The Davis Center at the Harlem Meer

The opportunity to design the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer began with an initial collaboration between Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture • Design and the Central Park Conservancy in the development of a concept design for the site. The resulting design and overall vision for the project was then endorsed by the City and the collaboration continued through project completion with the addition of Mitchell Giurgola Architects as the executive architect.

The Davis Center is distinctive in its unique ability to transform seasonally—a pool in the summer, rink in the winter and open turf in the spring and fall—three buildings in one. Creating seamless connections to the landscape and community, the design weaves together interior and exterior space to encourage a broad range of public engagement throughout the year. 

The interior of the building responds to the programmatic change of the monumental outdoor room with amenities that support seasonal recreational activities, including changing rooms in the summer and skate rentals in winter. An interior public gathering space unifies the experience opening up to the exterior with a transparent wall of center pivot floor-to-ceiling glass panels that frame views of the surrounding area with its seasonal change of activity and Central Park landscape. 

The space is completed by an arced stone wall washed by daylight from a skylight to the east that echoes the curved form, a ceiling of radiating Douglas fir fins with a triangulated articulation of the structural system above and ceramic tile walls capping each end of the space. A similarly arced passageway through the building provides access to the array of support functions. Its crenelated ceiling and wall are punctuated by historic photographic murals of the park.

The Davis Center at the Harlem Meer was inspired by Central Park’s monumental and historic landscape and the potential to reconnect the park to the Harlem community. The project responds to the topography and the curvilinear geometry of the landmarked Park and builds upon the historical framework and aspirations envisioned by Olmsted and Vaux. In their own words, “The primary purpose of the Park is to provide the best practicable means of healthful recreation for the inhabitants of the city.” A 21st-century overlay to the site, the design celebrates the natural world and local culture by transforming the site and re-opening up the Park to the Harlem community.

The design reimagines eight acres of the northern end of Central Park to create a new recreational experience that is accessible to the public throughout the year and heightens the sense of place within the Park. The unique geometry and topography of the site informed the design and inspired the fundamental design strategy of fusing architecture and landscape. 

The new building sits within the curvilinear geometry of the historic Park Drive. Integrated into the steep topography of the site, the design seamlessly blends the building into the Park’s natural setting with the landscape and park pathways extending across a green roof that effectively covers the entire building. Additional pathways are extended that weave in and through the building and surrounding site. 

Conceived as a full transformation of the site, the project reconstitutes the historic watercourse and pedestrian connection to the southern part of the Park and establishes a boardwalk along the adjacent Meer shoreline. Underpinning the renewal of the site and the integration of the building into the topography is a sustainable design strategy that repairs the damaged park ecology, hydrology and circulation.

The design of the Davis Center is the culmination of a collaboration between STR|A•D, Mitchell Giurgola Architects, and the Central Park Conservancy as both the owner and landscape architect. This very public and collaborative process included not only the design team but also local community members, city officials and Park leadership. Engaging neighboring communities and integrating their feedback into the project was a priority throughout the design process. Residents of all ages and interests participated in establishing design objectives related to program, site ecology, and accessibility. Informed by personal, cultural and historical ties to the site, stakeholders formed collective goals to remove existing ecological obstacles, prioritize recreational use at the site and enhance the Park experience by reintroducing the watercourse and pedestrian connections to the rest of Central Park.

Like much of STR | A·D’s work, the Davis Center is designed at the intersection of architecture and the public realm. Inspired by the confluence of history, site, program, and the relationship of interior and exterior space, the project reflects the studio’s emphasis on connecting people to place and to each other through an architecture of interpretation. 

With many of the studio’s projects located in powerful landscapes, the design process aims to forge deep and meaningful connections to the natural conditions and cultural characteristics of a site. Enhancing awareness of the unique qualities of place, whether rural landscape or a dense urban context, STR | A·D seeks to create an architecture that is fused with its surroundings and the natural world. Located within Central Park—a site that uniquley embodies both urban intensity and expansive landscape—the Davis Center represents the ultimate sythnesis of these two contexts. It exemplifies a sustainable, context-driven approach that builds lasting relationships between architecture, landscape and community.

Email interview conducted by John Hill.