An entirely new public park is coming soon to the Brooklyn waterfront. Landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, the team behind the world-famous High Line, has designed a quarter-mile green space to accompany SHoP Architects’ Domino Sugar Refinery site redevelopment.
Image by mir via designboom
Two Trees, the developer heading up the 11-acre, mixed-use project, announced that Domino Park will open in June 2018 before the adjacent buildings are complete. The six-acre park will bring much-needed green space along the East River waterfront in the northern Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. The design will create a new esplanade and include sports fields, lawns for relaxation and recreations, ample seating and a children’s play area.
Image by mir via designboom
In keeping with the neighborhood’s industrial tone, the park will feature old elements from the original sugar refinery built in the 1880s. 21 columns from the Raw Sugar Warehouse and approximately 585 linear feet of crane tracks will be preserved and incorporated into the park’s design. Over 30 artifacts from the facility will also be included, such as the rusted, 36-feet-tall cylindrical tanks that collected syrup as part of the sugar refining process.
Image by mir via designboom
A five-block-long elevated “Artifact Walk” will run along the footprint of the original storage warehouse as a nod to the site’s rich history. Large pieces of former factory machinery will be set throughout the park as well including two, 80-foot-tall cranes.
Image by SHoP via designboom
These industrial elements will complement the stand-alone Domino Sugar refinery building that is under restoration by preservation experts Beyer Blinder Belle. Once complete, the landmark building will be a 380,000-square-foot office campus. SHoP Architects, the team collaborating with Field Operations on the parkland, is designing the four adjacent residential buildings.
