Rotary Park, New York, New York
(formerly St. John’s Park)
Rotary Park is a not-for-profit organization committed to turning the Holland Tunnel Rotary into a piece of resilient green infrastructure and a connective public space. What is shown here is the original idea for the park, created by Ballman Khapalova, that launched the mission of the organization.
The Holland Tunnel Rotary is the terminus of the Holland Tunnel and entry to Manhattan, passed through by 100,000 people per day. The rotary distributes traffic into five directions using five offramps. Because of this complex traffic pattern, the center of the site remains inaccessible, unbuilt and unbuildable. Also known as “St. John’s Park,” the rotary is permanently closed to the public.
The proposal is generated from the geometry of the existing offramps, so that tunnel traffic may continue unimpeded. A continuous loop travels from street level to one level below ground, excavating the center of the site to create a park and allow pedestrian passage below the existing roadway. Rather than being an obstacle, the rotary now becomes a center for the neighborhood, linking Hudson Square, SoHo, and TriBeCa. The loop structure defines and interconnects all of the elements and activities of Rotary Park, from the roadways to interior and exterior program spaces.
At street level the loop creates a series of small parks protected from traffic: intimate piazzas, wild gardens, dog parks, and playgrounds. For cars, the walls that protect the parks frame the moment of entry into the city, reminiscent of Richard Serra’s Arc sculpture installed on the site from 1983-1987. Staircases, ramps, and elevators from the street lead down to the central Lower Park and the interior program spaces that surround it. Serving as a neighborhood square, the Lower Park is both a destination and a point of connection. It is 275 feet in diameter and open to the sky, planted with native vegetation. During downpours it acts as a bioswale, retaining water and integrating runoff through various water features in the site. The park can accommodate many functions: it can be a piazza for gathering, relaxation, and people watching; playgrounds and playfields; an ice-skating rink in the winter; a downtown farmer’s market and an outdoor venue for film and performance.
Lit with skylights from the street level parks above, the interior spaces lining the perimeter of the Lower Park can accommodate a series of programs: movie theaters and auditoriums, restaurants and cafes, yoga studios and bath houses, education and children’s programs. Acting as a threshold between the Lower Park and the interior spaces, the columns that support the roadway above create an arcade that provides shelter from rain, snow, or summer sun. Besides circulation, it can be used for outdoor restaurant and café seating, farmer’s markets during inclement weather, and covered outdoor playgrounds for children.
From providing places for family and play, to forming a reprieve from urban life, to becoming a cultural destination, the Rotary Park takes empty space in the heart of New York that has been inaccessible for almost a century and makes it into a unique and vital center for public life in the city.
Project Year
Ongoing
Project Team
Starr Whitehouse (Landscape Architecture)
Thornton Tomasetti (Structural Engineering)
Transsolar KlimaEngineering (Climate Engineering)
Persak & Wurmfeld (Naval Engineering)
BPDL (Precast Concrete)
Sciame Construction (Construction and Logistics)
Langan Engineering and Environmental Services (Geotechnical Engineering)
Recognition
2021 AIANY Design Merit Award for Urban Design
2021 Architizer A+ Awards Finalist in the Unbuilt Transportation category
2020 Architizer A+ Awards Special Mention in the Unbuilt Transportation category
2020 Architecture MasterPrize Honorable Mention for Architectural Design—Transportation
2020 Architecture MasterPrize Honorable Mention for Landscape Architecture—Urban Design
2019 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award for Unbuilt—Urban Design