The Alliance for Downtown New York asked us to envision a future for Greenwich South, a 41-acre neighborhood at the southern tip of Manhattan. Bounded by the West Side highway, Broadway, the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial, and Battery Park, Greenwich South had been overlooked for years but had seen a recent rise in residents and tourists.
Rather than a singular master plan, ARO proposed a flexible strategic framework to guide development over time. We then led a group of designers in envisioning how this framework could accommodate varied solutions. This framework, and the diverse visions and outcomes included within it, is a tool for the Alliance to communicate and advocate for the future of the neighborhood.
Goals outlined in the Five Principles for Greenwich South include promoting connectivity throughout the area while embracing a local sense of place; engaging short-, medium-, and long-term interventions to attract visitors and respond to residents; and, conceiving of the area as a linchpin within a larger, developing live-work-play district.
Our own visioning proposal for a new Market Park would create an urban amenity above the multi-lane Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
The study culminated in a report, publication, and outdoor exhibit.