Part of the Van Alen Spring Festival, Disruption?, the L Train Shutdown Charrette invited teams to “disrupt” the complex process of public transportation improvement. The one-day charrette offered an opportunity for fresh thinking, allowing for interdisciplinary teams to imagine systemic design solutions for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers during an extended period of reduced subway service.
Following a workshop period among teams, community members were invited to attend the presentation of proposals and ask questions. A jury of planning experts judged the entries and announced the winner and finalists at the conclusion of the event.
WINNER | Transient Transit – Revitalizing Industrial Infrastructure
Team | Youngjin Yi, mechanical engineer, Buro Happold Engineering; Dillon
Pranger, architectural designer, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Transient Transit proposes the development of two additional forms of transit in north Brooklyn by water and rail through the adaptation of existing but underused New York City industrial infrastructure: Newtown Creek and the LIRR freight track operating between Fresh Pond Junction and the Bushwick Branch.
FINALIST | Infraflex
Team | Greg Reaves, Architect & Partner, Moshe Safdie Architects; Steven Haardt, Architect, Principal at Haardt Studio; Petra Kempf, Architect; Urban Designer, Urbantransits.Net; Ziyan Zeng, Planner & Programer, Urbantransits.Net
InfraFlex is a mobile app that connects existing and proposed modes of transportation with current data-collection technology. This application will provide residents affected by the shutdown with real-time travel information to make smart choices when using different modes of transportation in Manhattan and Brooklyn without adding carbon emissions to the environment.
FINALIST | Light at the End of the Tunnel
Team | Gonzalo Cruz, Landscape Architect, Lead, AECOM; Xiaofei Shen, Engineer, AECOM; Garrett Avery, Landscape Architect, AECOM; Rayana Hossain, Landscape Architecture Intern, AECOM
We propose a transporter tunnel for New Yorkers as a temporary solution to alleviate mobility between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Using technology developed by NASA, the project would create an alternative route via a covered translucent tunnel immersed within the East River with digitally -enhanced environments for commuters as they make their journey across the river. The 2,400-foot tunnel will allow pedestrians and bikers to navigate a fantastical throughway all year round. On the ground, commuters will travel in a fast cart people-mover commuter system along the shutdown path along 14th Street (Manhattan) and North 7th Street (Brooklyn) to provide a connection to THE L TRANSPORTER entrances located on the river edges.
FINALIST | Project Lemonade
Team | Jaime Daroca, Columbia University C-Lab; Nicolas Lee, Hollwich Kushner; Daniela Leon, Harvard GSD; John Tubles, Pei Cobb Freed Architects
In 2019, New York becomes what it really is… an island. Enter Lemonade Line (LL), a multimodal transportation strategy that provides an all-access pass to seamlessly linked buses, bikes, car-shares, and ferry lines following the L line above ground.
Images & Text | Courtesy of Van Alen Institute
More information at the L Train Charette website