Interview: Queens Plaza: Infrastructure Reframed
Subway viaduct at Queensborough Bridge landing. Collage by Sandro Marpillero.
“The Queens Plaza Bicycle and Pedestrian Landscape Improvement Project transforms the tangle of urban infrastructure cutting through Long Island City from a harsh, disorienting industrial maze into a lush, navigable landscape, a gateway to Long Island City that organizes various flows and scales while providing a refuge for residents, workers and the road-weary. The urban and landscape design unites the surrounding neighborhoods and restores the connection between the city and the river. The project spans 1.3 miles, revitalizes JFK Park and connects it to the dramatic water’s edge below the Queensboro Bridge.
The design team included landscape designers Margie Ruddick with the firm WRT Design, architects and urban designers Marpillero Pollak Architects and the artist Michael Singer. The NYC Department of City Planning and Economic Development Corporation are the client agencies, and the project is one of the first to follow the City’s High-Performance Infrastructure Guidelines. I recently sat down with Margie Ruddick, Sandro Marpillero and Linda Pollak to talk about how the project seeks to redefine the idea of nature in the city, integrating infrastructure, art and ecology.”
- Cassim Shepard
Historic site overlay. Image courtesy of Marpillero Pollak Architects.
Under the viaduct. Photo: Nick Buccelli.
Before and after. Images courtesy Marpillero Pollak and WRT Design.
Permeable pavers. Image: Michael Singer Studio