Design update

Including news of an undulating public park on the Hudson River, New York

Little Island, a public park space on the site of Pier 55 on New York’s Hudson River is now open – eight years after it was first proposed. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the undulating park is planted with 100 types of tree, with evergreens providing shelter from the wind, and 400 other species. The planting frames the park and sits in 6m-wide containers fitted into a series of modular ‘petals’ on top of piles that have been driven more than 60m down into the bedrock. The interior of the park contains areas of lawn and a 700-seat amphitheatre. hudsonriverpark.org

1 LIVING AND BREATHING THE VENICE BIENNALE

Danish architecture studio EFFEKT is represented at this year’s Venice Biennale with an installation of 1,200 pine seedlings, grown hydroponically, to provide a green lung for models of seven projects relating to the festival theme ‘How will we live together?’. These include (clockwise from above) the Forest Tower in Gisselfeld Klosters Forest, a harbour farm port regeneration project in Copenhagen and the Forest Learning Hub on a hilltop at Hareskoven. The saplings will eventually be planted in Denmark as part of an urban reforestation project. The installation is on display at Corderie dell’Arsenale, Venice Architecture Biennale, until 21 November. effekt.dk

2 NIGHT LIGHT

A light installation that doubled as a pavilion for visitors to the Art at Fuliang 2021 Festival, held in Jiangxi province, China, in June, now stands as an artwork for the nearby villagers. Designed by Chinese architect Ma Yansong, the founder of MAD Architects, the artwork is comprised of an undulating steel cylinder, which is wrapped in a translucent fabric. The structure encloses an existing copse of trees on top of a hill in a tea field and gives the impression that the trees are floating above the tea plants. At night the artwork is lit up like a giant lantern. i-mad.com

3 SOUTH AFRICAN SHOWCASE

The Eden Project’s indoor South Africa garden is opening up a previously inaccessible part of the temperate Mediterranean Biome and increasing the planting with endangered plants of the Cape Floristic Region of the South Western Cape. A new path will wind through areas planted with succulents, shrubs and restios, past the existing Pepsi Pool (so named because of the tannins in the water), which is full of Aponogeton distachyos. The stream leading to the pool will also be opened up, creating additional micro-habitats for moisture-loving species. edenproject.com

4 THALIANA BRIDGE, HARLOW CARR

Work is due to begin this autumn on the construction of a new bridge spanning the Queen Mother Lake at the south end of RHS Garden Harlow Carr. Yorkshire. The 21m-long bridge, in weathering steel and larch, is designed by Gagarin Studio and DP Squared Engineers. The paired, curving forms make reference to the chromosomes of the native plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), the research subject of the late Dr Rachel Leech, whose estate has helped to fund the bridge. The project will improve the flow of people in the garden and provide new views to and from the bridge. gagarinstudio.co.uk

5 GREEN CORRIDOR FOR COVENTRY

Planting is under way on the site of a disused gasworks and underpass in Coventry, transforming it into a 700m linear park connecting Belgrade Plaza in the city centre to Naul’s Mill Park. Designed by Barton Willmore, the park, which includes more than 1,000 trees and 23,000 shrubs, recreates Radford Brook, currently underground in a culvert, which will run on the surface and be planted with native, aquatic species. At the southern end of the route, the underpass culminates in an amphitheatre, climbing wall, and columns clad in climbing plants. bartonwillmore.co.uk

6 LANDSCAPE VISION

‘From nature to nature (a journey in the city of the future)’ is the theme of the 2021 Arketipos Landscape Festival, held in Bergamo, Italy in September and featuring Green Square, a reinterpretation of Piazza Vecchia, designed by Nigel Dunnett. The square will be planted to give the impression of a wildflower meadow. Swathes of colour-themed perennials, from yellows and oranges, through pinks and purples, to light blues and whites, will wash across the square within a matrix of structural grasses. Dunnett is also one of the many high-profile speakers at the International Meeting of the Landscape and Gardening 2021, which will be held as an online event. imaestridelpaesaggio.it

7 FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR PAST LIVES

The winning teams tasked with preparing a 25-year masterplan for Highgate Cemetery in north London, the resting place of many well-known, public figures including Karl Marx and Lucian Freud, have been announced. Gustafson Porter + Bowman will work with Hopkins Architects to ensure that the site remains a historic, sustainable, working cemetery. Jo Thompson Landscape and Garden Design will assist with the landscaping to provide a mix of shady glades and open, grassy meadows, increase biodiversity and link the East and West Cemeteries. Modern facilities are to be installed for those maintaining the site, and listed monuments and historic buildings will be protected. highgatecemetery.org