WIP Collaborative’s Restorative Ground proposal for King Street in Hudson Square. Image Credit: WIP Collaborative and Urban Design Forum

Urban Design Forum is pleased to announce that WIP Collaborative is the winner of “Care for Hudson Square,” a recovery initiative in partnership with Hudson Square Properties and Hudson Square Business Improvement District to reactivate the public realm with a site-specific installation.

On King Street between Hudson and Greenwich streets, WIP Collaborative’s installation is designed to act as a new interactive destination in Hudson Square, a place for residents, office tenants, and the broader public to come together around a range of activities. The installation itself, titled Restorative Ground, will straddle the parking lane and part of the sidewalk and is proposed to align with King Street’s participation in the Open Streets Program. Using durable materials found commonly in playgrounds, like recycled rubber and AstroTurf, the installation will feature modular sections for seating and climbing.

After a two-round design competition that invited small and M/WBE firms based in New York City, the winning design by WIP Collaborative was selected to be constructed and unveiled in the coming months at Hudson Square. WIP Collaborative is a women-led team composed of seven independent designers and their respective practices–that include Abby Coover (Overlay Office) Bryony Roberts (Bryony Roberts Studio), Elsa Ponce, Lindsay Harkema (WIP Studio), Ryan Brooke Thomas (Kalos Eidos), Sera Ghadaki, and Sonya Gimon. They will work with Hudson Square Properties, leading property owner and stakeholder, and Hudson Square BID, advocate for the Hudson Square community, to develop a placemaking installation on King Street that responds creatively and dynamically to changing public health guidance on physical distancing.

"Restorative Ground is a multifaceted landscape of exploration, envisioned as an environment for both social interaction and sensory stimulation that allows for a full range of experiences from adventurous and playful to quiet and restorative,” said WIP Collaborative. “The large footprint of the King Street site accommodates space for safe gathering, in a location within Hudson Square that offers the opportunity to act as a connector between existing community resources, cultural institutions and nearby green spaces."

“New York City can reorient the street as a site for culture, convening, and healing after months of social isolation,” said Dan McPhee, Executive Director of the Urban Design Forum. “Restorative Ground will reintroduce public life back into the neighborhood fabric with a safe and inclusive design.”

“It is so important for all of us determined to see New York City yet again transcend challenging circumstances to act in ways large and small that can welcome and support all New Yorkers in sustaining this singular city,” said Tommy Craig, Managing Director of Hines, which is asset manager and partner in Hudson Square Properties. “Hudson Square Properties is proud to be working with the Urban Design Forum and others to support this creative initiative to reactivate our streetscapes, engage with our neighbors and tap into the dynamic energy of our community of businesses, residents, workers and visitors through design.”

“At the Hudson Square Business Improvement District, we are committed to public art as one of the cornerstones of the City’s recovery and renaissance. We are a city and a neighborhood where creators and makers have always shown the way forward,” said Ellen Baer President and C.E.O. of Hudson Square BID. “Together with our partners, we have selected a piece that invites the community to use our outdoor spaces to work, play and think – a very Hudson Square way of welcoming the neighborhood home again."

The competition’s finalists and winner were selected by an interdisciplinary jury from the Urban Design Forum’s network of fellows and judged proposals based on physical presence, evolving public health guidance, and inclusive design. Care for Hudson Square’s two runners-up, Taller KEN and Dash Marshall with Public Policy Lab, proposed vibrant and community-centered designs to reimagine the streetscape on Little 6th Avenue. Urban Design Forum’s McPhee said he hopes this exercise – including the breadth of innovation, creativity, and community-centered approaches – serves as a call to action to replicate in other neighborhoods with new community partners and business improvement districts.

Our finalists and winning team will present their proposals in discussion with our partners: How do we design in the public realm in the evolving public health landscape? More information to be released.

About Urban Design Forum

Urban Design Forum mobilizes civic leaders to confront the defining issues facing New York City’s built environment. We are an independent membership organization that empowers professionals of diverse backgrounds, industries and perspectives to shape a better future for all New Yorkers. We investigate complex challenges in the built environment, study alternative approaches from cities around the world, and advance progressive strategies to build a more dynamic and democratic city.

See all work at urbandesignforum.org.

About Hudson Square Properties

Hudson Square Properties is a joint venture of Trinity Church Wall Street and Norges Bank Investment Management with Hines, the operating partner, of a 12-building portfolio of approximately 6 million square feet. Ideally situated in the heart of lower Manhattan bordered by Soho, Tribeca, and the West Village, Hudson Square has become the destination for thought leaders and innovators across a vast array of high-profile tech, media, and advertising companies drawn by the energy of this vibrant neighborhood and the flexibility of the space.

About Hudson Square BID

Since July 2009, the Hudson Square BID has overseen the transformation of Manhattan’s former Printing District into a thriving creative hub. In Hudson Square, imagination and technology come together to redefine what it means to be creative.

The area we manage is generally bounded by Clarkson Street on the north, Canal Street on the south, 6th Avenue on the east, and West Street on the west.

The BID’s signature programs include our Pedestrian Safety Managers, the award-winning Hudson Square Standard—considered the platinum standard in urban forestry—and our nationally recognized streetscape program Hudson Square is Now, a $27 million public-private partnership with the City of New York. The BID’s goal is to foster the physical, social, and cultural connections that give rise to a community where the spirit of innovation can flourish inside and out.