Chapter 02 / DataBarge
A public river.
A working machine.
A public waterfront above a working machine. Linked floating sections combine submerged data halls with planted walks, cycleways and a field of light.
Open the interactive model
Infrastructure with a public address.
DataBarge revisits the 2012 River Run proposal through New York’s interrupted waterfront. Secured data halls sit below the waterline. Above them, a planted public deck carries separate walking and cycling routes, integrated seating, floating root gardens and slender lights that emerge at dusk.
Linked sections test how a floating building might join two public places. The Newtown Creek and Gowanus studies make the idea spatially inspectable, including where its current dimensions conflict with the site.
An architectural prototype in development. Public endpoints, site control, flotation, cooling performance, navigation clearance and ecological treatment remain to be established.
Explore Chapter 2
- 01
Architectural model
Orbit the linked sections, inspect the submerged halls, change the light and download the model.
- 02
New York site studies
Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal, at full modeled scale, through a day and into the night.
- 03
Waterfront access atlas
Eleven Brooklyn and Queens corridors. Existing breaks, planned connections and questions for a site walk.
- 04
Architectural diagrams
Public and staff routes, flotation, cooling, living roots and the connection to the shore.
- 05
Prototype investment case
The civic proposition, candidate contexts, pilot work plan and partner roles. Includes the downloadable PDF.
- 06
Archive & design notes
The 2012 River Run proposal and the ideas carried into its 2026 reinterpretation.
