East River Waterfront

[Sherpa]

I walked around Manhattan last May. The Great Manhattan Saunter. Seaport-to-Seaport. Clockwise. 32 miles and some monster blisters!

[Ninjahedge]

GG, if NJ gets off its bureaucratic arse there will be a great CONTINUOUS bike path all the way up to the GWB...


Right now it is all in bits and pieces. Hoboken still can't force the Dry Dock to allow a path or any kind of "right of way" for it, which blocks that on one end, and on the other it is blocked by the train station......

And then we have hotels, condos and other "me first" developments that do not lend easily to common park space......



It is a shame. I, for one, would rather blade in NJ and look at NY than the other way around.

[Merry]

I wouldn't want to be a pedestrian walking up the bridge when a cyclist is racing down or be walking down when a cyclist suddenly whizzes past unheard. The bridge also appears to be too narrow in the renderings to comfortably accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.


Crumbling East 81st Street Pedestrian Bridge Set for Makeover

By Amy Zimmer | DNAinfo







UPPER EAST SIDE — Months after cutting the ribbon on a stainless steelpedestrian bridge at East 78th Street, the city is moving forward with tackling the next decaying walkway connecting the neighborhood to the East River waterfront.

The bridge spanning the FDR Drive at East 81st Street is set for a roughly $10 million overhaul that would include two sections. A new span with a ramp would replace the existing bridge, and a nearly two-block long, 10-foot-wide ramp along the waterfront would connect the East River esplanade to the promenade at Carl Schurz Park.

That junction is now linked by stairs, which have made it difficult for wheelchair users, cyclists and stroller pushers to enjoy an uninterrupted swatch of the waterfront.

"It would be bike-friendly, pedestrian friendly and ADA friendly," said Drew Jones, an architect at H2L2, a firm working with the Department of Design and Construction on the project. "Right now, its impossible for a good number of these folks."

DDC officials presented a final version of the new pedestrian bridge at a Community Board 8 meeting on Wednesday night, saying the design had been in the works since 2005, but that construction had been delayed until the East 78th Street pedestrian bridge was completed.

Just like its counterpart a few blocks south, the East 81st Street replacement bridge would be built offsite and delivered by barge, officials said.
Several residents and community board members, however, blasted the plan's designs.

Some said it wasn't beautiful enough for the Upper East Side and worried it blocked views.

"We're trying very hard to make it light, to make it transparent," Jones said as he showed a rendering of the ramp with wire mesh fencing. "We're trying to have this thing melt into the environment."

Some were incensed that the renderings showed cyclists and already said they would fight to have bike riders dismount on the bridge.

Residents in the building at 45 and 33 East End avenues feared the smaller ramp leading to the bridge along the cul-de-sac on East 81st Street would block their service entrances. One resident said she thought the long fenced-in ramp — with one side 10-foot high and the other roughly six feet — along the waterfront would invite crime.

"What happens when someone is attacked?" asked a resident and occasional jogger, who has lived in the area for 25 years and worried that someone would be trapped on the ramp.
"You're almost inviting crime," she said. "It looks like a cage to me. I would never run down it."

She said in an emergency situation now along the esplanade, someone could at least run onto the FDR, if needed.

"Transparency is a major part of the design," said Community Board 8's transportation co-chair A. Scott Falk. "You're not in any narrower space [than what's now on the esplanade] and you're not hidden from view."

One board member wondered if the city could add emergency phones to the ramp. DDC officials said that would be up to the Parks Department, which will maintain the space.

The ramp along the waterfront would essentially replace that strip of the esplanade, and while the city would put plantings in underneath, that space would be off limits to the public.

DDC officials said they would reevaluate the smaller ramp on East 81st Street and whether it blocks buildings' services. They said expected to begin construction in the spring and the project would take an estimated 18 months to complete.

http://www.dnainfo.com/20120309/uppe...#ixzz1offhn76N

[Nexis4Jersey]

GG, if NJ gets off its bureaucratic arse there will be a great CONTINUOUS bike path all the way up to the GWB...


Right now it is all in bits and pieces. Hoboken still can't force the Dry Dock to allow a path or any kind of "right of way" for it, which blocks that on one end, and on the other it is blocked by the train station......

And then we have hotels, condos and other "me first" developments that do not lend easily to common park space......



It is a shame. I, for one, would rather blade in NJ and look at NY than the other way around.

The Train station isn't a block , you can walk through it...

[Ninjahedge]

Nexis, walking through the train station is a PITA if you are on a bike. And if you are serious, toe-clip walking is even more-so.

You can also stay home and not ride your bike, but that does not make it an acceptable solution.

[eddhead]

@Merry - Parts of the bike path sections that run thru Carl Schurz park are also narrow (less than the 10 Feet planned here) and shared with pedestrians. It means having to ride slowly and carefully. It is not ideal, but at least it is not interrupted.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Nexis, walking through the train station is a PITA if you are on a bike. And if you are serious, toe-clip walking is even more-so.

You can also stay home and not ride your bike, but that does not make it an acceptable solution.

