Year: 2022

Location: Gowanus, Brooklyn

Scope: design assist, project management, site preparation, masonry, woodwork, planting

A colorful brick patio zig-zags through the top of the space, inviting neighbors and visitors deeper into the garden and offering plenty of room to gather, sit, and enjoy an outdoor lunch. Planted beds along the patio are home to a white-flowering Amelanchier (Serviceberry), Hydrangea quercifolia (Oak Leaf Hydrangea), Helleborus Orientalis (Hellebores), and clusters of grasses including Carex penylvanica (Sedge Grass) and Pennisetum (Fountain Grass).

Custom benches, made of beams reclaimed from the now-shuttered South Brooklyn Casket Factory, create amphitheater-style seating. A lush, clover meadow surrounds the benches and reaches down the hill into the back of the park.

A group of professionals, dedicated neighbors, and community volunteers collaborated to realize this fresh vision for the park, including landscape architecture firm Assemblage, NYC Parks’ GreenThumb, and residents of the block who have been involved with the space for many years.