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

F

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