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To honor the
several suspension bridges linking Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the
world-reknowned Brooklyn Bridge, Pier 13 has been reconceived as a
majestic suspension bridge form with a 40’ x 40’ structure at the pier’s
midpoint, the “Tower Pavilion”. In response to Lower Manhattan’s
burgeoning residential population, there is a floating dock on the south
side of the pier for small-boat tie-ups. The floating dock, rising and
falling with the tides, is accessed by twin ramps from the Tower
Pavilion. Inspired by the twin gothic archways of the Brooklyn Bridge,
the 80’-high Pavilion has double pointed-arch openings on each of its
four sides, and is surmounted by a 60º pitched roof. The towers
will be surfaced in striated metal to recall the masonry pylons of the
real bridge. There are four primary cables, 4” in diameter, which are
embedded in concrete anchors at each end of the pier. About one
hundred and sixty ½”-diameter vertical hangers and diagonal stiffeners
will stabilize the structure.
Rivers Alive! has
both “wet” and “dry” boardwalks with an aquarium of local fish and
marine life on a 500’-long pier. Its 100’-diameter circular
“high-tech” island has a 100’ sculpture soaring above. The “wet”
boardwalk is designed with “wave baffles” to control the East
River’s turbulence. Two “high-tech” systems on the island, a large
screen video and a network of touch-screen computers, have been
designed to withstand the waterfront exposure. The compass-rose
paving and sculpture “Ascending Arcs” will be oriented to magnetic
north, to underscore the maritime history of the City.
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