Two Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
Revitalizing an iconic modern apartment building with integrated architecture and landscape improvements that create a new relationship with the street
Located at the north of Washington Square Park, a historical landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood, MPA was commissioned to improve the 4,000 sf area of forecourt for 400 units high-rise residential building, designed by Emery Roth and Sons in 1952.
New hardscape is made up of elements with careful material detailing and its composition: widening existing walkway by replacing with new poured-in-place concrete paving, strengthening walkway edges by new high concrete curbs with integrated lighting, and replacing existing concrete driveway with permeable unit pavers. Damaged white marble cladding at columns are replaced with a new seamless full-height white marble cladding, and white marble benches at each side of building entry are provided to set up an outdoor waiting area. Extension of Black Cambrian paving to the outside of entry threshold establishes the visual and spatial relationship between inside and outside. Constructing ground in monolithic and integrated materials, at concrete pavers and walkway with high-curb with same admixtures, creates a unity with the building brick facade as a whole. This integrated approach reinforces seamless continuous threshold from 5th avenue sidewalk to create welcoming gesture without giving a feeling of confined forecourt space. Restoring the monolithic marble iconic entry canopy and columns enhances its presence in the historical Greenwich Village neighborhood, and resonates with the marble triumphal Washington Square Arch, the most prominent landmark built in 1892.
New landscape at north and south areas of the forecourt enriches texture and provides year-round interest with low maintenance planting, including evergreen groundcover, low shrubs and mix of deciduous/evergreen trees. It integrates planting areas at center and edge of drive to enhance sense of court as one space with overlaying rock ‘outcrops’ (Minetta Brook) at center and north planting areas.
Completion Date
2016
MPA Team
Sandro Marpillero, Linda Pollak, Taigo Itadani
Collaborators
General Contractor: Time Square Construction & Development
Landscape Contractor: Town & Gardens, LTD