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New York City Gets Manmade ‘Little Island’ As A Present, Now Open To Public
By Ell Ko, 27 Jul 2021
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Image via Little Island
Little Island is, well, a little island situated on the Hudson River. It’s just off 13th Street on the West Side of Manhattan, where the old derelict Pier 54 used to sit. The stunning green space that rises out of the water like something out of a picture book is a gift to New York, according to its bestowers: businessman and a well-known name in the media industry Barry Diller and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, his wife.
Costing US$260 million to build, the manmade space was designed by Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects in collaboration with British firm Heatherwick Studio. It boasts 2.4 acres with a delightful plentiful of green space and gorgeous views at the top. In the park, around 400 different species of flora find their homes. Facilities also include an outdoor theater that can host more than 700, a smaller performance space for 200, and a main space that houses around 3,500 people at a time.
When Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, Pier 54 was destroyed, left a far cry from its heyday. It had been left to deteriorate ever since, and what the area had before Little Island was conceived were just the structural remains of the old pier, which “stuck out” of the river. The studio writes that it took inspiration from the remains, trying to design the new structure around the already-existing piles. What it came up with was the new concrete piles extending up out of the water.
“Fusing as they meet, these individual piles come together to form the topography of the park,” the description states. “The resulting design developed as a system of repeating piles which each form a generous planter at their top.” The planters then are connected to form a cohesive, singular landscape.
Talks, performances, festivals, and tours are scheduled to take place on Little Island, now open to the public. “This is only for people’s pleasure. It has no other purpose,” Diller states. “It’s not cancer-curing, but it’s pretty good for the spirit of life.” Just in time for the reopening of the city this summer, too.
Image via Little Island
Image via Little Island
[via CBS, images via Little Island]
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