Near the tip of Manhattan, just outside the entrance to the Staten Island Ferry and Battery Park, the Netherlands has donated a $2.4m (€1.7m) gift to New York celebrating the 400-year anniversary of the Dutch connection to the US. The New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion, designed by Ben van Berkel of UN Studio, functions as a shelter for food and information and the main attraction in a very active transit hub, but equally importantly as an abstract symbol of Dutch culture.