With the downtown skyline in one direction and the New York Harbor in the other, the new playground at The Battery's Playscape is perfectly placed for kids to soak up the city, with a bit of nature too.
Playscape opened in December near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal — part of 25 acres of parkland at the southern tip of Manhattan.
What You Need To Know
- Playscape is the new playground at The Battery in Lower Manhattan
- It is three times the size of the old playground which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012
- Playscape features an amphitheater called ShowBox for puppet shows and other performances
- The playground is built with future severe storms in mind and has multiple tools to recover from flooding
“It’s really got a lot of wonderful aesthetic stimulation for children to discover, and to come back, and to really become something that is a real balance to the rest of their day,” Warrie Price, president and founder of the The Battery Conservancy, said.
The $18 million project is an oasis for kids with its treehouses, slides made of granite from the Adirondacks, and a sand play area with hidden sculptures for kids to find.
Playscape is three times the size of the old playground — which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
It was created with future storms in mind. Beneath a climbing structure that’s also seating for ShowBox, an improv theater designed for puppet shows and other performances, is a 30,000 gallon tank to hold water to alleviate flooding. There are also rain gardens to soak up water — keeping it out of the sewer system and harbor during big rain events. Even the myriad of plants are salt tolerant.
“You can’t be flood resistant, the waters will come, so we accommodate the waters with this new plan that you see today,” Price said.
Playscape isn’t only storm resilient, it teaches kids about the ecology all around them amid the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan.
“Where else do you have a moment to be able to see out to that harbor, the wonderful Seaglass Carousel and what we call our paradise of plants,” Price said, referring to the other attractions of the park she has helped care for over the past 28 years.