PARK XING

New York, New York

Park Avenue is situated at the confluence of historic and contemporary New York City: it functions as a vital corridor that represents a cross-section of culture, commerce, and transit. PARK XING captures the medians of Park Avenue as an opportunity to celebrate and display the thriving metropolitan character of this intersection of the City. PARK XING traces the lines of the City and its moving parts — acknowledging the living, breathing elements that shape the character of the urban environment. INTERSECT X CONNECT  Forming an overlay onto the existing street-train-pedestrian corridor, PARK XING embraces the conditions of above and below. In its structural manifestation, it is a flexible and responsive mechanism for strengthening the connective fabric of the City. Rising above and along Park Avenue, PARK XING is a contiguous apparatus of elevated paths, program amenities, and integrated points of access at buildings and at street level. 

The connective pathway rises and falls through the canopy of the SUPERFOREST, a microhabitat of high-performance vegetation. A lofty deciduous canopy mitigates the impact of the urban heat island, while an understory of temperate and subtropical plants thrive in the climatic conditions created by heat released from the train tunnel below. The SUPERFOREST plays a critical role in the carbon cycle, sequestering carbon emissions generated by the traffic of Park Avenue. A continuous, structural soil volume beneath the street corridor supports the fibrous root system of the grand canopy of Sequoia trees as well as the striking palette of flowering street trees.

A plug-and-play modular system allows PARK XING to connect with buildings above street level, forming connections that allow linkages with building programs and provide extended points of access. These bridges can support expanded program opportunities such as special events, performances, and outdoor exhibitions. These connective points establish an intersection between public and private uses as an attractor for increased retail, hospitality, and commercial activation while increasing the vibrancy and vitality of Park Avenue.