2019 Best of Design Award for Unbuilt – Urban Design: St. John’s Park
Designer: Ballman Khapalova
Location: New York City
St. John’s Park is the entry into Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel, passed through by 100,000 people per day. The distribution of traffic into five directions using five off-ramps results in a difficult morphology, rendering the center of the site inaccessible and unbuildable. As a result, St. John’s Park is permanently closed to the public. This proposal is generated from the geometry of the existing off-ramps, so that tunnel traffic may continue unimpeded. A continuous loop travels from street level to one level belowground, excavating the center of the site and allowing passage below the existing roadway. At street level is a series of new playgrounds, lawns, and dog parks. At the center is the main park, 300 feet in diameter and open to the sky.
Resources:
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Climate Engineer: Transsolar KlimaEngineering
Construction and Logistics: Sciame Construction
Honorable Mentions
Project Name: Pensacola Waterfront Framework Plan
Designer: SCAPE Landscape Architecture DCP
Project Name: Pier 70
Designer: SITELAB urban studio
Editors’ Picks
Project Name: Chicago Transit Authority: Damen Green Line Station
Designer: Perkins and Will
Project Name: Boston Coastal Flood Resilience Design Guidelines & Zoning Overlay District
Designer: Utile, Inc.
