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Landscape Architects: MNLA
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Elizabeth Felicella
Text description provided by the architects. MNLA and their partners have completed the four key projects in the Hudson Square BID’s ten-year, $27M public realm master plan, marked by the recent ribbon cutting on a reconstructed Hudson Street. A partnership with the Hudson Square BID, the NYC Department of Transportation, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation, the plan included far-reaching initiatives to create a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable network of spaces in this once-industrial downtown neighborhood. Today, it is an epicenter of the city’s dynamic creative industries, home to more than 60,000 professionals in communications, new media, and design companies.
The plan’s projects include:
Hudson Street Reconstruction – Completed 2022 – Transforming this vital street into a grand thoroughfare, this project extends sidewalks up to five feet and adds new amenities along its seven-block corridor. Enhancing pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic safety, transforming the corridor into a grand boulevard that will increase connectivity. Over 8,000 square feet of planting areas are filled with trees, shrubs, and perennials, and the application of the Hudson Square Standard for urban forestry, using continuous tree pits and permeable pavers to maximize stormwater capture and support healthier trees, was employed. New benches provide approximately 170 seats, and there are over 2,000 square feet of allowable space for future sidewalk cafes. Sidewalk realignments, new pedestrian ramps, a dedicated parking-protected bike lane on Hudson Street from Houston to Canal Street, and more than 70 additional bicycle racks add to public enjoyment.
Hudson Square Streetscape Standard – Completed 2022 – This award-winning initiative provides a signature, sustainable streetscape for the district, comprising 500 trees including both new and existing trees retrofitted using the HSS sidewalk tree planting system. Combining structural soil, porous aggregate, permeable pavers, and distinctive tree guards, both the trees and the city benefit from captured stormwater, increased biomass, and real estate values.
Spring Street Park – Completed 2018 – The gateway to Hudson Square, this half-acre triangular open space was reimagined to accommodate a variety of activities and active space for respite for area workers and residents alike.
Freeman Plaza East and West – Completed in 2013 and 2014, Renovated in 2018 and 2021 – Unused areas among the four Holland Tunnel approach routes were converted into spacious, sunlit green spaces offering many activities including lunchtime yoga, music events, a Noguchi play sculpture, a synthetic turf surface for events, and solar Wi-Fi charging stations.
