Ashley Kelly (l.) and Rikako Wakabayashi view their winning design, "Mapping the Ecotone."A stretch of the beleaguered Gateway National Recreation Area in Brooklyn will get a makeover - courtesy of two recent college grads.
Former University of Michigan college classmates Ashley Kelly, 22, and Rikako Wakabayashi, 23, drafted the winning proposal to remodel the 1,358-acre Floyd Bennett Field - a former municipal airport that was the city's first - using a system of jetties and piers to emphasize the area's waterfront along Jamaica Bay.
The winning team spent three months creating "Mapping the Ecotone," which includes a tidal pool, pedestrian bridges and a channel that cuts into the park and is equipped to handle rising sea levels.
The 26,000-acre Gateway park, which spans portions of Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey, was ranked as "poor" in nearly every category of the State of the Parks report released last month by the National Parks Conservation Association.
"Gateway was probably the most needy park in the national park system," said Alexander Brash, the group's regional director. "We felt one of the biggest holdbacks was that there was no clear vision."
The Envision Gateway competition, sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association, Columbia University and the Van Alen Institute, provided that focus, Brash said.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE?
Although Ashley Kelly and Rikako Wakabayashi's design won the contest for remodeling Floyd Bennett Field, you can weigh in by voting online for your favorite design among the six finalists on the Web at www.npca.org/gateway
