New York City’s changing Hudson riverfront is capturing international attention at the renowned Venice Biennale’s inaugural Città d’Acqua (Cities on Water) exhibition on a floating pavilion in the Venice Lagoon.
The exhibition features a large-scale model of a Pier 40 cultural, recreational and commercial complex, designed by noted Parisian architect Philippe Robert and proposed by New York developers C&K Properties and The Durst Organization.
The Cities on Water pavilion at the Architecture Biennale is part of the 9th International Architecture Exhibition — METAMORPH — which opened last month and runs through Nov. 7.
Pier 40, at the foot of W. Houston St., is part of the 5-mile-long Hudson River Park, from Battery Park to W. 59th St.
The C&K/Durst plan was one of several submitted in response to a request for expressions of interest issued by the Trust for the redevelopment of Pier 40. However, the Trust ended the process last year without selecting a developer.
“We are, of course, very gratified that the Biennale Commission has chosen our plan for the Cities on Water exhibition, which highlights promising designs for the transformation of urban waterfronts,” said Ben Korman and Meir Cohen, co-principals of C&K Properties, in a joint statement. “We are hopeful that the vision our plan encompasses will eventually make a contribution to the sound and productive use of Manhattan’s Hudson River shoreline.”
In Robert’s design, a number of small museums — “satellites” of larger cultural institutions elsewhere in Manhattan — would be clustered around park and recreational facilities. The design also incorporates a commercial component with environ-mentally friendly features.
Robert and Korman were scheduled to speak at the Cities on Water inauguration ceremonies Sept. 11.
C&K held the master lease for Pier 40 from 1997 to 2003.
