The Streetscapes Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. This project was not chosen for a Feature in the issue, but we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought the project deserved to be showcased online . . .

 
After nearly twenty years of struggling trees and plants fighting for survival within Park Avenue South's center median's challenging growing conditions, neighborhood landlords, business leaders and NYC Parks Department took action to bring back the "park" in Park Avenue. HMWhite was retained by a private/ public partnership, headed by ORDA management, to develop an urban forestry master plan to renovate the Avenue medians from Union Square to 21st Street. Design and technical investigations began with soil testing and analysis. Results confirmed that wholesale soil profile replacement was paramount before any other planting investment was ventured.
Relentlessly inspired by the landscape design principles of European urban boulevards, the visual and spatial dynamics of a tightly spaced and continuous row of tall trees, stretching more than 7 blocks, would effectively register within the confines of the Avenue's street walls. Pollution tolerant columnar Sweet Gum trees fit the median's spatial constraints and offered the desired towering form to visually measure up to the street's scale and urban context. A seasonal testing and organic feeding program was built-in as a project imperative to continuously uphold ideal soil structural and biomass specifications. The combination of a minimalist ground cover plant matrix of high seasonal performing and low growing plants with new metal planter panels completes the streetscape transformation - revitalizing the neighborhood in immeasurable ways.

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