The Wharf’s 7th Street Park and Recreation Pier

The Wharf’s 7th Street Park and Recreation Pier draws a diverse mix of locals, visitors, and wildlife to a playful meeting point: a site that conceptually reflects the rise and fall of rolling current. A reimagined waterfront invites people to the water’s edge, uplifting spirits through accessible play and immersion in the local ecosystem. At the center of a mile long mixed-use development, the project evokes imagery of both water and shipbuilding and an ecology that filters stormwater and regenerates the natural habitat. After generations of limited water access in Washington, D.C., its resounding popularity reveals the impact of building an inviting community place and the innate desire to occupy the intersection of land and water.

The 7^th Street Park and Recreation Pier is situated at the heart of the District Wharf, a vibrant 24-acre development on the Washington Channel in DC. The project connects the city to the water at the urban street grid extension of 7^th Street, SW. This extension supports the National Capital Planning Commission’s vision to connect downtown D.C. and the National Mall to its rivers. The site has a storied history with the water’s edge, where public access to the water was restricted for generations. 

The Landscape Architect brought the client’s vision of a healthy, waterfront district to life, connecting the water to the city. In an intensive, community-driven design effort, the design uses playful elements to draw a diverse community together in a fresh natural setting at the water’s edge. Design methods included hand sketching and 3D programs like Rhino and Grasshopper to investigate the subtleties of site grading and universal accessibility with sculptural built form. The result is a novel pier design that evokes the soft, undulating geometries of gentle waves.

The Park is a green threshold between Maine Avenue and the water. A resilient mix of canopy trees offers dappled light on a sloped lawn, used for exercise, sunning, and informal gathering. The shared street around the park prioritizes pedestrians, and at its center is an oval lawn that slopes from a high point at its northern end to a rain garden with riparian planting at the southern end to cleanse the site’s stormwater.

A tall shade structure is a place to pause with an overlook to the water adjacent to an interactive fountain. The pier is crescent shaped, extending the pedestrian movement of the park’s curvilinear pathways to the water. The pier consists of an upper, undulating fixed level and a lower floating dock. The pier meets the bulkhead at its northern end and descends into a saddle at the midpoint, before rising again to its upper terminus. The saddle serves as a point to reach the water, with a metal gangway that leads to the lower floating dock for accessible kayak rental. The decking material is Kebony, which uses an environmentally friendly process that thermally modifies sustainable softwood. An innovative installation made it possible to bend the wood into a series of radii, creating the sweeping sloped surfaces and climbing wall. The pier’s western side has wooden benches, custom swings set in parabolic frames, and light fixtures that lead to a 14-foot-high custom fire sculpture affectionately named, the Torch, serving as a nightly beacon attracting people in all seasons.

This project supports the Wharf’s vision for a sustainable neighborhood and waterways by improving the surrounding habitat. Floating wetlands anchored to the east of the pier help dissipate and cleanse water from an existing 90” stormwater outfall that runs under the park and exits at the bulkhead beneath the overlook. Native riparian plantings recall the site’s ecological roots and provide a juvenile habitat for both aquatic organisms and various waterfowl.

The intergenerational and equitable design elicits joy from strolling and sliding on the sloped surfaces or swinging with friends, comfortable for all who visit as a much-needed place of community gathering and events. This project is lively and unexpected, helping people see each other and the environment around them anew.

• Michael Vergason, FASLA - Landscape Architect
• Beata Boodell Corcoran, ASLA - Principal
• Perkins Eastman, PLLC - Architect
• The SK&A Group - 7th Street Park Structural Engineer
• Clark Construction Group, LLC - 7th Street Park Contractor
• Lynch & Associates, Ltd. - 7th Street Park Irrigation
• Moffat & Nichol - Marine Engineer
• Cianbro Corporation, Inc. - Recreation Pier Contractor
• C.M. Kling + Associates, Inc. - Lighting
• Fluidity Design Consultants LLC - Water Features
• Kusser FountainWorks - Water Features
• Heller and Metzger, PC - Sustainable Design Advisor
• Biohabitats, Inc. - Floating Wetlands
• Gutierrez Studios - Swings and Railings
• Fire Features - Fire Sculpture

Products

• Furniture
• Lumber/Decking/Edging
• Water Management/Amenities
• Hardscape
• Lighting
• Other