Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park
Site Context
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park occupies a unique site, characterized by its relatively small area located at the center of colossal surroundings. This spectacular site is dedicated to public recreation. The main function of this public place — and the reason for its existence — is the privileged viewing of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor. Two points, one at the center of the Statue of Liberty’s base and a second at the intersection of two rectilinear coastal edges at the site's tip, determine a line that becomes the park’s geometric and structuring axis.
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Client: Battery Park City Authority
Location: New York, NY
Year: 1992-1996
Status: Built
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Honor Award for Urban Design | AIA National | 1998
Award for Design | AIA New England | 1998
Brick in Architecture Award | AIA/BIA | 1997
Philip N. Winslow Award for Design of Public Space | The Parks Council of New York | 1996
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Wach, Audrey. "Architects aren't Happy with Plans to Remodel this Manhattan Park." Architect's Newspaper. May 16, 2017.
Brown, Lance; Dixon, David; Gillham, Oliver. "Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park" Urban Design for an Urban Century, pp. 227-228: 2009.
Pollak, Linda and Anita Berrizbeitia. “Inside/Outside: Between Architecture and Landscape.” Rockport Publishers, 2000.
Bercah, Paolo and Tito Canella. "Machado, Silvetti and the Battery." Zodiac 20, June 1999: pp. 64-93.
Broto, Carles. “Urbanism.” LINKS International, Barcelona, 1998, pp. 178-187.
Maynard, Michael. "A Park with a View." Landscape Architecture, January 1997, pp. 26-31.
Pearson, Clifford. "Wagner Park." Architectural Record, February 1997: pp. 64-69.
Goldberger, Paul. "A Small Park Proves That Size Isn't Everything." The New York Times, Arts & Leisure Section, Sunday, November 24, 1996: p. 46.
Dixon, John Morris. "Process: View Point." Progressive Architecture, August 1995: pp. 90-97.
Hays, K. Michael. "Un parcheggio, una casa, un monumento di Machado & Silvetti." Casabella, November 1993: pp. 54-67, 70-71.
Muschamp, Herbert. "Sprucing Up the Site of a Collective National Drama." The New York Times, January 17, 1993: p. 32.
The Component Ensemble
The design of the park comprises three main components: a pair of allées that brings pedestrians towards the main park entrance, extending the sidewalks of Battery Place coming from the north and of Battery Park from the south; a pair of pavilions connected by a bridge constituting the main building; and a lawn terrace framed by continuous paths and benches. This "Y" shaped architectural ensemble is the backbone of the park, resting in gardens and fields of grass that connect to the Battery Park City Esplanade and to Battery Park.
Building Materiality & Design
The building is conceived as a large, over-scaled, massive masonry wall split in the center, framing the view to the Statue. This wall appears as a remnant or an exposed foundation of a colossal structure, its "crumbling" towards the city alluding to a ruinous condition. This "lithic" formation is used to develop a pair of large public steps that seemingly prolong the allées and bring the public up to a balcony overlooking the lawn and harbor. On the wall’s surfaces, a variety of brick patterns are displayed following a precise figurative symbolic strategy.
Park’s Connection to New York Landmarks
The upper level, eighteen feet above the ground, is the truly significant public situation on the park, since the ground level houses restrooms, a café, and maintenance spaces. This pair of balconies — furnished with tall-backed wooden benches and portable tables and chairs — is the ideal ground for contemplation, lunching, and general relaxation. The character of each balcony is quite different from the other: the northern balcony offers a view of the river framed by a large arch, while on the south, the experience of the view is more open and unprotected. From the center of the bridge connecting these two, the viewer's direct relation to the Statue of Liberty is "face to face."
Principals Rodolfo Machado & Jorge Silvetti on site.
"What is most important is that every aspect of this design emerges from the realities of the park's surroundings—the waterfront, the Statue of Liberty, the rest of Battery Park City and lower Manhattan—and connects to the imperatives of human use."
- Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic, New York Times
Related Media
Wagner Park, From Concept to Construction
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