scape / landscapearchitecture dpc
GOWANUS LOWLANDSA BLUEPRINT FOR NEW YORK CITY’S NEXT GREAT PARK
IMAGE: Salt Lot and 6th St. Turning Basin
INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS ZONE
WASHINGTON PARK
UNION ST
PARK SLOPE
CARROLL ST
3RD ST
1ST ST
9TH ST
3RD AVE2ND AVE
4TH AVE
5TH AVE
G F R
4TH AVE
3RD AVE
GOWANUS EXPRESSWAY
ELEVATED SUBWAY TRACK
DOUGLASS ST
CARROLL GARDENS
BOERUM HILL
RED HOOK
WYCKOFF HOUSES
WARREN HOUSES
THOMAS GREEN PARK
CARROLL PARK
GOWANUS HOUSES
RED HOOK HOUSESRED HOOK REC CENTER
G
G
R
F
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Gowanus Lowlands envisions a network of parks and public spaces centered on the Gowanus Canal and connecting it to the surrounding watershed. The future of the Gowanus Canal is entering a critical phase, with the confluence of the Superfund cleanup, city land use studies and climate change likely to trigger significant shifts throughout the neighborhood. The Lowlands seeks to ensure the community has a key role in shaping a watershed that is accessible, active, and clean for all who live, work and play in Gowanus. At the heart of the Gowanus Lowlands vision is a clean and thriving waterway of aquatic habitat, community activity, and bustling industry.
The canal edge will rise and fall with sloping banks, raised lookout points, and forested seating areas. Woven through this wild urban landscape will be hives of activity - performance spaces, cafes, picnic areas, boathouses, playgrounds. A system of streets, paths and bridges woven together by a coastal planting palette, site specific interpretation and industrial materials will invite people to engage with the unique history and character of the Gowanus.
An adaptive, resilient local ecosystem will take shape throughout the watershed’s network of parks and forested corridors, leveraging the city’s investment in green and grey infrastructure - green roofs, detention tanks, mitigation basins, bioswales and water treatment parks. A working landscape emerges, one that enhances access to the canal while improving water quality, building habitat for avian and aquatic species, and creating landscapes that can adapt to rising sea levels along the canal’s banks.
GOWANUS LOWLANDS
A CLEANERURBAN
ECOSYSTEMGowanus was once a literal lowland – a productive tidal marshland with a deep floodplain, salt meadows and oysters the size of dinner plates. Leveraging the upcoming Superfund cleanup and DEP’s investment in green and grey infrastructure, the Lowlands includes watershed and site-scale strategies for a cleaner, more resilient urban ecosystem:
• Introducing stormwater management streets• Restoring salt marshes in turning basins• Building water storage and filtration gardens at
street ends• Incentivizing green roofs and constructed bird
habitat• Designing for floating and in-water aquatic habitat• Regenerating the urban forest• Daylighting historic creeks
BASEMENT CREEK
UNION ST
PARK SLOPE
CARROLL ST
3RD ST
1ST ST
3RD AVE
2ND AVE
RESIDENTIAL GREEN ROOFS
BASIN WETLAND RESTORATION
4TH AVE
3RD AVE
DOUGLASS ST
CARROLL GARDENS
BOERUM HILL
RED HOOK
5TH AVE
MIXED USE STORMWATER STREET
FLOATING HABITAT
DEP RETENTION TANK
DEP RETENTION TANK
INDUSTRIAL GREEN ROOFS
INDUSTRIAL STORMWATER STREET
CREEK DAYLIGHTING FLUSHING TUNNEL
4TH AVE URBAN FOREST CORRIDOR
3RD AVE URBAN FOREST CORRIDOR
SEWERSHED/WATERSHED BOUNDARY
GREEN ROOFS
SHORELINE RESTORATION
SEWER SHED BOUNDARY
PROPOSEDSTORM WATER STREET
SEWERSHED/WATERSHED BOUNDARY
PROPOSED STREET TREES
FLUSHING TUNNEL
FLOODING
A COMMUNITY CONNECTOR
The Lowlands connects people to the canal, and supports a historic, diverse and unique mixed-use neighborhood. Streets leading to the canal are developed with a clear identity structured around the role they play in the urban network, be it a commercial corridor, a functional industrial route, or a residential street linking parks to the canal. The Lowlands improves mobility, access and wayfinding through:
• Expanding the existing bicycle network• Connecting Brooklyn Greenway to the canal• Enhancing emerging commercial, mixed-use and
industrial corridors • Extending east-west streets to the canal edge • Introducing new bridges for pedestrians and
