Little Island by Thomas Heatherwick

Until the early 20th century, ocean liners landed here. Now, in the same spot, New Yorkers can leave the mainland for a few hours. Little Island is the new attraction on Manhattan’s West Side. A green space on a stunningly shaped artificial island conceived by British architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick, Little Island rises from the Hudson River among the remains of the old Pier 54. Two pedestrian bridges, extensions of 13th and 14th Streets, guide visitors over to the green space, whose single hectare is just the size of two soccer pitches. 132 concrete supports with a diameter of 90 cm raise the landscape above the water and anchor it at a depth of up to 70 m. The various depths form the hilly topography of the park. In this video, Thomas Heatherwick elucidates the idea behind Little Island.

Heatherwick Studio is a team of over 180 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. Heatherwick Studio is focusing on large scale projects in cities all over the world, prioritise those with a positive social impact. Working as practical inventors with no signature style, the motivation is to design soulful and interesting places which embrace and celebrate the complexities of the real world. Their approach driving everything is to lead from human experience rather than any fixed design dogma.
The studio’s completed projects include a number of internationally celebrated buildings, including the recently completed Little Island at Pier 55, a new park and performance space in New York, the award-winning Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, Learning Hub at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Coal Drops Yard in London, and the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The studio is currently working on 30 live projects in ten countries. These include Lantern House, a new residential building for Related in Manhattan, mixed-use projects in Shanghai and Tokyo, as well as major new headquarters for Google in Silicon Valley and London (in collaboration with BIG).

Video: Simon Ng and Paul Westwood of Heatherwick Studio on their work on the Little Island project.

Read more in Detail 3.2022 and in our databank Detail Inspiration.