by: Linda G. Miller
A filled-to-capacity session about Hudson Yards, New York City’s newest neighborhood, was informative for both New Yorkers and architects from around the country who attended the 2016 AIA Convention. Built over the active tracks of the Long Island Railroad, Hudson Yards is a feat of architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering. Upon completion, it is expected that 125,000 people with live, work, or visit – as many people that live in Burbank, CA!
According to Related’s Michael Samuelian, FAIA, AICP, what was once “a scar in the urban fabric of New York,” is being transformed into 17 million square feet of development, half of which is open space. The first tenants are already moving into the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed 10 Hudson Yards, a 52-story building that bridges over the High Line. In fact, Coach’s lobby is 18 inches away from the spur of the High Line, and its atrium is focused on the axis of the elevated park.
The landscape, an immersive horticultural experience, observes the four seasons of native New York plants. Landscape architect Thomas Woltz, FASLA, got involved in the project very early in the process, creating a new role for a landscape architect. “Designed with humans in mind,” Woltz said, it is a “21st-century labyrinth” that connects the buildings to the Thomas Heatherwick-designed central sculpture and to the High Line and Hudson River Park to the north.
30 Hudson Yards will feature an observation deck. The building is a few feet taller than the Empire State Building and, according to KPF’s Anthony Mosellie, AIA, the team is investigating some “thrill aspects.”
Why are there so many links? It’s worth your further investigation to read more about the development!
Event: Hudson Yards: New York’s First Post-Digital Neighborhood
Location: 2016 AIA Convention, Pennsylvania Convention Center, 05.20.16
Speakers: Michael Samuelian, FAIA, AICP, Vice President, Related Companies; Thomas Woltz, FASLA, Principal and Owner, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; and Anthony Mosellie, AIA, Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Organized by: 2016 AIA Convention