Plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6 (right next Pier 5's soccer field) have been unveiled, and the area's new viewing platform is based on that iconic scene between Leo and Kate in Titanic. Why not.
Architect Bjarke Ingels of the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) calls the work: "Titanic moment," and it will give you a chance to bellow out to the borough: "I'm the King of Kings County!" And then you can sit in the grass and reflect on the deaths of the more than 1,500 people during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in modern history.
The new 17-foot high platform costs $8 million, but that's nothing compared to the $400,000,000 it would cost to recreate the entire Titanic today. The piece of raised landscape is privately funded, and will also include a wheelchair ramp, which Michael Kimmelman criticized in his NY Times piece, saying, "It’s only a pity that the required wheelchair ramp and its railing along the structure’s edge mean that the platform feels partly disconnected from the lawn." At least one Brooklyn Heights resident responded publicly, calling his remarks "obnoxious. Public spaces should be maximally inclusive, which includes wheelchair ramps and the concomitant railings. It’s not a 'pity,' it’s a good thing!"
The area around the raised platform will feature gardens, a flower meadow, sitting areas, and a pedestrian and bike path underneath it. Those will come from Brooklyn-based architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, whose fingerprints are all over Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Construction starts next year.