I love Hoboken Terminal , its a nice station....yes you have to dismount your bike , but its not that bad....

[Merry]

It means having to ride slowly and carefully.

Mmmmm, that I would like to see... :sarcasm: . I've never seen any cyclists doing that here in Perth LOL!

[Merry]

Up the River

Civitas announces winners of competition to reimagine the East River waterfront.

by Tom Stoelker


First place scheme by Joseph Wood. Courtesy Civitas

Imagine floating in a gondola through East Harlem. How about leisurely kayaking by Hell Gate, the East River’s most dangerous bend? What if signage alongside the FDR drive promoted neighborhood engagement in Jenny Holzer–style graphics? These somewhat outré civic solutions represent the first, second, and third place winners of the Reimagining the Waterfront competition, sponsored by Civitas, a citizen’s action group. More than 90 entrants from 25 countries entered the competition to address the crumbling East River Esplanade from 60th to 125th streets.

Last year attention was focused on closing the greenway gap between 38th Street and 60th Street. Meanwhile, just north of that stretch, the 60-year-old esplanade with its crumbly sinkholes and limited access points across the FDR foretold the challenges of maintaining a riverside park in the long term.

The three winners of the ideas competition address crucial aspects of rethinking the waterfront. The first place winner, Syracuse University architecture student Joseph Wood, dreamed up canals leading inland to integrate the Upper East Side and East Harlem. Second place winner Takuma Ono was no less ambitious, but he took a holistic approach that incorporated below-water ecosystems with practical engineering and a web of boardwalks on the water. Third place winner Matteo Rossetti envisioned strategically placed “writing the esplanade” modules, where the community could drop by and write down what they would like to see happen on that site. The modules could later be transformed into participants’ suggestions.

Clockwise from top: Wood's Proposal weaves canals through the Upper East Side and East Harlem; canal-side plantings filter storm water; a bridge passes over the FDR; water from the East river infiltrates an East-west street.

Rob Rogers of Rogers Marvel Architects was joined on the jury by architects Adam Yarinsky, Billie Tsien, Jack Travis, Signe Nielsen, Manhattan borough parks commissioner William Castro, Warren James, and attorney Al Butzel.

Rogers explained the unconventional scheme that took first place. “This was an ideas competition, and as such, part of the notion was to create intrigue and excitement about what the East Side could be,” he said. “It is ambition beyond traditional boundaries, beyond the scheme.” For his part, Wood said he was stunned that the jury selected his design, which was assigned as part of an architecture studio. “I was very surprised because they presented the competition like a basic nuts-and-bolts problem,” said Wood said by phone. “I think they took a step out of themselves to allow such a conceptual idea to win.”

Clockwise from top: Second-place winner Takuma Ona's esplanade; the walkways use dredge materials as building blocks for decks; and recreational walkways.

The water flow of Wood’s interlocking canals would be regulated in part by gates and filtration equipment. Tiered plantings would filter storm water before flowing into the river-bound canals. In a telephone interview, Wood didn’t delve too deeply into the technical details, to say nothing of Upper East Side/East Harlem politics. “This is more about the big picture,” he said. “It could be refreshing in a way to envision a new realm of the city without having to worry about the politics. This is more to spark conversation.”

Ono, an inaugural fellow at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, used historical maps as a starting point to study features of the landscape and its geology before accentuating them in tetrapods to create “ecological infrastructures.” “I’m always inspired by projects that look beyond the contemporary landscape and back into the past to see what can emerge from the existing rubble,” he said.

Rossetti’s civic approach rounded out the selection by bringing in neighborhood participation. “It is really difficult for the community to live pleasantly in a space that isn’t the mirror of the community itself,” the Italian architect said in an email.

The winners and five honorable mentions will be presented in an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York from June 6 through late September.

Rossetti’s civic survey stations would use existing infrastructure for on location crowd sourcing.

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6000

[Merry]

East Side Story

East River Blueway plans for accessible waterfront in Manhattan.

by Tyler Silvestro


Courtesy WXY

The waterfront of Lower Manhattan, a vestige of maritime commerce and industrial conditions suitable for the dockworkers of centuries past, is slated for yet another face-lift. The East River, a tidal strait connecting the Harlem River to the Upper Bay of the New York Harbor, has been in the limelight recently. Brooklyn Bridge Park; Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Roosevelt Island; and Long Island City, Queens to name a few, have all been revitalized in recent years to accommodate a new class of recreationalists and market-rate dwellers alike. However, development on the river’s western edge has been far more sparse, until now. A 3.5-mile stretch from the Manhattan-side embankment of the Brooklyn Bridge to East 38th Street is set to begin transformation by the end of this year.

Members of Community Boards 6 and 3 have been advocating for upgrades to their local waterfront spaces; namely, Stuyvesant Cove and Piers 35/36-42 respectively, for nearly two decades. A sea change occurred when these two factions coalesced and got the attention of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and State Assemblymember Brian Kavanaugh. Together, with the collaboration of the Lower East Side Ecology Center, the city has challenged WXY Architecture + Urban Design with the task of concocting a plan to connect Lower Manhattan with its eastern edge. The result is the East River Blueway Plan—a community-based planning initiative named for its focus on access and connectivity on the water.


