The Bridge Is Over (Bounce Remix)

View of Squibb Park Bridge from the Fruit Street Sitting Area

Seven weeks ago, Squibb Park Bridge opened, connecting pedestrians from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park. While referring to the bridge as a shortcut would be disingenuous (the walk down Columbia Heights takes about the same amount of time), the path to the water is now indisputably more beautiful. Designed by Ted Zoli of HNTB, the $5 million multi-span bridge utilizes a trail bridge-inspired steel cable and timber truss beneath the deck, lending the bridge a certain bounce. If you're prone to motion sickness, take your Dramamine... you can really feel it on a busy day:



Just to reiterate: the bridge was designed to sway, so any fear of a pedestrian-scale echo of the "Galloping Gertie" disaster would be completely unfounded... I hope.

Beginning at the Squibb Park playground, the zig-zagging Sigma-shaped bridge is supported by a series of concrete piers at each turn, before eventually coming to rest on an embankment in the park. Black Locust, which is naturally rot resistant, was used for both the planks and the timber comprising the bridge sections. Each of these sections was prefabricated, and left to wait on site well past the bridge's targeted opening last Fall. This was a look at the newly-assembled sections in October:

While all of this was under construction, there was a momentary call to pay tribute to the late Adam Yauch (MCA of the Beastie Boys) by renaming the park in his honor. A more suitable spot was dedicated to Yauch (more on this soon), and the park remains dedicated to the legacy of Edward Squibb, the pharmaceutical pioneer whose lab once occupied this area.

From the Promenade, visitors may now access Squibb Park via a newly-repaved and fully accessible ramp. The park sits at approximately the same elevation as the northbound lanes of the BQE.

Standing in the park (largely a hard-court playground), the visitor encounters a sweeping view of the harbor, Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Upon leaving the playground, pavement gives way underfoot to the warmth and richness of the Black Locust planks. Spanning the 8-foot width of the bridge, the deck is lined with 2" x 4" guard rails.

In a gesture to the timber and steel cable railings strung throughout Brooklyn Bridge Park, the bridge railings are formed by tension cable and steel mesh spanning between Black Locust rail posts.

The rugged and utilitarian details work well, I think, especially in the context of the park. And it is a trail bridge, after all. Even so, there a few moments where the craftsmanship lands on the wrong side of the line between ad hoc and shoddy, such as in the guard rail detail below. Several of the planks have already begun to split, as well.

And then you look up, and all of that recedes when you're greeted with this:

With an assist from the afternoon sun, a glance backwards reveals more of the bridge than you could otherwise see while crossing.

From below, the structure seems a supine spine. Robust galvanized steel nodes connect the timber members of the truss. The little yellow pads extending from the lower nodes are grooved to guide the steel tension cables tracing the frame's bottom chords.

Tree-like three-pronged concrete piers extend skyward to capture the sections and bring them together. Electrical conduits run beneath the platform and follow the bridge, providing power for linear path lights integrated into the handrails.

As the bridge nears the park, it dives into the earth. The visitor then encounters the choice to exit by way of a concrete staircase to the north or a meandering ramp to the south, both of which spill onto the bicycle and pedestrian path.

The bridge's western terminus, looking north towards the Brooklyn Bridge

Detail of a smaller concrete pier, with timber supports anchored with galvanized plates

Stepping outside the park, one quickly apprehends the treacherous terrain the bridge bypasses. Furman Street runs north-south from Fulton Street to Atlantic Avenue, witnessing a decent number of impatient motorists skipping the double-yellow to outpace a plodding City Sights bus.

View from Furman Street looking north

It must be said that the bridge will eventually feel much less lonely than it looks below. Once the vegetation begins to fully sprout, it is my sincere hope that we'll get something approximating Ewok Village, as the bridge threads through the treetops. Most likely it will seem more like a dash of Endor with a little High Line splashed in. The two vacant sites flanking the bridge will soon be home to 100,000 of hotel, residential and retail use, as part of the city's public-private partnership plan to make the park financially self-sustaining. For a look at Rogers Marvel's competition-winning renderings of the Starwood/Toll Brothers project, click here.

View across Furman Street to the northwest

One final note--over Memorial Day weekend, New Yorkers will be greeted with the launch of the city's first (and long-awaited) bike-sharing program, brought to you by Citi (pricing and maps can be found here). Docking stations have already been installed near the beginning and end of the bridge, as well as as in more than 300 locations throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan (Queens, Bronx and SI residents are out of luck till the full roll-out). Of course, it wouldn't be New York without a little complaining, but the new program has already drawn fire from residents, businesses... and cyclists?! Regardless, I'm optimistic that once the wrinkles are ironed out, this will be a net good for the city.

