The Battery Playscape is located at the tip of Manhattan where land meets sea, locals meet tourists, and the bustle of the city yields to the presence of nature. Ecologically, the site is a dynamic confluence of water and land, including a partly natural-partly constructed coastline. Conceived after Hurricane Sandy, the 1.5-acre Playscape responds to the site’s past and future flooding by telling the story of resilience, interwoven with play. It is the last piece of the Battery Conservancy’s masterplan which envisioned a verdant future for the then-dilapidated park. The Playscape realizes that vision through accessible, full body play immersed in planting, natural landforms, and visible water management. Opened in 2021, it is built to flood and recover, part of the embedded climate change narrative. The project was a collaboration between architects, landscape designers, and specialty fabricators, as well as a public-private partnership between the Battery Conservancy and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.
