Battery Park City Ball Fields & Community Center Resilience

The Battery Park City (BPC) Ball Fields and Community Center are a staple of recreation, sports, and community engagement within Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood. After Superstorm Sandy caused significant flood damage to the fields and community center, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) launched a resilience program to safeguard the neighborhood and vital community space. STV investigated design alternatives for floodwalls, deployable barriers and flood protection gate systems, providing full architectural, engineering and landscape architecture design services. The project features an 800-linear-foot independent flood barrier that surrounds the 80,000-square-foot community space. Permanent stormwater drainage improvements protect the entire site from future storm surges and sea level rise. An example of adaptive resilience and adaptive reuse, the design reuses existing foundations, underscoring BPCA’s commitment to sustainability and reducing environmental impact.