Built waterfront through edge, connection, and exchange : reclaiming a waterfront for Greenpoint, a project in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Abstract

Currently the waterfront of Brooklyn N.Y. between the Gowanus Canal of Redhook and the Newton Creek of Greenpoint is predominantly lined with various types of industrial and manufacturing uses. Scattered throughout are abandoned warehouses, industrial buildings, empty fenced off lots, and dilapidated piers. Occasionally there exists a publicly accessible edge or a inhabited waterfront. Most if not all of the adjacent communities have lost their historic connection with the edge and waterfront. Greenpoint is an active community which suffers from an industrial abandoned waterfront. This investigation is attempting to prove that the lost connection between the community of Greenpoint and its waterfront can be reclaimed through building a physical exchange between water and earth.