A plan to reconnect nearly 50 acres of public space between Downtown Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge, created by the firm WXY, has been unveiled by a coalition of community groups.
Led by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership with Claire Weisz, FAIA of the design firm WXY architecture + urban design, the plan would re-invent the area and transform the quality of public space.
Known as The Brooklyn Strand, the design will better connect people and create an appealing, accessible waterfront, according to the designers.
The proposal was developed in response to New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s calls to rethink the area. The process included 50 site walk-throughs, scores of meetings, and various public workshops.
In leading the effort, WXY co-ordinated the efforts of some 250 community stakeholders, including residents, community groups, business leaders, and numerous municipal officials and agencies.
WXY also contributed proposed designs for individual Brooklyn Strand projects, each a response to collected input from stakeholders involved in the process.
“By design, the Brooklyn Strand plan is an opportunity to adapt 1950s-era infrastructure into a new vision for true connectivity and accessibility between downtown Brooklyn, its neighborhoods and the waterfront,” said Claire Weisz, FAIA, architect and urbanist who co-founded WXY architecture + urban design.
“The Brooklyn Strand plan transforms leftover spaces from expressway plans that cut off neighborhoods, turning them into into public spaces that connect people.”
WXY has a wide range of urban and architectural commissions. Recent projects have included school district planning, waterfront revitalizations, major new buildings, and plans for expanding electric vehicle use. The company worked on award-winning New York City buidlings SeaGlass Carousel, the Dune Walk at Rockaway Beach, and a sanitation garage and salt shed.
