Sweetwater playground at the former Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, New York is a colorful children’s fun park that’s dandy as old-fashioned candy.

A park with good taste? It’s more likely than you think thanks to locally-based artist Mark Reigelman and what used to be the world’s largest sugar refinery. A Williamsburg waterfront icon for the better part of two centuries, the old Domino Sugar Refinery has been transformed into Domino Park boasting a site-specific play environment called Sweetwater: “the sweetest playground in New York City.”

How Sweet It Was

Reigelman set out to create more than just a playground, though the result is eminently playable on its own. Instead, the artist elected to pay homage to the former Domino Sugar Refinery and, by extension, the long history of sugar manufacturing in America’s vibrant northeast. In a glazed nutshell, the playground invites children to explore the sugar refining process without getting their hands sticky, no matter what the weather..

Sweet (American) Dreams

The Domino Sugar Refinery was built in 1856 and additional infrastructure made it the world’s largest sugar refinery by 1882. The location on the banks of the East River facilitated the import of raw sugar cane from around the world. The factory employed approximately 4,500 people at its height, giving countless numbers of immigrants a boost into the American workforce – melting pots made for sugar AND people (though not at the same time).

Let the Dominos Fall

The factory ceased sugar refining operations in 2004 and stood abandoned until 2017, when the James Corner Field Operations-designed waterfront space known as Domino Park was created. Opened to the public on June 10th of 2018, Domino Park invites visitors of all ages to enjoy the remnants of this historic site, the soaring Williamsburg bridge, and the iconic Manhattan skyline. The youngest among us might have the most fun, however, as they climb up and down ramps, worm their way through tubes, trundle across conveyor belts and zip down slides from one end of Sweetwater to the other.

Sucrose For Comfort

Reigelman designed Sweetwater in three distinct interconnected stages: Sugarcane Cabin, Sweetwater Silo, and Sugar Cube Centrifuge. Following the path of raw sugarcane as it arrived at the refinery in days of yore, kids will be chopped up and crushed inside a replica industrial cabin, strained and filtered into sweet water syrup, and finally emerge fully-processed into freshly refined raw sugar… figuratively, of course. Fear not, helicopter parents, your precious progeny will return as sweet (or sour) as they entered.

Fun Factory

Reigelman’s tribute to the old sugar factory relies much on the inclusion of preserved and replica industrial artifacts scavenged from the old refinery complex. Wood floor planks enjoy a second life on the walls of the elevated cabin while colorfully-painted valve wheels cast from the original factory artifacts allow park guests to get a “hands-on” feeling of what the factory was like. Reigelman also sought to disabuse any thoughts of grim Industrial Age workhouses by liberally employing the vibrant yellow, turquoise, green and brushed metal hues that made up the original factory color palette.

Sugar High

Kids might be having too much fun negotiating Sweetwater Park’s 3D twists and turns to notice there’s a method to the interactive “madness”. Reigelman’s master plan envisioned three primary structures: an elevated cabin, a towering silo, and an industrial container.

Refined Recreation Redefined

Stainless steel slides, ramps, ladders and catwalks evoke the atmosphere of the old Domino Sugar Refinery’s complex and complicated architecture and infrastructure. Think of those “Powerhouse” scenes from old Looney Toons shorts and you’ll get the picture. “Truthfully speaking, we might have to join the kids during their outdoor playdates,” according to TimeOut Magazine.

A Treat Grows In Brooklyn

“Domino Park Playground was inspired by the ingenuity of the industrial age, the sugar refining process and the incredible site of the former Domino factory,” to quote from a statement by Reigelman. “The playground is not a celebration of sugar, but a reflection of industrial infrastructure that promotes physical activity, social engagement and a reminder of the unique history of the Domino Waterfront.” One would hope disquieting aromas off the nearby East River don’t cramp the fun factor.

Park Your Pancreas

“With a sugary color palette, dynamic graphics and an industrial visual narrative, Domino Park Playground sets children and adults alike into a space that ignites the adventurous spirit,” adds Reigelman. Best of all, a visit to Sweetwater Park won’t prompt a round of tooth-brushing nor a painful trip to the dentist.

Jarringly out of place, a tiny, rustic cabin clings to the wall of an urban high-rise in the unlikely location of San Francisco, California. The cabin, which is fitted with a rocking chair and even a real, working wood stove, occupies one of the only remaining places in the heart of this cramped city to add a new structure.

Entitled ‘Manifest Destiny!’, the installation by artist Mark Reigelman is intentionally absurd and incongruous. Affixed like a parasite to the existing infrastructure, the cabin seems to hang rather precariously from the Hotel des Arts above the Restaurant Le Central. The installation will remain in place – allowed to change and weather as a real cabin would – until October 2012.

While the project seems to comment on the overpopulated nature of urban environments, the bigger message is about “the romantic spirit of Western myth” and the arrogance of westward expansion in the 19th century. San Francisco is not a welcoming new territory to be claimed, nor was the American west before pioneers began pushing their way into land that already belonged to other people.

“Manifest Destiny! is about intrepidly claiming and occupying space regardless of hazard, existing occupants, inconvenience, daunting odds, or common sense. Manifest Destiny! is single-minded in its objective: move west, claim territory, build a home. Manifest Destiny! is about sacrificing everything for the outside chance of a better future. Manifest Destiny! is resolute.”

As colorful as life in the city can be, things aren’t always rosy – especially in gloomy, grimy neighborhoods where everything seems to be hard, cold and monochromatic. But if artist Mark Reigelman had his way, we’d all go about our days a bit more cheerfully thanks to unexpected urban art installations that perch glass birds on telephone poles, turn fire hydrants into flower vases and transform bus stops into cozy homes.

After all, there’s something joyous about a bunch of flowers, however humble in their paper wrappings – which is why Reigelman chose to model his ‘wrap planters’ after exactly that shape. 18 of these curving concrete planters line the streets in Cleveland, making up one of his rare permanent installations. Reigelman prefers the spontaneity and freedom of temporary installations, but some are more fleeting than others, like the guerrilla redecorated bus shelter that was torn down by city workers the very next day.

“Some people call it being creative, other call it being crazy,” Reigelman told Inside Out. “I have always been creative(crazy) although I did not realize I could be creative(crazy) for a living until my junior year in high school. Once my art teacher told me, ‘Mark, you can do this as a career’, my whole life changed. I think my exact response was, ‘Ms. B, are you f#*@ing serious?!’”

In addition to urban installations, Reigelman creates gallery pieces that are equal parts product design and commentary – albeit tongue-in-cheek. His ‘Shadows’ series of stainless steel wall-mounted bookshelves in the shape that the books’ shadow would create is subtitled “Assigning Function to Shadows.” To “Happiness is a Warm Gun (Pillow)”, Reigelman adds “Bringing Comfort and Safety Into The Home.”

“Wit and humor are absolutely essential. Honestly, there is not a more important element in my work. Anyone can draw a chair and build the goddamn thing. It’s the intimate life and personality in my work that makes it unique. If you ever hear me in my studio laughing maniacally, chances are I am working on something particularly awesome.”