Imagining Gowanus With a Starbucks and H&M

The Brooklyn Paper reports on the winners of a contest sponsored by the firm Gowanus by Design that invited applicants to come up with ideas for re-imagining Gowanus with the “dynamic, pedestrian-oriented architecture that engages with the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding watershed.” The first-place winner, “Gowanus Flowlands,” proposes using oyster beds to remove toxic chemicals and “includes a lily pad-dotted water basin that sits between a Starbucks and an H&M.” The second-place design, “[f]lowline,” imagines neighborhood barges “retrofitted with public programs such as clubhouses.” Of course, we’re not likely to see the plans implemented any time soon. Andrew Simons of Gowanus Canal Conservancy tells the Brooklyn Paper that while the “designs are interesting blue-sky ideas” they’re “not going to happen in your lifetime or mine.”
Competition Winners [Gowanus by Design]
Latest Big Dreams for Gowanus Revealed! [Brooklyn Paper]