The landscape architect, Reed Hilderbrand LLC, led the design effort and helped guide all phases of Long Dock Park along the Hudson River in Beacon, N.Y. The Sustainable Sites Initiative selected the project as one of its original pilot projects, and it eventually certified the park with a three-star rating. Jutting 1,000 feet out into the Hudson estuary, the waterfront has been restored to an area of serene beauty.
James Ewing Photography

The ASLA's 2015 Award of Excellence in the general design category goes to Reed Hilderbrand LLC for "At the Hudson's Edge: Beacon's Long Dock as a Resilient Riverfront Park" (client: Scenic Hudson Land Trust).

A former industrial site in Beacon, New York, 60 miles north of New York City, has been transformed into a popular riverfront park. Visitors today can enjoy the nature of the Hudson River waterfront in Beacon.

This property had experience decades of environmental degradation, leaving the remnants of rail sidings, a ferry depot, fuel storage and salt stockpiling areas and an auto junkyard. More than a decade ago, the design team began to reimagining the landscape and restoring its ecological functions.

Three phases of remediation and ecological restoration have been completed, earning a three-star ranking from the Sustainable Sites Initiative. Long Dock Park took a decade to plan and almost that long to build. The project's first phase, opened in 2009, included a boardwalk and an interactive sculptural installation known as Beacon Point. The next phase saw completion of an arts and environmental education center in Long Dock's historic red barn, and a pavilion for kayak storage and rentals. In 2011, during another phase of construction, storm surge from Hurricane Irene flooded the entire site for several days; with the working wetlands and protective landform buttresses already in place, but not yet completed, the park landscape survived its most difficult test and proved its mettle. A third phase was completed in 2014.

The degraded wetlands were optimized to capture, treat and release storm runoff and surge inundation. Extensive earthworks made this possible, creating strong physical separation between the level meadows and the tidal zone, emphasizing the shoreline and forming more intimate and spaces amid the wetlands and tide pools. Dozens of discarded concrete slabs found on site were redeployed as paving for parking and a plaza near the new kayak pavilion.

Project Team
Landscape Architects: Reed Hilderbrand LLC: Eric Kramer; Gary Hilderbrand; Chris Moyles; Brie Mendozza; Michelle Crowley
Architect: Architecture Research Office
Planner/Architect: Patkau Architects
Marine Engineering: McClaren Engineering Group
Civil Engineering: Divney Tung Schwalbe
Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
Sustainability: Vidaris, Inc.
Environmental: Ecosystems Strategies, Inc.
Soil Design: Craul Land Scientists
Owner's Representative: Levien and Co.
Elevator Consultant: VJ Associates
Construction Management: Kirschoff-Consigli

For the complete ASLA awards listing visit https://www.asla.org/2015awards/index.html