SCOUTING FRESHKILLS PARK

A new project we currently have on the horizon is a video for our friends over at the Freshkills Park Alliance. Having already done a bunch of work about and for the NYC Parks Department with such videos as our High Line Phase 2 piece for Architect Magazine and an award video honoring the former Commissioner Adrian Benepe, the folks at landfill-turned-park decided to reach out to us.

At first I, like I'm sure most of you who are reading this, had to spend a good bit of time attempting to comprehend exactly where this park was physically located along with its timeline for completion or even opening(s). I had heard of a wide variety of excited landscape design and urban chatter about this former landflll, which is said to have been viewable from outer space, that was now being serendipiously converted into New York City's biggest park since Central Park (3 times bigger). After our initial braindump meeting with the park's staff I spent a few weeks milling around the various materials and research that can be "dug" up on the park and it's history (recently released documentary cna be viewed here) spanning all the way back to the city-mover Robert Moses himself. Luckily, our pre-production research and script development coincided with the park's annual public opening in the form of a "Sneak Peek" which we went to for ourselves to see what the staff was so passionate about. 

What we found was an astonishingly dynamic and expansive area of beautiful rolling hills surrounding the Fresh Kills water system with industrial and natural features dotting the landscape. The day was chock full of activities such as free bike rentals, kite building/flying, kayaking, eating, exploring and more. It is a shame that this extremely unique park is only open one day a year while funding is still being lined up to open up the various sections in the decades ahead. The sheer size of the park and relatively unknown location in proximity to the masses of New Yorkers will prove to be big issues to explore as we move forward with a video and as the organization continues to expand the public's interest in this amazing asset and not to mention the all important coffers of funders' pockets.

9/11 Memorial Visit

My mother recently came to visit last week during here annual spring break pilgrimage from working for the public schools. She has been her at least a half dozen times and has done all the touristy things so I've finally backed off my traditional rapid-fire marathon tours in which we usually walk 6+ miles daily. Luckily this city is constantly changing and evolving, especially with the wealth of new public spaces opening under Bloomberg's administration.

So of course we found ourselves deep downtown, a place I rarely go, and remembered hearing all the buzz and about the crazy multi-hour lines from this past fall when the memorial opened. I quickly popped onto the 9/11 Memorial website, thanks to the signs everywhere, to find that we could "reserve" a spot in less than an hour. So I clicked away and we found ourselves whipping through a sea of crowd stanchions with tickets in hand toward the new plaza. Now, I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what parts were opened or exactly what we were going to see but was astonished to find ourselves standing in a massive plaza at the base of the new World Trade tower.

The most dramatic aspect of the plaza are the two recessed water fountains made in the footprints of the previous towers. Walking up to one of these is a very powerful experience due to their shear size and auditory overload with all that water sinking into the two tiered void. It's been over ten years since their collapse and having not really known New York prior to their fall, it felt quite intense to know I was standing at the base of such structures which I watched on a TV in Ohio. It must be a phenomenal experience for those who knew the space prior and to all those who knew those effected.

These photos, or any photos for that matter, just do not do it justice. So if you find yourself entertaining a guest any time soon, I highly recommend using it as an excuse to get your butt down to the Memorial and checking it out. In my opinion, these pools are up there with Lin's Vietnam Memorial for their quality of remembrance through landscape design. As for the buildings, the verdicts is still definitely out.