Queensway Connection: Elevating the Public Realm will support Friends of the Queensway and Trust for Public Land in their efforts to transform an abandoned rail right-of-way into a greenway that serves diverse neighborhoods in central and southern Queens. This conversion shares many similarities to the Bloomingdale trail conversion in Chicago, whose surrounding urban context is a significantly lower density than that of the High Line. ENYA is seeking to supplement the ongoing feasibility study for the railway’s transformation by envisioning ways the future park can be activated beyond a means of recreation and leisure. This competition emphasizes the importance of the park’s access points and questions whether they can be programmed and designed so that they extend the street activity onto the railway.

ENYA believes that the key to making the Queensway a success is to engage the local community and to empower them to take ownership of the disused infrastructure. If nearby community groups, businesses and residents were allowed to “adopt” portions of the railway, the result would be a park whose usefulness was truly defined by the will of the community. Many portions of the QueensWay are already primed for such a transformation, however there also are locations which aren’t. The southern end of the railway will be most difficult to engage with the community because it is a narrow elevated viaduct isolated from the neighborhood. However, this portion is the most important to activate because it is very well connected to the City’s transportation network. ENYA is looking for ideas in how the future vertical connection to the viaduct can overcome the specific challenges of this site and contribute towards the activation of the overall QueensWay.

CLIENTS

Friends of the Queensway is a grassroots organization committed to transforming this abandoned railway into a greenway. They are a paragon of community activism and advance their cause through a variety of strategies: they host meet and greets, organize site clean up days and walking tours. They also strategically harness the power of elected officials, governmental organizations and sympathetic non profits. Although primarily made up of Queens residents who live near the railway, they are a diverse group and represent a variety of ages, professions, neighborhoods and ethnicities.

The Trust for Public Land is a national non-profit that conserves land for the public to enjoy. It “is the go-to organization for communities wanting to protect special places and create close-to home-parks in and near cities.” Their “goal is to put a park or playground within walking distance of every American.” This organization has greatly facilitated raising awareness to this cause and securing the government funding (issued by New York State) to conduct the feasibility study which is currently underway.

Most importantly TPL seeks ways in which the creation of these parks can be economically self sustainable and not be an additional burden for the local government. One of the main motivators for ENYA’s interest in this project is to facilitate this sustainability and speculate on potential overlaps between the park and the urban environment.

SCHEDULE

August 22, 2013
Registration Opens
Competition Launch Party
Center For Architecture, 536 Laguardia Place
6:00 – 8:00pm

January 6, 2014
Submissions Due

March 2014
Winners Announced

July 2014
Exhibition Opening
Winning and exemplary entries on display until October 2014