The Battery Bosque

New York, NY | 2005 | 4 acres | $9.2 M

Visited by millions of visitors each year, the Battery Bosque was the first New York City public park to introduce a horticultural landscape without fences or an admission fee.  The project transformed a nondescript lot at the foot of New York City into an active urban park whose coordinated program and design interventions have continued to evolve over twenty years with each phase expanding the park’s functionality, ecology and constituency. Nestled among a grove of 140 mature London plane trees, the Bosque features 34,000 perennial plants and 70,000 bulbs, in addition to 1,500 linear feet of serpentine benches, two distinctively designed food kiosks, and a 60-foot-wide spiral fountain.

Bronze “firefly” bollards, designed by Linnaea Tillett, illuminate a series of garden “rooms” joined by meandering, soft-surface pathways. Tucked among the tall native grasses and lush perennials, they provide a sense of safety and delight for evening strolls. The slatted wood kiosks are lit like lanterns in the landscape, providing soft focal glow while primary pathways are lit by classic post-top lanterns.

 

CLIENT
NYC Parks and Recreation
The Battery Conservancy

TEAM
Piet Oudolf, garden designer
Starr Whitehouse and Saratoga Associates, landscape architects
Weisz + Yoes, architects

RECOGNITION
2009 Award of Excellence, AIA New York State
2008 Platinum International Design Award, IDA
2006 Honor Award for Landscape Architectural Design, NY Chapter ASLA
2006 “Excellence on the Waterfront,” Waterfront Center Top Honor Award

 

Photography: Courtesy of Amy Barkow and WXY (cover photo)