Archinect - News2024-05-18T23:37:21-04:00https://archinect.com/news/article/150264596/heatherwick-s-260-million-elevated-river-park-little-island-opens-in-nyc
Heatherwick's $260 million elevated river park 'Little Island' opens in NYC Alexander Walter2021-05-20T14:01:00-04:00>2024-03-15T01:45:58-04:00
<img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/06/066bde249d0f503cae18bb5b182d56b4.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Rising from the Hudson River, Little Island preens atop a bouquet of tulip-shaped columns, begging to be posted on Instagram. Outside, it’s eye candy. Inside, a charmer, with killer views.</p></em><br /><br /><p><em>NYT</em> critic <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/15010/michael-kimmelman" target="_blank">Michael Kimmelman</a> reviews the anticipated elevated river park Little Island (formerly known as <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/531794/pier-55" target="_blank">Pier 55</a>) which opens on Manhattan's Hudson River bank this week. <br></p>
<p>Designed by <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150035236/aaaand-it-s-back-heatherwick-s-pier-55-happening-after-all" target="_blank">Thomas Heatherwick</a> and Signe Nielsen of NY-based landscape architecture firm <a href="https://archinect.com/firms/cover/92921077/mathews-nielsen-landscape-architects-p-c" target="_blank">MNLA</a>, the $260 million parcel resting on a forest of tulip-shaped concrete pillars had a rocky start and was <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150028739/another-heatherwick-project-dead-this-time-new-york-s-pier-55" target="_blank">pronounced dead</a> at some point during years of legal controversy. The now completed attraction impresses with urban green space, river vistas, several new event venues and <a href="https://littleisland.org/events-in-the-amph/" target="_blank">summer programming</a> atop an engineering feat realized by <a href="https://archinect.com/aruparchitects" target="_blank">Arup</a>.<br></p>
<figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/9c/9cd3dbe023c999c1b09a84e151bfa5c1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/9c/9cd3dbe023c999c1b09a84e151bfa5c1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Photo: Michael Grimm.</figcaption></figure><p>"I’ve become a Heatherwick skeptic lately, but his contribution here is in the theatrical vein of 18th century English garden follies," Kimmelman writes, adding, "not least because Little Island can remind you more of a private estate than a city park. It’s clearly going to cost a king’s ransom to maintain, a burden the <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/528495/hudson-river-park-trust" target="_blank">Hudson River Park Trust</a> (which is to say the public...</p>