immense potential to be transformed into something great and rich.

Project Mission

Gateway NRA Satellite imagery of New York showing the drastic effects sea level rise would hold for the city.

The intent of Sea Change is to set forth an approach that embraces altering our collective physical, ecological and cultural relationships with the boundary between land and water accepting sea level rise.

The broader framework of climate change calls for a more expansive set of educational goals within the scope of the project:

1 -

Data: New York City Planning Department.

Facilitate a clearer understanding of the impacts of sea level rise on Floyd Bennett Field in terms of recreational patterns and ecological impacts.

Formulate a design that responds adaptively, mitigates the impact of sea level rise and becomes a flexible system of exchange.

Structure the design such that it progressively changes and allows water into the site intentionally, thus, changing the dynamics of the existing physical layout.

2 -

Dissolve the boundary between land and water so that the ecological services and natural systems of the water become integrated back into the park.

Give land back to the water so that the changing waters edge becomes a pivotal part of the park, further connecting visitors to the ecological systems the water has to offer.

Utilize a shifting boundary that creates an active experience between both land and water to demonstrate the mitigation and working with sea level rise.

06

Overview of Floyd Bennett Field Industrial Island

08

The Golden Age of Flying

09

The Gateway of Gateway

10

Physical Analysis

11

Key Findings

13

Synthesis

15

A 1930s aerial view looking north at the Floyd Bennett hangars durring the Golden Age of Flying, Floyd Bennett Field’s heyday. Two of the four airplan hangers sit dilapidated today white the two most northern hangers have been adaptively reused as the Aviation Indoor Recreation Center. Photo: The Cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City, Long Island via Leo Polaski.

1910

Industrial Island

08

Barren Island, 1915.

Photo: Brooklyn Public Library.

There have been three waves of inhabitants to this region: nomadic hunter-gatherers, the Native American Lenape tribe, and then the Europeans. Each of these settler groups realized the abundant resources the estuary offered. The coast and the boundary between land and water was a place to which settlers had a strong connection. It represented survival, communication and a primitive transportation system that made it a dynamic, cultural landscape from the its beginning.

The history of Floyd Bennett Field can be traced through a chronicle of both natural

Historic map showing the extent of the Jamaica Bay marsh within Brooklyn, 1910.

and anthropogenic fill and dredging. According to the “Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan Interim report,” “Jamaica Bay Estuary is only about half of its pre-Colonial extent.”

Science indicates that the accelerated loss of wetlands is due to a combination of pollution, nutrient enrichment and encroaching development all from urbanization. [1]

The first filling project in Jamaica Bay was the creation of Barren Island. Barren Island was the place where industry and industrialization would happen first with

Photo: Brooklyn Public Library.

the opening of horse and animal rendering factories in 1810. It later became a municipal waste landfill in 1852. The filling of the future Floyd Bennett Field site with trash and waste from Brooklyn and Manhattan continued until Robert Moses, at that time the Commissioner of City Parks, envisioned Jamaica Bay and its surrounding site as the next great waterfront park. Barren Island’s transformation then became influenced by the sand found at the bottom of Jamaica Bay.

1940

The Golden Age of Flying

July 22, 1933

Wiley Post

Sept 01, 1934

Roscoe Turner 2,466.6 MI

July 14, 1938

Howard Hughes July 1174, 1938

Control tower and Wiley Post.

Photos: NPS.

Floyd Bennett Field was built from 1928-31 on the previous site of Barren Island on Jamaica Bay, making it New York City’s first municipal airport, which opened May 23, 1931. This effort was achieved through a massive dredging endeavor that took sand from the bottom of the bay and replaced it on land, filling in the marsh system. Soon after its completion, it was chosen as a Naval Reserve Base to serve as a flight-training site. Its advanced runway length and aviation facilities soon attracted many experimental fliers and it was the launching point or end point for many record-breaking journeys across the Atlantic.

D. “Wrong Way” Corrigan 3,181.6 MI

Arrived at FBF, breaking his previous around-the-world flight record.

7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes.

15,596.1 MI

Arrived in a Weddell-Willams racer from Burbank, CA in a speed record.

10 hours, and 02 minutes.

Completed a round-the-world record flight.

03 days, 19 hours, and 17 minutes.

15,916.7 MI

Took off and flew across the Atlantic, arriving in Dublin instead of California.

By 1933 Floyd Bennett Field was the second busiest airport in the United States, with 51,828 landings and takeoffs.

However, not being able to acquire a lucrative US Postal Service contract foreshadowed the airfield’s decline as a premier commercial flight hub.

Instead of becoming a major municipal airport, Floyd Bennett Field became a naval air station in 1941 and played an important role in World War II. The primary mission of Floyd Bennett Field was to test naval aircraft constructed at nearby factories before delivery to the Navy. It was the busiest naval air

station in the nation during WWII, and it increased processing efficiency of aircrafts and investigated new aviation technology.

For several decades Floyd Bennett Field sat in a holding pattern under the Navy’s ownership. Less and less flight-testing operations and training sessions occurred and some disjointed facilities sprung up next to the cracking concrete runways. One of the largest remaining “open spaces” in New York City needed a new trajectory.

1980

The Gateway of Gateway

10

Photograph of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a part of the Gateway NRA, located in the middle of the bay.

In 1971, Floyd Bennett Field was acquired by the National Park Service and was incorporated into Gateway National Recreation Area.

Gateway National Recreation Area reflects the history of the New York region and the nation’s rise as an international power. The park is comprised of old forts, Army bases, lighthouses, airfields, landfills, a compromised wetland ecosystem and polluted environments that together form a richly diverse, if fragmented post industrial landscape. Floyd Bennett Field represents 20% of all the land area of Gateway NRA.

Photo: Dan Riepe.

It also strives to protect unique ecological preserves and important landmarks. Gateway is a park on the urban edge, where the city meets the sea and is in the center of the New York City region. The NPS believes that Floyd Bennett Field should be the gateway of Gateway NRA. Its size, position within Brooklyn and its deep cultural history give it great potential for redevelopment.

Gateway NRA was established “in order to preserve and protect for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations an area possessing outstanding natural and recreational features.” Gateway NRA was the first urban national park in the United States.

Today, Gateway is the 5th most visited NPS Park in the country and is within a 10-minute walk of 75% of New Yorkers. [2]

Physical Analysis

“2000” Flood Risk “2050” Flood Risk “2080” Flood Risk

Historic Wetlands Current Wetlands

Decreasing - Erosion Increasing - Deposition Data: New York City Planning Department.

Flood Vulnerability

Shrinking Wetlands

Littoral Flows

The flat nature of Floyd Bennett Field serves as a challenge when attempting to work with and mitigate sea level rise. The site and the surrounding neighborhoods of Jamaica Bay are in danger of becoming inundated by flooding and storm surges due to the rising tide.

Sea level rise threatens the stability of historic marshes and wetlands, endangers the immense wildlife habitat of the area, and jeopardizes coastal development. The site’s flood vulnerability indicates the need for an adaptive and flexible strategy that yields a new floodplain.

Floyd Bennett Field and Jamaica Bay’s past layout illustrates the ecological benefits associated with the estuarine makeup of the site before it was drastically changed by human development, sea level rise, and a rise in water pollution. Disappearing marsh and wetland systems overtime have reduced the impact of connecting urban residents and visitors to a unique and rich ecology that is rapidly vanishing year by year. Floyd Bennett Field has an opportunity to reinstall these native conditions on site and demonstrate to users the natural ecology of the place they are visiting.

