Domino Park is a public park in the Williamsburg neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It spans a quarter mile along the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

near the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

, at the

Domino Sugar Refinery The Domino Sugar Refinery is a mixed-use development and former sugar refinery in the neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York City, along the East River. When active as a refinery, it was operated by the Havemeyer family's Ame ...

site. Along the five-block riverside walk, various salvaged factory equipment is displayed, including four

syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...

collection tanks, that pay tribute to the history of the Domino Sugar Refinery. The park was designed by

James Corner Field Operations James Corner (born 1961) is a landscape architect and theorist whose works exhibit a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills Park on Staten Island and ...

, which also designed the

High Line The High Line is a elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Opera ...

, over the course of six years. Opened to the public in 2018, it is owned and operated by Two Trees Management, which spent roughly $50 million to construct it.

Attractions

The park features a children's playground,

dog run A dog park is a park for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners. Description Dog parks have varying features, although they typically offer a 4' to 6' fence, separate double-gated ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

court,

bocce (, or , ), sometimes anglicized as bocce ball, bocci or boccie, is a ball sport belonging to the boules family. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is closely related to British bowls and French , with a common ancestry from ancie ...

court, and a playing field. The volleyball court is partially meant to pay homage to the historical Latino population of Williamsburg, with whom the sport is popular. In a move to shift the burden of upkeep to the private sector, a small restaurant will be opened, offering

taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillin ...

s made of locally raised

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

, along with cocktails. An elevated walkway extends much of the length of the park, resembling the interior of the old refinery. The crane tracks that were used in the original refinery now houses gardens with roughly a hundred different species of plants. All wooden structures and chairs in the park were built using reclaimed wood from the refinery. At the southern end of the park are water jets making an illuminated dancing fountain display, shooting eight feet (2.5m) into the air. The playground was designed by artist Mark Reigelman. Named Sweetwater Playground, it is designed to resemble the sugar refining process. Reigelman wrote, "The idea is that a child enters as raw

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

and exits at the last portion of the playground as molasses, or sugar cubes." It is also partially built using reclaimed materials from the old refinery.

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

struck New York while the park was under construction in 2012. To safeguard against future storms, the park is located on an elevation well above the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

's flood elevation guidelines.

History

The park opened on June 10, 2018. the park had seen over 2 million visitors. The park was one of eight spaces nominated for that year's Urban Space Award hosted by the

Urban Land Institute The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as ...

. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Domino Park expanded a composting program after the city's own composting initiative was downsized due to the pandemic. "

Social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

" circles were also drawn on the park's green to encourage people to stay at least from each other, to control transmission of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

References

External links

* {{Protected areas of New York City 2018 establishments in New York City 21st century in Brooklyn Williamsburg, Brooklyn Parks in Brooklyn Urban public parks Pocket parks East River