INTRODUCTION

Battery Park City was built

upon the soil and rocks
excavated during the
construction of the World
Trade
Center and sand dredged
from New York Harbor off of
Staten Island.

Named for the adjacent

park, Battery Park City is an
exciting mix of residential
areas, offices complexes,
walking and bike paths and
several beautiful waterfront
parks.

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LOCATION: Manhattan, NY
BUILDING TYPE: Residential,
Commercial, Recreational
CATEGORY: Urban renewal /
Greenfield development
YEAR: 2000
AREA: 92 acres

CITY STRUCTURE
LOCATION:

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Located in southwestern and is bordered on the

by the North Esplanade, on the
by
Battery Place and the Hudson River, on the
by the Hudson River and on the
by West
Street.

CONCEPTION
Battery Park City began as a vi

Known as a
of both New
York and the world, the
gradually
became an in-demand center for residential housing as well.
It has been home to many innovative ideas to improve the urban
experience.
There were many

for Battery Park City proposed

. They all had three goals in common:

To expand the area of lower Manhattan;

To get people living downtown again; and

To provide lower Manhattan with a few more trees and some

open space.

EVOLUTION
1962 REVITALIZATION

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in the Hudson River in

Tribeca region initiated the
for Battery
Park City.
A study of the Hudson waterfront revealed that the
site may have a different potential.
The idea was to build an
, with a sort of
industrial esplanade along the edge.
The plan
however was badly received.

1966 INTEGRATED SOCIETY:

The idea of building
attractive proposition for

seemed like an

.
The Governors plan was to not simply house people
coming out of slums but to give them a superior
. However this scheme too was not well
received housing
were
beginning
.
The style was orthodox Corbusian modernism,which
was quickly losing popularity.

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1969 HIGH TECHNOLOGY

1975 DEFENSIBLE SPACE

The 1969 plan was slowly picked apart, its

Battery Park City Authority, formed in 1968,
grandiose public infrastructure was cast off.
tossed the most
essentially
consisting of
The Battery Park City project was broken
down into
that
could
and
incrementally. These were called
one
of which, Gateway Plaza, was built.
This service spine ran the length of Battery Park
City as a partly glassed-in, partly open "lifeline,"
The pod has just
to which all the buildings were plugged in.
to provide a controllable, safe environment
The master plan was a
that incorporated

for three or four thousand people. The city at

large was kept out. This was the developer's
solution to the problem of middle-class
suburban flight: the attempt was

The plan was well received but its timing was off
the 73 recession had hit. Investors were unwilling
to commit themselves to such an untested
concept.

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1979 PRACTICAL REALISM

were returned to
grade level and made an extension of
Manhattan's grid.

This yielded conventional development

blocks, which, in turn
Each block could be
,
according to market demand.

The
was moved from
the southern end of the site up to the middle,
.

The plan is more a

than it is a fixed design. This
has allowed a great deal of
in
actual execution and has served as a basis
to bring a
to Battery Park City, all within a
context that relates everything

BATTERY PARK FROM SOUTH COVE

CHAMBERS STREET VISUAL CORRIDOR

LAND USE PATTERN

The

The complex
combines
primarily

allocated the
land use structure
for the entire
area. Then land
was parceled
and leased to
private
developers who
built on them
created
especially for
Battery Park City.

Small
percentages of
(school and
library) and
recreational
(museums) uses
also add to the
over all
development.

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ACESS
WEST SIDE STREET
WORLD TRADE
CENTER SITE

FERRY TO STATUE OF
LIBERTY
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The

and provides
along the entire length of the site.

Several
across the Street.

it that lead one into the site.

are provided at 3 points

Since the site is situated by the river, it is also accessible through

There are
,
and
.

CONNECTIVITY

Although Battery Park City is well

that traverse
within the site, there is
One must
alight off at Battery Park Station in
the south or other stations just
across the West Street and then
One

is that the site

reduced to the status of a

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PRINCIPLES
1. BATTERY PARK SHOULD NOT BE SELFCONTAINED NEW-TOWN-IN-TOWN,BUT A PART
OF LOWER MANHATTAN.
2.THE LAYOUT AND ORIENTATION OF BATTERY
PARK CITY SHOULD BE AN EXTENSION OF LOWER
MANHATTANS SYSTEM OF STREETS AND BLOCKS.
3.IT SHOULD OFFER AN ACTIVE AND VARIED SET
OF WATERFRONT AMENITIES.
4.THE DESIGN OF THE CITY SHOULD TAKE LESS
IDIOSYNCRATIC , MORE RECOGNIZABLE AND
MORE UNDERSTANDABLE FORM.
5.CIRCULATION AT CITY SHOULD REEMPHASIZE
THE GROUND LEVEL.
6.CITY SHOUL D REPRODUCE AND IMPROVE
UPON WHAT IS BEST NEW YORKS
NEIGHBOURHOODS.
7.CITYS COMMERCIAL CENTER SHOULD
BECOME THE CENTRAL FOCUS OF THE PROJECT.
8.LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT CONTROLS
SHOULD BE SUFFICIENTLY FLEXIBLE TO ALLOW
ADJUSTMENT TO FUTURE MARKET REQUIREMENTS.