Floyd Bennett Field’s relationship with the tide shows how anthropogenic dredging and filling happens around the immense bay. Erosion of the current marsh islands and deposition of sandy soils around Jamaica Bay highlights a natural process that has been impacted by human life.

59% 09% 06% 28%

MUDFLAT + WATER REGULARY FLOODED LOW MARSH IRREGULARY FLOODED HIGH MARSH UPLAND

-3M -2M -1M -0M

% Wetland Type

22% 35% 15% 28%

2100

MUDFLAT + WATER REGULARY FLOODED LOW MARSH IRREGULARY FLOODED HIGH MARSH UPLAND

-3M -2M -1M -0M

% Wetland Type

2000

15% MUDFLAT + WATER 75% REGULARY FLOODED LOW MARSH 10% IRREGULARY FLOODED HIGH MARSH

12 -3M -2M -1M -0M

% Wetland Type

1900

Big Egg Marsh case study investigation discoving the human impacts on a typical marsh environment. Data: New York City Planning Department.

Big Egg Marsh, made famous by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is located in the central portion of Jamaica Bay above the north shore of Long Island. Researching the historical morphology of this diverse and unique ecosystem allowed for the thorough investigation of how water, vegetation, human development, and natural flows work in unison. This becomes a vital case study for the project. The process included evaluating how upland development has negatively impacted the marsh island overtime. The loss of native bird nesting, breeding, and feeding grounds will continue further disrupting the

amenity the North American Flyway zone of 330 bird species holds within Jamaica Bay. The process also looked at methods of preserving and maintaining a stable marsh system within the maritime coastal ecosystem. Big Egg Marsh’s established low tidal marsh and high floodplain marsh have been reduced, interfering with the natural conditions that not only would have protected the islet from sea level rise, but if remained, would have been a unique quality of the bay. These discoveries are typical for the rest of the natural processes within the bay and the former site of Floyd Bennett Field. Reinstalling these

typologies would be almost impossible around Jamaica Bay, but Floyd Bennett Field has the potential for further investigation.

Key Findings 1889

1980

CROOKED CREEK

JAMAICA BAY

JOHN’S CREEK BIG SLOP MARSH LITTLE BAY BARREN ISLAND IRISH CREEK DEAD HORSE BAY MANHATTAN BEACH

PLUMB BEACH

ROCKAWAY INLET

+ 1 M + 2 M + 3 M Historical morphology study showing the relationship of the past and present Data: NYCPD.

Dynamism of the Floyd Bennett Field shoreline over time.

Creative Response in dealing with sea level rise.

The peninsula of the largely man-made landmass of the park has potential for a diverse array of waterfront experiences, habitats and activities. The previous marsh and islet shoreline of the site worked with natural systems of littoral flows, deposition, erosion, wave action and the surfacing of pioneer plant and wildlife communities. These interactions produce a dynamic set of potentials for the current Floyd Bennett Field.

The park design should develop these vibrant aspects of the past to create a park that is lively and in a constant state of flux.

Sea level rise is a current topic of thought and theory that requires much design attention. Science shows a dire need to rethink our collective physical, ecological and cultural relationship with the sea. If we do not alter our living philosophy, the water will become a destructive force that we will not win against.

New York City, Brooklyn and Floyd Bennett Field are all in danger of being inundated by the rising tides. The design needs to construct a way to alleviate pressure from sea level rise, in a way that does not completely protect the site but utilizes the water as a vehicle for natural evo-

Flooding on Floyd Bennett Field Data: NYCPD.

lution.

The design should demonstrate sea level rise and the opportunities water could instill on the site, in terms of ecological patterns, aquatic recreation and habitat creation.

Amalgamation.

A design that critically looks at the disjointed uses and existing infrastructure is needed to unify the site. The design needs to work with the past, deciphering valuable histories and cultural components, and giving them a proper home within the design.

Photograph of an airplane hanger on Floyd Bennett Field, illustrating the abandoned nature of the former airfield. Photo: Flickr.com.

Mapping the existing conditions of the site. Understanding the limits of what is currently on Floyd Bennett Field and measuring the potentials for amplifying cultural/historical resources, natural amenities, and assessing recreational value.

14

FLUX

FLOWS

FACTORS

Floyd Bennett Field’s large scale has the potential to demonstrate the global impacts of climate change to the millions of visitors.

This complex mission can yield a very complicated result in the end. Investigations of the site, its history, its potentials, and its problems shows that the site has several complex layers, but when pulled together, can create a premier park for New York. This discovery parallels our design environment.

It is too complex to successfully implement one unifying thing as a single solution to every aspect of a project.

The synthesis pipeline dissects the evolutions of the site, the natural flows in and around the site, and the factors making up the site explored through an analytical research process. These components of the site are then organized through a series of engines that process and conceptualize them, further evaluating how they can be redesigned and applied within the project. The investigations created many possibilities for the redeveloped site. Pulling together all facets of the site in balance will give the new park a deep and rich character that is allowed to adapt over the course of extensive development.

PARTICULARS A GROUP OR SET OF TOOLS THAT SEEK TO SIMPLIFY THE SYSTEM

BY ORGANIZING DIAGNOSTIC MOMENTS AND APPLICATIONS.

SYSTEMATIZE

Synthesis

PRESERVATION NOTIFICATION

AESTHETIC PLACEMAKING

SITUATIONAL

BALANCE? THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEM THE PAST AND THE PRESENT IS STRONG ON THE SITE. WITH THIS CONNECTION; WHAT IS THE EQUILIBRIUM AMONG PRESERVING HISTORY ON A RECREATIONAL SITE BEING DESIGNED FOR FUTURE SYSTEMS?

QUESTION

ARCHAICTECTURE

CONCEPTUALIZE

MATURATION

ORGANIZE

GENERATIONAL

INVESTIGATE

FLUX

SYSTEMATIZE

Synthesis Pipeline

CHANGE? WITH THE FRAMEWORK SET OUT THE SITES ADAPTABILITY WILL BE TESTED. TO WHAT EXTENT WILL THE PROGRAM AND LANDFORM SHIFT TO ACCEPT NEW ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS?

RESPONSIVINESS FLEXIBILITY DEMONSTRATIVE CLIMATICAL EVOLUTION

COMPOSITIONAL OPERATIONAL MATERIAL GEOMETRICAL GRAPHICAL

STRATEGY

REVEAL? THE CLIMATE CHANGE PREDICAMENT IS A CENTRAL ELEMENT OF THE PROJECT. HOW CAN THE SITE BE USED AS A HUB FOR MITIGATION TECHNIQUES AND SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES WHILE BEING DEMONSTRATIVE IN A PARK SETTING?

MITIGATION INCULCATION FLOWS

INHABITANTS

REGENERATION

TYPOLOGY BEARINGS ATTITUDES

LOGISTIC

TRANSPORTATION

SYNERGISM

ACCESSIBILITY

AQUATIC

OPENNESS? PARK ACCESS IS LIMITED NOT ONLY WITHIN ITSELF BUT ALSO ACROSS THE BOARD BETWEEN SEVERAL SPACES THROUGHOUT. THE SITES NEW PROGRAM WILL NEED TO ENGAGE NEW PASSAGES THAT PLAY INTO NEW FORMS.

