The landscape architecture firm of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates has posted on its website new renderings of what New York University is planning for the vast open space between the impressive and important, multi-colored residential slab buildings of Washington Square Village.
The renderings indicate that the plans call for two angled buildings, knicknamed "boomerangs," at either end of the space with a sunken elliptical landscaped plaza.
According to the architects, "a new center for the university on the Washington Square Village superblock will maximize the use of below-grade space for academics and serve as a new student hub. Existing and proposed above-grade buildings will be focused on faculty residences and academic departmental space, respectively; both will include retail or community spaces at grade to encourage a high level of urban traffic."
"The new landscape, which is at grade with the city sidewalks, is a pedestrian thoroughfare and a 'common ground' for interaction among students, faculty, and the public. It will include plant communities with multi-seasonal appeal, contributing to the creation of intimately scaled spaces that support a variety of social activities," the architects maintain.
The university recently indicated it has dropped its plan for a new 40-story building at the Silver Towers complex just to the south of Washington Square Village.
The new design for the Washington Square Village superblock indicates a very dramatic filling in of the large midblock space between the residential slab buildings whose views of the interior space will be substantially altered.
From the renderings, it does not appear that the proposed new structures will boldly use color as the existing buildings on the site do and certainly they do not relate contextually to them in terms of massing and scale.
Although the university abandoned its plan to erect a tall mixed-use building at Silver Towers when I. M. Pei criticized the proposal, the university still wants to add the same amount of new space to the site only at the Morton Williams site, which is not landmarked.
The renderings indicate that the plans call for two angled buildings, knicknamed "boomerangs," at either end of the space with a sunken elliptical landscaped plaza.
According to the architects, "a new center for the university on the Washington Square Village superblock will maximize the use of below-grade space for academics and serve as a new student hub. Existing and proposed above-grade buildings will be focused on faculty residences and academic departmental space, respectively; both will include retail or community spaces at grade to encourage a high level of urban traffic."
"The new landscape, which is at grade with the city sidewalks, is a pedestrian thoroughfare and a 'common ground' for interaction among students, faculty, and the public. It will include plant communities with multi-seasonal appeal, contributing to the creation of intimately scaled spaces that support a variety of social activities," the architects maintain.
The university recently indicated it has dropped its plan for a new 40-story building at the Silver Towers complex just to the south of Washington Square Village.
The new design for the Washington Square Village superblock indicates a very dramatic filling in of the large midblock space between the residential slab buildings whose views of the interior space will be substantially altered.
From the renderings, it does not appear that the proposed new structures will boldly use color as the existing buildings on the site do and certainly they do not relate contextually to them in terms of massing and scale.
Although the university abandoned its plan to erect a tall mixed-use building at Silver Towers when I. M. Pei criticized the proposal, the university still wants to add the same amount of new space to the site only at the Morton Williams site, which is not landmarked.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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