Illustration 63 Proposed Visual and Access Corridor at West 11th Street

Arterial

The Arterial alternative would remove the visual
barrier of an elevated highway, but would replace
it with a physical barrier to the waterfront of consid-
erable magnitude. This would be the result of a
typical six lanes of traffic, plus intermittent service
roads at grade within a right-of-way 250 feet wide.
Because of the signalization system necessary to
efficiently handle large volumes of traffic, the rela-
tively great distances of these signals from one
another, and the actual physical dimensions of the
Arterial, pedestrian access from upland areas to
the waterfront would be difficult. It would not be
possible for most pedestrians to traverse the 250 feet
within the time span of one green light. With a
planned green time at each signal of only 24 seconds
in the east-west direction, and 96 seconds in the
north-south direction, pedestrians would first have
to move to the median of the Arterial, wait approxi-
mately a minute and a half for the next light change,
and then cross to the other side of the street. Signals
stopping traffic in both north and south directions
simultaneously would be provided at Canal, Christo-
pher, 14th, 23rd and 34th Streets.

The Arterial alternative would offer drivers a more
limited opportunity to view the City skyline from the
edge of the Island. Drivers would be at the level of
West Street, and their view of the skyline would be
blocked occasionally, depending on the heights of
the buildings along West Street. There would be
a more immediate view of the waterfront and a
sense of being in closer contact with it. However,
the geometry of the street itself would detract from
the sense of continuity. The emergence and
disappearance of service roads paralleling the
facility, the occasional truck parking areas, and
the alternating widths of walls along West Street
would interrupt the rhythm along the roadway.

Inboard

The Inboard alternative would have significantly
different effects on the visual environment, because of
its design in each of the community areas. In Lower
Manhattan, the highway and transitway would be
depressed below the grade of West Street, and partially
covered and ventilated. This would allow the imple-
mentation of the planned elevated pedestrian
circulation system intended to connect Battery Park
City physically and visually with the rest of Lower
Manhattan. However, the highway and transitway
would extend as much as 140 feet into the Battery
Park City project. Unless the Battery Park City
Authority would develop the air-rights over the new
highway, the new off-shore community would be
separated physically and visually from the rest of
Lower Manhattan by about 380 feet. This distance
would result in a visual and psychological separation.

Opposite the Washington Street Urban Renewal Area,
the highway, transitway and ramps of the Holland
Tunnel interchange would occupy a considerable
area. From the northwest corner of the proposed
Manhattan Community College west over the new
highway to the outer edges of West Street would be
a distance of about 520 feet. Because the highway
component would be located in an open depressed
cut, pedestrian bridges have been planned for the
area between Harrison and King Streets.

S, BRODY & ASSOCIATES

COMMERCIAL

The firm's commercial work got early recognition with the completion in 1970 of the I. M. Pei-tayard Distribution Center, a tapering, skylight concrete office and warehousing building (RECORD, May 1970) seen in the area below from the west bank of the Hudson River. In plan and structure (it spans four-track main line of the Penn Central), building established a standard of economic and functional innovation carried very differently in...

Ibid.

William Street which was designed in association with Emery Roth & Sons for a new Lower Manhattan. This project is an effort with incentive zoning. The developer, the Sylvan Lawrence Company, was fitted additional rentable floor area as tradeoff for building a public amenity—in case a through-building galleria at street level. The five story galleria, sculpted out of 100,000 square foot office tower's lower levels, will connect John Street with the intersection of William and Platt Streets to the north and the plaza beyond. An escalator from street level to the galleria's second level which will become a reception for the prime tenant. Both street level lower level will have shops and evenly lead to an underground subway connection.

Although, in the tradeoff, several floors of additional space were added to the overhead of the building, the architects out that the area is already crowded with tall buildings and one more will not quantitatively alter the amount of light and reaching the street. The amount of new activity and the retail stores it will insure that the galleria will be, on balance, a public benefit.