CIRCULATION

ASSEMBLIES

COMMUNITY? SOCIAL RESTORATION OF THE SURROUNDING POPULATIONS AND NEIGHBORHOODS IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR. WHAT ARE THE APPROPRIATE SERVICES AND AMMENITIES TO FOSTER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT?

PROGRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONAL METRICAL

FRAMEWORK

EXCHANGE? THE BOUNDARY THE LAND AND THE WATER CURRENTLY SHARE IS IN A STATE OF RESISTANCE. HOW CAN THE SITE ADAPT TO ALLOW FOR A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE TWO?

COURSE MORPHOLOGIES PERIPHERIES FACTORS

COMPONENTS

PROVISIONARY

ADDITIONS PATTERNS MODIFICATIONS

CIRCUMSTANTIAL SACRIFICIAL

FIELDS

REORGANIZATION

INFLUENCES

REVERT? DESIGNING A FUTURE SITE IS A CHALLENGE FOR ONE THAT WANTS TO REGRESS TO ITS NATIVE STATE. WHAT DOES A SITE EVENTUALLY LOOK LIKE WHEN IT GOES BACK TO ITS OLD WAYS IN A SUSTAINABLE WORLD OF LANDSCAPE SYSTEMS?

BOUNDARIES

SACRIFICES

REMOVAL? THE SITE IS DISCONNECTED AND THE CURRENT UTILIZATION OF THE SITE IS ALSO MUDDLED AND NOT RECREATIONALLY FOCUSED OR PUBLIC MINDED. WHAT PORTIONS OF THE SITE SHOULD BE DELETED TO CREATE A MORE UNIFIED PARK?

TEMPORAL TRANSFORMATIONAL ECOLOGICAL SOCIO-CULTURAL

ATTITUDE

OUTCOME? DOES THE FINAL DESIGN NOT ONLY DISPLAY THE SITE AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE MOVEMENT OF NEW PARKS, BUT ALSO FIT IN WITH THE SURROUNDING CONTEXTS IN A WAY THAT ADVANCES THEIR KNOWLEDGE, PLEASURE, AND AWARENESS?

PERSEPECTIVES CONNECTIONS REACTIONS

PARTICULARS

DISSECTIONS

ENGINES

CAPABILITIES

DILEMMAS

A GROUP OR SET OF TOOLS THAT SEEK TO SIMPLIFY THE SYSTEM

BY ORGANIZING DIAGNOSTIC MOMENTS AND APPLICATIONS.

A VISUAL, KINSETHETIC, OR IMPLIED CONCEPT OR A COMBINATION OF THESE WITHIN A DESIGN DISCIPLINE AND EXERCISE OF ANALYSIS.

TO FURTHER PROCESS THE INPUTS, THE ENGINES ARE USED TO CONCEPTUALIZE THE ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS TO SHOW THEIR POTENTIALS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM.

THE PROJECT POSSIBILITIES ARE LAYED OUT IN A WAY THAT SPEAKS TO THE GENERAL APPLICATION OR ASSUMED PURPOSE OF INITIAL STUDIES THAT WILL PLAY INTO PROGRAMMING AND CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT.

THE FINAL STEP IN ANY SYSTEMATIC PROCESS IS TO QUESTION THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OUTPUT AND ITS RELATION TO THE ULTIMATE PROPOSAL BASED BACK TO THE INVESTIGATIONS.

16

Organizing Ideas Mitigating Malfunction

18

Technological Evolution

19

Algae Biofuel

20

Balloon Piston Power

21

Wind and Estuary Tubines

22

Brooklyn’s Big Nature Park

23

Design Cycle

24

Goals and Strategy

25

Floyd Bennett Field’s radio control tower located on the southern portion of the expansive site. Surrounded by the current grassland management zone, the control radio tower stands as a historic relic of the former airfield and connects views to the deep cultural history of the park.

Mitigating Malfunction

2.4

2.4 2.1

2.1

1.2

0.9

0.6

1.8 1.5

CGCM1 CSIRO Mk2 ECHAM4/OPYC3 GFDL HadCM2 DOE PCM MRI2

THE FIRST GENERATION COUPLED GLOBAL CLIMATE MODEL COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORG CLIMATE MODEL

PAST SEA-LEVEL RISE [ in. ]

4.0 2.0

0

0



ATMOSPHERIC GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL OCEANIC GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL

GEOPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS LAB MODEL

HADLEY GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL

0.3

1.2

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PARALLEL CLIMATE MODEL

0.9 0.6

METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE MODEL

0.3 0

-2.0

SEA-LEVEL RISE [ ft. ]

1.5

FUTURE SEA-LEVEL RISE [ ft. ]

1.8

-4.0 -6.0

1870

-0.3 1900

1950

2000

2050

1950

2100

Graphing of the past sea level rise and future danger. Data: MFTE.

Due to global warming sea level is rising.

This is a fact. How high and how soon will the waters rise? This is uncertain. We are limited by an incomplete understanding of Earth’s systems and our inability to predict the choices societies will make.

Having failed to prevent sea level rise, we are challenged with finding a better way to live at the water’s edge. Facing uncertainty, we question an absolute reliance on levees and seawalls for protection. The promise of safety is inherently limited by their design and maintenance. Past filling and dik-

1975

2000

2025

2050

2075

2100

Graphing exploring serveral different climate change and sea level rise models. Data: MFTE.

ing have isolated us from the water, damaged a unique and highly valuable ecosystem, and proven disastrous.

In the event of malfunction, how do we learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them?

Failures create dynamic opportunities on any scale – we have choices in how we proceed.

An adaptive, flexible system is needed, one that is forgiving of small, but expected failures. Floyd Bennett is seen as an opportunity to set forth an approach that embraces the potentials sea level rise holds for the future of design and natural evolution.

The speculative nature of climate change and sea level rise will have to play a pivotal role in the project as it is the agent of change and transformation. All other facets of the program and design will be affected by the rising tide and therefore must be just as flexible.

18

Technological Evolution

A SRVR, dirigible, and military helicopter. All of these aircrafts were contained on Floyd Bennett Field during its aviation history. Photos: Google.com.

Sea level rise’s unpredictable timeframe of when water will come and how much, proposes a questionable future. The site is in need of a viable future. Inspired by the technological advancements and evolution relating to the aviation history of the site, the interjection of landscape technologies within the large-scale park gives Floyd Bennett Field a future.

The technologies researched include: Algae biofuel, balloon ‘piston’ power, urban wind turbines, and tidal power.

The landscape technologies researched include Algae as a biofuel, balloon piston power, wind power, and tidal power. Photos: Google.com.

The past sustaining the future Algae biofuel production is a youthful energy that consumes water to grow and harvest algae. The algae is then converted into usable and renewable biofuel. As the site interacts with water, the algae production can utilize bay and wetland water to sustain the operation.

face with cultural history and connect to the recreational user in an iconic way.

Blimps to balloons Floyd Bennett Field was the sit of many dirigible demonstrations and flights.

Referencing these aircrafts with the use of large tethered balloons that act as pistons inter-

Harnessing the inevitable Tidal, or lunar, power is a resourceful way of utilizing the rising tide to produce power on the site.