Map of waterfront infrastructure.

Adam Lubinsky, a managing partner at WXY, believes in a comprehensive planning strategy. “The East River Blueway Plan will be the foundation for an interconnected network of waterfront sites.” Easier said than done. Much of the waterfront is severed from the city by the FDR Drive, a high-speed roadway that soars and dips. The focus, according to Lubinsky, “is on those who can walk there.” WXY, with Borough President Stringer and Assembly member Kavanaugh, have publicly engaged the communities since September of 2011, often hearing about local desires to cross the highway.

Unfortunately, the FDR Drive is not the only obstacle. Superblocks of towers-in-the-park housing, poor drainage, a mixture of active and inactive waterfront industry, and many other factors add up to discourage development on this site. ADA-inaccessible overpasses; narrow, collision-inducing bike lanes; and combined sewage overflows have also been identified as key issues.

However, in a recent interview, Lubinsky spoke optimistically of the site’s conditions. “The infrastructure there creates a really hard edge, and all of the buildings built over the past 80 years have turned their back to the river.” The challenge, he continues, “is to get residents to turn around, to realize the river is there, to be aware of it and to start to use it more.” Soon, if the hopes of community members are realized, New Yorkers may be biking along and even kayaking and swimming in the East River.



http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6197

[ZippyTheChimp]

South St esplanade, Battery Maritime Building to Old Slip



Walkway cantilevered out over the seawall. One lane of South St was demapped for the bikeway. No more narrow sidewalk or parked buses.

One Battery Park renovations are complete, Hudson River and East River bikeways will be connected.

[Merry]

The East River Treatment

Memorial Sloan-Kettering and CUNY collaborate on two new towers along Manhattan's East River.

by Branden Klayko


Two new towers are planned along the East River waterfront. Courtesy NYC Mayor's Office

Manhattan’s East Side, already no stranger to hospitals, is about to play host to two new innovative medical towers. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and CUNY’s Hunter College have partnered on the projects, which will add more than a million square feet of academic, research, and patient care facilities to the city’s premier healthcare corridor. Designed collaboratively by Perkins Eastman and Ennead Architects, the buildings will seek to fulfill the evolving needs of the industry by placing a premium on adaptability.

“These buildings by their very nature have to be flexible. Floor plates and layouts have to accommodate a good deal of change over time,” said Brad Perkins, chairman at Perkins Eastman. “In the future, cancer treatments may change and the building must be able to handle that. In a specialized facility like MSK, each floor might be designed for a particular treatment but five years from now there may be considerable change.”



One of the most notable changes to traditional healthcare architecture in this design is the absence of extensive bed wards. “A lot of cancer treatments are now performed in an out-patient setting,” Perkins said. “You don’t need to be in a hospital bed. You can go home and be monitored. It’s the wave of the future.” Eliminating the wards and their rigid layout requirements from the program gave the architects room to provide more accommodating spaces.

Arranged as a series of stacked six-story volumes each containing a programmatic unit, the two towers—750,000 square feet and 336,000 square feet respectively—were designed to improve user experience. “We’ve adjusted the massing to maximize river views for both towers,” said Todd Schliemann, founding partner and design principal at Ennead Architects. The setbacks created by each volume also offer refuge for patients, families, and students with views across the river and surrounding city.

Aerial view of the site between 73rd and 74th streets (left) and current conditions along 74th street (right). Courtesy Bing and Google

After entering the towers’ lobbies on a quiet, pedestrian-oriented street, the program becomes increasingly specialized as it rises, climbing to a clinic and treatment floors at MSK and moving from classroom space to research labs at CUNY. Inside CUNY’s tower, research and academic programs are joined by a communal stair. “They tie the whole building together,” Schliemann said. “We’re trying to make students and researchers feel like they’re part of a larger community.”

Facades of glass and masonry—potentially stone or terracotta—will set the towers apart from their residential neighbors with an uplifting aesthetic for an institutional typology. “You want to alleviate fear. Hospitals in the past were dehumanizing buildings,” said Schliemann. “We’re trying to create a dignified, almost normal patient experience.”

On September 10, Mayor Bloomberg announced the collaboration. The project will transform a former sanitation garage between 73rd and 74th streets that was demolished in 2008. Under the plan, the city will sell the site for $215 million and take control of the current Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at 25th Street, which will eventually be redeveloped as a mixed-use project above a new sanitation garage. The towers are still in the schematic phase and must go through the ULURP process and pass review by the community board.

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6265

[Merry]

^ Wasn't sure if this old thread is the same thing?

[GordonGecko]

These East River projects are nice and all, but the reality of the current situation is the entire east coast is a giant clusterf**k right now. I challenge anyone to bike down from the Queensboro bridge down to South Ferry. We all know about the gaps in the paths, but the existing paths these days are mostly blocked by construction or vehicles. We're a very long way off this grand vision of a circular utopia in manhattan

[Ninjahedge]

Why is that?

They seem to be going around in circles just fine GG!