Park and Public Space Master Plan | Governors Island Blog

“Hammock Grove Here We Come”

Posted on July 10, 2012 by William

Post-it(R) notes demanding more hammocks

After stopping by our exhibit on the plans for the island, visitors have left comments asking for more hammocks.

If you haven’t stopped by our exhibit on the new Park and Public Space Master Plan in building 110, you really should. Every Monday, I get to read the comments visitors have left on Post-it(R) notes all over the wall. Some people have written how excited they about the plan or what a great trip to the island they had. Others have offered advice about what they would like to see in the park. I recently noticed a few that asked for more hammocks and thought it would be a great time to talk about Hammock Grove, considering its construction has just begun.

While we currently have some hammocks at Picnic Point, there are not enough to satisfy all the demand. That’s why we are thrilled that Hammock Grove is already being built. Part of Phase 1 of our park plan, Hammock Grove, as the name suggests, will be a heavily wooded area south of Liggett Plaza filled with hammocks. Crews are already crafting the surface on top of which Hammock Grove will grow. Fill is being brought onto the island by barge and then placed into dump trucks (below) that weigh 50 tons when full. Afterwards, bulldozers and steamrollers smooth the surface. A cool fact I learned is that the bulldozers have GPS nodes on top of their blades which allows a computer to shape the surface to exact specifications.

Photos really cannot express how impressive it is to be standing on this huge undulating expanse. Even more amazing to me, is how fast it is rising.

A truck bringing fill to the future site of Hammock Grove.

When Hammock grove is complete, 1,500 new trees from 55 different species will have been planted. In their shade, visitors to the island will be able to sit and read a book or take a nap on the new hammocks. These seven acres will include nut producing trees as an homage to the original name of Governors Island, Nooten Eylandt (Nut Island). Though we are not yet at the point of adding trees, we will keep you updated as work on Hammock Grove and the rest of the island continues.

A rendering of the future Hammock Grove designed by the landscape architecture firm, West 8.

For more information about the plans for the future of Governors Island, please visit our website.

Filed under: Construction, Park and Public Space Master Plan | Leave a Comment »

Water, Water, Every Where, Soon a Drop to Drink

Posted on July 5, 2012 by William

Governors Island sits in one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world, here in New York Harbor. The surrounding waterways provide the island with its spectacular views, and the separation caused by the water gives Governors Island its unique character, distinct from the rest of the city. However, those of you who have visited here know that despite being surrounded by water, the island is without a source of clean drinking water. (For those planning a visit, we do have bottled water for sale)

Construction on the southern half of the island

As part of Phase 1 of our Park and Public Space Master Plan, we are going to change that! The installation of pipes that will carry potable water is one of the many infrastructure projects in Phase 1. Others include repairing the seawall and upgrading Soissons Landing. While the new park is a very exciting aspect of Phase 1, these back of house improvements are equally important to the future of Governors Island.

To see the entire plan, visit www.govislandpark.com.

Filed under: Construction, Park and Public Space Master Plan | Tagged: governors island, Infrastructure, Water | 1 Comment »

Vote On What You Would Like to See on the Gantries!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Elizabeth

Here is the view of the front of the gantries. What should be on the back?

A few years ago, we held a contest on our blog to name the Island’s newest public space. And after we found a lovable cat on the Island, we asked you for suggestions of what to name her. Picnic Point is now one of the Island’s most popular spaces and Molly Brown is one of NYC’s most popular cats.

So, we wanted to ask for your ideas again.

The West 8 design team is hard at work completing the design of the Island’s new park and public spaces. Construction is already underway to create these new areas that will open in 2013.

As a part of making Soissons Landing a new, welcoming gateway to the Island, the Trust for Governors Island will be re-painting the gantries, and adding the words “GOVERNORS ISLAND” in big, bold letters.

Now we need your help to figure out what to put on the back of the gantries, which visitors will see as they head to the ferry to go back to Manhattan.

Current view of the back of the gantries.

Give us your ideas! Let us know what your favorite choice is from those below or let us know something we haven’t thought of yet.

a) MANHATTAN ISLAND

b) GOOD BYE!

c) *Blank*

d) Other: ______________________________

We will post an update in a few days with the public’s ideas and votes.

Vote now and help shape the future park and public spaces on the Island!

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan | Tagged: gantries, Soissons Landing | 23 Comments »

Help design new play experiences for Governors Island at the OHNY Weekend Family Festival

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Ellen

Though the crowd on the swings at Picnic Point often suggests otherwise, we know that play on Governors Island is NOT just for grown ups! As part of Governors Island Park and Public Space project, West 8 is designing new play experiences for kids and we want to make sure they are as fun as can be. So bring your kids to the Open House New York Weekend Family Festival at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place in Manhattan) this Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-4pm for some hands-on park design activities with West 8 and The Trust for Governors Island.

The event is organized by OHNY and the Center for Architecture Foundation. Other participating organizations this year are Architots, the Center for Architecture, Eldridge Street Synagogue, Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, Governors Island, Isabel Hill (childrens book author), The Noble Maritime Collection, No Longer Empty (with paperJam), OHNY, Public Workshop and RoboFun. We hope to see you there!