Propellers to turbines Using a smaller scale wind turbine, built for urban environments, reminisces flight history and the use of propellers throughout the site’s history.

Algae Biofuel

EMISSIONS FROM INDUSTRY

CO2

CO2

>

SELECT ALGAE STRAIN

>

EMISSIONS FROM BIOGENERATOR

H20

CO2

BIO-REFINERY

HARVEST ALGAE

OXYGEN

H 20

ALGAE OIL

PROCESS

REFINED PRODUCT

BYPRODUCT

BIO-DIESEL

OTHER PRODUCTS

ETHANOL AND OTHER BIOFUELS

WATER FROM WETLANDS

OYSTER CLENSING

PROCESS ALGAE

BIOFUELS

BIOGENERATOR

ELECTRICITY

>

02

BIO-REFINERY

COMPRESS GAS INTO LIQUID STATE

WATER AND NUTRIENTS

RAW PRODUCT

H 20

HYDROGEN

H2

SUNLIGHT

>

FROM EXHAUST

INGREDIENTS

ELECTROLYZE WATER IN HIGH TEMPERATURE STEAM ELECTROLYSIS UNIT

BIO MASS

FEED

HYDROGEN FUEL

HYDROGEN FUEL CELL COMBUSTION

>

PRODUCTS

RETURNING WATER

GROW AND HARVEST ALGAE

The culmination of research into the process of producing usable biofuel and other products from growing and harvesting algae.

1 acre pond Algae production as a biofuel is a complex process that involves a growing stage, a harvesting period, and a processing stage. The growing operation of algae is a fast process that, like most plant material, needs sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Once the algae blooms, the material is harvested and separated in a bio-refinery. The starved algae produces raw oil that is then converted to a useable fuel. The left over biomass can be used in the creation of textiles, plastics and animal feed and bedding, while the oil is used to power homes and cars. One acre of algae yields 10,000 gallons of oil, compared

to corn and soybean at 18 and 48 gallons per acre respectively.

The process is a cyclical undertaking that utilizes a significant amount of water. The water Jamaica Bay makes this problem an opportunity to show a connection between a technological system and a biological service. Demonstrating this connection and the overall process makes this venture one that deepens the purpose of the park and speaks towards providing a sustainable future.

A one-acre pond used for growing algae can

produce oil for 144 homes and cars. In the future, truly ‘green’ fueling stations with algae ponds behind them may occur across the world. Floyd Bennett Field has the potential of demonstrating this system and its process to the public, steering its future as our mindset changes from one of consumption to one of sustainability.

20

Balloon Piston Power

FROM ALL OVER NYC

WATER

SUNLIGHT

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AS THE BALLOON COOLS, IT DESCENDS CREATING NETGAIN

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Context and Users INFLATABLE AIRCRAFTS

Water Tubes Heat Up

Glazed Solar Collector

HEAT

HEAT FILLS BALLOON

WINDLASS IS RELEASED AND THE BALLOON ASCENDS

PARK ICON

BALLOON POWER

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BALLOON ASCENDS GENERATING THE MOTOR

Aviation History

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generator motor

The culmination of research into the process of generating usable energy and electricity from utilizing hot air balloons as pistons.

Balloon piston power is a new and innovative technology that utilizes a standard hot air balloon to create electricity and energy.

The use of hot air balloons in a park setting provides an iconic feeling within the natural setting. They also have a connection to history, further cementing their place within the technological strategy of the park.

through the chimney the balloon inflates and drifts upwards. With the right conditions, the balloon can reach upwards of 2 miles before the air cools enough and exits the balloon through a low vent in the side of the envelope. The balloon then sinks back to the ground as the windlass and generator are released creating a true net gain of energy.

A tethered balloon sits a top a chimney that is connected to a small solar greenhouse.

The greenhouse traps hot air through the use of thermal water tubes that heat up due to sunlight. Once enough hot air has funneled

The efficiency of a single balloon piston is comparable to a large wind turbine from a tradition wind farm. “A large 44-meter diameter recreational balloon could generate… enough energy to supply about 10 homes.” This

energy system has the potential of not only generating power for Floyd Bennett Field itself, but also the surrounding neighborhood. [3] Balloons are safer than traditional wind farms for wildlife, especially migratory birds. The balloons are quiet and majestic.

Their buoyancy will connect to visitors and residents from all over becoming a symbolic aerial installation for the park.

Wind and Estuary Turbines

SCALE

INGREDIENTS

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GEARBOX TURN TO POWER ELECTRIC GENERATOR

GENERATION OF RAW ELECTRICITY

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PROPELLERS

INGREDIENTS

WIND

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PROCESS

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> Aviation History

TURBINES GENERATE KINETIC ENERGY

ELECTRICITY

GEARBOX TURN TO POWER ELECTRIC GENERATOR

GENERATION OF RAW ELECTRICITY

>

The culmination of research into the process of generating energy from wind turbines and tidal turbines underwater.

Using an urban scale wind turbine within the park is a way of linking users to sustainable energies.

Wind turbines can produce electricity to power functions and operations around the park from lighting, events, and powering new facilities. Turbines can also be placed underwater to harness the power of the tide.

The tides will continue to ebb and flow, and the energy is there for the taking. The estuary of Jamaica Bay is a prime candidate for implementing a tidal power operation due to the fluctuation of the tide and the amount of

water in the vast ecological bay.

Estuary turbines work like wind turbines, however the ebb and flow of the tides are used to turn a turbine. Tidal walls and reefs, large barrages spanning across the water body, have been used for years, but, they are expensive and disrupt the natural flow of the tide. Using small, stand-alone turbines will not disrupt the native conditions of the tide and will produce a sufficient amount of energy to be utilized by the park.

Tidal power is free and easily predictable.

It only provides power for around 10 hours per day, but, when linked in succession with other forms of sustainable energy the energy cycle can be continuous.

22

Brooklyn’s Big Nature Park

Images showing the range of activities on the current site of Floyd Bennett Field.

Floyd Bennett Field has the chance of being a destination that is truly unique and vibrant within the context of the dense urbanity of New York City.

Currently, its recreational activities utilize the cracking concrete runways and the adjacent grasslands of the former airfield. The park infrastructure and supporting facilities sit in disrepair and beckons redevelopment and adaptive reuse. The potentials are immense and the design needs to embrace connecting visitors and metropolitan residents to the rich ecology the area possesses. With the framework of the project being sea level rise, the

site has the possibility of greater water interaction and holds a chance to incorporate aquatic recreation into the program.

Successional landscapes – dense, vast and flourishing communities of pioneering plants and wildlife define large portions of the current site.

The water’s transformable process encourages and fosters ecological succession that will grow a larger and more diverse coastal vegetation ecosystem and will introduce more native wildlife habitat. Recognizing that the site’s important ecological resources are critical assets of

the new park, the design needs to identify opportunities to enhance these resources.

The ecological component of the project will be experienced by the recreational user and Floyd Bennett Field holds the opportunity for intervention to not only intensify native ecosystems here, but also to create new landscape settings for community experience and recreation.

Maturing Redesign

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Design Cycle

The central ideas that need to work at the large park scale for Floyd Bennett Field are sea level rise, technology and recreation. The vast and unpredictable timeframe climate change has set forth for Sea Change is applied to these three components. Sea level rise shifts the focus of the park from a recreational nature park to a site that embodies the evolution of technology.

