Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Designed by Ennead Architects together with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, the Cove, a massive mixed-use project in Jersey City, is a breakthrough lifestyle community for the twenty-first century driven by science.
The Cove creates a fully programmed, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use “15-Minute City” that provides the people who live, work, and play in the development everything they need within a 15-minute walk.
Included in the multi-phase redevelopment are 1.6 million square feet of residential facilities and 1.4 million square feet of academic and commercial life science laboratory and office spaces. The development also includes several amenities such as retail, parking, cafes, and parks.
Argent Ventures, which owns 12.4 acres of the development land, has joined forces with H&R Real Estate Investment Trust, to redevelop the property adjacent to Liberty State Park.
Preliminary plans by Argent Ventures called for a mixed-use waterfront development with 1.6 million square feet of laboratory and office space and 1,544 residential units. Residents would have clear views of both downtown Jersey City and Manhattan.
The Cove Jersey City will be a new global hub for academic and commercial life science, tech, and medical entities, it offers an unrivaled environment for fostering discovery while also building a local ecosystem on the principles of sustainability, health, and wellness, and social equity.
The development is planned around the laboratory buildings, which will serve as the nucleus for the rest of the development, sparking new ideas and fostering collaboration and innovation throughout the site.
The Cove’s integrated community blurs the line between laboratory spaces for academic institutions and commercial life science research and development.
Throughout the research and development laboratories, the transparency and porosity of the design put research on display to the broader public, building trust and an engaged community around life sciences.
As the flagship destination for the sciences in New Jersey and the greater New York metropolitan area, The Cove drives economic growth for all.
Spreading across some 13 acres, the mixed-use live-work-play campus features flexible, state-of-the-art workspaces alongside residences, dynamic amenities, ample green spaces, and expansive parkland on the Hudson River.
Incorporating the surrounding natural environment and sustainable design as central design elements, The Cove creates a healthy, active, and holistic outdoor experience.
The design rehabilitates existing green spaces and introduces additional green spaces at varying scales to provide a range of outdoor environments for users.
Biophilic design strategies are used to improve the wellness of the development’s users.
The integration of plant life, natural materials, pedestrian-friendly access through the site, and ample opportunities for exercise and social engagement all contribute to creating a healthy and productive environment.
Given the waterfront site, the project’s design carefully considers resilience.
The entire site is elevated to prevent flooding and damage from storm surge and sea-level rise.
Additionally, the waterfront edge of the site will be made primarily of a permeable natural barrier of native flora that, in addition to preventing flooding, will improve local water and air quality.
The design will also restore the coastal habitat after hundreds of years of degradation and contamination.
The Cove will be among the first regenerative, state-of-the-art carbon-neutral neighborhoods designed to leverage reclamation, renewal, and resiliency.
Project: The Cove JC
Architects: Ennead Architects
Design Team: Peter Schubert, Don Weinreich, Chris Stoddard, Manson Fung, Kevin Hamlett, Christian Adamik, Anders Evenson, Matt Hitscherich, Winslow Kosior, Marcus Miller, Tzara Peterson, and Ethan Shaw
Landscape Architects: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.
Clients: Argent Ventures and H&R Real Estate Investment Trust
Renderings: Nancy J Kelley + Associates.
