Gowanus Canal Sponge Park

This slideshow is part of: Susannah Drake

Working closely with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, local residents, government agencies, and elected officials, dlandstudio created preliminary designs for a new kind of public open space, a Sponge Park™. The design equally values the aesthetic, programmatic, and productive importance of treating contaminated water flowing into the Canal.

The park is designed as a working landscape; the system improves the environment of the canal over time. This innovative plan proposes strategies to divert excess storm water runoff for use in the public park along the canal reducing the input of rain water into the sewer system. The plants included in dlandstudio’s design draw heavy metals and biological toxins out of contaminated water. In addition, floating remediation wetlands incorporate a mixture of aquatic organisms that absorb or break down organic toxins, heavy metals, and biological contaminants from sewage.

The potential for universal implementation of the Sponge Park™ system to other cities for urban water management is one of its principal strengths. The first street end park within the Sponge Park™ system will be completed by 2012 through funding from a U.S. EPA grant being administered by the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission. In addition to this pilot park, dlandstudio was recently awarded a NYCDEP grant to build a Sponge Park™ in the Flushing Bay Watershed in Flushing, Queens.

AIA Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design, 2011

ASLA, National Professional Honor Award, 2010

BSA, Award for Urban Regeneration 2009

Chicago Athenaeum, American Architecture Award 2009

ASLA New York Chapter, Unbuilt Works Award 2008

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