Threatens Village Arboricide to Build its New Faux-rest
December 7, 2009, by Pete
NYU's new Spiritual Center design, with terra cotta cutouts in the shapes of leaves.
NYU made an emergency appearance before the Parks Committee of Community Board 2 last week, urging for permission to remove six trees along Thompson Street where the University's new Center for Academic and Spiritual Life is set to rise. Despite a presentation of the building plan six months ago, NYU now claims that their construction crew only recently realized that the 30-foot-tall trees have roots that extend under the sidewalk and onto the site where the foundation will be dug. Reps told CB2 that two of the trees will be removed and transplanted to an unspecified location, but the other four are doomed—and the removal must take place prior to December 15 to allow for safe transplantation before the trees get the chills. The committee was skeptical of the plan, noting that this last minute appeal is the first time that NYU had mentioned the trees.
Another potential problem for the trees are the hot water lines from the NYU Cogeneration Plant (now being expanded on Mercer Street) that run beneath the ground and service the school's buildings. Rather than place the piping within the footprint of the new building ("Too dangerous to do that," CB2 was told) NYU plans to snake the lines beneath the public streets and sidewalks around Washington Square Park (which has some tree problems of its own) and throughout the campus neighborhood.
Committee members were told that the heat of those pipes in proximity to the roots of trees equals a certain death. It was pointed out to the NYU gang that more than these trees on Thompson were at risk and that the University's capacious plans could be a threat to the leafy lanes that make up Greenwich Village. The committee, hoping that these trees are stronger than their own influence, voted to urge NYU to leave the trees in place during construction. No matter the outcome, folks might take some solace in seeing that the plan for the new NYU building has a terra cotta exterior embellished with cutouts in the shapes of leaves. Fair trade, Mr. Gore?
58 Washington Square South coverage [Curbed]
Cogeneration Project [NYU Facilities & Construction Management website]
http://curbed.com/archives/2009/12/0...xrest.php#more
I'm heartsick over the all the mature, beautiful trees that have been murdered for this over reaching transformation.
I complained about this earlier in the year. It was horrrible...made your legs burn when you sit down. I have so many problems with this redesign.Never mind that sitting on the granite, mausoleum-style benches around the fountain was akin to putting yourself on the hot seat.
Southwest quadrant
Where did the chessmen go?
Eastern half
What he said.First, the tree pits they were planted in were a huge mistake because there appears to be no drainage capability! Hawthorne surmised it was a design detail that won, over advice from any certified arborist.
The two replacement tress are younger (at least 5 years I would guess) than the originals. Maybe money, or not being able to set a larger root ball without ripping up the paving.
The might as well replace them all; they'll eventually die if drainage is poor.
Worse than unnecessary, the revised park is a ghastly mistake and a waste of money.
Washington Square Park's Phase II Blueprints Revealed
February 4, 2010, by Pete
(click to enlarge)
This week members of Community Board 2's Parks Committee along with a handful of curious citizens got a sneak peek of the almost-finalized plans for the next stage of the on-going Washington Square Park renovation. A few months back the Parks Department promised to present a show-and-tell on this $16 million project, so some blueprints were forwarded for showing, but the telling is still to come. The plans shown do reveal the layout of the seating "pods" (down from the previous six to a new four) in various sizes that will be situated at the eastern edges of the park. At the southwest corner the big chess circle will be reconstructed with a ring of 19 tables. Nearby the reconfigured mounds (R.I.P.!) will grow, controversial astroturf and all.
Two dog runs will be built along Washington Square South, one for the bigger guys near the mounds and another for small critters farther to the east, opposite NYU's upcoming faux-rest (and within barking distance of the relocated Pétanque courts). The "teen plaza" will become an adjunct of the new Garibaldi Plaza, overseen by the Italian revolutionary's relocated statue. To keep things in line, nine new security cameras, discretely mounted on light poles and funded by the NYPD, will be placed throughout the park. Still to come are designs for a refurbished outhouse comfort station/maintenance center, which will be revealed at yet another CB2 meeting in the future. Will Phase II win as many positive reviews as Phase I? We'll have to wait and see.
Washington Sq Park Phase II Up Next! [Washington Square Park Blog]
Washington Square Park Renovation coverage [Curbed]
http://curbed.com/archives/2010/02/0...s_revealed.php
The NYPD will be watching YOU at Washington Square Park
New NYPD Cameras SW Washington Square Park
New Surveillance Cameras on Lamp Posts SW
http://washingtonsquarepark.wordpres...n-square-park/
Those cameras are clearly an interim measure, as they're being set on 70s era lamp posts that are slated for removal / replacement. My guess is that the final version of cameras will be less bulky and more clandestine -- ala the mini-cams that are (barely) seen on so many lamp posts down at the new Goldman Sachs HQ.
And we can only hope that the wires & cables that for so long have been slung about the trees and poles on the SW edge of WSP will disappear in the near future.
In Loo of Behind a Bush: City Reveals Washington Square's Eco-Friendly Bathrooms
By Dana Rubinstein
April 12, 2010 | 5:41 p.m
BKSK Architects LLP.
They're a far cry from today's graffiti-covered, bathroom-stall-deprived johns.
Washington Square Park's spiffy new bathrooms, pictured in the renderings to the right, will have solar thermal panels on the roof and a geothermal system, according to Parks spokeswoman Cristina DeLuca. The men's room, apparently long the site of amorous hook-ups, will even have a coupling-friendly, handicapped-accessible stall, along with three urinals. The ladies room will have four stalls, one of which will be handicapped accessible.
(Last summer, Curbed sent out an intern to find out why the men's room didn't have stalls. A "Parks Dude" gave him the following response: "They took the stalls out before the renovations. There were too many gays together in there. You know, this is Washington Square Park. You'd look and see four legs when there should be two in a stall! Crazy! Now there's none of that. Can't do that out in the open.")
Construction is scheduled to start this winter and finish in the winter of 2011, as part of the multi-million-dollar second phase of the always controversial (this being Greenwich Village) reconstruction of Washington Square Park.
drubinstein@observer.com
Copyright The New York Observer.
Pretty poor renderings.
What does this mean?Originally Posted by brianac
I take it to mean that there will be a stall with a door.
It means:
It is bigger.
It has handles around 3 out of 4 walls.
It has a door.
Use your imagination, just don't use the stall.......
Does it accommodate two for "coupling"?
Should they allow women in the men's room if accompanied by a man and if they intend to couple?
Should they allow men into the ladies' room for purposes of coupling?
Those handicapped stalls show great promise.
DISCRIMINATION!!!!!
If gays are allowed to ......be friendly..... with each other in love stall, so should heteros!!!!
(Aside from two heteros of the same sex, that is. Kinda defeats the definition of Hetero....)
BTW, true story, worst was at my former gym down in the village (yes, the village), Printing House. They had to close down the Hot Tub for just than kind of particular "handicapped accessability"....
Washington Square Park Fountain Turned On
http://washingtonsquarepark.wordpres...71_3e409b6c5f/
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks