Pier 55 is a New Park and Performance Space in the Hudson River

Heatherwick Studio is collaborating with the landscape architect Mathews Nielsen to design Pier 55, a new 2.4 acre public park and performance space in the Hudson River. Pier 55 will be a new pier, located between the pile fields of Piers 54 and 56. Conceived as a leaf floating in the water, the new pier contains unexpected topography that serves to create distinctive performance venues, magnificent landscape spaces and resilience against climate change.

Inspired by the diverse landscape of Acadia, the four lifted corners of the pier each manifest a landscape typology derived from their solar aspect, slope and relationship to paths and perfor-mance venues. The lower lawn bowl forms a sweep that unifies the distinctive landscape destina-tions. A variety of paths and stairs create circuits throughout the pier to maximize engagement and convenience for event-goers. The undulating topography creates captivating spaces that offer a unique combination of physical, visual and cultural experiences found nowhere else in New York.

The Pier 55 will be a place of discovery, where visitors can wander and wonder, finding something new around every corner: places to lounge, eat lunch, or just lie in the grass. The park’s undulating topography – replete with lush lawns and pathways – will offer sweeping views of the Manhattan and northern New Jersey skylines for all park-goers and provide a natural viewing area for the new performance space, which will be designed to immediately serve as one of New York City’s premier venues for music, dance, theatre and public art, along with community events.

The project is largely funded through a private donation of the Diller-Von-Furstenberg Foundation who will hold a 20-year lease on the pier from Hudson River Park Trust. The robust performance and events programs are directed by some of the leading artistic directors in theater, film and music who will commission creative works for the new pier. Construction of the 2.7-acre pier is expected to commence in 2016.

Group Leader: Mat Cash
Project Leader: Neil Hubbard, Paul Westwood
Team: Simona Auteri, Jorge Xavier Méndez-Cáceres, John Cruwys, Michal Gryko, Ben Holmes, Stepan Martinovsky, Simon Ng, Wojtek Nowak, Giovanni Parodi, Enrique Pujana, Akari Takebayashi, Ondrej Tichý, Charles Wu, Meera Yadave
Makers: Jordan Bailiff, Einar Blixhavn, Mark Burrows, Darragh Casey, Alex Flood, Hayley Henry, Ben Jacobs, Hannah Parker, Luke Plumbley, Jeff Powers, Ahira Sanjeet, Antoine van Erp

Thank you for reading this article!