Ringing the bell on the buoy is fun, but the new park and public spaces will feature even more exciting experiences for kids!

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan, Upcoming Events | 1 Comment »

Governors Island Park and Public Space Phase 1 Rendered in . . .Cake

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Ellen

People have said a lot of nice things about West 8′s plan for Governors Island’s parks and public spaces, but “MMMMM, chocolatey!” was never one of them. Until now. For thier summer staff shindig, a friend of West 8 made a special Governors-Island-Park-and-Public-Space-Phase-1-shaped cake. Since we know those of you who think Governors Island totally looks like an ice cream cone, will ask . . . no, it is not an ice cream cake. But we’re pretty sure this model made out of chocolate stout cake by Wicked Sweets tastes better than the cardboard one in West 8′s office.

: This is what Governors Island will look like when we open for the season in 2014. For more information about the plan, click on this image or visit http://www.govislandpark.com

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan, What's New? | 2 Comments »

When in Rome . . .

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Ellen

West 8's iconic wooden bicycle hanging out at the Maxxi, the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome. The bike was designed by West 8 during the Governors Island Park and Public Space design competition.

News from West 8, designers of the new parks and public space here on Governors Island:

On May 20, the West 8 installation ‘Il Paradiso Nascosto’ (The Stolen Paradise) for the MAXXI Museum’s exhibition series Nature was opened to the public. The exhibition features an installation of transparent biopolymer tree silhouettes, whose light diffusion, subtle shadows, layered stratification and delicate movement creates a fantastical atmosphere. It is a light, sensuous installation whose counterpart, in the form of 21 cor-ten steel tree stump silhouettes, is found in the museum courtyard. The installation is accompanied by seven of West 8’s projects which share the same spirit of poetic narrative as a dialogue between the artificial and the natural: Liedsche Rijn park, the Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier, the Bridges in Borneo-Sporenburg, the Botanic Bridge in Gwangju, as well as the more recent Governors Island Park in New York, Miami Beach SoundScape / Lincoln Park, and the Madrid RIO urban plan.

While the iconic Governors Island bicycle may or may not take this exact form, the Park and Public Space Master Plan preserves the vision of free iconic bicycles and movable furniture for all. To learn more about plans for the park and public spaces on Governors Island, and give us your thoughts, visit www.govislandpark.com.

Filed under: Bikes, Park and Public Space Master Plan | Tagged: flying wooden bicycles | Leave a Comment »

On the Boards: Schematic Design

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Ellen

If you’re curious about what West 8 and the rest of the design team has been up to since we released the Park and Public Space Master Plan, we just posted some progress boards from a recent presentation up on the “Get Involved” section of our govisland.com site. That page also has links to recent presentations we’ve made to Community Board 1 and our neighbors at Community Boards 2 and 6 in Brooklyn. The boards show some of the many details that West 8 refined in Schematic Design. As always, we invite you to use the comments window to tell us what you think!

The Master Plan rendering of Hammock Grove showed us what the park might look like in the future. In Schematic Design, West 8 established a process for getting to that stage of growth and determined just when the trees would be big enough to hang hammocks.

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan | 3 Comments »

Park and Public Space Plan Update with Community Board 6

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Ellen

Slide from Community Board presentation. Click image for link to full presentation.

Tonight, we’re checking in across the Buttermilk Channel at Community Board 6 to update them on the status of the Park and Public Space project. Trust staff and members of the West 8 Design team meet periodically with our neighbors in Brooklyn Community Boards 2 and 6, and Manhattan Community Board 1. We post presentations from each meeting on our main website the next day.

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan | 2 Comments »

Post It!

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Elizabeth

Over the past few summers, visitors have been telling us what they think of the park and public space design and what they want to see in these future spaces.

When looking through The New York Times the other day, I came across an ad for the Museum of Modern Art. The ad shows more than a dozen notes from MoMA visitors that say what they did on their visit to the museum.

The creativity that the visitors put into their drawings and thoughts reminded us of the wonderful Post-It™ notes that were left behind by our visitors over the past few years. We collected visitor feedback to get information about what Governors Island visitors thought of the Park and Public Space Master Plan, and what they wanted to see in the final design.

Some creative Post-It™ notes from visitors are below:

The new public spaces will have a diverse array of trees and plantings that will attract birds

This visitor was likely inspired by the swings for all ages that we currently have at Picnic Point

This visitor captured the great views of Lower Manhattan as seen from the promenade.

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan | Tagged: MoMA, Post It Notes | Leave a Comment »

Not Afraid of the Dark

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Ellen

"How many places in NYC can you see that big sky?"

Jamie Maslyn Larson from West 8 just sent us this amazing photo of last night’s sunset taken on her journey to the Island. She and other folks from the design team were out here to study the Island at nighttime. They gathered lots of useful data to inform the lighting strategy and design of the future park and public spaces. No reports of ghosts or zombies though. Darn.

Filed under: Park and Public Space Master Plan | Tagged: dark, ghosts, zombies | 2 Comments »

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