Hudson Yards / West Midtown Manhattan Redevelopment
Arquitectonica worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team to create a new vision of the 26-acre site known as the East and West Yards on the west side of Manhattan. The site is part of the overall Hudson Yards area that was rezoned in 2005, in which Arquitectonica was also involved. The redevelopment program is balanced between residential and commercial development, and includes a site for a major cultural facility and emphasizes public open spaces stretching from 10th Avenue to the Hudson River. Arquitectonica worked to create a vision for 26 acres of land on the west side in a mixed-use development that had an urban density and also retained a neighborhood character.
The city was looking to create a third business district in Manhattan (the other two being Wall Street and Mid-Town), and tasked developers with creating a cohesive grouping of large-scale buildings, diverse in their designs, active in how they meet the surrounding street life, and a positive addition to the New York skyline.
The team created a linear park that runs from 10th Avenue to the Hudson River. Along the perimeter of this space are residential towers, placed to maximize river and park views, a hotel tower, two office towers, retail, a cultural facility, and a New York City school. The High Line, an abandoned elevated railway that runs through Chelsea and down the west side of Manhattan, is incorporated into the scheme as a pedestrian esplanade from the south.
Arquitectonica’s prior planning work on the overall Hudson Yards rezoning with the city helped create a new axial park through an under developed area adjacent to the railyards. It will be flanked by a new boulevard that connects 42nd street and the theater district, running south to the site and then west to the river. This bold plan is the basis of this new proposal, which when completed will finally bring the life of the city from east to west across Manhattan.
