PORT-ABLE LANDSCAPES Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis Newtown Creek Brooklyn, NY How does a metroplis imagine a sustainable future for an aging waterfront? Cities around the world have revitalized their waterfronts by transforming industrial ports to reclaimed communities with parks, open space and housing. A constant challenge of the industrial legacy is residual contamination. It takes many years to recover, process. and dispose of contaminants, and the remediation is often fenced, hidden and inaccessible to surrounding residents. This project envisions the transformation of an industrial urban waterway with public access and participation in the multiple phases of environmental remediation. I propose a series of ecological barges as a strategy for environmental cleanup, shoreline access, and incremental public space along one of New York City’s remaining working waterfronts. Newtown Creek is a 4-mile tidal creek with a long history of heavy industries, resulting in a hard edged and privatized shoreline. Described by the EPA as one of the most polluted waterways in the country, Newtown Creek has been nominated for proposed Superfund clean up and has ongoing remediation for the 30 million gallon oil spill on the Greenpint shore.
Remediation, public access and open space are objectives within the ambitious environmental agenda of PlaNYC 2030. The City aims to clean up brownfields, open waterways for recreation, and put all residents within a 10-minute walk from a public park. My proposal meets these goals by choreographing a fleet of portable landscapes co-existing with industrial activity. The armada of ecological and remediative barges add a narrative to the waterfront, communicating the restoration of the waterway.
BARGE ++ FLOATING FLOATING PRECEDENTS BARGE PRECEDENTS
FLOATING ISLAND, R. Smithson
WATERPOD, M. Mattingly
FLOATING POOL LADY, Neptune Foundation
BARGEMUSIC, NEW YORK
SYNCHRONICITY 2, Centralia
COPENHAGEN HARBOUR BATH Bjarke Ingels Group
THE SCIENCE BARGE [NY SUN WORKS]
HALIFAX HARBOUR FESTIVAL, V.T. Diep
New York, Hudson and East Rivers built 2005, designed 1970
Warsaw, Vistula River 2009 - present
New York Harbour, East River, Pier 5 2009 - present
Copenhagen Harbour, Denmark, 2003 - present
New York, Brooklyn Bridge Park, East River 2007
Yonkers, New York 2007 - present
Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn 1977 - present
Halifax, Nova Scotia, MLA THESIS 2007 Proposal
recovery ● processing ● disposal
OIL REMEDIATION collection ● detention ● filtration ● phytoremediation
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
ECOLOGICAL BARGE PROTOTYPES
WETLAND BARGE
STORMWATER COLLECTION ● FILTRATION ● PHYTOREMEDIATION ● HABITAT ● POCKET PARK
Smooth Cordgrass Spartina alterniflora
Saltgrass Distichlis spicata
Bayberry / Wax Myrtle Myrica cerifera
Atlantic Ribbed Mussel Geukensia demissa
Fiddler Crab Uca rapax
Blue Heron Ardea herodias
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC The structural and environmental components of the wetland barge are shown exploded in this diagram.
Moored in the English Kills, this wetland barge is accessed by a ramp to the shoreline. The cutaway section shows the constructed salt marsh with drainage layers, soil, and cordgrass, surrounded by two level walkways and a viewing platform.
TOOLKIT
MOVEMENT
MOORING TOOLKIT
CONFIGURATION
CONFIGURATIONS CONFIGURATIONS
MOVEMENT MOVEMENT
TOW + DOCK
CIRCUIT
PRIMARY STORMWATER DISTRIBUTION to wetland and biofiltration barges
Collection from 6 stormwater outfalls
TUGBOAT (up to 6 barges)
DOCK CLEAT (or mooring pin)
STO
RM
MOORING LINE
HARD + SOFT EDGE
WA TER
SPORADIC
SECONDARY DISTRIBUTION to wetland barges
WE
TLA
Receive and deliver stormwater to barges docked at public access points
CONSTRUCTED EDGE
BAR GE
SOFT SHORELINE (VEGETATED)
OPEN WATER MOORING
ND
BAR GE
BIO
REM EDIA TIO
Movement between oil contamination area to waste transfer station
NB
AR GE
Mulch collected from biofiltration barge to BIOREMEDIATION barge
STATIONARY Docked at public access points for incremental park space
PUB
LIC
ACC E
SS
Public park and canoe launch /C AN
OE
LAU
NCH
REM
REC
REA TIO
N/
MOORED AT OPEN WATER
EDIA TIO
N/
HEA
LTH
REC
REA TIO
N
OIL REMEDIATION BARGE
Gym and spa facility
RECOVERY ● CONTAINMENT ● RECREATION
OIL RECOVERY TREADMILL BARGE
2013
The treadmill treadmill barge is moored at the Newtown Nature Walk, located at theWalk, mouth of the Whale andof thethe sewage treatment plant. The barge is moored at theCreek Newtown Creek Nature located atCreek the canal mouth Whale Creek Canal and the sewage treatment plant.
OIL REMEDIATION BARGE RECOVERY ● CONTAINMENT ● RECREATION
PROJECT PHASING from 0 to 50 years The long term goal of the project envisions the barge-based strategy growing to adapt the shoreline and colonize land for further phytoremediation and public open space. Starting with stormwater collection (0 to 2 years), the barges permeate the shoreline with infiltration trenches for increased capacity and sedimentation (2 to 5 years), and further mitigates stormwater with land-based strategies such as wetland plantings (5 to 25 years). Ultimately, these stormwater management strategies are used as bargaining tools to negotiate for right-of-way access to the street, connecting to a continuous greenway around the Newtown Creekshed. Working at such a scale raises awareness about water quality issues impacting the waterway, and contributes a significant recreational open space for the neighbourhoods affected by decades of heavy industry.
NORTH BROOKLYN CONTEXT
7 TR AIN
LONG ISLAND CITY
A bifurcated shoreline where the open space and greenway initiatives of the East River meet the privatized shoreline of Newtown Creek’s working waterfront, in the context of gentrification and a rapidly growing residential population.
G TRAIN
GREENPOINT
Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront Open Space Master Plan
BP Amoco
2009 REZONING L
TR
to cap building heights and maintain low-rise neighborhood character
AI N
Kosciuzcko Bridge
The Edge Condominiums
2005 REZONING
reclassified 184 block previously manufacturing as residential or mixed use; upzoned waterfront for high rise development
WILLIAMSBURG Apollo Street
Northside Piers
Exxon Mobil (former)
Schaefer Landing
Public access point Bike Lanes (on-street) Greenway Recreational Boating
DOCKSIDE at Manhattan Avenue street end park, looking west to East River and Manhattan skyline
DOCKSIDE
WATERSIDE paddling west to Kosciuszko Bridge amid the biofiltration and oil recovery barges
WATERSIDE
WATERSIDE
paddling west to Kosciuszko Bridge between a biofiltration barge and oil recovery bike barge
DOCKSIDE
DOCKSIDE
at Manhattan Ave park, looking west to the East River and Manhattan skyline.
NEWTOWN CREEK GREENWAY
NEWTOWN CREEKSHED
Aerial oblique looking towrds the East River
MUSSEL BARGE PARK
A configuration of wetland and biofiltration barges moored in open water provide a respite for kayakers and canoers. This view looks south to the English Kills at the widest reach of Newtown Creek (800 feet) where Mussel Island was dredged away c. 1920.
MUSSEL BARGE PARK
Looking across the widest stretch of Newtown Creek, approximately 800 feet, Mussel Barge Park marks the location of Mussel Island that was dredged in 1920. Another island, Furman Island, was filled to connect to the Queens shoreline.