New York Pier 55 "Island" Park

Little Island is a floating botanical garden in the Hudson River, planted with 35 species of trees, 65 species of shrubs and 290 species of grasses, perennials, vines and bulbs. The plants were chosen for their fragrance and visual richness, and they attract birds and pollen-seeking insects. The landscape brings a wealth of textures and seasonal colour to the pier park, punctuated by specimen trees. The evocative planting is intended to delight and surprise visitors, offering a marine oasis away from the noise of the city where people can play, relax, learn, recover and imagine. Little Island also contains performance venues, and together these elements are intended to establish the project as a landmark of New York. The island is supported by 132 precast concrete pot-shaped structures, each rising from a large precast concrete pile driven roughly 61 metres down into the bedrock below the river. Each pot can carry approximately 250 to 350 tonnes. The geometry of the pots follows a Cairo pentagonal tiling pattern, generating an apparently irregular built form and layout. Although the piles are not arranged in straight lines, the formwork can be reused across repeated units. Thomas Heatherwick has said the design was inspired by his observation of the old Pier 54, where portions of the pier protruded from the water and had become gathering places for fish. Rather than a conventional pier of piles capped by decking, the team drew on their experience of piles and civil-engineering structures capable of withstanding extreme river conditions to produce something unusual. The stepped hills that wind up and down through the landscape are built from black locust, a hardwood native to New York. The result is a performative public park that merges horticulture, structural invention and public life on the water.