Beyond the center-line competition
by fisher brothers realty
1-of-17 shortlisted entries / 150 entrants total
2018
"Fisher Brothers urges competition participants to think “beyond the centerline,” using the medians as a blank canvas for creative ideas to engage the community and reimagine Park Avenue."
-www.http://www.fbdesigncom.com
-www.http://www.fbdesigncom.com
The stretch of Park avenue that reaches from Grand Central Station to 57th street is surrounded by New
York’s most iconic public landmarks and is adjacent to some of its most heavily trafficked urban sequences. Yet, the area is one of the least inspiring parts of Manhattan. In a city that offers some of the richest public experiences including The Highline, Central Park and Rockefellers plaza, this area has been relatively overlooked. The lack of creative investment in the area has turned it into a place to walk through rather than a destination to walk to; covered with uninteresting programs such as banks and office building that offer nothing to pedestrians at their ground levels.
York’s most iconic public landmarks and is adjacent to some of its most heavily trafficked urban sequences. Yet, the area is one of the least inspiring parts of Manhattan. In a city that offers some of the richest public experiences including The Highline, Central Park and Rockefellers plaza, this area has been relatively overlooked. The lack of creative investment in the area has turned it into a place to walk through rather than a destination to walk to; covered with uninteresting programs such as banks and office building that offer nothing to pedestrians at their ground levels.
In an effort to reinvigorate an underutilized, underwhelming, district in New York city, Warping the Centerline takes the traditional Park Avenue median and lifts/ bends/warps it to create new public spaces along Park Avenue including event platforms, performance seating and elevated walkways that double as market places. Its form engages the surrounding community by provided space for those programs that are most lacking in this region of the city, and enhances existing popular pedestrian corridors while creating opportunities for future ones. In addition, the project seeks to capitalize on
existing underutilized office building plazas, transforming them from places where office workers eat lunch, to places where the project can intervene; thereby becoming entry ways and extensions of the project.
existing underutilized office building plazas, transforming them from places where office workers eat lunch, to places where the project can intervene; thereby becoming entry ways and extensions of the project.
To the south, the largest part of the project acts as an open lawn in warm seasons, hosting carnival rides and festivals. In the winter, it is converted into one of New Yorkers’ favorite past‐times: Ice Skating. Continuing north, a grand set of stairs doubles as a performance space for cultural events, with a focus on showcasing New York’s diversity and homegrown culture. From there, visitors can walk north along a meandering elevated walkway, similar to the highline, along which visitors can shop a large selection of sustainably created products and acclaimed New York food vendors.
Finally, the urban sequence ends at the footsteps of St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral where the avenue and centerline has been turned into a public piazza, able to be closed off to cars occasionally in the summertime to host outdoor farmer’s markets. In terms of construction, the project is composed entirely of recycled steel and glass‐fiber‐reinforced concrete panels made with recycled glass and metals.