GREEN HUB drew powers, scott francisco
IMPROVING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION THROUGH BETTER PLACE-MAKING
Amidst budget challenges NYC is always look for new ways to promote sustainable transportation alternatives. The Green Hub meets this challenge with a low-cost high-impact design intervention to existing city structures.
If You Build it They Will Come…
Imagine that your favorite NYC café was also a bike storage “valet”, with an urban roof garden, solar-electric bike charging station and a welcoming place to wait for the next bus or train. Parking your bike has never been so secure, convenient, and dignified. The NYC Green Hub will occupy under-utilized existing parking structures to provide exceptional bike services, staffed and maintained by neighborhood organizations.
This iteration is designed for the DOT Parking facility at Essex and Delancey. It includes a 1000 sf bike storefront workshop and maintenance space, coffee kiosk, parking for 120 bicycles, drinking fountain and benches, a 900 sf solar array and a 1600 sf community roof garden with compost depot. It is positioned to take advantage of the Williamsburg Bridge bike traffic and the adjacent F Train subway stop. It uses a total of 14 car parking spaces, 9 of which are almost never used on the roof. An ‘anamorphic’ mural is created by painting only the sides of the existing facade fins – to liven up this 1970′s architecture.
Bird’s eye view of proposed changes to the existing garage.
EXISTING GARAGE
“Fortress-like” garage has no street interaction or services on ground level
PROPOSED ALTERATIONS
Rendering of GreenHub storefront with new bike center, roof garden, solar panels and a
new mural painted on existing concrete facade fins – View from Ludlow St. side.
PROPOSED PLAN – GROUND FLOOR
Parking structure – ground floor – with addition of Bike Shop Cafe and Bike Parking
SKETCH
Early concept sketch – View from Essex St. side
