Gallery: A $170M Floating Park Designed for NYC's Hudson River
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0102-View of Pier 55 in the context of the west side
This week billionaire and IAC chairman Barry Diller, along with wife Diane von Furstenberg, announced plans for a new New York City park.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0203-Aerial view of Pier 55
Called Pier55, the proposed park designs are by British architect Thomas Heatherwick, and include input from film producer Scott Rudin.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0310-Aerial Night View
Diller will be the park's primary sponsor, thanks to a pledge of $130 million. The city, the state, and the Hudson River Park Trust will put up the remaining $40 million.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0408-View of the amphitheatre looking southwest at sunset
Pier55 will double as a performance venue (that's one reason Rudin was brought in), so will include small amphitheaters.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0506-Stairs
The entire structure will be 2.7 acres of undulating concrete and grass. That topography could help buffer rising tides during storms.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0607-View of Southern space looking north from Gansevoort Peninsula
The park will sit on top of 300 concrete pillars shaped like golf tees, that range from 15 to 70 feet above the water in height.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0709-Amphitheater Aerial Night View
The park will be built on top of Pier 54, a collapsing piece of infrastructure that, in 1912, was where the Carpathia docked after rescuing the survivors from the Titanic.
Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio0812-Conceptual view of the rolling landscape
It has a ways to go: In order for construction to begin in 2016, Diller will have to get approval from the park trust’s full board, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