Goals and Strategy The project is imagined as an adaptable revision of Floyd Bennett Field with six primary goals: 1 Promote a bold, flexible and responsive landscape framework.

Due to the uncertain and speculative nature of climate change, the master plan is a resilient scheme that develops into a demonstrative tool of its impacts and how we have to change our collective perceptions; 2 Create a vibrant bay front site with distinctive activities, as well as, a unique water-oriented program that incorporates demonstrative processes.

Floyd Bennett Field Park offers an extraordinary large-scale setting for a range of activities and programs that are unique within the context of New York City, allowing for extensive active and passive recreation, diverse water sports, educational amenities, cultural enrichment and sustainable living; 3 Build a connective system to unify the large park.

Create a network of pedestrian tarmacs, responding to the historical use, and multi-use trails that connect and unify the diverse parcels of the existing site;

4 Cultivate a rich mosaic of terrestrial and aquatic life that becomes the recreational highlight of the spacious park.

Recognizing the presence of extraordinary ecological resources, the master plan’s ecological goal is to restore, preserve and diversify the range, extent and health of its various ecosystems; 5 Create an educational and sustainable landscape.

By integrating landscape technologies and energy / fuel harboring strategies the park looks towards future viability and continues to be bold, flexible and responsive; 6 Preserve and amplify the remarkably unique settings for the area.

Responding to the site’s long-term transformation, large-scale and character, the master plan seeks to capitalize on the existing historical and natural characteristics of this inimitable site.

Natural soft edge of Jamaica Bay looking towards the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge leading to Floyd Bennett Field.

Photo: Dan Riepe

Site Design

Aerial overlooking Floyd Bennett Field, looking east.

Photo: NPS

Concept: Past Transformations

27

The Illustrative Master Plan

29

Rising Tide

31

Generative Park

32

Park Ecology

33

Connectivity

35

Program and Activities

36

Concept: Past Transformations

The historical morphology of the site shows that the laws of nature were the only condition bounding the former site. It transformed naturally, making its own way in the work.

Human development changed this instinctive pattern. Now, Floyd Bennett Field has many circumstances disturbing it, including development, sea level rise, and dispersed recreational activities. Slipping back in time, to a period where the site was responsible for itself can alleviate these additive pressures and create a much more vibrant park that is historically informative, culturally rich, and long lasting.

Dredge

1980

1940

Sea Change looks at the redevelopment of Floyd Bennett Field in a very holistic way: looking to the past, what has come and gone, to inform the future of the park. Inspired by the more flowing and native landscape before the bay was dredged and the marsh ecosystem was filled, the design looks at a partial reversion of the components that contribute to mitigating and demonstrating sea level rise, fostering the growth of ecology, and creating a dynamic park setting.

Alter

1926

1910 The historical transformation of the site from marsh islets to a hydraulically filled peninsula. Data: NYCPD

Flow

Impediment

The new design looks at several conceptual mechanisms that reference the past in hopes of creating a unified and rich park.

28

Conceptual sketch exploring and altering the boundary between land and water in new ways.

The park’s boundary between land and water will be adapted to reinstall the elements that made the former site an active agent of change, due to the movement and presence of water.

The rich mosaic of terrestrial and aquatic area throughout the park gives it a unique character that inspires new forms of recreation and allows for the site’s ecology to grow and thrive.

Connecting users to the wetlands, creeks, and marshes that were once present on the site demonstrates what used to be here and the benefits of having

Conceptual sketch of Floyd Bennett Field and its potentials of allowing water into the site.

those systems in place today.

Floyd Bennett Field has a very stagnant organization, one that consists of the airfield tarmacs and infrastructure. Water can become the new organizing feature of the park, and how that interacts with the aviation culture and infrastructure can be very dynamic. Floyd Bennett Field has the size and connective system in place to be a leading waterfront park that comes with many amenities.

Conceptual sketch of Floyd Bennett Field and its important historical center and other problems.

The cultural history is also important to the site, the National Park Service, and New York City. Correcting the challenges and problems created by the layout of the airfield is the first step, but, diminishing or ignoring the aviation history will not yield an appropriate outcome. Working with the history and how it can enhance other components of the design is the definitive goal.

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JAMAICA BAY

THE HIGHGROUND THE GATEWAY 25

01 GATEWAY GOLF RANGE 02 GATEWAY MARINA & WATER TAXI HUB

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03 GIL HODGES BEACH 28

04 AVIATOR OUTDOOR ATHLETIC FIELDS

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05 AVIATOR SPORTS COMPLEX

LITTLE JAMAICA BAY

06 ‘HELIPAD’ EVENTS PLAZA

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07 RYAN WELCOME CENTER 31

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08 PEDESTRIAN ENTRANCE TARMAC

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09 GATEWAY RESEARCH & SUSTAINABILITY TR

10 OUTWARD BOUND & GATEWAY ENVIRONMEN 01

11 DEMONSTRATIVE GRASSLAND GARDEN & GR 05

12 PICINIC & PLAY ZONE

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H

13 ASPEN GROVE PLAZA

14 FLOYD BENNETT FIELD COMMUNITY GARDEN

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15 MODEL BOAT POND

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16 MODEL AIRCRAFT FIELD & DEMONSTRATIVE 32

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THE NORTH FORTY

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17 AVIATOR BASEBALL FIELDS

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18 CROOKED CREEK

THE GATEWAY

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THE HIGHGROUND

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26 RECREATION LAUNCH CANAL

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27 BUOYANT FOREST

THE LOWLANDS

28 LITTLE JAMAICA BAY BOARDWALK

29 RED MAPLE & SERVICEBERRY PICINICING GR

30 LITTLE JAMAICA BAY MARINA & WATER TAX

31 MARSH MOUNDS & OYSTER FILTERING CELL 32 TOPOGRAPHIC TARMAC 03

THE LOWLANDS 33 IRISH CREEK

TIDAL POWER

BALLOON ‘PISTON’

SECONDARY TRAIL

PROPOSED WATER TAXI SYSTEM

WOODLAND

RECREATION & TURF GRASS

MIXED GRASSLAND

VINELAND

HARDWOOD FOREST

REED GRASS MARSH

MARITIME DUNE

MARITIME BEACH

MARITIME MUDFLAT

MARITIME SHRUBLAND

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38 ALGAE FIELDS 39 OUTDOOR AIRCRAFT GALLERY

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ROCKAWAY INLET

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36 OPERATION HOUSES

37 OUTLET CANAL & OYSTER FILTERING CELLS

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THE GATEWAY 01 GATEWAY GOLF RANGE 02 GATEWAY MARINA & WATER TAXI HUB 03 GIL HODGES BEACH 04 AVIATOR OUTDOOR ATHLETIC FIELDS 05 AVIATOR SPORTS COMPLEX 06 ‘HELIPAD’ EVENTS PLAZA 07 RYAN WELCOME CENTER 08 PEDESTRIAN ENTRANCE TARMAC 09 GATEWAY RESEARCH & SUSTAINABILITY TRAINING CENTER 10 OUTWARD BOUND & GATEWAY ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY CENTER 11 DEMONSTRATIVE GRASSLAND GARDEN & GREENHOUSES 12 PICINIC & PLAY ZONE

