Construction Kickoff for Tribeca's Sturgeon-Themed Playground

Concept rendering from animated video depicts the new playground south of Pier 26, with its sturgeon-inspired play equipment. Inside, children can interact with stylized representations of major organs. Credit: Olin/Monstrum

Officials broke ground Wednesday on a sturgeon-themed play space coming next year to Tribeca’s Pier 26, the Hudson River Park’s ecologically themed pier. Two pieces of play equipment, sculpted in the form of two endangered species, the Atlantic sturgeon and its smaller cousin the short-nosed sturgeon, will invite kids to climb, slide down and explore inside the structures where they will find interactive, stylized representations of major organs.

Engravings will also be installed on the sturgeon to teach kids facts about how these fish breathe, protect themselves from predators and navigate through the Hudson in search of food, a Trust spokesperson said. Poles that rise above the play area are meant to recall the reeds that grow along the sturgeon’s home on the river-bottom. The area also will be landscaped with trees and other plantings.

The 4,000-square-foot site is the intended home of a long-sought river study center. In September, the Hudson River Park Trust awarded a design contract for the center, known as the Estuarium, which will be a place for science research and public education on river ecology. The Trust says that it has identified sources for about half of the building’s estimated $30 million cost.

The play structures, designed by Pier 26 landscape architects Olin, are currently being fabricated by the Danish firm Monstrum, which specializes in whimsical playground equipment.

Hudson River Park Friends, the Trust’s nonprofit advocacy and fundraising partner, raised nearly $4 million for construction of the play area, with former Friends’ Chair Mike Novogratz providing a $1.3 million match for private donations.