BIG set to "reanimate" 1950s power plant on Scape-designed park

Architecture studio BIG has unveiled plans to adapt a decommissioned power plant in Connecticut, USA, into a community centre on a site to be reimagined by landscape studio Scape.

The project on Manresa Island – a peninsula that juts into the Long Island Sound outside of Norwalk, Connecticut, will see the overhaul of a 1950s power plant that was decommissioned in 2013, after sustaining critical damage from Hurricane Sandy.

It will form the centrepiece of Scape's scheme, which will see the landscaping of 125 acres of land on the site, including remediation as the site was subject to repeated spills and damage from the coal and oil-run power plant.

The structure itself will be transformed into a community centre by BIG.

Renderings show three glass-and-steel buildings with overhangs on the ground floors supported by thin pilotis and topped with green roofs.

Interior features include swimming pools and a series of terraces that jut out from the largest of the structures.

The large smokestack on the site will be kept, with BIG founder Bjarke Ingels likening it to a "post-modern cathedral".

"Manresa Island is set to become a much-needed foothold for the public along the otherwise rather privatized Connecticut coastline," said Ingels.

"With our vision for the powerplant, we seek to rediscover and reanimate the majestic spaces hidden within the bones of the decommissioned piece of infrastructure. Boilers, silos, and turbine halls are postindustrial cathedrals awaiting exploration and reinterpretation," he continued.

"By editing rather than adding, we will open up and clear out the existing spaces so that the once coal-powered plant can become the framework for the social and cultural life of Manresa's future – from energy infrastructure to social infrastructure."

Scape's landscaping will feature a semi-circular terrace that radiates down from the BIG buildings toward the waterfront, which will undergo a thorough restoration to mitigate the damage from the industrial spills and other contaminants.

According to Scape, despite the contamination, some species of trees such as birch and animals such as osprey have thrived on the site since the closure more than a decade ago. It has remained closed to the public as well.

"It's just incredible that this private industrial parcel – which has pockets of rocky coastline, thriving wetlands, sandy beaches, and shady woodlands – is going to be healed and made public for all to enjoy," said Scape founding principal Kate Orff.

"We are thrilled to champion a project that will set a benchmark for the adaptive reuse of industrial sites and resilient waterfronts globally."

Renderings show a series of elevated walkways crisscrossing wetlands in order to provide circulation for the community while maintaining the integrity of the environment.

The project is being supported by locals Austin and Allison McChord and non-profit Manresa Island Corp, which are working on acquiring the land from developers Argent Ventures, who had planned to convert the area into private housing.

Similar projects include an eco-park under construction on the site of a Foster + Partners-designed airport in Mexico City and a series of oil silos converted into community spaces in China.

The images are courtesy of Scape and BIG unless otherwise noted

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