The new ResilienCity Park, designed by OLIN, will be the largest public park in the city of Hoboken.
It takes only an inch or so of rain for Hoboken to flood, sending outfall to the Hudson River. The city is therefore investing in citywide resiliency infrastructure, including the new park, which is designed to hold one million gallons of rainwater in detention tanks below ground. Aboveground, the park will provide a new community destination. Our park pavilion anchors the terrace at the park’s highest point, offering panoramic views of the neighborhood and Palisades Park beyond.
Designed as an armature for park life, an oversized canopy shelters two small volumes below, creating a protected outdoor zone that exceeds the area of the conditioned interior. Amenities including swings and an outdoor movie screen are incorporated into and hung from the canopy. The two volumes – a community room and a library annex / café – together create a portal into the park viewed from the street. Native plants will climb up the steel columns, creating leaf canopies, as if strange trees had invaded the pavilion.
Structural concrete walls serve as the finish material on the inside, with the goals of minimizing layered construction systems and providing flood-proof durability. The canopy was developed to create a diffuse shading device, simultaneously providing both shade and luminosity by virtue of its perforated, corrugated stainless steel profile.
