Heatherwick Studio, MNLA and Arup Collaborated to Bring Little Island to Life on the Hudson River

Little Island. New York, New York.

On May 21, 2021, as COVID restrictions were easing, New Yorkers were gifted with an innovative, new way to experience their city. Little Island, situated just off Manhattan’s westside, and part of the Hudson River Development, is a whimsical, 2.4- acre park that is free to the public. The project began to take shape in 2012, when The Hudson River Park Trust approached Barry Diller in hopes of partnering to develop a new Pier 55. Diller is said to have loved the idea and insisted that the project be “ambitious” and free to the public. Diller, along with his wife, Diane von Furstenberg, was the primary financier of the project through the Diller von Furstenberg Family Foundation. Diller reached out to London based architect, Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio, known for projects such as Cape Town’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Hudson Yard’s Vessel, Chelsea’s Lantern House and Beijing’s Fuson Center. Heatherwick’s brief was to design a public park and outdoor performance space, offshore to replace Pier 54, which was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Heatherwick was inspired by the hundreds of old wooden piles, scattered in the river, remnants of old piers. The remnants remain untouched, as they arepart of a vital ecosystem and breading ground for marine life. It’s said Heatherwick took design inspiration from the patterns created by the mosaics of ice forming on these piles when the river freezes. This design is sometimes described as “mushroom-like” or “tulip-like”. Heatherwick stated, “The idea evolved to take the new concrete piles needed to support the structure in the choppy Hudson River and continue them out of the water, extending skyward to raise up sections of green landscape. The individual piles come together to form the park’s unique typography.” Heatherwick designed a system of repeating tulip-topped piles, raised 15 to 62 feetabove the waterline. Heatherwick continued, “Each of them forms a generous planter at their top, every planter then connects in a tessellating platform of different heights to create a single manipulated piece of landscape resting on 132 pre-cast concrete pots.” The tulips are individually designed to hold a unique load capacity, containing soil, lawn, overlooks, pathways, plazas, trees and plants. The varying pile heights create the parks contours and are designed to allow sunlight to reach the marine habitat below.

Heatherwick Studio teamed with landscape architect, Signe Nielsen of MNLA, and Arup for structural,mechanical and civil engineering. Nielson was a joint venture partner on the team that prepared the comprehensive master plan design guidelines for the 550- acre Hudson River Park. In addition, she collaborated on the design of the High Line. A “Curbed” article, dated June 1, 2021, stated, “She (Nielsen) knows which trees and shrubs will tough out the wind, salt spray and dog urine.” The article also stated, “When Little Island feels like a strange and wondrous creature that alighted just offshore, that’s Heatherwick. When it feels like its tightly enmeshed with the city, that’s Nielson.” There are over 400 different species of indigenous trees, shrubs, grasses and vines suited to the harsh climate. The landscape is designed with the changing seasons in mind, and includes flowering trees and shrubs, fall foliage, evergreens, 66,000 bulbs and 114 trees- some will grow up to 60 feet tall. The plantings are arranged in specific color patterns, as well as to minimize erosion. Neilson stated she “wanted New Yorkers to feel delight and excitement around every turn from the moment they set foot here.”

Arup oversaw the installation of the pots which were manufactured in upstate New York by the Fort Miller Company. Each pot or “tulip” consists of 4-6 individual lightweight concrete sections called “petals”. The decision to use precast concrete as a material has made the structure more resistant to erosion and corrosion. Additionally, the offsite fabrication helped limit disruptions to the natural habitat- as well as lowering the anticipated costs and challenges involved with constructing cast-in-place concrete over a river. This decision was complicated by the fact that the design contained few repeating patterns. Through computer modeling, Arup and Heatherwick Studiodevised “a Cairo pentagram” pattern that allowed for invisible repetitions in the form. Per Arup project director, David Farnsworth, “We used more than a dozen different varieties of this basic pentagon. These are arranged around the perimeter in a repeating pattern along different slopes and in different directions so that they look distinctly different, but on the plan, all but a handful of the pots are the same.” Once fabricated by the Fort Miller Company, the petals were transported to Port of Coeymans on the Hudson River, near Albany. There they were assembled by Weeks Marine and put on barges for the 14 hour journey to New York City. There they were installed onto the piles using a 350- ton crane. The supports extend up to 200 feet into the riverbed, and each piling is 3 feet in diameter and can handle loads of 250-350 short tons. Heatherwick stated, “Typically, piers are composed of structural piles that go down into the riverbed with slabs that cover them to make a surface. However, we were inspired by these piles and the civil engineering required to build structures that are able to withstand extreme river conditions.”

The finished park has been has been warmly welcomed by the city. Architecture critic for the New York Times, Michael Kimmelman, wrote that, the “design concept is in the theatrical vein of 18th century English garden follies.” The park can accommodate 1,000 visitors simultaneously and is accessed via two bridges, connecting it to the city. Once on the island visitors can wander the 540 meters of pathways or take shortcuts in a manor that has been described as reminiscent of the board game “Chutes and Ladders”. Although free, certain times of day require timed tickets. Visitors are able to take in views of the city, dine from food carts, attend live performances, discover secret gardens and relax on the lawns. A main feature is the 687-seat amphitheater with a backdrop of the Hudson River. The $260 million project was largely funded by the Diller von Furstenberg family, to include programming and upkeep costs for twenty years, estimated to be an additional million dollars per year. Described by visitors as “Whimsical and Wonderful”, the park offers a refreshing new perspective from which to enjoy the city and has become a welcome venue for supporting New York City based artists.