FloatLab


From top: Concept images provided by Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Brick Visual with Urban Engineers.
The river is never out of reach.
Designed by artist J. Meejin Yoon and Höweler + Yoon Architecture, FloatLab will be a one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art floating classroom and art space on the Tidal Schuylkill River at Bartram’s Garden in partnership with Mural Arts Philadelphia.
Opening in 2026, FloatLab will be located along the Garden’s southern shoreline, parallel to the natural tidal wetlands and historic Lenni Lenape sites. FloatLab’s dramatic, ADA-compliant sloped platform allows visitors to engage directly with the river at eye level: techniques from architectural design, marine engineering, and naval architecture inform a system of eight ballast chambers below the ring-shaped walking surface, which allows FloatLab to remain consistently level and stable even as the tide moves in and out.
As a lens by which to explore the river, the higher portion of FloatLab’s loop can accommodate a full classroom visit or an arts audience, while the sloping ramp invites visitors to connect with the river on their own terms and at their own level, whether collecting water samples, taking a plein air painting class, exploring a floating garden or a freshwater mussel bed, or simply contemplating the nuances of a living, tidal river that has sustained thousands of years of human and animal life. Crucially, FloatLab’s innovative ballast system ensures that visitors can always access the river at eye level, provoking personal relationships—or, when necessary, allowing healing—with this storied river.


From top: Eric Höweler and J. Meejin Yoon.
Inspiration image for FloatLab’s color: “Yellow patch (elm),” an installation by Andy Goldsworthy from November 1980. Goldsworthy described the work as “Leaf patches / edges made by finding leaves the same size / tearing one in two spitting underneath and pressing flat / on to another.” Image courtesy St Martin’s College, Lancaster, and the Andy Goldsworthy Digital Catalogue.
Designed by J. Meejin Yoon and Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Artist Statement
FloatLab is a platform, vessel, and lens that enables the public to experience the Schuylkill River and its ecology in a meaningful way. The project aims to create enhanced environmental awareness through an aesthetic experience of the water. By allowing visitors to directly engage with and re-imagine the river, FloatLab seeks to promote environmental stewardship. We believe public art that literally changes perspectives can create public awareness and shift collective consciousness around urban nature and environmental health to demonstrate how these systems are interrelated.
In physical form, FloatLab is a 75-foot-wide inhabitable floating steel ring. It is designed to accommodate the tidal water levels of the Schuylkill River, which see a 5–7 foot change daily, through a system of ballast chambers and mooring piles—not unlike a boat or pier. The structure frames the water both literally and figuratively and creates a new experience of the river by allowing a public promenade into the water to see, hear, and sense the river in a heightened and unfamiliar way. The circular form provides an accessible path that connects visitors directly with the river, while the sectional tilt offers an eye-level view of the water.
Functioning as a laboratory of sorts within the Schuylkill, FloatLab will be a venue for public activity and bring focus to the improvements of Philadelphia’s riverfront. Visitors will be able to experience a panoramic view of the 50-acre Bartram’s Garden, a designated National Historic Landmark, and the south Schuylkill River’s transforming industrial landscape. FloatLab’s chartreuse color, inspired by the autumn leaves at Bartram’s Garden, serves as a reminder of the continuing legacy of the oldest surviving botanical garden in North America and the capacity for the vibrancy of nature to focus our attention on the environment. Despite the damaging industrial history of the Schuylkill River, decades of ecological restoration beginning with what became the first Federal Superfund project in 1949, exemplify the opportunities of ecological restoration, but also the need for continued progress. FloatLab will be a landmark project for Philadelphia and will provide an important space for collective contemplation, experience and discussion that can catalyze a community-wide environmental consciousness.
We worked with naval engineer C.R. Cushing to develop the engineering and ballast system for FloatLab, which subdivides the circular form into 10 chambers beneath and adjacent to the walking surface. Similar to the ballast on ships, these chambers are filled with predetermined amounts of ballast water to lower FloatLab into the water in a balanced manner, with the outer edge of FloatLab sitting just 9” above the water. Before certain weather events and over the winter, this ballast water can also be removed from the chambers to limit water ingress. In the event that water from wakes or waves enters the walking area below the water surface, a drain at the bottom of the ramp will discharge water back into the river. Furthermore, in the event of a large ingress of water, the ballast chambers contain sufficient air (buoyancy) to keep FloatLab afloat until the water can be pumped out. FloatLab will only be open when staffed, and the team has worked closely with Bartram’s Garden so that FloatLab can be incorporated into their existing water programming and water safety protocols. The team developed a prototype in 2016 to review this process before proceeding with the project, and safety has continued to be a guiding principle as we develop this exciting and unique project.
Sponsors
Financial assistance provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Honorable Josh Shapiro, Governor.
Support also provided by the William Penn Foundation; the City of Philadelphia: Cherelle Parker, Mayor, Jamie R. Gauthier, City Council 3rd District, Susan Slawson, Parks & Recreation Commissioner; the Philadelphia Housing Authority through the Department of Housing & Urban Development Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Planning and Action Grant program; The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; the Hess Foundation; the 25th Century Foundation; Bank of America; the Kligerman Family; Elizabeth Sterling; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Zone Management; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Partner
Sponsorship Opportunities
Fundraising is ongoing to ensure FloatLab’s successful completion and sustainable programming as an inviting, free community asset. We look forward to discussing ways to showcase your sponsorship through naming opportunities and other benefits.
To learn more, contact Director of Development & Communications Caroline Winschel at cwinschel@bartramsgarden.org or 215 729 5281 x104.
You may also be interested in:

Ecosystems Education Center & Freshwater Mussel Hatchery
Hands-on education alongside watershed restoration with Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

Community Boathouse and Public Dock
Join us at the Community Boathouse and Public Dock for free public fishing, boating, and learning on the Tidal Schuylkill River.

Tidal Schuylkill River
Learn more about the river’s history, ecology, and continuing health.