Battery Park Ferry Terminal Features Tensile Roof Canopy

The newly constructed Battery Park City ferry terminal in New York City features a distinctive, tensile roof canopy made of Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics fabric.

With 7,000 to 8,000 passengers traveling through the terminal daily, the new floating structure required a roofing material that was both durable and visually appealing.  Approximately 24,400 square feet of SHEERFILL® Architectural Membrane provided the perfect solution.  SHEERFILL is the first ENERGY STAR® qualified and Cool Roof Rating Council-certified architectural fabric membrane.  As an Energy Star product, SHEERFILL can help lower air conditioning requirements in buildings, reducing peak cooling demand by 10 to 15 percent. 

The sweeping design of the fabric membrane is suggestive of canvas sails, while the functionality of the fabric provides cover in all weather conditions for the terminal's patrons.

The new ferry terminal covers three-quarters of an acre and is situated on a floating barge.  The new structure replaces a terminal constructed in 1989, which provided ferry service between Hoboken and Battery Park City.  Designed to accommodate five ferryboats simultaneously, the terminal offers travelers ferry service to Jersey City, Weehawken, Hoboken and Liberty State Park in New Jersey, as well as offering water taxi service.  It is the largest terminal of its kind in the United States.

Performance Plastics manufactures SHEERFILL Architectural Membrane in Merrimack, New Hampshire.