WRT received the Honor Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (NJASLA) for the North Camden Waterfront Plan and the New Jersey Capital Park Master Plan.
"I believe it is a first in our awards program for one firm to receive two Honor Awards in the same year," noted the NJASLA Awards jury chair Roy H. DeBoer, FASLA, Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University.
The North Camden Waterfront Plan marks a milestone for the city of Camden as well as WRT, because this plan represents the extension of the 1981 award-winning WRT designed Wiggins Park and Waterfront Promenade that set the development framework for the revitalization of the Camden central waterfront. With State commitments to move the waterside prison north of the Ben Franklin Bridge, WRT was hired by the Cooper's Ferry Development Association with funds from the William Penn Foundation to create a park master plan that was rooted in a sustainability framework and community input. Community input was a primary driver of waterfront park programming, for which preferences were assessed through public meetings and surveys. A broad range of passive and active, youth, family and senior, destination, and community programs were indicated as preferential, and were incorporated into the overall plan.
"The plan for the North Camden Waterfront represents the continuity of WRT's long commitment to the revitalization of the Camden Waterfront," said WRT Principal Mami Hara. "Our efforts there began in the 1980s, with WRT's award-winning plan for the Central Camden Waterfront and Wiggins Park."
A commission that was the result of an international design competition, WRT was hired by the State of New Jersey, under Governor Corzine, to create capitol grounds and waterfront park master plan at the confluence of the Delaware River and the Assunpink Creek. The master plan is currently being implemented beginning with construction of Phase I of a new urban park between the Delaware River and the New Jersey State House. The plan provides a long-term strategy to revitalize downtown Trenton by reestablishing connections to the downtown and reclaiming Trenton's riverfront. The park will also leverage other ongoing projects in downtown Trenton including the proposed conversion of Route 29 Highway into a boulevard and development of a new riverfront neighborhood.
"The New Jersey Capital Park Master Plan provides a path to take the project from vision to reality," said WRT Senior Associate Yogesh Saoji. "The master plan showcases WRT's multidisciplinary, collaborative approach that brought together various stakeholders, jurisdictions, and projects to transform downtown Trenton’s historic and underutilized waterfront."
