Last week we shared an updated look for the River Ring Master Plan being developed by Two Trees Management and designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) with James Corner Field Operations. This week we have even more views of the mammoth waterfront development, courtesy of the BIG. 

The firm shares a handful of new renderings and diagrams that better reveal the base of its two twisting towers, as well as the relationship between the shore, the buildings and the Metropolitan Avenue corridor. 

Bjarke Ingels Group | James Corner Field Operations

As we last reported, the master plan fills the gap between Bushwick Inlet Park and Domino Park to create a continuous stretch of public waterfront while also providing a river connection at the Metropolitan Avenue and East River junction. The expanded and enhanced shoreline creates six acres of new park space, including three acres of in-water programming, designed by James Corner Field Operations.

Two new towers of 560 feet and 710 feet will also rise on the site. The lower levels of the buildings will be home to a new YMCA, neighborhood-oriented retail space, and community-occupied kiosks, while the upper floors will hold 1,050 apartments, 263 of which will be made permanently affordable. 

Bjarke Ingels Group

Bjarke Ingels Group | James Corner Field Operations

BIG designed a twist in the skyscrapers to minimize view obstructions from the neighborhood and to open up the Metropolitan Avenue corridor view. The pivots also offer a visual marker and form a gateway to the water.

"Our proposal closes one of the last remaining gaps in the continuous transformation of the Williamsburg waterfront into a post-industrial natural habitat," says architect Bjarke Ingels. "Rather than stopping at the hard edge of the old dock, Metropolitan avenue is split into a pedestrian loop extending all the way into the river, connecting the dots of the concrete caissons to form an urban archipelago of recreative islands while protecting a beach and body of water for water sports and wetlands.

"The radical transformation of Copenhagen’s port into a swimmable extension of the public space that we helped pioneer two decades ago, now seems to be knocking at the door in Williamsburg and the entire East River. The River Loop will be the first of many invitations for New Yorkers to dip their toes in the water.”

The River Ring Master Plan is expected to enter and complete the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure this year. Per scoping documents filed with the city today, the development will "be constructed over a period of approximately 50 months, with expected completion and full occupancy by 2027."