New York City have released images of fourteen tower proposals as part of a controversial scheme to bring affordable housing to the 85 acre Brooklyn Bridge Park, originally designed by Michael van Valkenburgh and realised in 2004. The schemes, designed to be located on “two coveted development sites” on Pier 6, have been actively met with strong opposition from local community members. The park and surrounding area has seen a number of interesting recent regeneration proposals, from an 11,000ft² beach beneath the Brooklyn Bridge to a triangular pier proposed by BIG. Read on to see the proposals in detail, including those by Asymptote, Pelli Clarke Pelli, Davis Brody Bond, and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
The city called for proposals consisting of two towers - one of 315 feet and another of 155 feet - of which 30% of the total accommodation should be deemed to be “affordable”. According to the Architect's Newspaper, locals groups feel that the towers will not only swallow valuable inner-city green space and block views, but will also “not provide appropriate funding for the park” itself (as revenue from the development was originally intended to maintain it). New York City's government and supporters maintain that the importance of embedding social housing into what is currently an area which is almost exclusively the domain of the wealthy homeowner, is paramount.
Find a well documented summary of the controversies surrounding the development by the New York Times here.
Asymptote Architecture
BIG + Alloy Design
BKSK + Aufgang
Davis Brody Bond
Future Expansion + SBN Architects
FXFOWLE
H3Hardy
Marvel Architects
Morris Adjmi Architects
NV/da + O’Neill McVoy Architects
Pelli Clarke Pelli
Selldorf Architects
S9 Architecture
WASA Studio
References: Architect's Newspaper, New York Times
