A new marine science-themed playground is on its way to Hudson River Park’s Pier 26. Thanks to the generosity of our Park community — and a historic $1.3 million Challenge Match by HRPK Friends Board Chair, Michael E. Novogratz — the Friends Pier 26 Science Play Area Capital Campaign raised more than $3.5M to fund construction of an innovative play space where children will learn, explore and be inspired by wildlife and the Hudson River habitat.
This one-of-a-kind future playground brings together the teams behind beloved HRPK destinations — OLIN, the landscape architects who designed the award-winning Pier 26 and MONSTRUM, the play equipment designers behind the popular Chelsea Waterside Park Play Area’s pipefish.
The centerpieces of the Pier 26 Science Play Area are two larger-than-life interactive play structures in the forms of an Atlantic sturgeon and a short-nosed sturgeon that visitors can climb inside and explore. Designed to spark the imagination of children as they play and discover Hudson River wildlife and habitat, this playground will be a valuable resource for learning and play for NYC families. It will also serve as the outdoor extension of the environmental programming at the ecology focused-Pier 26 and the future Hudson River Park Estuarium.
We are thrilled to help bring this community resource for learning and play to NYC families. We are grateful to our Capital Campaign Co-Chairs — Hunter Philbrick and Clementine Drackett, and Haley and David Schwartz — as well as all of our generous Capital Campaign Supporters who helped make this playground possible. We are still accepting Capital Campaign donations for the in-play area Donor Wall. Please reach out to Eliza Kinsolving at [email protected] or 646-599-8793 about opportunities for a plaque in the name(s) of you, your family, your children or another loved one for the lifetime of the play area.
Construction is set to begin in 2022, and we look forward to sharing more updates as this playground takes shape.