cyclists• Developing a signage and wayfinding strategy• Developing a network of site-specific art to
interpret the unique history and issues
UNION ST
PARK SLOPE
3RD ST
1ST ST
9TH ST
3RD AVE
2ND AVE
4TH AVE
9TH ST RECYCLING CORRIDOR
BROOKLYN GREENWAY
4TH AVE
3RD AVE
DOUGLASS ST
CARROLL GARDENS
BOERUM HILL
RED HOOK
CARROLL ST
5TH AVE
PLACES STUDY
INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS ZONE
2ND AVE INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR
5TH AVE COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR
COURT ST CORRIDOR
3RD STREET GOWANUS MIX
UNION STREET CORRIDOR
PROPOSED BIKE LANES
GREENWAY SPUR
LOWLANDS WAYFINDING
NEW BIKE AND PEDESTRIAN BRIDGES
4TH AVE COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR
MIXED COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL LAND USE
BIKE LANES
EXISTING
PROPOSED
BROOKLYN GREENWAY
PLACES STUDY
PROPOSEDWAYFINDING STATION
INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS ZONE
INDUSTRIAL LAND USE
ACTIVE INDUSTRY
VIBRANT COMMUNITIES
A NETWORKOF PARKS
Gowanus has a strong network of parks, but many are disconnected from the canal and require improvement and renovation. The Gowanus Lowlands stitches together parks and new open space improvements, creating a network of public spaces that center on the canal. This network hosts activities and programs to invite and engage the neighborhood. The park network is composed of:
• Existing parks• Greened corridors• Esplanades and supplemental public access areas
created through waterfront zoning• Streets ending at the canal• Sites over DEP stormwater detention tanks• Creek daylighting• Salt marsh restoration in turning basins and along
edges
WASHINGTON PARK
UNDER THE TRACKS/FRAN BRADY PARK
RESTORED TURNING BASIN
3RD AVE
4TH AVE
NEVINS ST
CARROLL GARDENS
PARK SLOPE
UNION ST
DOUGLASS ST
CARROLL ST
3RD ST
9TH ST
3RD AVE
2ND AVE
4TH AVE
CARROLL PARK
PROPOSED ESPLANADE
WYCKOFF HOUSES
EXISTING ESPLANADE
THOMAS GREENE PARK
GOWANUS HOUSES
STREET END
EXTENDED STREET END
SUPPLEMENTAL PUBLIC ACCESS
DEP RETENTION PARK
PROPOSED PARK CONNECTOR STREETS
PROPOSED ESPLANADE
PROPOSED PARK SPACE
NYCHAOPEN SPACE
EXISTING PARK SPACE
VOLUNTEER PLANTINGS
INNOVATIVE PARKS ALONG THE CANAL
A WILD URBANWATERWAY
A walk within the Lowlands immerses one in the powerful ecology of this tidal estuary. Streets dead-end at the canal, creating space for filtration gardens, get-downs, and boat launches. Street ends connect to a coordinated network of walking paths that slope up and down along the water’s edge. As the canal is remediated, edge designs adapt to address site-specific conditions and uses, including water access and floodability. Wild urban waterway experiences include:
• Stepped get-downs • Kayak and small boat access• Raised overlook platforms• Vegetated Banks• Stormwater management sites• Eco-education hubs• Aquatic restoration sites• In-water floating walkways
ACTIVE MARITIME USE
OVERLOOK
4TH AVE
NEVINS ST
CARROLL GARDENS
PARK SLOPE
UNION ST
DOUGLASS ST
CARROLL ST
3RD ST
9TH ST
3RD AVE
2ND AVE
4TH AVE
RED HOOK
PLATFORM STREET END
OVERLOOK STREET END
WATER STEPS STREET END
EDUCATION CENTER
DREDGERS KAYAK ACCESS
STORMWATER STREET END
WATER ACCESS STREET END
ECO-EDUCATION STREET END
GCC MAINTENANCE HUB
FLOATING WALKWAY
BOATHOUSE
OVERLOOK
PROPOSED STREET END TYPES:
WATER STEPS ECO. EDUCATION STORM WATERWATER ACCESSLOW PLATFORM
RECREATIONAL CANAL USE
GOWANUS-ADAPTED VEGETATION
A DYNAMIC CANAL EXPERIENCE
ENLARGED PARK STREET END STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AND FILTRATION STREET END
OVERLOOK PLATFORM STREET END KAYAK LAUNCH STREET END
STREET ENDS
SEATING TERRACES
FLOATING WETLANDS
FORESTED EDGE
WETLAND TERRACES
CROSS-CANAL VIEWSSUPPLEMENTAL PUBLIC ACCESS
RECREATIONAL CANAL USECONTINUOUS PROMENADE
WATER STEPS STREET END
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
EXTENDED STREET END
CANAL OVERLOOK
FLOATING WETLAND
PUBLIC ESPLANADE
STEPPED WATER ACCESS
BULKHEAD GARDENING
SCIENCE EDUCATION
GOWANUS ADAPTED PLANT PALETTE
COMMUNITY FACILITIES
For more information please visit: www.scapestudio.com and www.gowanuscanalconservancy.org