Broadway (and on it’s extents most of Manhattan) exists on a constructed, thick ground. Its urbanity depends on underground infrastructure which have been built as a continuous process during the late 19th and 20th century. By acknowledging and understanding Broadway’s street level as a second floor, one can re-imagine the space of the city.
This project aims to extensively connect Broadway’s ground level to its underground as an interconnected urban and vegetal surface on which both enter into a true performative dialogue.
At the same time it acknowledges the current state of its infrastructure, opposes its continuous physical and cultural neglect, and proposes treating this space as a “public treasure” in the same way in which many other important elements of New York are today.
The project converts Broadway from the 62nd to the 67th streets into a pedestrian boulevard with an urban “Forest” above and an extended subway station with continuous ramps below. The subway then becomes opened or “daylighted”, and a new type of urban space for NY is created.
A field condition inspired by Broadway’s Diagonal within the Manhattan grid is developed to generate the paver system which displays this urban condition, plus allows for the linear set of trees, sidewalks, streets, urban furniture and connection to Lincoln Center.
