Architecture firms Field Operations and Studio Cadena have completed a plaza hemmed by angular concrete enclosures at the Domino Sugar development in Brooklyn, New York.
With a central rink area covered by a shade structure, Domino Square sits between Selldorf Architects’ porcelain-clad skyscrapers and PAU’s office in the shell of the historic Domino Sugar Factory.
The team oriented the park to maximize views of the Manhattan skyline with the Statue of Liberty visible from the top of the tiered seating that lines the east side.
The design of the park utilises the change in grade from the waterfront to Kent Street, allowing for a series of concrete enclosures designed by Studio Cardena to be at ground level facing the street. The tops of these blocks were landscaped and stepped down to the park.
Between the artificial berm created by the landscaped enclosures is an entryway lined with weathering-steel retaining walls, which provides access to the park and the greater development.
According to Field Operations partner Lisa Switkin, this acts as a gateway to the plaza.
“Its design is carefully orientated to respond to movement flows and sightlines, creating a sense of openness with multiple entry points, as well as moments of compression and expansion,” she told Dezeen.
The plaza is one of the last elements of the Domino Sugar development, driven by New York developer Two Trees Management, and masterplanned by SHoP Architects and Field Operations. Skyscrapers by SHoP Arhchitects and by CookFox have also been completed at the site in the last decade.
Studio Cadena was responsible for the structures that line the street. Fronted by glass, the structures have fanned forms that rise from the concrete.
According to studio founder Benjamin Cadena, the structures responded to the site’s gradient while orienting the landscaping above.
While the enclosures were designed to provide space for four different retail operations, the spaces have been combined, and soon a restaurant will fill the structure on each side of the entryway.
Though part of the overall development, Cadena said that he wanted to differentiate the park and create a sense of “enclosure” while relating the materials to the infrastructure. The walls of the enclosure were designed to extend from the concrete from below, yet the aggregate was slightly changed to make it distinct.
“We wanted to create a sense of enclosure in the bowl-like shape of the square and on the street side to create a very distinct figure, so it could be recognizable and also would be flexible to start to accommodate different things,” Cadena told Dezeen.
“Essentially, it’s like a loggia that can be occupied in different ways.”
Because of the dense urban environment and the size of infrastructure adjacent and below, the project had to integrate a variety of technical elements, including a series of ventilation and intake ducts for a water treatment facility below.
Studio Cadena worked with Field Operations to conceive of bronze-coloured pipes that poke out through the landscape.
“The idea was to express these, rather to hide them, because it is kind of part of the ethos of the site,” said Cadena, noting the industrial history of the site.
“I wanted these aspects to be integrated and expressed in the context of a city, because I think it’s a project that really integrates things that operate at multiple levels.”
A final skyscraper is still underway as part of the development.
Field Operations (formerly called James Corner Field Operations) has executed some of the most high-profile landscape projects in the city in the last decade, including the iconic High Line project.
Studio Cadena operates out of New York and Bogotá and earned attention in 2018 for a sculptural pavilion in Flat Iron Plaza.
The photography is by Michael Vahrenwald unless otherwise stated.
