Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion

This is a project by UNStudio + Handel Architects and it is located at Peter Minuit Plaza, Battery Park, New York, United States. It was submitted to Architecture News Plus (ANP) by UNStudio. Project's program: State-of-the-art pavilion housing visitor information and eatery. There are ten images for New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion.

: © James D'Addio

Project details

Project name: New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion
Location: Peter Minuit Plaza, Battery Park, New York, United States
Program: State-of-the-art pavilion housing visitor information and eatery
Area: Project size: 5,000 sf
Year: Project year: 2008-2011
Client: The Battery Conservancy
Project by: UNStudio + Handel Architects
Team: UNStudio team: Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos with Wouter de Jonge, Christian Veddeler and Kyle Miller, Jan Schellhoff, Wesley Lanckriet, Arndt Willert • Handel Architects team: Gary Handel, D. Blake Middleton, Stephen Matkovits, Mark Morris
Others: Lighting Design and Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineering: Buro Happold

Project images

Designer's statement

Commissioned by The Battery Conservancy and developed in collaboration with the Parks Department and Department of Transportation, the New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion was made possible by a generous $2.3 million gift from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to New York City, in honor of four centuries of friendship and a mutual passion for the values of innovation and creativity, diversity and openness, entrepreneurship and progress. The site will be New York City's first true 21st century intermodal transportation hub - where bicycles, buses, the subway and water transportation intersect with cultural offerings in a singular expression of daring but lyrical design - and will convert an intersection traveled by more than 150,000 residents and visitors daily into Lower Manhattan's newest and most dynamic destination for cultural activity, entertainment, and enjoyment.

The Plein & Pavilion project was conceived by the Battery Conservancy to create an extraordinary 'outdoor living room' for spontaneous and scheduled activities, public markets, seating and shade, and a gleaming white, state-of-the-art pavilion for visitor information and delicious locally grown gourmet food. Designed by UNStudio in collaboration with Handel Architects LLP, New York serving as associate architect. The project's landscape was conceived by Parks Dept. Landscape Designer Gail Wittwer-Laird.

Where History Meets the Future:

UNStudio's design for New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion creates a 5,000 square-foot, carefully programmed space located within Peter Minuit Plaza, housing regional organic food by Merchants Market, as well as the Alliance for Downtown New York's Visitor Information Booth. This highly sculptural pavilion stands as a gateway to the Battery's park and waterfront, with an expressive, undulating roofline and curving walls; a compact little building with the authority of a major landmark, evoking a flower opening to its surroundings.

Every night at 12:00AM midnight, the New Amsterdam Pavilion will glow with an array of colors in tribute to Peter Minuit whose name translates to 'midnight.' 1626 consolidated the early settlements at the tip of Manhattan: a grouping that came to be known as New Amsterdam.