particular. Park Avenue Park’s mixed woodland/grassland ecosystem
reflects what was prevalent on the eastern seaboard of North America
as an endemic savannah natural environment up until the arrival of
Europeans on the continent. It would involve a restoration of flora and
fauna endemic to eastern Manhattan at the street level.
The Park Avenue Park concept would also provide open spaces for the
community. Despite the impossibility of creating a real forest on Park
Avenue, the hybrid tree-like canopy in engineered bamboo would allow
us to create the semblance of a flowing forest covering a lower public
space. This space would be dotted with natural landscape elements and
social spaces, enabling numerous functions such as walking, eating, rest
and relaxation at street level, while, importantly, also providing a natural
habitat for birds and insects.
The proposal is also intended to attract human visitors at night but not
with a gaudy light show. As the canopy will be home to creatures it is
essential that it is gently lit. Solar-powered LEDs would be integrated
into the bamboo structure through a light-mapping system. We have
experimented with the light itself, which would be green-hued as if it was
being diffused through foliage, and carefully controlled, avoiding light
pollution or sudden changes that would disturb ‘wildlife’, even cats and
dogs. In addition, we have developed an algorithm that would shift and
mould this light at a natural pace like a slow, quiet piece of music.
