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PHOTO:
Riverbank State Park
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| Riverbank
State Park sits atop North River Wastetreatment Plant on the
Hudson River. |
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visitors to Riverbank State Park in Harlem never know they are standing
on the roof of a wastewater treatment plant. They cannot tell that the
trees that shade them are standing in just about four feet of soil, their
random pattern dictated by how much pressure the building below them could
hold.
Riverbank,
a 28-acre park between West 137th and 145th streets, was a compromise
between city officials who needed to provide clean water for New Yorkers
and local residents who found themselves with the city's only residential
wastewater treatment plant in their neighborhood. Opened May 1993, the
park sits on top of North River Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In the winter,
Riverbank shrinks by several inches. The park expands again during the
stifling heat of the summer, stretching further out into the skyline and
giving a few more inches to views of the Hudson River, which is 69 feet
below. The sprawling green park has expanding joints that allow it to
move with the seasons.
The only
park of its kind in the western hemisphere, Riverbank took and continues
to take special structural consideration. The Olympic-size swimming pool
- one of the only two in the entire city - and outdoor pool had to be
four-feet deep because of the weight restrictions, said Joseph Coppola,
a partner in Richard Dattner Architect P. C., who spent 11 years on the
project.
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PHOTO:
Riverbank State Park
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| An
Olympic-size pool was built only 4-feet deep to keep within
structural limits needed for a rooftop park. |
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Certain
patches of the grass are padded underneath with a special Styrofoam, extruded
polystyrene.
Buildings
that house the basketball courts and fitness rooms, the theatre and ice-skating
rink (used for roller skating in the summer) also had to be carefully
planned to avoid overburdening the treatment plant.
The track
that surrounds a soccer field has to be treated every year because of
bubbles caused by the expanding joints, which work in like "the scales
of an armadillo," Coppola said.
One mile
from Washington Heights in Harlem, Riverbank is "the only park of
its kind in the western hemisphere," said Park Director Vickie DiMartino.
"I think it's one of New York City's hidden treasures."
But if it
is hidden, many New Yorkers and tourists seem to find it every day-over
two million a year. School kids come to programs like swimming, art, ballet,
karate, ice skating. In the summer the softball and soccer fields, track,
basketball, handball and tennis courts fill with endless streams of people
waiting to play.
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PHOTO:
Riverbank State Park
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| A carousel
designed by a local artist and 37 children is the newest addition
to Riverbank. |
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The carousel,
created by local artist Milo Mottola and 37 children, is one of the most
popular attractions. The community garden was in such demand that Riverbank
doubled the plots from 30 to 60, said Elizabeth Brett, public relations
and development director for the park.
More than
smells from the plant, music now filters up to the park from the waterfront's
amphitheater. And a concrete jungle is not all that is left to city dwellers,
thanks to urban landscaping that changes rooftops into wide expanses of
green.
"You
don't even feel like you're in New York when you're here," Brett
said. "You don't know where you are, but it doesn't feel like the
city."
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