Atlantis Yards

 The Design + Development Challenge: Over the past ten years, New York has experienced a resurgence of the ‘mega-project.’ These include heavily residential developments such as Riverside South, Hunts Point/LIC, City Point in Brooklyn, primarily commercial projects such as the new World Trade Center, true mixed-use projects such as Hudson Yards, and technology/institutional-centric developments such as Roosevelt Island Tech and the Biotech corridor south of NYU Medical Center. Each of these developments is ongoing and all have used a series of diverse design strategies to leverage urban and commercial opportunities, while overcoming developmental challenges and mitigating potential impacts from the development. Development History: One of the most important, and once most controversial, mega-projects is Pacific Park (formerly Atlantic Yards). Currently Co-Developed by Forest City Ratner and Greenland USA (Greenland Forest City Partners) the site is under development with several major pieces such as the Barclay’s Center completed, and several residential buildings in various stages of construction. The project is a 22-acre parcel, mostly built atop a platform over the MTA LIRR’s Atlantic Yards, adjacent to Atlantic Terminal (a major commuter rail and subway station). The current masterplan is15-17 buildings, centered on a major linear open space and ending with a mixed-use block anchored by the stadium. The Masterplan was originally developed by Gehry Partners, the Los Angeles based practice known for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and was largely evolved, though some of the key urban design moves were retained (massing, heights, public space, and stadium size + location). The final design of the stadium was completed by SHoP with Ellerbe Becket, and the various residential buildings form a contextual palimpsest, the result of varied designs by KPF, SHoP, and Cook Fox.