Twisted through the dense urban blocks of Manhattan, a subnet of public spaces awaits the outpouring.
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Now these places are hidden within the private zone., In the back of the long spaces that make up most of the New York City grid. Extending from the street 100 feet or more, the usual space in Manhattan is completely filled with one building, creating urban blocks with fully constructed structures. A new architectural project raises a bold but somewhat realistic question: what if a small area of these opens up and becomes a public space?
This is the provocation of Eron Chen, founder of the New York Institute of Architecture Bedroom. Sen believes that instead of fully structured spaces, Manhattan’s blocks could be separated by a network of open-air courtyards, open public spaces, or interior courtyards that could be used for a new type of car-free street. Of pedestrian-centric stores. Gradually, as buildings are renovated or demolished for new development, these spaces can open up.
With some changes to the planning system and some building owners willing to try something new, this idea can gradually become a reality.
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The ODA proposal, first revealed here, focuses on the outskirts of Chelsea, a largely commercial flower district, where florists take up most of the land. Since most of your sales activities take place on or near the curb, the deep buildings that fill those spaces are not being used to their full potential. “They have a depth of 30 meters and nobody knows what it does,” says Chen. “I have no brain to shorten this and create another interface in the back, creating public participation or seats in exchange for incentives for owners.”
It can also satisfy a need. Although it is often described as a city of dark paths in movies and television shows, In Manhattan, there are actually very few of them.. If added, they could provide a new public space for the growing city. Sen says the city’s continued growth is putting pressure on the public realm. “It is not enough that we see the high load of cars on the streets and the high load capacity on some sidewalks,” he says.
It is already technically possible to create something like this job. Chen points to growth allowed by zoning rules in so-called cities like New York Surface Ratio, Which refers to how high a developer can build on a particular site. By allowing building owners to change some of that floor area ratio, by reducing the size of their building acreage in exchange for “air rights” to build taller and more valuable buildings, the city could create floor space. come down for this new public space. .
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ODA has shown that this can work. Of the two new construction projects, one is under construction and is nearing city approval: the company has designed mixed-use projects that reduce the space that can be created from its footprints to create new public and semi-public spaces. intertwined.
Bushwick, ODA Denison Project The 900-unit luxury rental development features approximately 18,000 square feet of public parkland, with a series of semi-public courtyards that residents can access during the day. This comment has raised many concerns in the city, the developer and the local community, who are concerned that opening the space to the public could lead to security problems. But operating in these gaps has more eyes on them, creating a more secure environment, he says.
A Five-volume hybrid application plan Among the works in Queens, ODA has expanded the idea, cutting the development area into a public park, which will divide the buildings in two and create courtyards lined with shops that will be the interior sections of the city block. About a quarter of the land will be allocated as open space. “This is a step in the direction that we propose now,” says Chen.
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Translating these two projects into creating a large-scale alley and courtyard from the same location, ODA’s ideas for the flower district will require a more systematic change in the city’s zoning laws. It is more difficult to design new public spaces in new construction projects than to add a new public space to a part of a building that is now. But Sen says individual developers can prototype these projects and begin integrating the public or semi-public ground floor into new or renovated buildings.
Managing Director Benjamin Prosky says the idea has some legs American Institute of Architecture of New York Chapter and Architecture Center. “I believe this proposal can provide small, but vibrant, much-needed public spaces,” Prosky writes by email. “Look at how sidewalk dining has suddenly become something New Yorkers don’t want to give up or people have gotten used to navigating downtown on one of the car-free blocks as part of the city’s Open Streets project. New Yorkers now want to see how some of these advanced improvements can benefit from long-term planning and thoughtful urban design, without dreaming of having a public space.
Proski says the ODA’s proposed location on the sidewalk that runs through the middle of buildings in the Theater District and Midtown Manhattan is a prototype. Expanding this approach to the flower district will require a lot of education and training. “Now they have to deal with the owners, the developers, the politicians, and most importantly, the people who work near these new proposed locations,” says Prosky.
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Chen says the ODA is trying to bring this idea to the attention of elected officials and members of the city planning department. But he recognizes that the road ahead is long. He hopes a city policy will finally go into effect, but in the meantime, other architects and developers are considering making their own version of this alley or courtyard. “It just came to our attention then. Over time, they will connect with each other in this endless network, ”he says, adding that this urban pattern is common in cities like Amsterdam and Brussels.
Ultimately, the goal is to start taking advantage of the city’s current development, which Sen says will begin to provide more of what residents of the public space want and need. “To create life, density is not enough,” he says.
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