NYC Meatpacking District, Pedestrianized Urban Streets and Plazas
One of the most visited New York City destinations due in large part to good design and sensitivity to sense of place-keeping
Over the past two decades, New York City's Meatpacking District has undergone a dramatic shift from a historic working district to a destination leisure area and cultural hub, with an increase in traffic-related issues of vehicular volume, pedestrian safety, noise, and community relations. In response, the NYC Pedestrian Plaza Program sought to rebalance the streets with traffic-calming, decreased traffic lanes, and new pedestrian plazas. This multi-phase project, led by landscape architecture firm Ken Smith Workshop, started with interim and temporary improvements to test out traffic patterns, followed by a major utility upgrade, street reconstruction and public space improvements. During the pandemic, post-occupancy design continued with development of 'Open Streets' program planters.
Preliminary Test Planning
The city developed a default plan to eliminate traffic lanes and create new pedestrian spaces, testing out interim pedestrian plazas and traffic calming improvements using a kit-of-parts approach with temporary planters and bollards developed by the design team. Simultaneously, the project engineers monitored and collected traffic data, which confirmed the validity of the street rebalancing approach. Following the success of these measures, permanent designs were developed for reconstruction of 9th Avenue, Gansevoort Plaza, and the Chelsea Triangle. The design team approached the district as a "complete street," with diverse uses as a major focus of the reconstruction effort. Two traffic lanes were eliminated from vehicular use and wide interconnected plazas were created to provide a generous and continuous pedestrian environment. All aspects of the streetscape and plaza design reflect the contemporary uses of the district while using materials, furnishings, and plantings that fit into the historic and iconic context of the district.
Alternative Pedestrian Strategies
While the traffic assessment proved sound for eliminating traffic lanes, the preliminary default diagram for distribution of new public spaces was disconnected and ineffective in reinforcing the historic structure and character of the district. The design team developed concepts for distribution of the new public space areas. Although public spaces are typically divided equally between adjoining sidewalk areas, the design team proposed an alternate plan to distribute the new pedestrian space asymmetrically, creating a broad corridor along one side of the avenue to more strongly link the two triangular plazas that anchored each end of the district.
Agencies and Constituents
The design process was complicated, with governance from multiple public agencies, a business improvement district, separate landmarked and un-landmarked areas, and two independent community board constituencies. The preservation community was opposed to planting trees along 9th Avenue, and there was a universal desire to maintain the historic cobblestone paving that existed throughout the district.
Detailed Design
The design team worked to ensure the historic heritage of the area would remain intact, while being responsive to contemporary needs. The design team did detailed documentation of the historic cobblestone patterns for replacement in kind. Roughly 15% of the original cobblestones passed engineering tests for reuse and were blended in with new granite cobbles along with new granite curbs. The streetscape and plaza design, furnishings, and plantings were designed to fit into the historic and iconic context of the district, but also reflect the contemporary needs of the destination leisure and cultural hub the district has become in recent years.
Post Occupancy Involvement
The design team remained engaged, working with the Business Improvement District on extending the district's design vocabulary along the 14th Street corridor leading out to Little Island, and in the pandemic period developing movable planters and furnishings for the district's 'Open Streets' program.
Today the district is successful and vigorous. It is one of the most visited New York City destinations due in large part to good design and sensitivity to sense of place-keeping.
CREDITS
Landscape Architecture:
Ken Smith Workshop
Civil and Traffic Engineering:
URS Engineering (AECOM), Prime
Architecture:
Marvel Architects
Lighting Design:
Leni Schwendinger Light Projects
City of New York City
Department of Design
and Construction
and Department of Transportation
Meatpacking District
Business Improvement District
