Designers: Help the Gowanus Canal Conservancy Craft a New Vision for the Waterway

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — The Gowanus Canal Conservancy is hiring a new Project Director, one who will lead a design competition focused on forging a unified vision for the waterway's emerging open spaces. The Conservancy is a non-profit dedicated to the environmental preservation and restoration of the industrial waterway.

The design competition will culminate in the Conservancy's "Gowanus Greenscape Vision." Conservancy director Andrea Parker described the effort as "a community vision for open space around the canal."

"There's been a lot of work that the community's been doing over the past five to ten years about what our vision is for the future of the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding area," she explained, adding that the neighborhood will likely soon undergo a rezoning, itself the focus of the ongoing Gowanus PLACES community planning effort led by the city.

The Greenscape Vision project, Parker said, will be run independently from the PLACES study, but aims to compliment it.

"It's not about building heights or any of that," Parker said of her project. "It's really about the waterfront esplanades that are probably going to emerge from a rezoning, and how those knit into a comprehensive network of open spaces," one that also ties into parks and streets.

There is no set time frame for the production of the Greenscape Vision, Parker said. The job of the Project Manager will be to lead the collection and evaluation of design proposals the Conservancy receives. The position may continue on after the project has been completed, though Parker said that has yet to be determined.

According to a job description put up by the Conservancy, "The ideal candidate is a city planner or designer with excellent management and communication skills, extensive experience working in the NYC public realm, with diverse agencies and stakeholders, and in community design processes; and who has a proven passion for design excellence." Salary will be based on experience, Parker added.

Those interested in applying should send a cover letter, a resume, work samples and three references to andrea@gowanuscanalconservancy.org. Applications should be submitted as soon as possible, as the organization hopes to bring someone on within a month, Parker said.

You can read more about the position online.

Pictured at top: debris removal gets underway on the Gowanus Canal. Photo by John V. Santore