First Avenue Water Plaza

First Avenue Water Plaza was designed to offer visitors varied experiences of water while seamlessly integrating the project’s robust technical and aesthetic demands. The plaza illustrates our team’s commitment to building sustainable, accessible, and innovative public spaces within the New York metro area.

SCAPE responded to several challenges that were intrinsic to the site. Steps from the East River, the plaza needed to help the neighborhood manage storm impacts while appreciating the waterfront views. It needed to create a verdant respite for residents while managing the exhaust and noise from nearby FDR Drive. It had to support plant life and drainage above an underground parking structure. And finally, it needed to feel like a welcoming, playful gathering space for the neighborhood.

The resulting plaza is layered with subtle solutions woven into its beauty. Each element of the design is multi-functional, helping the neighborhood adapt to a changing climate while enriching daily life.

The landscape radiates from an interactive central scrim fountain, a shimmering plane of water that mitigates the noise of the highway, cools the plaza, covers underground stormwater retention infrastructure, and draws in visitors.

Banquette benches are designed to provide space for lounging, informal gathering, and group conversation. Made of wood and perforated Corten steel, the benches complement the façade of the surrounding American Copper Buildings, and activate the plaza in the evening hours through a playful lighting pattern.

The plaza material palette expands into the streetscape along 35th and 36th, creating an active and lush public ream that covers an underground parking structure. The resulting site helps protect the building from stormwater and coastal flooding threats, while giving more space for relaxation and play to neighbors, birds, and insects.