40

30

13 ASPEN GROVE PLAZA 14 FLOYD BENNETT FIELD COMMUNITY GARDEN 15 MODEL BOAT POND 16 MODEL AIRCRAFT FIELD & DEMONSTRATIVE SEA LEVEL RISE KNOLLS

THE NORTH FORTY 17 AVIATOR BASEBALL FIELDS 18 CROOKED CREEK 19 PINE GROVE & BARN OWL HABITAT 20 RECREATION ISLAND 21 ELEVATED ECOLOGICAL OVERLOOK 22 JOHN’S CREEK 23 CORRIGAN’S CREEK 24 RAPTOR POINT

THE HIGHGROUND 25 GRASS TERRACED WATERFRONT 26 RECREATION LAUNCH CANAL 27 BUOYANT FOREST 28 LITTLE JAMAICA BAY BOARDWALK 29 RED MAPLE & SERVICEBERRY PICINICING GROVE 30 LITTLE JAMAICA BAY MARINA & WATER TAXI HUB 31 MARSH MOUNDS & OYSTER FILTERING CELLS 32 TOPOGRAPHIC TARMAC

THE LOWLANDS 33 IRISH CREEK 34 ALGAE BIOFUEL GROWTH DEMONSTRATION AREA 35 INLET CANAL 36 OPERATION HOUSES 37 OUTLET CANAL & OYSTER FILTERING CELLS 38 ALGAE FIELDS 39 OUTDOOR AIRCRAFT GALLERY 40 DISAPPEARING JETTY

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Rising Tide Proposed Park

Park Evolution

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Diagrammatic series showing the implications of sea level rise on the redeveloped park site of Floyd Bennett Field.

The proposed design utilizes an approximate layout of the site’s old creeks and wetlands in certain areas to alter the boundary between land and water to one of exchange, thus, creating a new floodplain for the site.

As Floyd Bennett Field takes on water in a new way, the park shrinks and allows for the transformable water processes to take place on the site. The measures of sea level rise within the project are staged from 1-foot rise, to 3-foot rise, and finally 5-foot rise.

As the water begins to rise, the park becomes prone to a natural period of flooding and inundation as wetlands and open waters encroach on the lowlands. The creation of a diverse, native habitat and natural system zone follows.

The diversity provided between ecology and recreation allows for a more interconnected experience for the urban park visitor.

The shrinking park will begin to mimic its former self, marsh islands form and ecological communities spreads across the landscape.

Remaining is the creation of a flexible site, one that evolves with the water and causes the progression of human life on the Bay.

32

Floyd Bennett Field becomes a pelagic park, one that interacts, works with, and supports the amenity of water for the large park setting.

_ECOLOGY

Wetland

Low Salt Marsh

Maritime Dune

Vineland

Combined Marsh

Maritime Shrubland

Reed Grass Marsh

Mixed Grassland

High Salt Marsh

Maritime Mudflat

Maritime Forest

Hardwood

Generative Park Proposed Park

Park Evolution

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_TECHNOLOGY

Algae Biofuel

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Wind Power Zones

Balloon Power Oyster Filtering

Diagrammatic series showing the evolution, spread, and growth of technology on the shifting Floyd Bennett Field site.

As the park shrinks, recreation yields to technology as becoming the overall backbone of the project. The rising tide becomes an opportunity for these technologies by taking advantage of a greater amount of water, technologies such as algae biofuel and balloon pistons can move out into the water, to increase maximum gains and foster more energy and biofuel for the immediate population.

The technologies within the master plan are used as demonstrative tools to educate visitors and residents about sustainable living and a new future for large urban parks.

The processes and applications of these technologies are highly visible from within the park to the surrounding neighborhoods. As our society’s perceptions continue to change, the technologies at Floyd Bennett Field will act as a catalyst and begin to spread and alter the urban landscape.

Replication of certain energies into surrounding neighborhoods and communities is one of the eventual goals of the project.

The demonstration aspects of the landscape technologies can inform and educate park visitors about their possibilities towards being applied elsewhere.

mill basin brooklyn, new york The key purpose of the redevelopment of Floyd Bennett Field is not only the highlighting of sea level rise and climate change, but also the demonstrative value of sustainable landscape technologies on different scales to show its ease of translation and adaptation.

CORN 18 CORN 18

OIL YEILDS OIL YEILDS GALLONS // ACRE ACRE GALLONS

COTTON 35 COTTON 35 SOYBEAN 48 SOYBEAN 48 MUSTARDSEED SEED 61 MUSTARD 61 SUNFLOWER 102 SUNFLOWER 102 CANOLA 127 CANOLA 127

635 635 10,000 10,000

OILPALM PALM OIL ALGAE ALGAE

1/3 acre acre 1/3 pond pond Fuelfor for4848Cars/Houses Cars/Houses H2H2Fuel

Fuelfor for1212Cars/Houses Cars/Houses H2H2Fuel

1/12 acre acre 1/12 pond pond

34

3 44-m balloons Energy for 30 Homes

A case study application, showing Mill Basing, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York directly north of the site. Looking at the context to interject algae fueling stations and balloon pistons to generate energy for the neighborhood and give the community a sense of pride in being a truely green neighborhood.

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Estuarine Bay

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_HYDROLOGY

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Park Ecology Proposed Park

Park Evolution

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Wetland

Low Salt Marsh

Maritime Dune

Vineland

Combined Marsh

Maritime Shrubland

Reed Grass Marsh

Mixed Grassland

High Salt Marsh

Maritime Mudflat

Maritime Forest

Hardwood

feet

Wind Power Zones Diagrammatic series showing Algae the Biofuel spread and growth of vegetation around the park site of Floyd Bennett Field.

_TECHNOLOGY

Balloon Power Oyster Filtering

The water’s new relationship with the site directly impacts the natural evolution of ecology and vegetation. The coastal maritime ecosystems present in all the marsh islands within Jamaica Bay are currently starting to retake the abandoned airfield. Allowing this process of natural succession is important, not only for the ecological services it produces, but also for recreational purposes.

Since nature has begun to take over the abandoned airfield, the design allows for its

flexibility ability to spread throughout the park. From grassland to shrub land, to mixed maritime forest and to hardwood forest, the park transforms in a way that connects the recreational user to ecology, signifying about what once lived in the area they are living and visiting.

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TIDAL BRACKISH BAY

BEACH

BEACHGRASS STABILIZED BACK DUNES

MARITIME VINELAND

MARITIME SUCCESSIONAL FOREST

SWAMP FOREST

HIGH MARSH

LOW MARSH

BRACKISH TIDAL WETLAND

LOW MARSH

HIGH MARSH

MARITIME GRASSLAND

MARITIME SHRUBLAND

MARITIME SUCCESSIONAL FOREST

MARITIME HARDWOOD FOREST

KEY SPECIES

Section exploring the make-up of the coastal maritime vegetion ecosystem, the connections between each component, and the importance of natural succession.

