RGR Landscape lead a large consultant team in the planning and design effort for this $15m reconstruction project in Lower Manhattan. To create the “sense of place” that was lacking in this key open space component of the Civic Center District, RGR’s design approach emphasized centrality and simplicity in a unified composition of urban landscape features. The concept plan, which required the review and approval of numerous city, state, and federal agencies, reorganized the street network and consolidated the disparate existing open space elements to provide a large central plaza suitable for public gatherings, multi-directional pedestrian movement, and passive recreation. The focal point is a monumental pool and sculpture by the artist Lorenzo Pace, entitled “Triumph of the Human Spirit,” which is dedicated to the rediscovered African Burial Ground and the immigrant cultures of New York City.
