Bush Terminal – Pier 6
Bush Terminal – Pier 6 transforms a deteriorated solid-fill pier on the Sunset Park waterfront into an engaging new open space for neighborhood residents and tenants of the nearby MADE Bush Terminal Campus, opening the waterfront to the surrounding community for the first time in decades.
Once a busy industrial hub, Pier 6 has gone unused for years. Today, an emergent forest ecosystem has taken root on the pier, scattered with industrial remains and opening up to expansive views of New York Harbor and Manhattan. This $25 million construction investment preserves the emergent, self-seeded forest at the end of the pier and creates resilient, engaging spaces throughout the site, providing safe waterfront access and magnifying a rich industrial and ecological history.
The resilient waterfront park includes playful pockets that serve as a gathering space, dining area, and outdoor classroom; a tide pool area; three connected lawns; and boardwalks. The design also references regional ecosystems, incorporates an intertidal shoreline experience, and prioritizes a native plant palette that preserves and enhances biodiversity. By incorporating new strategies for managed erosion, the natural emergent habitat at the end of the pier will adapt and transform with rising sea levels. The creative reuse of materials found on the site honor the pier’s industrial past and lower the project’s carbon footprint. Pier 6 builds on New York City Economic Development Corporation’s (NYCEDC’s) investments in its industrial assets by providing a public “front porch” to the MADE Campus open space and waterfront access for the Sunset Park community.
The safe, accessible waterfront park offers pockets of space to gather, relax, and access the water throughout the site.
Encased by stepped seating, the tide pool provides waterfront access, creating a place of discovery for all ages.
The boardwalk on Pier 6 allows visitors to meander throughout the park and look over the water and city skyline.
The boardwalk on Pier 6 allows visitors to meander throughout the park and look over the water and city skyline.
Client
NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
Collaborators
Arcadis
Matrix
Sam Schwartz Engineers
Johnson & Asberry
JK Muir
Awards
NYC Public Design Commission (2025)