Hudson Park and Boulevard is a new 4-acre system of parks being created in New York. Landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates were selected to make their vision reality.
"'Our idea was to take the elements of Union Square and redeploy them so they would work on a long, linear site,' Matthew Urbanski, principal at MVVA, told AN. 'It's got a civic quality and a grand quality, and the plazas end up being these fantastic places that can support farmers' markets and impromptu gatherings.'
In some ways, the boulevard is a remnant of the city's quashed 2012 Olympics bid, once destined as a grand urban gesture leading to a stadium atop the railyards. Now, the city envisions residential and commercial towers stretching south from 42nd Street, where the project's flashiest element would be placed: a cable-stayed pedestrian bridge, designed with Mori's office and engineers Schlaich Bergermann, spanning the Lincoln Tunnel approach. The public space would then expand into what Urbanski called'"fluvially informed shapes,' with grassy areas surrounded by more densely planted, tree-lined sections along the boulevard. Plans also call for an entrance to the No. 7 subway extension between 33rd and 34th streets, with a domed glass canopy designed by Mori. The park would terminate within the Hudson Yards site, focusing on a yet-to-be-determined cultural center.
FULL STORY: Van Valkenburgh Takes the Boulevard
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