Add to favorites

#PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS

Foster + Partners reveals a totally timber boathouse on the Harlem River

If you row, row, row your boat gently down the Harlem River, you might end up at a new waterfront structure designed by global firm Foster + Partners.

The boathouse was designed for Row New York, a nonprofit that offers academic programs and rowing classes to young people from low-income families. The 1,600-square-foot, almost-all-wood building in Inwood‘s Sherman Creek Park is meant to evoke the timber-framed boathouses that lined the Harlem River a century ago. A large wooden folding canopy will cantilever over a plaza and terrace on the shore side and provides shade, while the bottom level will be devoted to boat storage.

“In envisioning a design for a boathouse that will serve a diverse population and be a resource to the community at large, I wanted to create a building that was both functional and accessible, but also one that responded to the Hudson River’s long history as a busy transportation hub,” Norman Foster declared in a press release. “This timber boathouse will fit naturally into the landscape of the riverfront and will transform this stretch of the Harlem River into a lively gathering place for people from all communities.”

Foster + Partners is designing the project in association with Brooklyn-based Bade Stageberg Cox (BSC).

The new building will allow Row New York to serve five times as many students and to consolidate all its programming under one roof. There’s a nice looking terrace on the top floor that will give early-rise-rowers a peep at the sun warming the city. (That view is well-deserved for any teen who voluntarily commits to being somewhere at 6 a.m.) Next to the terrace will be a flexible multipurpose space, plus lockers and classrooms. Wide ramps to the upper stories will make the two-story building 100 percent accessible, as well.

Right now, Row New York is raising $35 million for building construction and operating costs.

A press announcement from the organization states that the project will break ground in 2020. It is slated to open in 2022.

The boathouse as it would appear from the river. (Courtesy Foster + Partners)

Details

  • New York, NY, USA
  • Foster + Partners