| REQUIREMENTS |
Based on the Conditions and Challenges outlined below, competitors are asked to address Gateway at two scales:
Gateway Master Plan
Develop a new master plan and strategy for creating a unified experience when visiting Gateway National Recreation Area. Proposals should link the diverse recreational, ecological and historic opportunities located within the three existing units of the park: Jamaica Bay, Sandy Hook, and Staten Island.
Park within a Park
Within the larger approach developed above, design a new park sited at Floyd Bennett Field within the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway, which includes the Wildlife Refuge, Riis Beach and Fort Tilden. Floyd Bennett Field has the opportunity not only to become a premier destination within Gateway, but to provide facilities and resources for the entire park. Floyd Bennett Field is a 1,358 acre piece of land that was New York City's first municipal airport; today it hosts myriad activities but suffers from a lack of identity and definition, representing a microcosm of the larger issues facing Gateway. Competitors may intervene on as much or as little of Floyd Bennett Field and its surrounding waters as they choose, and should define the programmatic elements of a "park" in terms of contemporary urban conditions and social/recreational needs and desires.
| CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES |
Ecological
Condition: Located at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson Raritan estuary, Gateway supports a variety of estuarine ecologies – open water, dune, wetland, grassland and forest – that provide critical habitats for fish, shellfish, migratory birds, insects and vegetation. In some cases these communities are rare or endangered, and recent studies have revealed a mysterious and rapid deterioration of Jamaica Bay's marsh islands.
Challenge: Establish a relationship between the new park site at Floyd Bennett Field and existing ecological systems throughout Gateway, and propose new opportunities for environmental stewardship, restoration, remediation, and reclamation.
Historical
Condition: While many of Gateway's cultural and historical sites have benefited from restoration (ie., Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook Lighthouse), a great number of military facilities and former airstrips at Floyd Bennett Field lie abandoned and in disrepair.
Challenge: Address the value of these structures and the industrial heritage that they represent, outlining an approach not necessarily bound by a conservative attitude towards preservation. Competitors are welcome to incorporate existing structures, facilities and site conditions into their proposals, however such proposals should include a strategy for renovation (in the case of abandoned buildings) or relocation of functions/uses (in the case of buildings that are currently occupied).
Recreational
Condition: Gateway's current recreational opportunities range from activities typically found in national parks, such as experiential education and camping, to activities typically found in urban parks, such as sporting events and picnics. Floyd Bennett Field is additionally home to many local hobbyists – model car and aircraft enthusiasts, community gardeners, windsurfers, bird watchers, antique air show audiences, fishermen, and cyclists are just a fraction of the individuals who currently rely on the open space and proximity of Floyd Bennett Field.
Gateway is also comprised of 61% water, and has approximately 57 miles of shoreline. Sites like Canarsie Pier, Gateway Marina, Riis Beach, and the trails at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge have visitors year-round, however in many areas Ð particularly at Floyd Bennett Field – the shoreline is inaccessible or off-limits to the public.
Challenge: Respecting and building upon existing activities, develop new and innovative recreational opportunities at Floyd Bennett Field that expand upon Gateway's prime position within the urban environment, the park's original mandate as a "National Recreation Area," and the tremendous presence of water.
Educational
Condition: Gateway's numerous and complex ecologies provide an opportunity to learn about natural and urban systems in the context of the New York metropolitan area's rich cultural heritage. While the National Park Service provides site-specific educational programming at several visitor's centers and museums throughout Gateway, there is no single facility, site or information system that provides a comprehensive overview of Gateway as a whole.
Challenge: Consider the form and location of such a resource, and propose new educational opportunities that reinforce the National Park Service's vision of "a national park system that is recognized as a significant resource for learning, where people and organizations collaborate on teaching and learning about the interconnections of human culture and nature, natural systems, the values of America's diverse heritage, and the principles of democracy."
Waste Management
Condition: Gateway's physical form has been and continues to be significantly shaped by infrastructural demands. The waters and coastlines of Gateway can be considered recreational; however, they are also an intricate part of the metropolitan region's current water management system. Six water treatment plants are located directly adjacent to park lands, and many of New York City's combined sewer pipes output directly into the harbor during flooding and heavy rain. The estuarine waters surrounding Gateway therefore take on the adverse effects associated with these pollution sources.
Gateway has also been a site for solid waste disposal. Landfills at Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue and waste recycling facilities at Floyd Bennett Field are no longer operational; however the impact of this activity remains a significant concern throughout Jamaica Bay.
Challenge: Address the implications of this legacy, and consider opportunities for waste management and pollution mitigation throughout Gateway and at Floyd Bennett Field.
Access and Transportation
Condition: While a few areas of Gateway have sufficient access via public transportation, a car is required to visit many other sites within the recreation area. Floyd Bennett Field, roughly one and a half times the size of Central Park, is also quite difficult to negotiate on foot. Much of the Jamaica Bay Unit is physically cut off from Brooklyn by the Belt Parkway, one of New York City's major transportation routes to and from JFK Airport. In short, neither neighboring residents nor visitors to the region have clear or convenient access to this National Park site or the future park at Floyd Bennett Field.
Challenge: Rethink public transportation to Gateway, between Gateway's three units, and within Floyd Bennett Field, and propose innovative solutions to existing access barriers. Consider the significance of a threshold or transition between the urban fabric of New York City and the open landscape of Gateway.
Economic Strategies
Condition: The financial stability of federally managed parks often depends on the use of concession contracts and commercially-operated visitor services such as lodging, food and beverage sales, retail merchandise and recreation activities. Such business operations generate revenue that can be put directly back into park maintenance or programming costs. Concessions, however, can be harshly criticized (or rejected entirely) when inappropriate in scale or unrelated to a park's primary stated purpose.
Challenge: Consider Gateway's need for additional financial resources when developing programmatic elements for the new park at Floyd Bennett Field – rethink concessions and/or envision other economic strategies that may strengthen your proposal. (ie., public-private partnerships as with Golden Gate NRA and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy/Presidio Trust)
| CRITERIA |
The jury will seek out powerful, transforming proposals that inspire new ways of thinking about not only the role of national parks relative to an increasingly urbanized national landscape, but the ways in which thriving cities and complex ecosystems can co-exist and enrich each other.
The jury will be guided by the following objectives in evaluating submissions and recommending winning design proposals for presentation to the National Park Service:
- Rethink what the term "nature" means when defining a park in post-industrial urban conditions.
- Create a clear national identity for Gateway that celebrates its unique urban and ecological heritage.
- Reinforce the identity of Gateway as a 'gateway' to the wider National Park experience, as well as the initial aspirations of Gateway's founders "to bring parks closer to the people."
- Connect Gateway's diverse set of sites and programs to create a unified park system, and improve access from surrounding areas.
- Establish a destination and symbolic center of Gateway in a new park at the site of Floyd Bennett Field.
- Emphasize and integrate the presence of water as a defining feature of the larger Gateway landscape and of the new park at Floyd Bennett Field.
- Reinforce the National Park Service's ethic of stewardship of historical and ecological sites by maintaining and integrating existing wildlife and ecological habitats into the new park program at Floyd Bennett Field.
- Recognize and expand upon the diverse social and cultural activities that currently exist throughout Gateway and at Floyd Bennett Field.
- Imagine new park programs that will help ensure the long-term viability of Gateway and of the new park at Floyd Bennett Field.