In celebration of its 50th anniversary, global firm Gensler asked its team of talented architects, urban planners, and researchers for their personal insights and opinions on how design innovation creates more livable cities. The resulting articles feature on the firm’s dedicated blog at gensleron.com.
One of the first to be published was a piece by Joseph Brancato, regional managing principal for nine offices in Gensler’s Northeast and Latin American regions, who urges architects to consider how the most vibrant public spaces at ground level might be transferred to vertical environments — a goal of the firm’s most recently completed American project, the Tower at PNC Place in Pittsburgh. Here’s what Brancato had to say.
“The world is changing and, as technology improves and the culture and routines of everyday life evolve, products must progress in order to stay desirable and remain on the market. The same is true for our cities; their adaptability will assure their relevance and resilience amid the seismic shifts in our society, culture, and lifestyle.
For the past 30 years, I’ve had a front-row seat to the progression of New York City. How does this city — an island that can’t physically expand its borders — not only adapt, but continue to flourish? Because city leaders have the foresight and vision to look not just in the vertical plane for further expansion upward with skyscrapers and high-rises, but to also take stock of unexploited potential in the horizontal plane, as well.
© Iwan Baan
Manhattan, New York City
As a result, the elements that are the most significant contributors to quality of life — walkability, efficient transit, green spaces — are in balance with the densification of the city. We’ve seen this balance around the world, not only in New York, but this is a vital strategy that any city should leverage. After all, the experience a city offers is a critical metric of its success. It’s not enough to simply “work well,” it must also feel good and attract people to come, stay, and explore for generations to come.
As architects and designers, we do not merely witness the change and growth of cities, we impact them. We design new buildings and develop master plans, but much of our work in urban areas focuses on transforming neighborhoods and repositioning existing buildings that have lost some of their relevance.
Why talk about cities?
Today, 54 percent of the world’s population lives in cities. 70 percent will be living in cities by 2050. That’s nine billion people — an increase of 65 million inhabitants a year between now and 2025. Powerful stuff!
In Manhattan alone, there are 5.3 million square feet of “leftover” space (think: unused lots, concrete medians in the middles of streets, etc.). To accommodate the growing population while not only maintaining, but actually improving, quality of life, we must transform underutilized infrastructure to create new and more relevant uses. Updating and adding public spaces that provide relief in an increasingly dense city enables growth while enriching the human experience.
© Iwan Baan
The High Line by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro
A notable example of this space, the High Line on New York’s West Side, a once-defunct railroad viaduct that’s now a highly regarded urban park and pedestrian walkway. It is a great example of how any city can turn an outmoded structure into something that brings tremendous value by creating community and improving the quality of life of its residents while also significantly increasing the value of adjacent properties and the neighborhood.
While Times Square’s landmass only takes up 0.1 percent of New York, it represents 11 percent of the city’s economic activity, annually generating $110 billion, but this was not the case 20 years ago. In an effort to accommodate increased densities from the new office towers, the Bloomberg administration eliminated the one-car lane on Broadway and made it into an area with outdoor seating, plantings, and walkways to accommodate pedestrians.
Times Square before and after pedestrianization
This pedestrianization has provided much needed relief to a very busy area of the city. However, the area is plagued with full-sized comic strip characters and painted ladies that harass people for donations. Times Square needs to transform itself again, into a cultural hub. Good design and innovation are the tools to get it there.
The overarching goal is to achieve sustainable urban living — not only environmental sustainability, but social sustainability, as well, and not in one or two locations as an experiment, but as a model for cities everywhere. We need to look in the margins to find solutions and make physical features subordinate to the intended use of space rather than letting those features dictate how the space is used.
One of the “urban porches” inside The Tower at PNC Plaza
Communities in the sky
In New York and other high-density cities, there is little available space at ground level. Where expanding on the ground is just not practical, cities are vertically growing. But merely using vertical space isn’t enough. We need to reorient the attributes of urban life in a vertical context. We need to connect people to the many desirable attributes of city life such as parks and gardens — and especially to each other — within livable neighborhoods located inside tall buildings.
In Pittsburgh, the Gensler-designed PNC Bank headquarters is one of the greenest buildings in the world. This is PNC’s vision. The sustainable skyscraper is catalyzing the revival of downtown Pittsburgh. It is a building that “breathes,” with slot windows that mechanically open and close. But the design was not only about environmental sustainability and systems: it focused on people. We created two-story urban porches in the tower that establish community hubs in the sky.
The London Underline
And as we can expand using the vertical space above us, we can use space below us, as well. The London Underline is the brainchild of our London office. It envisions a plan that turns out-of-service metro tunnels and surplus infrastructure around London into a network of pedestrian and cycle paths replete with cultural and retail spaces. This is another great model for taking neglected space and repurposing it to unlock new opportunities.
Spaces don’t become neglected overnight; facilities and functions that are vital today may become irrelevant tomorrow. Similarly, things that we never envisioned can suddenly become indispensable.”