Sitting on 5.5 acres directly across from the Whitney Museum in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, Gansevoort Peninsula is a public outdoor setting unlike any other found throughout Hudson River Park. Developed on fill as opposed to a pier, the site pairs direct beach access to the Hudson River with restored salt marsh habitat and a wealth of community-focused recreation and relaxation opportunities. 

Working closely with the community through a series of well-attended public meetings and a design charrette, landscape architecture firm Field Operations developed a plan for Gansevoort Peninsula that includes a little bit of something for everyone. Weaving together active and passive uses, the park incudes a full-size soccer field that can double as a little league baseball field, a sand beach lined with Landscape Forms Stretch umbrellas and Loll Designs Adirondack chairs, a dog run, an outdoor gym, a large art installation titled "Day's End" by David Hammons, a concession space, and numerous places to sit, lounge, picnic and socialize.

Based on previous experiences designing the sought-after urban public spaces throughout Hudson River Park, Field Operations knew that achieving the right quantity and quality of seating was a key aspect of the Gansevoort Peninsula plan. "Looking at other spaces within Hudson River Park, there's probably about a million people always all trying to sit at once," says Cricket Day, Landscape Architect and Senior Associate at Field Operations. "So, the idea here was really to put in as much furnishing as possible."

To engineer and manufacture these key permanent site furnishings, Field Operations reached out once again to Landscape Forms’ Studio 431 custom division to take on the task.

"We were in contact with them super early on during design-development, we detailed our needs ahead of time, they knew what was coming down the pipeline, and they were ready for it when the bids went out. And they're always like that. It's pretty great," continues Day.

The Studio 431 team's work at Gansevoort Peninsula includes custom lounge benches strategically placed for visitors to enjoy stunning sunset views along the west side of the park, along with a range of custom backed and backless benches and a series of custom picnic tables. Crafted from powdercoated metal and Kebony, a sustainably sourced, naturally weathering outdoor wood, the custom seating solutions bring to Gansevoort Peninsula a distinctive sense of modern elegance with the robustness required for such a popular urban public park.

The unique custom design, however, did come with some unique challenges. "We have these really tall back benches in the dog run, the idea being that the backs would serve as part of the fence. But because of the height and the heft of the wood, Studio 431 anticipated some deflection in these pieces," Day describes.

Since its public opening in late 2023, Gansevoort Peninsula has gained quite the reputation - and not just for being Manhattan's first and only beach. In all its unique recreation opportunities, sought-after relaxation spaces, sprawling social settings, and rejuvenating natural spaces, it has succeeded in consistently connecting the community and drawing quite the crowd.

For this level of traffic as well as the additional weathering that waterfront settings need to endure, Tom Adams, Senior Project Manager at Hudson River Park Trust, is especially happy with the quality of the Studio 431 team’s work at Gansevoort.

"We needed furnishings that were beautiful yet also vandalism-resistant, skateboard damage-resistant, used sustainably sourced wood, and would be maintainable by us," Adams continues. "And Studio 431 delivered. The seating is noticeably custom, combining the robustness needed for a public park with the comfort that invites people to linger."

And people sure do linger. Adams notes, "During the winter, the seating is in use pretty much whenever it's above freezing, and during the summer, every spot is always spoken for."