Renderings have been revealed the proposed design and master plan for the Owls Head Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Facility at 2 2nd Avenue in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Designed by Selldorf Architects in collaboration with Hazen and Sawyer, Brown and Caldwell, and SCAPE Landscape Architecture for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the facility is planned to yield a 24,750-square-foot head house to support a four-million-gallon underground tank, two acres of public waterfront, and the relocation and redesign of a salt shed for the New York City Department of Sanitation. The project, the second new facility of its type in the borough, would be built along the southern end of the Gowanus Canal on a narrow triangular peninsula, south of the CSO Red Hook site.
The main rendering above shows the head house that will serve as the main focal point above ground clad with a uniform façade of tubular cast-in-place concrete walls and large rectangular windows featuring the same fluted surface.
The following overall site plan for the Owls Head CSO Facility shows the triangular footprint formed by the Gowanus Canal to the north, 2nd Avenue to the east, and the 6th Street Turning Basin to the southwest.
Site plan courtesy of Selldorf Architects.
Below is a sectional rendering showing the above- and below-ground components of the development, the latter of which will contain the bulk of the project’s main function with storage tanks.
Sectional rendering courtesy of Selldorf Architects.
The remaining renderings highlight the neighborhood context along the Gowanus Canal and 2nd Avenue, as well as the nighttime lighting scheme for the facility.
Rendering courtesy of Selldorf Architects.
Rendering courtesy of Selldorf Architects.
Rendering courtesy of Selldorf Architects.
Plans for the public waterfront esplanade call for the city’s first ADA- accessible boat launch, community gathering spaces, and an amphitheater for outdoor performances with views across the Gowanus Canal. There will also be an educational interpretative program that will explain the facility’s function, the history of the canal, and the ongoing ecosystem restoration.
The site of the Owls Head CSO Facility has been classified as a superfund site since 2010 and falls within the Environmental Protection Agency’s Gowanus Canal clean-up plan. A few low-rise commercial structures would need to be razed before construction begins. When complete, the two CSO facilities will have the capacity to intercept and store up to 12 million gallons of sewage overflow during rain events and protect Gowanus Canal from pollution. More details about the first facility’s construction and design are available in YIMBY’s June 2023 update.
The nearest subways from the development are the F and G trains at the elevated Smith-9th Streets station to the south.
A start and completion date for the Owls Head CSO Facility has yet to be announced.
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Fluted surface on the building and the crosswalk have a similar appearance, which does not destroy the environment in any way: Thanks to Michael Young.
This project can now be canceled.
Start making the list now. This is day one of an impending catastrophe.
Let’s add the next four years of the United States of America to that list as well
A number of years ago, a similar project was carried out here in Flushing. Heavy rains caused sewage to overflow into Flushing Creek rendering it far more stinky than it is today. Athletic fields were created on ground level above the holding tank. This should be an improvement to the area.
To the 71 million people that voted for the orange Cheeto that’s been found liable for sexual abuse, has at least 26 sexual misconduct allegations, holds 34 felony counts, loves to spew racist and misogynistic rhetoric towards African Americans, Muslims, migrants, and women, is seeking to revoke numerous rights from the LGBTQ community, overturn marriage equality, destroy the planet, being impeached, incited for the violent & deadly January 6 insurrection, throws paper towels to hurricane victims, refuses to address gun control despite more than 450 mass shoutings in 2024 so far, and gives zero fucks overturning Roe vs. Wade, I hope you’re happy with who you voted for last night. Way to flusth America down the toilet for the second time and turning our country into a festering shithole of corrupt boomers herding 71 million brainwashed sycophants believing in upholding ‘Christian values’ and ‘making America great again…’
Sir, this is a Wendys drive thru….