Designed by BIG and landscape architecture firm SCAPE, Manresa Island is situated on the site of a decommissioned power plant in southeast Connecticut that extends into the Long Island Sound. The industrial peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides, will be transformed into a 125-acre publicly accessible park designed by SCAPE, unlocking 1.75 miles of waterfront access for the first time in nearly 75 years. The plant buildings at the heart of the site will be adapted by BIG into a dynamic community hub for learning, discovery, and exploration. Once home to the Manresa Institute, a retreat and recreation destination, the site was converted into a coal-fired power plant in the 1950s. BIG has been commissioned to preserve and adapt the plant’s main structures: the 22,000-sq-ft boiler building; the 22,000-sq-ft turbine hall; the 8,200-sq-ft office building; and the 350-ft-tall smokestack. The eight-story boiler building will focus on recreation, including multiple swimming areas and food and beverage options. The turbine hall will be converted into a multi-purpose event space and speakeasy, while the adjacent office building will provide opportunities for marine and ecological learning as a laboratory with classrooms and research spaces. The design will preserve key aspects of the existing power plant, including the structural framework, smokestack, and administrative space. “Manresa Island is set to become a much-needed foothold for the public along the otherwise rather privatized Connecticut coastline. With our vision for the powerplant, we seek to rediscover and reanimate the majestic spaces hidden within the bones of the decommissioned piece of infrastructure. Boilers, silos, and turbine halls are post-industrial cathedrals awaiting exploration and reinterpretation. As an extension of SCAPE’s resettlement of the island for the enjoyment of human life among many other forms of life, we seek to extend that resettlement into the cavernous spaces within. By editing rather than adding, we will open up and clear out the existing spaces so that the once coal-powered plant can become the framework for the social and cultural life of Manresa’s future—from energy infrastructure to social infrastructure.“ – Bjarke Ingels, Creative Director & Founder, BIG
