Davids Island in New Rochelle, New York

Davids Island is a 78-acre (315,655 SQM) island off the coast of New Rochelle, New York,

in Long Island Sound. Currently uninhabited, it was previously the site of Fort Slocum.

The island is home to the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, and birds such as osprey and least terns.

Davids Island also supports valuable wetlands, rare rocky intertidal areas, and sandy beaches.

The waters surrounding the island are home to winter flounder, Atlantic herring, and Atlantic silverside.

HISTORY OF DAVIDS ISLAND

Native Americans first began to visit what is today Davids Island long before European colonists arrived on the east coast of North America. Beginning in the 17th century, Euroamericans occupied the island, which supported a farmstead, for nearly two hundred years. The U.S. Army established its first post there in 1862, and the island became known as Fort Slocum.

The development of Fort Slocum from the 1870s to the 1960s was influenced by three areas of military influence; recruitment and training; military architecture; and coastal and urban defense.

The US Army arrived on Davids Island during the Civil War and in 1862 opened a military hospital. After the hospital closed in 1866, the State of New York formally ceded jurisdiction of the island in 1868. During the late 1860s and early 1870s, the Army used the island discontinuously, until a small hiatus in 1874 when the Army abandoned the island due to its dilapidated condition. In 1878, Davids Island was made a Principal Depot of the U.S. Army and served as a military recruiting station and coastal battery, until it was deactivated in 1965. In 1967, the City of New Rochelle purchased Davids Island for $485,000, with the goal of redeveloping the island.

Con Ed then purchased the island for $3 million in 1968 as a site for a nuclear power plant. However, due to public objection, Con Ed withdrew their plan and sold the island back to New Rochelle for $1 in 1976. Following ten years of neglect, the city designated the island as an urban renewal area. Since the late 1970s, Davids Island has faced abandonment and neglect while developers and city officials have continuously tried to properly utilize the island. Interested parties, such as Xanadu, Trump, Davids Island Development Group and Westchester County have proposed plans to determine the future of the island. In 2002 it was decided that the county would purchase, restore, and protect Davids Island; these plans were never fully realized. Beginning in 2004, Congress, through the efforts of Representative Nita Lowey, secured a total of $26 million for building demolition and asbestos removal on Davids Island, which was completed in 2009. In 2010, the mayor of New Rochelle announced plans to devise a conceptual plan for Davids Island. In September of that year, the Davids Island Task Force convened to shape and achieve a vision for the island as a destination for both residents and the surrounding region.

POTENTIALLY CONTAMINATED AREAS - 52.34 ACRES

From 2005 to 2009, the US Army Corps of Engineers demolished ninety-four structures and also performed an asbestos abatement project on Davids Island. Simultaneously, the City of New Rochelle and County of Westchester conducted a Site Investigation as part of the Davids Island Environmental Restoration Project, to determine the full extent of the island’s contamination. It revealed the entire site had been affected by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides and metals. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found in select areas. The potentially contaminated areas are primarily where former drums and transformers were located on the site. Groundwater samples showed no elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Subtracting the 0.28 acres of Contaminated Areas, 52.34 acres remain available for development.

INCINERATOR ZONE 49.61 ACRES

Originally, there was a water inlet between the Incinerator Zone and Davids Island, which is now infilled by the significant amounts of ash and slag from the former burning of waste on Davids Island. We’ve provided a 50 foot buffer from the incinerator site to the developable land footprint. Subtracting the 2.73 acres of Incinerator Zone, 49.61 acres remain available for development.
In the context of an overall remediation plan for the island, it may be sensible and cost- effective to move contaminants from other parts of Davids Island to the Incinerator Zone.

CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

wanted to create an architecture in exchange with the landscape. A museum was suggested.
We were inspired by a boulevard and the backbone for a topography that overlooks the surrounding Ocean and city.
“museum and landscape thus have a mutual feedback, merging into one. Displaying a wealth of relationships
where nothing can be removed, because everything that belongs to this new created world is inherent.”
the architecture of the museum, and the landscape the project calls home would all speak to one another.