Solidago semervirens - Seaside goldenrod, ammophila brevigulata - Beach grass, panicum amarum - Bitter panic grass, panicum virgatum - Switch grass, arctostaphylos uvaursi - Bearberry, hudsonia tomentosa - False beach heather, leachea maritima - Beach pin weed, myrica pensylvanica - Bayberry, prunus maritima - Beach plum, oputina humifusa - Prickly pear cactus, schizachyrium scoparium - Little bluestem, celastrus scandens - American bittersweet, parthenocissus quinquefolia - Virginia creeper, smilax glauca - Cat greenbrier, smilax rotundifolia - Round leaved greenbrier, acer rubrum - Red maple, amelanchier canadensis - Canadian serviceberry, betula populifolia - Gray birch, ilex opaca - American holly, pinus rigida - Pitch pine, prunus serotina - Black cherry, rhus glabra - smooth sumac, vaccinium corymbosum - High bush blueberry, rosa virginiana - Low pasture rose, acer rubrum - Red maple, betula nigra - River birch, quercus bicolor - Swamp white oak, lindera benzoin - Spicebush, rhododendron viscosum - Swamp azalea, ribes americanum - Eastern black currant, limonium caroliniana - Sea lavender, solidago sempervirens - Seaside goldenrod, juncus gerardii - Black grass, spartina patens - Salt meadow cordgrass, spartina alterniflora - Smooth cordgrass, aronia arbutifolia - Red chokeberry cornus racemosa - Gray dogwood, iva frutescens - Salt marsh elder, pontedaria cordata - Pickerel weed, hibiscus moscheutos - Rose mallow, iris versicolor - Blue flag iris, zizania aquatica - Wild rice, limonium caroliniana - Sea lavender, solidago sempervirens - Seaside goldenrod, juncus gerardii - Black grass, spartina patens - Salt meadow cordgrass, spartina alterniflora - Smooth cordgrass, rubus flagellaris - Northern dewberry, eupatorium altissimum - Tall thoroughwort, lespedeza capitata - Bush clover lespedeza, solidago rugosa - Wrinkle leaved goldenrod, andropogon virginicus - Broom sedge, danthonia spicata - Wild oatgrass, deschampsia flexuosa - Common hair grass, juncus greenei - Greene’s rush, sorghastrum nutans - Indian grass, amerlanchier canadensis - Canadian serviceberry, clethra alnifolia - Sweet pepperbush, ilex opaca - American holly, juniperus virginiana - Eastern red cedar, myrica pensylvanica - Bayberry, prunus maritima - Beach plum, vaccinium corymbosum - High bush blueberry, viburnum dentatum - Southern arrowwood, eupatorium album - White thoroughwort, acer rubrum - Red maple, amelanchier canadensis - Canadian serviceberry, betula populifolia - Gray birch, ilex opaca - American holly, pinus rigida - Pitch pine, prunus serotina - Black cherry, rhus glabra - smooth sumac, vaccinium corymbosum - High bush blueberry, liquidambar styracifiua - Sweet gum, quercus paulstris - Pin oak, quercus alba - White oak, nyssa slyvatica - Black gum.

TIDAL BRACKISH BAY

BEACH

BEACHGRASS STABILIZED BACK DUNES

MARITIME VINELAND

MARITIME SUCCESSIONAL FOREST

SWAMP FOREST

HIGH MARSH

LOW MARSH

BRACKISH TIDAL WETLAND

LOW MARSH

An investigation of the key species of each ecosystem of the mairtime coastal vegetation environment.

HIGH MARSH

MARITIME GRASSLAND

MARITIME SHRUBLAND

MARITIME SUCCESSIONAL FOREST

MARITIME HARDWOOD FOREST

36

Connectivity

Floyd Bennett Field park pathway and vehicular infrastructure material palette.

Main Transects

The strong character of the existing concrete runways informs the recreational and organizing infrastructure.

One of the four main paths connects the visitor from the entrance of the site to the body of the park, while the other three span different areas of the park further uniting the redeveloped Floyd Bennett Field.

As the primary path system, these tarmacs will support more people and events and will be paved with concrete, utilizing a base course of crushed current runway, or become a wooden boardwalk.

Photos: Google.com

Multi-use Trails

Visitor Support

The primary and tertiary path systems are more geared towards the recreational user.

They access different sectors of the site and run through many different surroundings. From forested jogging trials, to grassland biking courses, to beachfront boardwalks, these path systems are composed of different materials that accept many different activities and program.

Parking onsite has been reduced.

The parking, located in the Gateway – the front entrance of the park, will utilize sustainable materials, including crushed stone or permeable paving, to reduce runoff and fit with the overall goals of the park. Paths also reach to the three bus stops on site and bring them into the large park.

Program and Activities

38

Recreational examples demonstrated in the master plan of the redeveloped Floyd Bennett Field park site.

Photos: Google.com

Recreation

Education

Cultural Enrichment

Floyd Bennett Field’s program holds the opportunity of many types of leisure and sport from active and passive recreation, to water activities and boating, to picnicking and playing. The scale of the park gives it unlimited possibilities for activities and the redeveloped park truly becomes a destination for the New York City region.

Educating the recreational user is also an important part of the program.

Fostering child stewardship programs and educational tours about the aspects of the project that are being demonstrated is the objective.

From eco-educational programs, to research walks, and guided algae tours for sustainable job candidates are the activities included for the education program.

Beyond all of the distinctive opportunities for active and passive recreation, the landscapes of the park are also radically eventful, and offer dramatic settings for remarkably unique cultural festivals, community programs and the arts. The site will promote flea markets, concerts and shows, and cultural enrichment programs.

Areas of the Park Areas of the Park

40

The Gateway

41

The North Forty

45

The Highground

48

The Lowlands

51

The Algae Fields

53

The area currently coined the North Forty sits in the northern portion of Floyd Bennett Field. Natural succession has begun to proceed in this area providing a snapshot of the possibilities for fostering ecology across the large park. Photo: Flickr.com

THE NORTH FORTY

THE HIGHGROUND

THE GATEWAY

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THE LOWLANDS

FLOYD BENNETT FIELD AREAS OF THE PARK

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The Gateway

The gateway is the Floyd Bennett Field park entrance. Situated parallel to Flatbush Avenue, The Gateway houses 4 adaptive reuse hangers that support the parks functions and broader goals and strategy of recreation, sustainable living, and education. The Aviation Indoor Recreation Center provides a mixture of indoor passive recreation and active recreation sports courts and fields for the surrounding population. The welcome center, located in the former control tower for Floyd Bennett airfield, provides information about the Gateway National Recreation Area and serves as the central hub for the entire

park system. The proposed Gateway Research and Sustainability Training Center offers the opportunity of education and training for sustainable jobs within the park. The Outward Bound child stewardship program and the Gateway Environmental Study Center, generate a sense of awareness and appreciation for native ecology, landscape technologies, and environmental understanding.

Adjacent to the Floyd Bennett Field community garden and greenhouses sits a grassland management garden, which takes a snapshot of local ecology of the entire park and intensifies it for visitor enjoyment. Throughout the area, dem-

onstration plazas educated park users about rainwater harvesting, aviation culture, and landscape technologies and provides spaces for events, gathering, teaching, picnicking and playing. Gil Hodges Beach utilizes natural littoral flows of erosion to sustain itself and presents an area for day trips, swimming, and camping.

The Gateway’s program is concentrated and powerful, providing a smaller area that highlights the entire park’s mission and mindset. This area cements Floyd Bennett Field’s legacy as becoming the Gateway of Gateway National Recreation Area.

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Sea Level Rise Mound Play Space

Demonstration play and picnicking area that includes mounds at 1-foot, 3-foot, and 5-foot heights that would be underwater at different stages under the sea level rise measurements of the project. This area is adjacent to the community garden and supporting greenhouses.

