Amsterdam Vale Shared Gardens and Renovations
New York, NY
2017 - 2021
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Amsterdam Vale is a collection of ten historic walk-up apartment buildings at 83rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. It is new thinking regarding how to give new life to old buildings, while making urban life, communities, and ecosystems sustainable.
The gatehouse is covered with an iron vine sculpture, which will be covered with flowering vines that will cascade over the street. Using the principles of biophilic design, these vines both signal the private garden beyond, while acting on their own as biomimetic elements. The gatehouse itself contains electronic package lockers for the residents of the ten apartment buildings (a desperately needed amenity for these buildings since they have small lobbies), as well as a wall of moss.
Beyond the gatehouse is a garden designed to transport residents far from noisy and active Amsterdam Avenue into a rich landscape of plants, Manhattan schist (salvaged during site excavation), and native trees. The plants flower over the entire growing season, and are a nod to the original name for this part of Manhattan: Bloemendaal or “Valley of Blooms”. By introducing raw nature into daily life, through plants, rocks, or designed elements, the design hopes to allow for a more balanced, integrated life to the residents of the entire community.
All photographs are by Alexander Severin.