HR Ballfield is done! HR Basketball is not...

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The ballfield has been accepted by the Parks Department, and practically all work has been completed. It's not open to the public yet but should be pretty soon. The turf looks great, and while I haven't played on it yet, it feels good under foot. Much better than other types of synthetic I've seen.

Here's the view from the bleachers at home plate. Notice the overlap of mesh in the upper left corner -- that's one of the details the contractor still has to straighten out before they can close out the job.




















I wish I could say the same for the basketball... they have made a lot of progress in the last couple weeks, but I would say at least a month before they get close to finishing.










You can see they have blacktop down now over most of the site, but this is just the binder course -- goes underneath what you actually walk on. They can't put down the top course until the big sports lights go in, so waiting for those is holding everything up.

They do have most of the plants in, which is fortunate since we're now in July (supposed to be done in the spring), curbs and concrete work all done, fencing practically done, and of course the chess table is in if anyone wants to come challenge me to a game. Note that for now we'll have to stand up to play.

harlem ballfield almost done...

The ballfield is cruising right along towards an (almost) on-time completion. It should be open to the public within a couple weeks tops.

The turf was put in all at once and as of this writing is nearly complete. It took them about a week to lay the actual turf, although preparing the ground and utilities has taken a couple months. As you can see from the image, they lay the turf down in giant strips, then connect the strips together. After this is all complete they will add the rubber particles and tamp it all down.





















Here's a closeup of the turf... I used a new type of turf that is much more like real grass, you can see the individual strands here. To my knowledge it hasn't been used in NYC yet so we'll see how it does, but it seems great so far.

The lines were an interesting challenge also. The white fibers of this line are extruded right alongside their green neighbors, so it's seamless. In other places, however, I had lines going at angles or even in arcs (thank you soccer). Those lines had to be cut in and glued on.



















Once the field is complete, we're just down to the details on the perimeter. Walking in front of me here is Heather, our resident engineer on the project who will ensure those details are executed correctly.



















Almost there! I've heard that the community is very excited to start using the field. Now that the turf is going in people stop frequently to ask when they can try it out. Won't be long now.

new project coming up: morningside playground

Morningside Park is linear, 13 blocks long and less than a block wide, situated just north of Central Park and next to Columbia University. It was originally designed by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, but heavily modified in the '50s by Robert Moses' people to accommodate active recreation. One of those Moses-era "improvements" was to cram a huge concrete slab into what was previously a naturalistic open lawn with large-stature trees. This slab held a playground, spray shower, sandbox, basketball courts, and a bathroom/maintenance building, among other items. Now, over fifty years later, it's fallen into heavy disrepair.
















view of the slab from the street... complete with attractive chainlink fence













shot of the south end of the slab. it extends for about three city blocks north. my site is in the foreground, right about where that little evergreen tree is (it will be transplanted, don't worry).

So it's been my honor and challenge for the past few months to design a new playground that will be lots of fun for the increasing numbers of neighborhood kids, but also fit in with the historic landscape. In the process I get to demolish about half of that evil slab and restore it to lawn with big trees, with my (much smaller) playground tucked in at the south end. The other half of the slab will be addressed in a future phase.

Here's my plan...














view from above. because of large elevation change between street and park, this playground will have several levels. you can also see here the big play equipment thing I designed, some smaller pieces for younger kids on the right, a big spray shower (orangey area) with waterfall off that top level. this playground will also have lots of natural stone -- you can see some of the climbing boulders there in the bottom center which came from the park -- and lots of planting, not shown so much here.














view from the street. behind the playground is a huge cliff, on top of which is Columbia.















inside the playground.


















spray shower... it's changed a bit since this early image but you get the idea.

ok, that's probably too much info on this one... but I've been working on it for awhile. it goes out to bid in a few days, and if we get a good bid -- construction should start in another couple months.

harlem river basketball also progressing...

This project is less complex than the ballfield, but some labor issues with the contractor caused them to fall way behind for a while. Fortunately they have put forward a huge effort recently and were helped by some unseasonably good weather here in NY, so now they are almost back on schedule.

















Like the ballfield, they now have all the curbs in place.





















One side is a moderately large retaining wall which was a little tricky. It was almost done when I took this photo so it should be complete by now. I'm sure it'll be a great canvas for graffiti, like every wall in the city, but that is the way it must be. Hey, maybe it'll be cool graffiti.

And finally, a couple shots from the groundbreaking ceremony in November...

















Before the program started, Parks Commissioner Benepe led the waiting masses in a rousing chorus of the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song. I guess his kids like the show a lot... so apparently he pulls that out sometimes when there are lots of kids present. I was honored to have my park qualify as SBSP-worthy.


















Here's Comm Benepe with local residents and various politicians digging the ceremonial first shovelful. The residents seemed pretty excited for their new park. We'll see how they like the Yawning Chasm of Doom that I slipped into the contract at the last second.

harlem riv baseball in progress

May not look like much, but they've completed most of the removals and installed nearly all the curb. This all takes a fair amount of work, and once complete, sets the stage for the good stuff that's coming.






















nice straight curb, they did a pretty good job on these. you can see it is pre-cored for the fenceposts.

















curb crew hard at work

















remember those ugly bleachers from the previous post? this is all that's left. The plywood box contains the electricals and have been weatherproofed. At first they tried removing this with a handheld jackhammer... after a day of that and getting almost nowhere through the thick concrete, they got a big jackhammer that connects to a backhoe. Then it was like cutting through butter.

Overall they're a little behind schedule at this point but I am not worried yet. They're working hard to get back on track. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.