February 2009
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg confirmed that Peter Minuit Plaza at The Battery will become the site of a major new public destination.
New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion will be a dramatic space where more than 5 million people a year, including 70,000 daily commuters and 2 million annual tourists, can find an extraordinary "outdoor living room" for spontaneous and scheduled activities, public markets, seating and shade, and an iconic state-of-the-art pavilion for food and information.
These are all designed by internationally celebrated Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, Amsterdam.
The Plein & Pavilion will be unique among the city's many public spaces - a landscaped intermodal transportation hub of the 21st century, where bicycles, buses, the subway and water transportation intersect with cultural offerings in a singular expression of daring but lyrical design.
New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion is made possible by a major grant from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to The Battery Conservancy, as part of the NY400 celebration and in honor of the enduring relationship between New York and Holland.
Handel Architects LLP, New York, will serve as associate architect, working in collaboration with UNStudio.
"It is our hope that New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion will become a permanent Dutch legacy in New York City and a nod to the future as well as our shared history," commented Gajus Schltema, Consul General of the Netherlands in New York.
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