Ever since Little Island, designed by Heatherwick Studio, opened in the summer of 2021, I have meant to experience the ambitious public space for myself. For what had existed in my mind as surreal renderings I would occasionally come across online, visiting this space-age park has been on my New York must-see list for some time. Located just a few blocks West of Chelsea Market, Little Island has attracted hordes of tourists since opening and thus required timed entry tickets for the last few years. While visiting on a beautiful Spring Saturday, the crowds certainly hadn’t dwindled, which is a testament to how successful the design has served New York over the last three years.
While appearing as a square plan from an aerial perspective, the park is anything but. The structure comprises many individual concrete piers rising out of the Hudson River. The concrete piers flare outward into an interlocking network of Lilypad-like platforms. They are a clear homage to the unused and deteriorating wooden piers directly next to the site, which serves as home to a plethora of Hudson River plant and animal life. By varying the elevation and pitch of each capital platform atop the piers, the designer has created an undulating park experience with almost no flat area and no repeated experience.
Upon approach from the West Side Highway, the concrete platform’s rolling profile only gives sporadic glimpses of what’s happening inside. We’re not accustomed to seeing our built world so accurately and elegantly mimic the natural world, so the sight of these forms rising from the water completely surprises and delights. Once you enter beneath an arched berth in the structure, you realize what kind of vibrant experience awaits.
To navigate this rolling landscape, Heatherwick Studio laid out a meandering, intricate network of walking paths with frequent switchbacks, allowing visitors to slowly cover every inch of the park. This rapidly turning arrangement in circulation is a masterstroke of spatial experience. As you move about, the frequently winding walkways force you to move slowly and savor the natural setting, a serene feeling someone can be hard-pressed to find in New York City. The perspective of directed view is constantly changing while navigating the park; from looking out across the Hudson River to New Jersey, to down across the open green of sunbathers, to out over the expanse of Chelsea and downtown Manhattan. The view from every landing has been delicately composed. Little Island does so much with so little, providing varying experiences at every step.
While a few designated programmatic spaces exist, such as an amphitheater and children’s educational area, most of the park is dominated by this seemingly unintentional snaking path carving through lush plantings. The sheer density of greenery is a welcomed oasis to the area, with butterflies and birds setting up shop in the warmer seasons. To play off the lush environment, the design of materials has stuck to an almost entirely natural palette, including the aforementioned concrete piers and platforms, oxidized steel planters and guard rails, and wood slat bench seating throughout the grounds.
Looking back on early renderings, it is astounding how the design intent was maintained throughout the project lifespan into the fully realized space we see today. It is so often that hyper-realistic design images paint their subject in a glossy, unrealistic light, only to have the finished product barely resemble what the design team had set out to accomplish. From budget constraints to material availability, there are several reasons why projects often transform from conception to realization. Anything can be modeled and displayed as a theoretical project, but Little Island is a triumph in remaining steadfast and carrying out a vision.
Perhaps it’s the amorphic geometry that construction techniques rarely embrace, but the free-flowing forms have an otherworldly quality that captures the imagination. Seeing a real-world space utilizing imagery usually reserved for fairytales and video games conveys a sense of wonderment as if you don’t quite believe what you’re looking at. That child-like wonder and diversity of experiences packed into this little gem will have me returning for years to come.
