The climate-resilient Battery Playscape, opened to the public in December 2021, is a place to learn and imagine for children of all ages in Lower Manhattan. At once futuristic in appearance and grounded in local ecology, the new play space is part of the Battery Conservancy’s larger mission to revitalize The Battery, New York City’s oldest continually used public space.

BKSK Architects and Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects & Planners designed the 1.5-acre playground to promote environmental awareness and a sense of stewardship through sustainable, biodiverse, and water-conscious design. Five distinct ecology zones allow children and their caregivers to engage with natural elements and the realities of climate change. The Battery Playscape’s design demonstrates how playspaces in low-lying coastal communities susceptible to storm surges and inland flooding can adapt and work with these realities.

Maglin worked with BKSK Architects, Starr Whitehouse, and the Battery Conservancy to provide custom-built amenities to enhance this extraordinary space, including mirrored shade cloud canopies, laser-cut steel screens, and curved seating. Custom-fabricated steel benches weave through the multi-play environments and 40,000 square feet of gardens, including a selection of salt-tolerant, durable plants. Above the stone crevasses of the Bluff ecology zone stand the Maglin-fabricated mirrored Shade Clouds, which were precisely engineered to withstand high wind speeds.

Project Collaborators