PRIMARY GUIDELINES FOR THE LANDUSE AND WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT IN THE REGION:

Enact
changes to address the
dramatic changes that have taken place in recent
decades, and

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LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT
An outstanding feature of the Battery City
park is
s it allows for while providing for
sufficient floor area as well. The site is home
to about
which act as
community and recreational spaces.
The project has won many awards for its
unique landscape designs. The firm of
Hanna/Olin has received much
appreciation for their designs that celebrate

Capitalize on
vacant and underused land for new housing
development, addressing both local and citywide
needs.

New development
should fit in with its surroundings, building on the strong
character of the existing neighborhoods.

. Establish
a blueprint for a revitalized, publicly accessible East River
waterfront.

that will reconnect the

neighborhood to the waterfront. .

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CRITICAL APPRAISAL
1.

2.
3.
4.

5.

6.

7.

REVIEW AND MODIFY DETAIL. DESIGNS OF

INTERSECTIONS IN THE PRESENT WESTWAY PLAN
THAT AFFECTS BATTERY PARK CITY 1979 MASTER
PLAN
INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL FOR INEGRATION OF
BATTERY PARK CITY STREET SYSTEM PROPOSALS WITH
WASHINGTON MARKET URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT.
UNDETAKE AN ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATE
APPROACHES FOR MEETING THE ENERGY
REQUIREMENT.
INVESTIGATE WITH THE CITY POTENTIALS FOR
CLOSING ALL OR PARTS OF RECTOR STREET TO
VEHICLES AND RESERVING IT AS A MAJOR
PEDESTRIAN LINKAGES TO THE WATERFRONT.
ONE OF GREAT THINGS ABOUT THIS
NEIGHBORHOOD IS MAKES YOU FEEL TO NATURE.
ALTHOUGH THE HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS ARE
EXTREMELY URBAN, THERE IS A MAGNIFICENT
ESPLANADE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO STROLL AND
BICYCLE ALONG THE HUDSON RIVER. NEARLY TWO
DOZEN TINY POCKET PARKS IN BPC THAT MEAN
CAN COME DOWN TO EARTH TO ENJOY GREENERY
AND FREQUENTLY CHANGING ART INSTALLATIONS.
COMMUTING CAN BE A NIGHTMARE, ESPECIALLY
IN INCLEMENT WEATHER. BUSES SERVE THE AREA,
BUT THEY ARE SLOW, PARTICULARLY AT RUSH HOUR.
YOULL NEED TO WALK AT LEAST 10 MINUTES TO
REACH ONE OF THE SUBWAY LINES THAT SERVE THE
AREA.
IN 2003, THE SOLAIRE, THE NATION'S FIRST
SUSTAINABLE HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
OPENED IN BATTERY PARK CITY. ENVIRONMENTALLY
ENGINEERED TO CONSUME 65% LESS ENERGY
DURING PEAK DEMAND HOURS - 35% LESS ENERGY
OVERALL - AND 50% LESS POTABLE WATER THAN
SIMILAR APARTMENT BUILDINGS.

IMPLEMENTATION AND PHASING

1.

2.
3.

A STRATEGY FOR NEW

DEVELOPMENT CONTROLS. SUCH
AS STREET MAPPING,ZONING
CLASSIFICATIONS FOR THE
MAJORITY OF THE SITE.
STAGED DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PROJECT.
INFRASTRUCTURE COST
ESTIMATES

PUBLIC POLICIES
1.
2.
3.

A QUALITY PUBLIC
ENVIRONMENT
SIMPLIFIED INFRASTRUCTURE
REQUIREMENTS
CURRENT AND PROJECTED
MARKET CONDITIONS.
ISSUES
1. MARKET UNCERTAINITY AND AN
EXCESSIVELY RIGID LARGESCALE DEVELOPMENT.
2. OVERLY COMPLICATED
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT.
3. QUESTIONS AS TO THE
FINANCIAL STABILITY OF THE
AUTHORITY.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3li1t_clean-andgreen-in-ny-meet-battery_news (video)
http://www.batteryparkcity.org/pdf_n/1979_Master_Plan.p
df

http://www.batteryparkcity.org/Who-We-Are/UrbanExperiment_8.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Park_City