VILLIAM STREET. Client: Sylvan Lawrence Company. Architects: Davis, Brody & Associates, Inc. Purves) in association with Emery Roth & Sons. Engineers: Office of James Ruderman (structural,jaros, baum & Bolle (mechanical).

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD August 1972

100 William Street's galleria is one of several experiments now underway in New York City with incentive zoning. If they prove successful, on balance, they will provide an example for inner city development and renewal across the nation.

MAXIMUM VALUE

<table><thead><tr><th>NEIGHBORHOOD IMPACT</th><th>Built Up</th><th>Non Built Up</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1. Street wall setback*</td><td>4.55</td><td>n.a.**</td></tr><tr><td>2. Sunlight in open space*</td><td>3.60</td><td>4.70</td></tr><tr><td>3. Length of street wall*</td><td>3.60</td><td>7.55</td></tr><tr><td>4. Shadow on buildings*</td><td>3.05</td><td>5.40</td></tr><tr><td>5. Height of street wall*</td><td>3.05</td><td>n.a.</td></tr><tr><td>6. Street trees*</td><td>2.85</td><td>4.15</td></tr><tr><td>7. Height of building*</td><td>2.15</td><td>n.a.</td></tr><tr><td>8. Transparency ratio at ground floor*</td><td>2.15<br>25.00</td><td>3.20<br>25.00</td></tr></tbody></table>

RECREATION SPACE

<table><tbody><tr><td>1. Type and size*</td><td>8.50</td></tr><tr><td>2. Winter sun</td><td>5.00</td></tr><tr><td>3. Landscaping</td><td>2.75</td></tr><tr><td>4. Covered parking</td><td>2.65</td></tr><tr><td>5. Visibility of parking*</td><td>2.65</td></tr><tr><td>6. Trees*</td><td>2.45</td></tr><tr><td>7. Seating</td><td>1.00<br>25.00</td></tr></tbody></table>

SECURITY AND SAFETY

<table><tbody><tr><td>1. Vis. from public space to elevator door or general circulation stair</td><td>3.90</td></tr><tr><td>2. Vis. of private outdoor space from lobby*</td><td>3.90</td></tr><tr><td>3. Surveillance from large apartments</td><td>3.30</td></tr><tr><td>4. No. of apt.s. serviced by lobby</td><td>2.90</td></tr><tr><td>5. Vis. of parking from exit point*</td><td>2.25</td></tr><tr><td>6. Vis. of parking area from lobby</td><td>2.20</td></tr><tr><td>7. Distance from elevator to apt.*</td><td>1.85</td></tr><tr><td>8. Road separation*</td><td>1.80</td></tr><tr><td>9. Vis. from elevator door or general circulation stair to apartment door*</td><td>1.80</td></tr><tr><td>10. Visibility of mail room</td><td>1.10<br>25.00</td></tr></tbody></table>

APARTMENTS

<table><tbody><tr><td>1. Size of apartment*</td><td>3.75</td></tr><tr><td>2. Sunlight in apartment*</td><td>3.20</td></tr><tr><td>3. Window size*</td><td>3.20</td></tr><tr><td>4. Visual privacy--apt. to apt.*</td><td>3.20</td></tr><tr><td>5. Visual privacy--street to apt.</td><td>1.75</td></tr><tr><td>6. Balconies</td><td>1.70</td></tr><tr><td>7. Daylight in hallways</td><td>1.50</td></tr><tr><td>8. Distance from parking to garage exit*</td><td>1.50</td></tr><tr><td>9. Daylight in kitchen</td><td>1.50</td></tr><tr><td>10. Pram and bicycle storage</td><td>1.30</td></tr><tr><td>11. Waste storage facilities*</td><td>1.20</td></tr><tr><td>12. Garbage pickup facilities</td><td>1.20<br>25.00</td></tr></tbody></table>

*Minimum compliance levels established

**n.a.--not applicable

Putting an objective value to design quality: the list of possible housing quality points that a developer could obtain, and which would permit him to build to the maximum density. Drawings illustrate examples of the security and safety category.