Projects » Bergen Rowing Center

BERGEN COUNTY ROWING CENTER
NORTH ARLINGTON, NJ

Working with Trenton-based Clarke Caton Hintz Architects, Peterson Architects designed a new boathouse on the Passaic River for Bergen County, NJ. The project is located in Riverside County Park South in North Arlington, and serves a number of towns in the county.

The building addresses the county’s goal of improving public access to the river.  It will serve multiple functions: as a cutting-edge rowing facility, and as a multifunctional building with great views of the river.  The boathouse will serve a diverse range of users: youth, collegiate and master’s rowers, at different levels of skill and ability, rowing in boats of different sizes and configurations.  The county hopes to engage rowers who might not have had access to the sport of rowing in the past.

The Passaic River can be subject to flooding, and the boathouse is built according to FEMA standards for “wet floodproofing.”  These standards allow floodwaters up to the 100-year flood elevation to flow through a building with minimal damage to either building structure or materials. 

Completed in 2022, the boathouse features three extra-long boat storage bays, coaches’ offices, changing rooms, toilets, showers, and a dramatic team room, which can accommodate up to 32 rowing machines as well as other training equipment, or which can be set up to hold functions. The team room is oriented to take advantage of expansive views of the river.  This space is located in a broad volume of glass and Kalwall, the latter providing shading of the afternoon western sun. A deck spans the full width of the western side of the boathouse.  

Photography by Jeffrey Totaro