Expectant CitiBike racks at the Fruit Street Sitting Area

That's all for now, but stay tuned for updates... with more vegetation!

Will Ryman's "Bird" Lands in Flatiron Plaza

If you find yourself near Madison Square Park over the next couple of weeks, be sure to stop by the mammoth sculpture in Flatiron Plaza. Created by Will Ryman, Bird stands 12' tall and weighs in at 5 tons. With the exception of the rose-in-beak, the entire sculpture comprises around 5,500 nails, both off-the-shelf and custom-fabricated. Rather than methods of attachment serving a greater composition, the nails themselves form the structure and the surface. The sculpture will be on view through April 21.

Photo of the Day: NYC Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Heartwalk Hits DUMBO

This week, DUMBO became the new home for Heartwalk, a heart-shaped art installation designed and built by Brooklyn's SITU Studio, using planks reclaimed from four Sandy-ravaged boardwalks along the New York and New Jersey coasts. Originally built in Times Square, Heartwalk was the winning entry in a Valentine's Day design competition sponsored by the Times Square Alliance and the Design Trust for Public Spaces. Now you can visit Heartwalk at the Pearl Street Triangle, next to the base of the Manhattan Bridge, where it will live through the end of April. A few more photos of the installation at night:

Maura and Blue

How to Raise a Family in Connecticut

This past weekend, we took a drive along the shore in Milford, CT, where we were stopped cold by a sight we don't see every day:

A handful of existing houses are in the middle of serious reinventions, most likely due to the devastation wreaked by Sandy last fall. Much of Milford's shoreline falls within a Coastal High Hazard Area, defined by FEMA as an "area subject to high velocity wave action from storms or seismic sources." That means that any home within such a zone that "was substantially damaged or is being substantially improved" must be elevated so that the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member rests at least as high as the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). How high the structure sits relative to the BFE affects the  amount of the homeowner's flood insurance premium.

In this case, it appears that the house has been lifted off of an existing foundation, which was compacted with dirt. Four Jenga towers of wooden cribbing temporarily elevate the house more than a story in the air until piers can be built below. While small steel beams act as a belt around the midsection of the cribbing, it appears that the joists of the lower floor are supported by built-up wooden beams--of 4x4s, 2x8s and other miscellaneous lumber. For an overview of various methods for lifting houses, look no further than this FEMA manual. Discussion of the method used in the phone above begins on page 104 (page 17 of the PDF).

UPDATE: Just as an addition to the above--evidence of new construction on the same road employing the elevated living strategy. The house features an uninhabited ground floor with a car port, so that all living spaces are located above potential flood levels.

We Now Interrupt This Break...

... to resume our regularly scheduled weather watch. Breaking News! It's snowing. In the North. Two days later than expected, we're finally getting a nice powdery snow. A look at Brooklyn this morning:

Finding (the Logic in Giving Every Snowfall a Name Like) Nemo

Walking path at Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Thankfully, Winter Storm Nemo passed through Brooklyn relatively peacefully on Friday night, leaving behind only a nice blanket of snow and an inordinate amount of salt on the city sidewalks. Brooklynites have been spending the rest of the weekend turning the borough into a playground. A glimpse at our neck of the woods over the last couple of days:

Concealed creek bed in the park

A few enterprising spirits brought cross-country skiing to Pier 1 yesterday.

More adventurous were the sledders who took to the granite steps, navigating their way under the railing halfway down.

Evidence of the new sled run on the granite steps

Snowman in progress within the Tobacco Warehouse

Commingling of canines and sledders at the Hillside Dog Run

Sidewalk grates on Fulton Mall

Cadman Plaza facing South

A common sight throughout Brooklyn: snow-drifted cars as snowballing ammunition supply

Here We Come, Walking Down the Street...

Last weekend, while visiting family in Kansas, we celebrated my grandfather's 88th birthday. For the occasion, my mom hired a bakery in South Haven, KS, to bake a special cake for Frass. Muffin Top Bakery came through with flying colors, producing an entertaining and delicious banana cake with cream cheese frosting. I've never had anything like it. If you have a sweet tooth and ever find yourself in South Central Kansas, consider yourself notified.