robert f. wagner, jr. park

Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park was the final and southernmost waterfront park to be developed in accordance with the 1978 Battery Park City Master Plan. OLIN was fueled by a desire to break from traditional garden design and make the park reflective of New York City at the end of the 20th century. The landscape utilizes traditional, familiar garden forms, but in a decidedly deconstructivist move, the forms are rearranged to suggest human uncertainty. The familiar garden forms were inspired by the Renaissance Revival plan of the Conservatory Gardens in Central Park and spilled out to the Hudson River, as if reaching for the Statue of Liberty. The statue is further acknowledged through the transformation of park pavilions into a partially buried colossus that seemingly gazes in the direction of Lady Liberty. In keeping with this image, materials in the landscape and architecture are reminiscent of Flavian brickwork as seen in the ruins of Ostia Antica and throughout Rome.

Location
New York, NY

Owner
Battery Park City Authority

Status
Completed 1996

Key Team Members
Laurie Olin, Partner-in-Charge
Lucinda Sanders, Senior Associate

Awards
2003, American Society of Landscape Architects, Design Merit Award
2003, American Institute of Architects, National Honor Award for Urban Design
1998, American Institute of Architects, Honor Award for Urban Design
1997, Philip N. Winslow Award for Design of Public Space