Maybe soon cars will become much quieter.
Maybe
soon speed limits in cities will be drastically lowered
Maybe soon our city streets will turn green with small gardens.
Life on the street would certainly be more lively and stress-free. Small houses could be built on the median strip and punctuated with vegetation and trees...
Just a dream?
At the very least,
it is a wonderful utopian vision with a real social and ecological purpose—so important to the architecture
office of Ryall Porter Architects that they have planned a concrete project based on the idea.
According to their project, the broad, unused median strip of New York’s Park Avenue offers enough space for a series of buildings that assimilate perfectly with their surroundings and even enhance them: walls and sound proof walls covered in greenery, small gardens, flower beds and pathways.
The main component of the plans is a series of one- to two-story houses. They are intended to provide living space for middle-income families, which have generally settled in the suburbs due to high rents within the city. The designs of these buildings are perfect examples of the possibilities of ecological construction within major urban centers. All rooms are illuminated by daylight, either from side or overhead windows, and in part the very warm and clean air coming from the electric subway running below provides the heating. All materials have been selected in keeping with aesthetic and ecological responsibility, even the water for the surrounding gardens originates from a source independent of the drinking water supply. The water comes from the roofs, which have been covered with plants and serve as natural rainwater reservoirs.
Ryall Porter Architects’ project planning functions as a logically integrated and comprehensive concept. Even if given current realities it may seem like a courageous utopia, it points in a clear direction. Having models is important. Change is just a matter of setting our sites on the goal...
In addition, it is conceivable that a major city like New York would like to attract attention with progressive projects of this nature. Up to now, all that is missing is the investor. Who knows, maybe the inhabitants of the luxury apartments on Park Avenue will soon have to adjust to a new neighborhood...
