Battery Park City Streetscapes and Security
After 9/11, the Battery Park City Authority sought a redesign of its neighborhood streetscapes to improve security and pedestrian connections around the World Financial Center and throughout the North Neighborhood. Axes of pedestrian and bicycle circulation, combined with visual connection are used to guide the design, balanced with traffic requirements and perimeter building security. Ultimately, the design acts to link the amenities of Battery Park City into a useful and accessible whole.
Overhead canopies
Glass canopies create local visual markers to identify entry points to the dog run and other park amenities. ©Nathan Sayers
Integration of streetscape
Vesey Street and North End Avenue, two very different streets dominated by commercial and residential buildings, respectively, are visually united with glass and illuminated elements as a part of the streetscape.
![BPC---Nathan-Sayers-01[edited]](/files/images/bpc-nathan-sayers-01-edited91559.jpg)
Waterfront Esplanade
The design of new vehicular barriers, pedestrian pathways, and landscape elements integrate with the waterfront esplanade and Hudson River ferry landing. ©Nathan Sayers
Previously surrounded on four sides by vehicular traffic, the revised streetscape design integrates Brian Tolle’s Irish Hunger Memorial into the park and landscape. ©Edward Menashy
Seating and planting buffer
A planted band separates the interior stone seating area from passing traffic. Thin stainless steel rods provide a backrest and protection for the plants. ©Nathan Sayers
Landscape elements
The materials used were those common to the established vocabulary of Battery Park City, with the infusion of sparkling new elements with dual purposes. ©Nathan Sayers
Wayfinding and seating
Connecting the Hudson River ferry to the World Trade Center, illuminated glass benches stretch the length of Vesey Street to provide wayfinding and rest for pedestrians and a barrier, in combination with a “Tiger Trap,” for vehicles. ©Paul Warchol
Day and night
©Paul Warchol
Steel and specialty glass shade structures create an overhead visual axis along the length of North End Avenue, providing shade in the daytime and reflected light at night. ©Paul Warchol
- Location
- New York, New York
- Client
- Battery Park City Authority
- Typology
- Public, Recreational, Park /Recreation, Campus Design
- Design Team
- Jonathan Marvel, Scott Demel, Lissa So, Michael Russo, Vince Lee, Graeme Waitzkin, Jason Ro, Elena Brescia, Marsh Kriplen
- Consultants
- Thornton Tomasetti (formerly Weidlinger Engineers), Force Protection Engineering; James Carpenter Design Associates, Art Elements & Glazing Design; Ducibella Venter & Santore, Security Design; Langan Engineers, Civil Engineering; Fischer Marantz Stone, Lighting Design; DVL Consulting Engineers, Electrical & Plumbing Engineer
- Awards
- Environmental Design Research Association: Great Places Award, International Design Awards, Urban Design, AIA NYC Project Merit Design Award, AIA National Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design, ASLA National Analysis and Planning Award, Environmental Design Research Association: Great Places Award, AIA NYC Project Merit Design Award, AIA National Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design, ASLA National Analysis and Planning Award
