HIDDEN URBAN GEMS
One of the things I love about New York is that this city always has one hidden gem to surprise you. Among all the types of places and according to your mood, you can find uncountable night spots to enjoy the urban life. From wide open lawns when you want to relax or having a picnic, to interactive spaces which make you feel as if you were at urban museums in open skies. New York urban design never disappoints. An example of interactive spaces is the exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3.
I found this exploratory labyrinth by accident. This happened at the end of a summer afternoon during my last day in New York City. That day, I decided to have a long and liberating walk across the Brooklyn Bridge crossing from Manhattan to Brooklyn. While I was walking over a bridge surrounded by tourists trying to capture the best photos and locals jogging in both ways, I had mixed feelings. I felt relief after finishing a month of unstoppable working days at Chinatown and nostalgic for leaving such an exciting city.
Brooklyn Bridge during summer
As I crossed over the East River, I felt the echo of my footsteps, that was the same path I walked during my first day in the city. This time my walk was kind of meditative and a way to give closure to an alternative route that I had decided to try in my life, just to realise that was not my path. At that day I felt I was finally coming to myself, I had regained the power of my time. I was going at my own pace and making time for what I enjoy the most, wander at foreing cities during the night.
EXPLORING THE NIGHT
At the end of my walk there was Dumbo as crowded as always, so I decided to go head to Brooklyn Heights crossing in between neighbourhoods to see the sunset from a quiet spot. I had taken this route many times over the summer and getting a chance to feel a quiet neighbourhood vibe, after a full day of hustle and bustle in Chinatown was always refreshing. As the sunset was beginning I decided to take a break in my walk to admire the landscape of lower Manhattan from Pier 5. Between the soccer fields and the border of the river there is a line of benches where you can have a quiet time to enjoy the calming sound of the East River while the buildings in the distance start to light up. Here, I felt mesmerised by how the night emerged in the waterfront while the soft summer breeze refreshed my body.
Entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3 – South walkaway
When the night turned into a deep blue I decided to come back to Dumbo but this time bordering the river. While I was wandering around the riverside, I felt attracted by an entrance framed with lighted columns which shaped square arches at Pier 3. Those columns guided what in the distance looked like a quiet natural park. So I entered the park guided by the vertical light that bordered the park. Somewhere in the middle of the walkway there were stairs leading up to a bowl-like lawn area. I went up feeling a little bit cautious since this place looked darker and lonely compared to the walkways around it.
As I entered the bowl-like lawn area, I discovered an open space guarded by shrubs which framed an amazing view of lower Manhattan waterfront. When I was in the lawn I realised how the dimmed light allowed visitors to feel as spectators in an urban theatre and the waterfront became the stage. The darkness in this spot made me feel as if I had all the place to myself. Then, I continued walking through the lawn feeling the soft grass under my feet. During this short journey I couldn’t take away my gaze over the night view of the buildings mainly lit by the light coming from indoors. Together those lights shaped the night silhouette.
Lower Manhattan view from the bowl-like lawn at Pier 3
While I was approaching the waterfront the light became brighter. I went down again to the walkway. There I found a young man riding his bike in circles over the paved surface while a young woman was contemplating the night landscape from the bench area. As I was walking by the border of the river I saw again a line of lit columns guiding the path, this time with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop.
HOW TO FIND A LABYRINTH
I continued bordering the park at the north boardwalk with the intention to leave Pier 3 when I saw a small path going inside the park. This time the trees around the path looked thicker and the light more dimmed than in the lawn area. Even though at the beginning I felt the path was not so welcoming, there was something about the shadow pattern casted by the leaves of the trees and a shining light at the end of the path that aroused my curiosity. So, in the same way Alice in Wonderland followed the white rabbit, I followed the patterns of light and shadow guided by my instinct.
Exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3
As I progressed on my walk I began to see more luminous areas where small white norays appeared grouped in different places. These elements contrasted with the dense foliage of trees lined up as a backdrop. As I got closer, these small norays shone as if emerging from the shadows. To my surprise, I found more people on the trails than on the park’s wider walkways, even though those areas were wider and more lit. After some time exploring the labyrinth and adapting my eyes to lower lighting levels, I perceived this place as a cosy and protected urban space where children, parents and young people walked and enjoyed every corner.
Exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3 “outdoor rooms”
As I followed the path I found what I perceived as urban living rooms and urban dining rooms. Those areas were small and open rooms divided by shrubs and furnitured with wooden logs and dining tables which transformed a park into a display of almost private rooms for all people’s public use. Even some rooms had stone sculptures which added character to the place and other spots had kind of bugles which unfortunately were not active at that moment.
Exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3, “walk-in kaleidoscope“
After some labyrinthic paths between rooms, I found myself in the middle of a clear area seeing a set of mirrors facing each other like the mirror mazes at amusement parks. After a while, when I was reading about this place, I discovered that this area is called a “walk-in kaleidoscope”. I walked around this space trying to gather my thoughts and asking myself how did I end up in that surreal place? At that moment I felt again like Alice but this time in what I experienced as Wondernight. Who had created this immersive scenario that made me embrace the urban night with the curiosity of a little girl?
Some weeks after I found this place, when I was searching for the history of this park, I realised most of the pictures displayed at websites -if not all of them- were taken during the day time. As I was going through those pictures I realised there was a lost in the mystic of the place that only can be appreciated during night. All the layers of shadow that I experienced at night in the labyrinth sank deeper into my experience of the place. I hope more people and especially more women dare to explore public spaces during night and embrace the whole urban experience.
At that moment I felt again like Alice but this time in what I experienced as Wondernight. Who had created this immersive scenario that made me embrace the urban night with the curiosity of a little girl?
OPEN SKIES CLASSROOMS
When I found my way out of the labyrinthic I felt transformed by the experience of the space. My perception of what an urban place is was expanded. That night brought me more inspirantion than many months working on my laptop and having work meetings. After having visited many urban spaces in different cities, I find dwelling in urban nighttime is the most stimulating classroom.
Since my sense of direction is pretty bad, I hope to continue getting lost at foreign cities to find myself in inspiring places such as the exploratory labyrinth. Do you dare to get lost in the urban night?
Night-time traveller
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