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Skate Park

Skate Park

Pier 62 Skate Park
Hudson River Park at West 22nd Street
Tel: 212-627-2020
Designer: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and SITE Design Group

A new skatable landscape has opened at Chelsea Cove, the latest section of New York’s expanding West Side greenway. Replacing an existing skate facility on Pier 62, the 15,000-square-foot skate park is the first of its kind to be built on a pier. To reduce the park’s load while achieving its 10-foot depth, blocks of structural EPS foam were used as a base, sanded on site, and topped with reinforced concrete and shotcrete. The clover-shaped bowl is accompanied by street elements circling the periphery, including ledges, stairs, and rails. “We wanted to provide a different style of skate experience,” said Brian Moore, president of SITE Design Group, “something more organic, transitional, and challenging.” The Solana Beach, CA–based firm worked with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) to integrate the facility with the rest of the roughly eight-acre park. “Our main vision was to create not only a park for people moving along the bikeway, but primarily for the community,” said MVVA senior associate Peter Arato. To this end, designers blurred the division between upland and pier, while adding a mix of uses, including a green roof–topped carousel.
 


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