Underwear Factory Green Infrastructure Project: Signage

The Fall Kill Plan has its first pocket park!

The Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory is a now-vacant mill formerly powered by the Fall Kill Creek. Soon, the site will offer a gathering space for the Middle Main neighborhood, and send cleaner water into the waterway.

The site is currently being rehabilitated by Hudson River Housing into mixed-income residential units with a first-floor commercial space slated to include community-centered programming. To develop public spaces along the Fall Kill Creek, environmental engineering firm eDesign Dynamics have created “an array of “Green Infrastructure” practices along the Fall Kill Creek in the Middle Main neighborhood of Poughkeepsie, NY. The proposed system includes routing stormwater to landscaped areas that will retain and treat the runoff before it enters the Fall Kill or storm sewer system. The stormwater will be managed through a variety of practices such as enhanced tree pits and permeable paving, all connected to a bioretention area with diverse native wetland plantings. Once completed, the historic building, adjacent green spaces, and stream access will provide public attractions and examples of forward-thinking redevelopment planning… The intervention at this site was further justified in “The Fall Kill Plan,” prepared by Clearwater in 2012, which describes the Underwear Factory as one of eleven pocket parks and one of five areas to be designated as pathways for a publicly accessible walkway along the creek.” – Clearwater.

The Urban Landscape Lab and LandMINE studio have designed and fabricated signage for a Green Infrastructure garden at the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory. Text and graphics describing the history of the Underwear Factory and its link to the Fall Kill Creek are cast into concrete pavers that allow access to the garden, and create a gathering space for conversation, play and events.

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Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory/Fall Kill Green Infrastructure Project

Project Team:
- eDesign Dynamics, LLC (Project leader and lead applicant): a NYC-based environmental engineering firm specializing in low-impact development, water resources planning, and habitat restoration.
- Hudson River Housing, and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater: a nonprofit, member-supported corporation whose mission is to preserve and protect the Hudson River
- The Fall Kill Watershed Committee, a volunteer-based watershed advisory board
- Urban Landscape Lab, an inter-disciplinary applied research group at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation that is focused on the role of design in urban ecosystems
- LandMINE Studio, a project of architect Alice Feng who specializes in ecologically engaged designs that are responsive to the surrounding cultural context
- http://www.hudsonriverhousing.org/, which is dedicated to eliminating the devastating consequences of homelessness and ensuring that decent, affordable housing is available for all people throughout Dutchess County.

Urban Landscape Lab team:
- Janette Kim, Director
- Michael Schissel, Project Manager
- Josh Draper, Fabrication Consultation

Fabrication Consultant:
Josh Draper

Contractor:
Siegrist Construction

Project Completion:
February 2014

Project Funding:
The project was funded by the Hudson River Estuary Program, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, with support from the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (NYS DEC), in cooperation with New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC): see announcement.