The Reservoir
Year: 2018
Location: New York, NY
Competition Entry: LA+ ICONOCLAST
Team: Chris Bennett, Nilay Mistry, Conor O’Shea
Recognition: Honorable Mention
PRESS RELEASE | City of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Saturday, April 22, 2028
The restoration of Central Park is finally complete after nearly ten years of work.
APPLELAMALGAM won the public competition to restore order to Central Park after the eco-terrorist group, the Gaians, destroyed the park’s natural systems in 2018. Unique to the submission by APPLELAMALGAM was the creation of a multiplicity of landscape experiences that varied greatly across Central Park. In addition, APPLELAMALGAM embraced the principle that landscape architecture should work to connect people socially as well as disconnect them digitally.
“We are honored that APPLELAMALGAM produced a design that represents all of New Yorkers, both for today, one hundred years from now, and beyond” said Mayor Bill DiBlastoff at today’s festive ribbon cutting ceremony. Dave Form, who initially agreed with the motives behind the 2018 attack, supports the new design, saying that “while it is tragic that some areas of Central Park had to be given over to development to support the re-construction, I am pleased that a large portion has been rewilded.” Against the podium’s backdrop of Wollman Rink, a representative from the design firm told the invitation-only crowd, “we are confident that this is a park for all New Yorkers; a park that is at once historic, contemporary, forward-looking, and resistant to future eco-terrorist attacks.”
Following a series of public meetings held at the Arsenal, and later on Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Prospect Park, and Governors Island, three main categories emerged to constitute the design: preservation, restoration, and creation. The first encompasses a handful of spaces, including the Croton Reservoir, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Wolmann Rink. Restored areas include The Mall, schist outcroppings (such as Umpire Rock), “Wall Street” Meadow, Strawberry Fields, and the Hans Christian Andersen Grove. Finally, in response to a range of public feedback, urban wilds, GMO bot-resistant groves, tech modulation zones, patriotic flower beds, climate adapted gardens, and agricultural production fields were added.
The Central Park Authority will continue overseeing programming, security, and maintenance of the park. Its annual benefit gala will take place this May 8th at 725 5th Street, New York, NY.
