New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion

The New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion, designed by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos of UNStudio, with the architect of record being Handel Architects of New York, is a gift from the Netherlands to New York City in honor of the 400th Anniversary in 2009 of Henry Hudson’s arrival in New York Harbor. It was completed in 2011.[1]

New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion at the north end of Peter Minuit Plaza in South Ferry

The pavilion and plein (Dutch for "plaza") is located in Peter Minuit Plaza on State Street at the intersection of Whitehall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.

Overview

The $2.4 million 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) pavilion's groundbreaking took place on September 9, 2009, and it was officially opened to the public on May 12, 2011. The pinwheel-shaped pavilion is home to a café and also acts as an interactive information center. The surrounding plaza is meant to be a space for both scheduled and spontaneous activities. The Pavilion is positioned in a heavy traffic area just a few feet north of the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal and next to the South Ferry – Whitehall Street (New York City Subway) making this a busy intersection that is used by approximately 70,000 residents and visitors daily.

History

The New Amsterdam Pavilion is an addition to the ever changing downtown Manhattan area that was once dominated by the shipping industry. Over time these businesses moved to Brooklyn and New Jersey making room for other commercial business and residential buildings in the area. This resulted in increased population density of the downtown area and the need for redevelopment. These efforts to redevelop the area are ongoing with the Battery Conservancy’s need to redevelop Battery Park. The realization of the New Amsterdam Pavilion was made possible by initiatives undertaken by the Battery Conservancy in 1952 when they removed a section of Battery Park’s original plan to make room for a larger South Ferry Terminal. This paved the way for the creation of Peter Minuit Plaza, a plaza named after the Dutch merchant, representative of the Dutch East India Company, who is known for brokering the deal between the Dutch and the Lenape Indians to share the island.

When Henry Hudson first arrived on the island in 1609 it was named Manna-Hata by Native Americans and was soon established as a desirable location for the new Dutch settlement. The first Dutch settlers arrived in 1626 and renamed it New Amsterdam. The Pavilion is geographically located at the mouth of the Hudson River marking the downtown area where New York City started its development and is placed on the plaza named after the famed Dutch merchant making the location of the New Amsterdam Pavilion ideal.

Site and context

Its location on the mouth of the Hudson River, where Henry Hudson found a desirable location for the new Dutch settlement, and on Peter Minuit Plaza, named after the Dutch merchant who negotiated the deal with the Lenape, makes the site historically appropriate. As the site was once part of Battery Park and on the southern tip of the island, the site is open to light and air without the feeling of oppression by the surrounding skyscrapers. The size of the triangular site is approximately 125’x145’x160’ (38.1m x 44,2m x 48.8m). This location offers high pedestrian traffic due to the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, just a few feet away from the Pavilion, as well as the South Ferry Subway station that become essential to the success of this public building. Contextually, the building looks very different from any of the surrounding structures.

Form and use

The Pavilion's form is based on a pinwheel plan spreading the building's program away from its center while truly mimicking a pinwheel with equally sweeping curvilinear forms. Programmatically, the center of the building houses more permanent and private functions and the tips are usually occupied by concession stands and the information booth which includes an interactive projection. Occasionally these spaces become home to temporary art installations and exhibits. The building's form divides the plaza into four public outdoor spaces for a various functions and events and breaks up the heavily trafficked area with its befitting dynamic shape.

Construction

Materiality of the Pavilion was kept simple with the use of glass, wood and steel. The Pavilion's complex form is made up of wood ribs and a steel frame. The envelope is made up of plywood and polyurea coating. With only a nine-month period to complete the project the Pavilion was prefabricated in Virginia and hauled to and pieced together on site to speed up the process. Glass allows views of the interior spaces providing glimpses of current installations and access to the Pavilion's concession stands and information booth. Another notable part of the design is the LED lighting of the Pavilion. Every night at midnight the Pavilion exhibits an array of different colors as a tribute to Peter Minuit whose name translates to “midnight” form French.

Sustainable design

The building's design takes into account the need to passively ventilate the space. The form of the building and its location in open space makes it easy to take advantage of cross ventilation that is achieved through shading fins that allow hot air to escape while protecting against the rain and reducing the need for active heating and air conditioning systems (HVAC). The building's structure utilizes a low maintenance steel that is fully concealed within the building's shell as are all of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. The Pavilion was pre-fabricated and hauled onto the site where it was pieced together along with its steel structure that was created through a file to factory process. Despite the attempt at sustainability of this structure the costs are considerable and some of the materials used are questionable. The carbon footprint of some of the materials such as polyuria (commonly used in the making of spandex) and corian (made up of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate) used in the building's interior are questionable in regards to sustainability.

References

Notes

  1. Hill, John (2011) Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture. New York: Norton. p.20. ISBN 978-0-393-73326-6

Sources

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