Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse, designed by Architecture Research Office, is located in the Pier 5 Uplands of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the award-winning park transforms Brooklyn’s aging industrial waterfront into an innovative urban landscape. The boathouse is poised on riprap overlooking the water. The public boathouse provides secure, open-air boat storage at grade level, with a multipurpose room and restrooms on the upper floor, safely above flood waters. The upper level is wrapped with metal grilles and floor-to-ceiling windows provide expansive views of the harbor and lower Manhattan. Great care was also given to the way that the boathouse would be viewed from a distance. The lighting design included LED strip lights outside and linear interior fixtures while the color temperature followed the building’s shift from cool galvanized steel exterior to warm plywood interior, creating a quiet lantern nestled within the park.

CLIENT
Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation

TEAM
Architecture Research Office, architect
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, landscape architects

RECOGNITION
2019 AIA New York State: Merit Award
2019 Chicago Athenaeum: American Architecture Award
2019 Architizer A+ Finalist: Transportation Infrastructure
2018 MASterworks: Award for Best New Building
2018 AIANY: Architecture Honor Award
2018 NYCxDesign Award: Outdoor/Urban Landscape
2018 The Chicago Athenaeum: American Architecture Award
2018 Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce: Building Brooklyn Award for Open Space

Photography: Courtesy of Elizabeth Felicella