Landscape Architect Articles

Five Parks Out of One Landfill11-12-08 | News

Five Parks Out of One Landfill

Field Operations, has developed a master plan for Fresh Kills Park that will sit on top of what was recently the nation?EUR??,,????'?????<

Fresh Kills Park in Staten Island is organized around capped and secured mounds of landfill trash in its five sections. Although it?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Indeed, the rounded and graded mounds betray the hand of a conscious designer, or perhaps more appropriately, the waste of a distracted society made anew. Neises says the three-and-a-half-square-mile park will still work on an expansive scale of wilderness and respite that has more in common with national parks.

A rendering of the vast park planned for the former site of the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island shows, from the southeast, several windmills in operation. (Image: James Corner/Field Operations.

Like any national park, Fresh Kills?EUR??,,????'?????<

Wreckage from the 9/11 terrorist attacks was laid into the ground at Fresh Kills, and the landfill was closed shortly thereafter, having received 150 million tons of trash. After being sculpted and graded for structural integrity, these mounds were capped with an impermeable plastic layer to isolate the waste, a drainage layer of geo-textile fabric that contains and removes excess moisture, a soil barrier protection layer to protect lower layers, and planting soil.

New York-based Field Operations won a competition to master plan the park in 2003 and submitted a final design two and a half year ago. Some park and building projects are already under way, and the master planned elements by Field Operations won?EUR??,,????'?????<

The park will be divided into five sections, each one defined by how it uses mounds and the surrounding landforms. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Only native plant species (oaks, pitch pines, birches, native grasses, black locust) will end up in Fresh Kills Park. Neises and her team are trying to grow plants on-site as much as possible, as opposed to expending extra effort and energy by replanting mature trees. Some trees will even be harvested to create furniture for park facilities. Other sustainability practices will be using recycled material as much as possible.

When the last two landfill mounds are capped and methane harvesting systems are installed, the park will be able to heat and fuel 25,000 homes. With the addition of other active renewable energy generation systems, Neises hopes the site will become a net energy producer.