Queens Borough Parking Field, Queens, NY (more)
When a failing parking structure adjacent to the Queens Borough Hall and the Queens Courts complex was demolished, the designers, sassafras55 and WXY Architects, replaced it with a surface parking lot and used the opportunity to experiment with green infrastructure and recycled materials for a new City prototype. The team filled the upland surrounding the 300-space trapezoidal asphalt parking field with all native plant species instead of lawn grass, and relieved the interior with two planted areas – one a narrow swale, the other a rain garden with varied topography, to add visual interest.
Innovation and Discovery Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY (more)
When s55 explored the site of their second project with Mitchell | Giurgola Architects at Stony Brook University campus, they realized the site’s huge erratic rocks, well-drained slope, sandy loam and existing forest community were part of an undisturbed glacial landscape.
Shoreline Village Garden, Old Lyme, CT (more)
Diana Drake has created a 21st century cottage garden for this 18th century carriage house in a coastal Connecticut village; rain gardens and native plants support its sustainability.
Queens Plaza / Dutch Kills Green, Long Island City, NY (more)
The green open spaces and medians introduced into this barren urban landscape not only calm and soothe pedestrians, but also unobtrusively collect and infiltrate stormwater runoff, aiding the overtaxed sewage system.
Mii Amo Spa, Punta Mita, Mexico (more)
Mii Amo is a destination spa and residential condominium in Punta Mita, Mexico. Situated on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the landscape's design embraces the site's existing conditions while celebrating the area's plant diversity. Napat Sitisara, Project Manager, worked with Margie Ruddick at WRT to develop the hydrology network into a series of lush gardens.
Southpoint Open Space, Roosevelt Island, New York (more)
While at WRT, Judith Heintz, Diana Drake and Napat Sitisara led the design team of the 7-acre open space near the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, turning a fenced-off, forgotten site into a new, garden-park for the Island residents.
New Jersey Capital State Park, Trenton, NJ (more)
In 2008, the large parking lot adjacent to the NJ State House was demolished to make way for a new park that would reinforce the State House as a powerful anchor to the site. After WRT was selected to design the new state park, the work was developed in the NYC office which included Judith Heintz as Principal in Charge, Diana Drake , Project Manager, Phase 2, and Napat Sitisara.
Roberto Clemente Plaza, Bronx, NY (more)
Roberto Clemente Plaza is a significant new open space in a congested transit hub in the South Bronx. With the creative realignment of streets and avenues, a floating triangular concrete island now attached to one side of a busy intersection creates the versatile, flexible plaza.