Teardrop Park

Story

Teardrop Park is a public park in lower Manhattan, in Battery Park City, near the site of the World Trade Center. It was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, a New York City landscape architecture firm. The park includes art designed for it by Ann Hamilton. The park sits between residential buildings toward the north end of Battery Park City at the corner of Warren Street and River Terrace. The creation of Teardrop Park is part of the ongoing construction of Battery Park City, a neighborhood on the southwest edge of Manhattan Island that was created in the 1970s by landfilling the Hudson River between the existing bulkhead and the historic pierhead line. Before construction, the site was empty and flat. The park was designed in anticipation of four high residential towers that would define its eastern and western edges. Although Teardrop Park is a New York City public park, the client for the park was the Battery Park City Authority, and maintenance is overseen by the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy.The park opened on September 30, 2004, and is one of several in Battery Park City. Located near Rockefeller Park, which has a popular playground with standard equipment, Teardrop Park was designed in collaboration with play experts from the Natural Learning Initiative to complement rather than replicate the existing play area. Teardrop's play elements are integrated into the landscape to allow city children to interact with natural materials such as water, plants, rock, and sand. Teardrop Park was praised for its use of natural plantings in a children's park. One article described the park as being crowded with children and parents, jampacked with experience, and offering a welcome naturalistic retreat from the city. Another critic said the park was barely used because it didn't offer enough things to do. A subsequent article, written by child development experts who helped design the park, said a study indicated that the park is well used, and "deserves to be praised as a successful public space."