SPILLS
architecture, new york
Historically the Gowanus Canal has been one of the most important industrial waterway connections in the new york city area. Prior to the waterfront industrial boom the Gowanus area was a farmland and natural estuary, but over the years the thriving local development and industry has transformed it into one of the most polluted sites in the new york region, thus earning its moniker the 'gaseous district'.
'The spills' design proposal provides a vibrant and reinvigorating natural connection, congruously with the various remediation and green development plans, in the Gowanus area and to the surrounding neighborhoods by celebrating the industrial landscape. The design achieves this by providing a true destination for local residents and tourists to visit and engage in the various social activities provided by the floating barges on the canal or at its shoreline. The activities may include anything from a swim in a floating pool, a leisure walk through a botanical garden, enjoying an outdoor public performance, to bringing your favorite pet to the dog run. The amorphous shapes of the barges recall the polluted history of the canal as they 'spill' out from the street ends into the water. The use of locally recycled materials, such as oil or waste metal drums for the main assembly of the barges and mats made from recycled tires rubber (similar as used on children’s playgrounds) for the pedestrian paths, further reinforce the connection to the area's industrial history. In essence the new nature of the canal becomes industrial. By enabling mobility to the activity barges not only a new physical connection is possible between the still predominantly industrial eastern and the mostly residential western edges of the canal, but the barges can combine to create an altogether different dynamic phenomenon.