Pedestrian Entrance Tarmac

Connecting to the existing bus stop on Flatbush Avenue, the entrance walk is a multi-use space surrounded by a grove of native maritime trees. The space continues, leading to the Highground where the buoyant forest can be seen from a distance.

Artistic lighting, referencing that gains and production of the different energies on site, constantly change and update giving this area a unique character.

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Gil Hodges Beach

The beach and dune ecosystem was prevalent in the former marsh islet layout of the site. Reinstalling this environment in a place where it will survive is important to the project goal. The beach provides an opportunity to connect with the bay and can hold many events and activities.

The North Forty

The northern portion of the site strongly shows the relationship between water and ecology.

The maritime vegetation of this area depends on water, and rebooting the site to what it once was by reinstalling the creeks and wetland pattern, gives a chance for the marshes to grow, swamps to form, and natural succession to continue.

This area of the park is considered ‘wild,’ containing mostly forested land allowed to progress natural.

Interlaced with passive recreational trails, park visitors can jog, walk, bike, and play in a rich mosaic of vegetation mixed with dappled sunshine and native wildlife.

The creeks provide an opportunity to hold aquatic recreation experiences, including kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife viewing, giving the park a new layer of dynamic activity. As sea level rises and the forest grows and spreads, typical marsh islands begin to form that would have been present before the turn of the century.

Runway 6-24, looking east, is transformed into an ecological overlook, a raised recreational and observation tarmac, becoming a stationary point for viewing the spread of ecology, sea level rise, and native wildlife.

ecological Overlook

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Ecological Overlook

The raised platform sits 18-feet off the ground and gives the flat airfield site some verticality. The tarmac is an ideal location for running, walking, and bird watching. Recreational trails and creeks meander underneath and around the pillars, marked with past flood events, holding the structure up.

Forest Trail

The trails running through the North Forty are designed for discovery, connecting to nature, and passive recreation. Utilizing natural materials for the path system gives this area a rugged and natural feel. Owl roosts and other birdhouses provide nesting grounds for native birds in the area and allow for bird watching and environmental education opportunities.

The Highground

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The Highground gets its name from being the place where dredged and cut soil from the proposed the design can be filled to give the site some verticality.

The Highground is made up of mostly grassland management area, with recreational trails cut into the grass.

The Buoyant Forest, the balloon pistons, also sits in this area giving the park its iconic feel, becoming a landmark for the surrounding neighborhoods. The topographic tarmac, conforming to the placement of one of the existing runways, becomes a vantage point and playful space for park users. Adjacent to it sits the canal launch, also playing off the

existing layout of another runway, allowing recreational users to access the creeks and wetlands with kayaks and canoes.

The waterfront edge is initiated with a terraced grass border, allowing for relaxation, picnicking, and viewing the boats departing and arriving at the proposed Little Jamaica Bay Marina. The marina allows boats to dock and visitors to depart set out into the bay towards a new destination via the proposed water taxi system. The marina is situated within a designed marsh that utilizes natural deposition to rebuild itself overtime.

Oyster filtering beds are mixed in with marsh vegetation to clean the bay and protect the site from storm surges due to sea level rise.

The area connects the passive user to the Bay and the amenity water provides for the park.

Terraced Waterfront

The terraced edge allows for many activities and events, including sunbathing, concerts, and boat viewing. The boardwalk around Little Jamaica Bay is a vital connective thread of the park and its association with the water and marsh makes it a unique element of the park.

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The Canal Launch

The water canal provides an access point for aquatic recreational users to have contact with water, natural ecology and native habitat.

The Lowlands

The lowlands are a natural area, which reintroduces water on the southern portion of the site.

The waterfront boardwalk curves out around Little Jamaica Bay and as sea level rises it begins to disappear demonstrating the effects of the rising current.

Airplane relics are placed into the marsh, allowing their interaction with nature and water, highlighting the cultural history of the former airfield. This area includes wetlands and grasslands like the other areas; however, this portion of the site is different than the others. It shows the relationship between technology, water, and ecology.

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The Lowlands Marsh

As bay water tunnels under the proposed waterfront boardwalk it feeds the reinstalled creeks and wetlands. This area also provides an opportunity to engage in water activities.

The Algae Fields d d

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Site plan of the Algae Fields.

Connected to the creek network, the proposed algae fields, at 50-acres, is a two-sided system that focuses on both algae demonstration at the pedestrian scale and then algae farming at the southernmost point of the site.

The demonstration area highlights different forms of growing algae and contains the supporting operations with it, including a research center, harvesting house and processing workshop. The algae farm is comprised of a two-energy system, algae tubes and cylindrical solar photovoltaics, that allow for greater efficiency in harboring energy throughout the year.

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A mock-up of the algae farming system.

Water enters the system through the canal and algae is grown throughout the area. The research and testing facility contains jobs and valuable education information on the possibilities of algae biofuel.

The algae is harvested into the harvest house, full of algae tanks, that are very visible by the passive visitor. The processing workshop is also transparent, allowing visitors to view the final process of producing biofuel. Water is then return through the outlet canal and the nitrogen, from the algae process, is filtered out by oyster beds.

The algae grown here can service the cars of about 1,000 New York residents.

This area is a demonstration of the possibilities and potentials of algae biofuel. The process can grow throughout the park as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.

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Sections of the Algae Field.

The important component of this area is to keep it visible and transparent, allowing visitors to understand the process of generating biofuel.

can we support and perpetuate the rights “How of all living things to share in a world

of abundance? How can we love the children of all species, not just our own, for all time? Imagine what a world of prosperity and health in the future would look like, and begin designing for it right now.

“

William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle

The marsh edge of Jamaica Bay looking north towards Brooklyn, New York.

Photo: Dan Riepe

2002

Endnotes [1] Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan Advisory Commit tee. “Planning for Jamaica Bay’s Future: Preliminary Recommendations on the Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan.”

[2] America’s national park system : the critical docu ments.

[3] Renewable Energy; An International Journal. “Hot air balloon engine.”

Resources Coastal vulnerability assessment of Gateway National Recreation Area to sea-level rise, USGS, 2005.

Envisioning Gateway, Columbia University, 2007.

The Evolving Legacy of Jamaica Bay, National Park Service.

Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area; Environmental inventory and preliminary land-use plan, M. Paul Friedberg and Partners Hardy Holzman Peiffer Associates Edwards and Kelcey, Inc. Trans Urban East Organization.

Images of Jamaica Bay, Daniel M. Hendrick, 2006.

The Future of Jamaica Bay, NYC of Parks & Recreation.

Jamaica Bay’s Disappearing Marshes, National Park Service.

Balloon Engine, Solartran. http://www.solartran.com.au/ Combating Climate Change with Landscape Architecture, ASLA. http://www.asla.org/ContentDetail.aspx?id=21910 Greenbelt Native Plant Center, NYC Parks & Recreation. http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/climate/preparing-

forcoastal-change-guide-for-local-govt/html/page1.html Jamaica Bay Research and Management Information Network, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/jamaicabay/index.jsp Preparing for coastal climate change, The Ministry for the Environment. http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/climate/preparingfor-coastal-change-guide-for-local-govt/html/page1.html Vertical axis wind turbines, Quiet Revolution. http://www.quietrevolution.co.uk/

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