THE WILDS OF NEW YORK
28 Mar 2018
In a vivid and imaginative concept, design firms GAD and Chelsea Atelier have created an ecological playground for New York’s famous Park Avenue utilising a biophilic architecture strategy.
The Park Avenue Park proposal calls for the creation of a new natural landscape for Park Avenue in New York City that is based on the topographical and ecological features of a savanna (a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees).
Designed by GAD and Chelsea Atelier, the design is based on the implementation of a biophilic architecture strategy intended to take advantage of the genetic predisposition of humans to landscape topography in general and the savanna in particular.
The Park Avenue mixed woodland reflects a grassland ecosystem, which has been prevalent on the eastern seaboard of North America as an endemic natural environment up until the European discovery of the continent.
The firms’ aim is to take the Park Avenue median footprint and widen it to generate a new natural endemic savanna environment intended to weave nature into the everyday life of Manhattan, based on biophilic design principles.
The Park Avenue Park represents for the project team an optimal combination of natural forms adaptable to an urban setting while providing open spaces for a variety of community functions such as walking, eating, rest and relaxation. As such, the design team has used the continuous canopy of the trees to cover a free space underneath dotted by natural landscape elements and social spaces. ,