Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn

A green cemetery in a historic setting

Dell Water is a special place within the historic 478-acre Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Tucked along the southern border of the Cemetery, the pond and surrounding hillside provide a wooded and sheltered dell rich in birds and wildlife not often seen in urban New York City. Phyto Studio has led the master plan for the renovation of a new resilient water body and woodland restoration at Green-Wood Cemetery. The project was a holistic evaluation of the entire space: renovating a dysfunctional water body, restoring a native woodland, and identifying new and more sustainable interment opportunities. Phyto led a design team that included hydrological and civil engineers and developed concepts for a low input, ecologically dynamic water body. Innovative solutions for invasives species removal and ecological intensification were made in parallel with a marketing strategy to help fund the renovation.

Design team: Green-Wood Cemetery, eDesign Dynamics, SiteWorks