Abandoned power plant outside New York City to be transformed into huge family resort with water slides

Designs have been unveiled revealing how an abandoned coal-burning power plant outside New York City will be transformed into a multi-story family attraction with a glass façade, swimming pools, water slides, restaurants and a semi-green roof.

The power plant, reimagined by renowned global architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (aka Big), will be the central attraction at a new 125-acre waterfront park on Manresa Island in southeast Connecticut called Manresa Wilds, set to open in 2030.

This landscape, once scarred by pollution and inaccessible to the public for 75 years, will become "a vibrant first-of-its-kind destination where nature, history and imagination meet", according to Manresa Island Corporation, the nonprofit leading the creation of Manresa Wilds.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the former island — a causeway was built in 1860 connecting it to the mainland and South Norwalk — was home to a recreation destination called the Manresa Institute, with the coal-fired power plant arriving in the 1950s and subsequently much controversy.

A major fuel oil spill severely damaged the area's tidal flats in 1969, while water contamination in the 70s, 80s, and 90s made the power plant, by then oil powered, the focus of protests by environmental groups.

Ironically, damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 enhanced the site's natural environment — the power plant was decommissioned in 2013, a birch forest sprang up on disposed coal ash and the osprey population soared.

The new park has been designed by New York City-based landscape architects Scape, which wants the public to enjoy the island's ecological richness, and a host of new features.

The firm said in a statement that these will include waterfront walking paths, a restored wetland, tree canopies to mitigate extreme heat and flooding, an "expansive" green lawn and meadow, a public beach with "sweeping views of the Long Island Sound and New York City" and pedestrian bridges "that will provide opportunities to observe wildlife".

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Manresa Wilds, it's claimed, will lead to the "protection, expansion and revitalization of the wetlands and salt marshes".

The vision for the power plant was also revealed in the statement, by Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director of Big.

He said: "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."

The eight-story boiler building will feature "multiple swimming areas and food and beverage options", with the turbine hall converted into a multi-purpose event space and speakeasy.

Big revealed that the adjacent office building — the smallest structure — "will provide opportunities for marine and ecological learning as a laboratory with classrooms and research spaces".

An underground water channel, meanwhile, "will be unearthed to create a scenic waterway that connects the boiler building, turbine hall, and office building".

Ingels added: "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."

Manresa Island Corporation told The Independent that the project will be of huge benefit to the local population.

It said: "While the project's programing and final design are still in development, Manresa Wilds will support the local economy in many ways, first by unlocking access to 1.75 miles of waterfront to create meaningful recreational and educational programing for all.

"Manresa Island Corp is also committed to providing long-term economic benefit for the Norwalk community through partnerships with local businesses and academic institutions and numerous employment opportunities."