PREVIOUS URBAN DESIGN & LANDSCAPES

URBAN LANDSCAPES

NATURESCAPE KIDS

NatureScape Kids, is a new concept developed with TJ Properties for an Environmental Entertainment Complex and Adventure Park that sits on a wooded site into which we have carefully integrated 15,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor play space, restaurants and gardens that invite children to explore and learn from the natural environment. The mass timber structures serve as both landscape and playscape, and are designed to maximize energy efficiency while minimizing the projects’ carbon footprint. 

The relaxed family atmosphere takes clues from the traditional Beer Garden, but NatureScape Kids also provides a rotating menu of high-quality international cuisines, and hours of fun for kids of all ages, with topiary mazes, sandscapes and swings for toddlers to zipline, bungee jumping, treehouse villages, gardening and cooking classes for older kids. 

MANCHESTER HOUSING PROPOSAL -  SALFORD, ENGLAND

This proposal for housing along the River Irwell affords residents the convenience of city life in a lush green environment along the waterfront. Manchester’s canal and river system provide a wonderful opportunity to be revitalized and used for commerce, transportation and recreation. The Springfield Lane Development consists of residential and commercial buildings. The larger building has 90 apartments, 20 commercial spaces and 120 parking spaces on two levels. The smaller building, to the north, has 30 residential units and 28 parking spaces. Apartments along the canal come with an additional barge unit that plugs into the apartment, extending the living space into a floating sunroom with extra bedroom, kitchen and bath, creating an attractive option for potential buyers.

This development bring life to the site and neighborhood. Swimming, ice skating, and floating performances are just some of the activities that could take place in the Water Plaza. Canals are an underutilized link between city and countryside that provide the opportunity for floating farmers markets and a new Barge-Bus transportation system serving Manchester, Salford and surrounding areas. Barges provide a pleasant and energy-efficient mode of transportation that reduces road traffic and pollution.  The Barge-Bus and dry dock could provide employment opportunities for local residents. The building on the east side of the river houses a dry dock and boat shop for repair and maintenance of barges and boats. Above the dry dock are rehearsal spaces for the Floating Theater that performs in the Water Plaza when not touring the waterways of England.

The stepped landscape is a playful interpretation of the traditional English Garden. Ascending grassy knolls and green roofs provide residents with public gardens and private lawns for recreation. Eco-roofs are sustainable, energy efficiency and agreeable in appearance. They help to reduce energy consumption, provide for water retention, and increase habitat for wildlife.  Altogether, this housing and commercial development brings the site’s greatest assets together with environmental principles to create a thriving, economically viable community.

LT. PETROSINO PARK WINNING PROPOSAL -  NEW YORK, NY

The proposed design creates a programmatic, cultural and spatial connection between Lt. Petrosino Park and its surroundings. A hanging garden extends from the facades of the surrounding buildings to a series of columns within the park. Neighboring residents are invited to participate directly from their windows in selecting, growing and planting the flowering vines and ivy which constitute the garden. This simple gesture provides animated patterns of light and shade at street level, and a view of the entire street through a levitating tapestry of rich greenery and brightly colored flowers from the windows above. 

The existing 7000 square foot park is located at the intersection of Lafayette and Kenmare streets at the threshold between Chinatown, Little Italy and Soho. The simple framework of cables and columns also provides an ideal structure for a variety of community interventions. The Italian community may decorate the columns and cables with shimmering lights during the San Gennaro Festival or Christmas, while the Chinese could use the park for hanging elaborately colored lanterns or dragons during the Chinese New Year festivities. During the summer local artists may hang projection screens for film and video festivals or create sculptural works that use the columns as a structural base. Participation may be as passive as simply smelling the flowers at the window or as active as designing special features for park events and the customization of your own window box. The design of the structure and landscape allows the park to function like a flexible extension of New York City's urban fabric, incorporating a variety of diverse contributions into an ever-changing collage of city culture and vegetation. 

By using the sky plane as a garden, the design reduces noise and air pollution to the surrounding residences, puts planting out of the reach of vandals and adds a whole new level of interest from the ground level. Spatially the pergola serves to integrate the streets, sidewalks and building facades into the park, creating a kind of giant exterior room whose walls, floor, and ceiling are alive with the energy of the community. Within the park, areas for seating, playing and entertainment are integrated into a playful unfolding landscape of paving, planting and water that inspires joy and interaction between people and the parkscape itself. This is a living park, transformed each season by the imagination of its users.

PETROULAS ROOF DECK -  NEW YORK, NY

Photos by Travis Dubreuil

GREEN SPRINGS - NEW YORK, NY

GREEN SPRINGS

40 million bed springs are dumped on to landfills each year in the US alone.

By combining the two rapidly growing industries of green wall systems and mattress recycling, "Green Springs" intends to help reduce landfill waste and to encourage the beautification of urban landscapes using discarded bed springs to create green walls and roofs.

These "Green Springs" can function as free-standing screens, attached to existing walls and buildings or as horizontal trellises to create green roofs. Green Springs intertwine plants and climbers, utilizing a simple irrigation method (ideally using re-cycled water) which , when mature will generate a vegetated habitat, give year round color, and create a lush green space without encroaching on or using valuable land.

Green Springs, used in conjunction with the planter box can be used to green and enhance the beauty of any bleak urban façade. The planter mounted outside any window and connected to the spring that is attached to the façade, allows for climbers to grow on to it and thus greening the façade.

Cantilevered above windows with a planter below, various climbers can connect to the springs via cables and create a canopy of greenery and shade above the window. Non-clinging ivies and climbers can be used to avoid any damages to the walls. They may be flowering, annual or perennials and depending on the direction the façade is facing a variety of different types of plants may be used on the green springs. 

Green Springs absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, and reduce greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. They reduce energy consumption by keeping the building cooler in the summer and greatly reducing "heat island" effects.

Green Springs can also be used in parks functioning as free-standing screens, or be attached to existing structures along any transportation route or highways. They can function as a simple, beautiful and playful trellis that provide a natural green separa