News article on WTC worker health study results, 2003

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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during the design process,” he says.

c Parks Ex^rience 5so has taught him that while money can usually be found for capital projects, operations are another

5 MANHAHAN PARK CALLED MOST matter, so creating a “zero maintenance” park has been the overarching goal. The Trust approaches that goal by making SIGNIFICANT ADDITION IN 150 YEARS i extensive use of 317 stainless steel for

as waterside fencing and other furniture, long-lasting Ipe (a farmed and sustain­ able tropical hardwood) for rails and benches and FieldTurf artificial grass for playing surfaces. The grass-like material f features long polyethylene “blades” plant- 1 ■■ -, ed into a base of sand and a deep layer of f. ,iY .Ti K granulated rubber. The surface is soft and pliable, resists compaction and drains ex- ja tremely well, Boddewyn says. 3 The artificial grass is used for sports ■'I M fields and picnic areas on the piers. Oth- H er areas are hard-surfaced for fishing and other uses. The piers are built on pre- ft I . stressed concrete piles threaded among 11 the timber remains of their predecessors. Il Long-term maintenance of the park

fe includes maintaining that volume of dete- borating timber, which supports a thrive ’**8 population of fish, wildfowl and aquatic orgatusms. On the upland side, natural plantings NEW TORE OTY IS SET TO OPEN THE are used, but the base has first piece of a new $380-million been carefully engineered park that will ultimately become gxll for low maintenance. Grad­ Manhattan’s second largest, 150 ing for drainage pans with years after Frederick Law Olmsted fabric and gravel-wrapped and Calvert Vaux began design perforated PVC pipe was g work on the borough’s other great minimized to avoid poten­ g retreat. Central Park. tially contaminated soU. The s The first of six sections of Hud- topsoil includes same-sized I son River Park, a study in modern sand granules to minimize I landscape engineering, will be ded- compaction. I icated May The park is being Two of the most daunting I built atop a five-mile stretch of bulk- issues have been surveying I headed, pier-studded river fix)nt re- KEEPERS New piers top old ones, retaining aquatic habitat and correcting the miles of I claimed from generations of indus- century-old stone bulkhead S trial and warehouse use and a long slide founded on wooden piles and grillage, § into dereliction. When completed in ir and coordinating the complex prefect, I about seven years, the park will have 150 _ Boddeywn says. Eich of the five segments I upland acres and 400 acres of water in various stages of design and construc- I cupped between 13 amenity-laden con- : don has its own team of architects, engi­ I Crete piers, most over 800 ft long. neers and consultants. The overall proj­ I “This is the most significant park to be ect management team has 15 firms, with s introduced in Manhattan since Central the local offices of Ove Arup & Partners g Park,” says Marc Boddewyn, vice presi- I managing design and Bovis Lend Lease I dent of the Hudson River Park Trust, a r leading project management The Trust I partnership between the State of New p requires all firms to use Constructware I York and New York City that is developing / Web-based project management services K the property. S to keep thejob sorted out It has been “a I B<xldewyn, a landscape architect, has A huge key for us to pull this off with the I been in charge of design and construc- H limited staff we have,” Boddewyn says. i tion of the park for the last 3)f years. His 9 “Constructware has been great when b background is both in construction and 3 there could be 60 to 80 architects and en- I operation of other parks in the city, which ■ gineers working on the project at any giv- I he says has sharpened his perceptions It ■ en time,” Boddewyn says. “It totally elimi- ft about how design and construction can 9 nates the‘where did you save that?’prob- 'i/ ■ lem. We couldn’t do this without it” □ p adversely affect operations. “It really I makes you appreciate decisions made NEWVIEW Boddewyn knows operations. By Tom Sawyer

18 ENR/IUNE 2, 2003 NYC-WTC_000143148