Behind one of the more iconic symbols left standing on the shores of Queens lies the ever-expanding urban-scape and waterfront community of Long Island City. Facing to the East River away from Long Island City, and thus more well-known to Manhattanites than the residents in Queens, the Pepsi sign serves as an historic, yet contemporary marker that pays homage to a newly completed phase of Gantry Plaza State Park - Queen's West Stage 2 - signifying the areas transformation for a 'new generation' of urban dwellers.
Completed last summer, the park extends the greenway programming another 6 acres further north along the waterfront. Unfortunately the current maintenance - or lack thereof - does not reflect the park's more recent glossy marketing photos. Typical issues of landscape construction aside, there exist a plethora of exciting opportunities for a variety of programs throughout. The patterning and layout of materials appear to reflect Long Island City's reputation for 'getting places'. Circuitously organic circulation routes and the diversity of surface materials seem to recall the thousands of nomadic commuters and visitors who travel though it every day.
Shedding the industry of it's recent and historical past, Gantry Plaza State Park brings NYC one step closer to providing a continuous waterfront greenway system. Holding true to its reputation as a City that always does things "bigger", a large promenade, wooden pier with both formal and informal seating, and a large (future) children's play area the park delivers in its introduction of both hammocks and adirondack (lounge) chairs. Such features are a welcome addition to public space as an amenity that reflects a cultural and societal behaviour once relegated to the private space of one's backyard.
Although removed (I suspect) during the winter months it is likely that users will be vying for 'pole position' during the warmer climes of summer. Inserted within a large, continuous swath of seaside/tidal marsh grasses are bright red adirondack chairs that offer some privacy in a largely open and voyeuristic landscape. Although a restrained use of colour, their objecthood in relation to the surroundings ensures their place not as architectural objects but objects of space - mediating a dialogue between cultures of both gastronomic and landscape consumption. A perforation in the hard edge of the East River's waterfront reveals a constructed wetland that creates a threshold and moment of pause along the promenade that appears to address treatment of both the site's surface drainage as well as that of the East River. At the same time, there is certainty of added habitat value restored to this once industrial waterfront.
While it's museums, mix of existing and gentrifying neighbourhoods, and overall quality of life - accompanied by it's accessibility to and from the City proper - draw residents from near and far. The streets appear oversized and largely absent of store-front (human) activity. This is certainly the result of a current lack of services within the immediate environs of LIC's glossy new residences. A neighbourhood ahead of its time in many regards, it seems to give priority to a healthy investment in public open space. Much like a soft drink can re-envision itself and promise a brighter future with minimalist design, so too can a City rewrite its history in a post-industrial landscape that responds and adapts to the needs of its growing citizenry. Arguably, Gantry Plaza State Park continues to 'Hit the Spot'.
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