Quote:
Originally Posted by edale
I understand closing the garage isn't practical, but if they could even just eliminate one of the ramps, that would be hugely helpful. Having the square cut off from the street on 3 sides just totally ruins the pedestrian access to it, and helps to make the interior of PS feel isolated and disconnected from the surrounding city. Even just removing one of these ramps and reconnecting the square to either 5th, 6th, or Olive would be great. Also, the Hill St side should be 'flattened' out as much as possible, with walls and other visual impediments to the center of the square removed.
There are plenty of excellent examples of urban squares we could look at for inspiration. Further, there are plenty of excellent urban squares atop underground garages we could look at! Two that come to mind are San Francisco's Union Square, and Cincinnati's Fountain Square. |
Agreed, I think if they could eliminate 2 or 3 of those ramps that would make the square a lot more pedestrian friendly. Or make the entrance/exit perpendicular to the street, rather than parallel, which elongates the wall/barrier and hurts access.
There are plenty of good examples of urban parks. Bryant Park in NYC also comes to mind, although I don't think that has an underground garage. Regardless, it should not be that difficult to redesign Pershing Square into a more pedestrian friendly square with some basic changes.