Located at the intersection between the Cross Bronx Expressway (CBE) and the Bronx River, this project attempts to address the multilayered and complex urban issues that were related to, raised and escalated from the CBE paralleled with the Bronx River’s historic degradation. From environmental injustice, segregation of local communities, urban heat island effects, urban flooding, and drainage issues to lack of ecological diversity, cultural and social segmentations as well as open space disinvestments, the design uses the concept of rivers and tributaries to bring about comprehensive and extensive spatial transformations that begin to tackle all these interrelated issues. As one unfolds the complexities around the area it is recognized that the site is where all these living networks overlap with each other, it is a place of intersections and conflux. The motif was formulated to leverage such a unique confluence. It is the idea that people can travel, “sail” through these rivers, that it’s a journey of many happenings, that it is an experience. Through the reinterpretation of transportation as infrastructure, CBE is reimagined as a river for the flow of people and the Bronx River as the flow of ecologies and hydrologies. These two corridors of flows are used as anchors to frame the project’s ambition of creating a vastly different future for the surrounding communities and overall urban fabrics of the Bronx. Across the redesigned CBE, numerous pocket spaces are created on an elevated deck and open to the ground floor. Organic morphologies are used to strengthen the sense of fluidity and flow which targets walkability enhancement. Various terraces, lawn pockets, and garden spaces allow for a range of activities and events to be held such that it not only serves to reconnect segregated communities but there is also an emphasis on cultural exchange and building social identities. The CBE is also proposed to transition from car-oriented to a bus artery and form a semi-underground shopping district that targets local businesses. Across the CBE, various land uses are proposed according to its surrounding context i.e. more play and learn-oriented for sections next to schools. The robust planting also serves to enhance urban biodiversity and build ecological corridors to the Bronx River. Solar-powered lighting and stormwater management system embedded in the CBE which collects localized runoff from surrounding neighborhoods showcases the design’s sustainable potential and in building resilience, preparing for climate change impacts. The Bronx eye as the project climax is situated at the intersecting point between the CBE and the Bronx River and takes inspiration from the swirling pool from the conflux of flows, transforming and re-interpreting massive highway roundabouts into a feature destination for sightseeing, exhibition, and design innovations. The bottom which connects to the Bronx River is designed as a dense riverine forest that serves as an ecological hotspot. Altogether the project extends its influence across scales and typologies to bring about radical and substantial changes, embracing a new future for the Bronx communities, putting past current scars of urbanization, development, and impacts from the CBE.
