Assemblage Awarded The GreenThumb Landscape Design Award
Assemblage is pleased to announce that we have been awarded the GreenThumb Landscape Design Award for the newly revitalized Dolly’s Park in Gowanus, Brooklyn. In its sixth year, the annual GreenThumb Awards are given in recognition of exceptional achievements that contribute to New York City as a greener, healthier, and more equitable place. As the design team for Dolly’s Park, we are thrilled to have contributed to this vital community space in the heart of Gowanus. We also extend our thanks to Avery Hall, Field Form, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, and the community volunteers for their contribution and support.
Dolly’s Park is a pocket park in the Gowanus, Brooklyn neighborhood that until recently had fallen into disrepair and was lacking green space. With much of the block slated to become new housing, the Park Board was motivated to reposition the park as a pocket of accessible nature within the community. Assemblage helped realize this vision with a design that emphasizes the local at all stages, from the selection of native flora for the garden plantings to locally salvaged materials for park amenities. Timbers from a former casket company were repurposed as distinctive benches and bricks were hand-salvaged to be repurposed as park pathways. Throughout the process, participation of volunteers was woven into the design outcomes. The result is a design that reflects community and resourcefulness.
GreenThumb’s is a New York City Parks initiative that provides programming and support to the over 550 community gardens in New York City. This wide-spread garden network is the largest community gardening program in the nation. GreenThumb gardens encompass a diversity of spaces from volunteer run community gardens to full fledged urban farms. The volunteer gardeners, training programs, and supportive resources offered through GreenThumb help sustain the ongoing care and development of the City’s community gardens as vital green spaces.
written for Assemblage by Lori Ball Horton