At a new mixed-use high-rise abutting the Williamsburg Bridge, two all-native landscape spaces invert the usual relationship of cultural and natural strata. At ground level, the project’s connection to its gritty urban neighborhood is maximized with a parking area that uses contextual materials and an opportunistic planting scheme to maintain a purposefully industrial aesthetic;... Continue Reading
At a new mixed-use high-rise abutting the Williamsburg Bridge, two all-native landscape spaces invert the usual relationship of cultural and natural strata. At ground level, the project’s connection to its gritty urban neighborhood is maximized with a parking area that uses contextual materials and an opportunistic planting scheme to maintain a purposefully industrial aesthetic; while on the rooftop a windswept dunescape lifts residents out of the site’s contemporary urban reality, reconnecting them to a historic estuary landscape that has become occluded by the city below. Skillfully blending the found and the designed, these high-performance, low-budget landscapes pay homage to the unique alloy of social and physical spaces that come together in this neighborhood.