Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls have created a rush of art tourism in New York City. The number of ways to see the waterfall, created specifically for the waterfalls, is growing fast. One approach is the generically luxury boat cruise for only $50,000. Another is potentially coming to Brooklyn to check out the temporary observation deck at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The 26,000 square foot site had a Strober Brothers Lumber warehouse on it until a few weeks ago, and has recently been deeded by the Port Authority to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy asked dlandstudio to develop a temporary park for the aforementioned waterfalls. On a Brooklyn budget! Dland’s design includes wide swaths of color painted in stripes over the asphalt to create both a more comfortable walking surface for pedestrians and add colour and texture.
The design is like a pop-up shop for the future Brooklyn Bridge Park on the waterfront. The park includes grass mounds for lounging (the future park will be lots of mounds), a sand area retained by wood beams with umbrellas for shade, and our favourite, hay bales that get seeded and grow grass like a chia pet as the summer progresses. The pop-up park is going to invite people to use the former warehouse-blocked waterfront as a park, allowing people to discover vistas of New York that were previously blocked. Way better than a $50,0000 cruise. Further, the paint, trees, plantings, planter boxes, hay bales, Plexiglas (on the perimeter fence) and some labor is all being donated. So not only is this a pop-up park, but it’s becoming more open-source too.
