MD Bronx, Meet Your Waterfront Plan HTTP://BRONX.MIT.EDU SPRING 2011 1 OF 2SITE & SYSTEMS PLANNING PRACTICUM DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES & PLANNING MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MACOMBS DAM PARK-IT PLACE

MACOMBS DAM PARK-IT PLACE

MASTER PLAN

SECTION DIAGRAMS

PARK-IT PLACEPart-time market, part-time parking, part-time park. This site plan takes advantage of this large, underutilized space along the waterfront by transforming the site that currently serves as surface parking for Yankee Stadium into flexible, open space for recreation and commerce. By including green space along

the edges, the waterfront becomes more visible. Small inlets abut the land without the interference of the highway or CSX line and could be an opportunity for outdoor seating, park areas, and environmental remediation.

The addition of active and park space next to adjacent Mill Pond Park creates a more seamless connection between the two sites.

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This design proposes a safer pedestrian crossing at Exterior Street, a dangerous and confusing intersection that comes at a particularly important transitional space between the waterfront parks and key upland destinations. A simple raised crosswalk identifies a safer pedestrian route.

The addition of green space along the waterfront of the existing parking lot offers more direct access to the water. Transforming the lots into part-time parking through green paving and landscaping creates an open space for recreation.

Through landscaping, lighting, and other small scale design improvements, the path from 161st St. to Macombs Dam Bridge becomes safer and more pleasant.

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New Pedestrian Path

Gabions

CREATING ACTIVE SPACESImagine taking a piece of the surface parking lots and dedicating it as flexible activity space. Off the Grid is a food truck gathering, where food trucks station themselves at different parking lots at different times all over the city. It presents an innovative and flexible way to re-use a parking lot. The space can also be used for other activities, like a day market, perhaps reminiscent of the Bronx Terminal Market, or a flea market.

GREEN SOLUTIONSIn some areas, there would be no parking at all and the space can be used as landscaped green edges along the waterfront. In other areas, it can be an open flexible space for part-time parking as well as recreation, sport, or play. By enhancing the area’s physical environment through green paving or planting trees, it can serve as an open space on off-game days.

ENHANCING CONNECTIONSPedestrian spaces and connecting pathways can be visually enhanced through art and improved lighting. Not only does this create a safer environment but evokes visual interest throughout transition spaces. Designing more visible spaces makes movement through these pathways easier, and clearly and legibly identifying destinations enchances wayfinding.

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Exterior Street Raised Crosswalk

MetroNorth Station /Macombs Dam Park

Mill Pond Park /Macombs Dam Park-It Place

Exterior Street Section 1” : 10’ Parking Lot Section 1” : 17’

Pedestrian Path Section 1” : 4’

Selective Clearing and Landscaping

10’ Paved Path2’ Clearance2’ Clearance

Flexible Open Space with Porous PavementWaterfront Green Space Streetfront Green Space

Off the Grid (San Francisco, CA) Fort Greene Flea Market (Brooklyn, New York) Vision of Bronx Harlem River Waterfront Edge Orange Bowl (Miami, FL) Race Street Connector (Philadelphia, PA) Brooklyn Bridge Lighting (Brooklyn, New York)

Porous PavementConstructed WetlandActivity Space

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Judy (Zheng) JiaDaniel Tien SimonLizzie Woods

MD Bronx, Meet Your Waterfront Plan HTTP://BRONX.MIT.EDU SPRING 2011 2 OF 2SITE & SYSTEMS PLANNING PRACTICUM DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES & PLANNING MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MD

MACOMBS DAM PARK-IT PLACE

SITE DESIGNS

Creating safe, attractive spaces for pedestrians doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. By mimicking the style of path and lighting used in the nearby Mill Pond Park, residents and visitors will experience a coherent, continuous path along the water that is separate from automobile traffic.

The construction of a pedestrian ramp provides a safe, direct, and highly visable method for residents and visitors to access the activated parking lots and the improved waterfront edges. Taking advantage of an existing but incomplete sidewalk, the ramp allows pedestrians to avoid the complicated and dangerous intersection on Macombs Dam Bridge.

Currently an afterthought, the space between the Metro-North Station and the waterfront parks could become an attractive means of directing people towards the river through artwork that celebrates rather than ignores the surrounding infrastructure

FLEXIBLE ACTIVITY SPACEHow would a flexible activity space look like on this site? Food trucks, for example, could complement the tailgating activities happening nearby on game days while bringing in commerce at the same time. It can also serve the local community by offering cheap and simple food options on off-game days. This proposal seeks to take advantage of the activity already occuring in this space while also making use of an underutilized space.

MACOMBS DAM

MACOMBS DAM BRIDGE TRANSITIONAL SPACE

PEDESTRIAN PATH

PEDESTRIAN RAMP TO METRO-NORTH

Exterior Street transforms from an empty throughway into a vibrant transitional space by engaging local artists to draw on the site’s history through painting, signs, and new colorful new netting underneath the Major Deegan.

ART AND CULTUREON EXTERIOR STREET