All NYC public projects by law must be reviewed and approved by the New York City Public Design Commission (PDC) before they can be put out to bid and constructed. PDC is an appointed high-level commission of distinguished architects, landscape architects, artists and engineers. PDC are judge and jury for all ‘City’ projects, there to guard against the construction of projects that are badly designed. The PDC reviews literally hundreds of projects of all types and sizes each year including buildings, landscapes and parks, and infrastructure projects. Each year they pick 10 that they feel exemplify “Excellence in Design”. This year one of the ten was a project designed by NV5, the Queens Boulevard ‘Great Street’ Project. This project is a standard bearer for Mayor Bill De Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, the goal of which is to eliminate pedestrian and bicycle fatalities caused by motor vehicle crashes, and improve the public realm from an urban design perspective. On this project, NV5 is a sub-consultant to AECOM. NV5’s contract with AECOM has us performing total engineering and landscape architectural design services for certain discreet segments of the ‘phased’ project, but we are also tasked with being the Lead for Urban Design for the entire project. This means we are dictating the actual design of the public realm… the sidewalks and bus stops, new bike paths, planting beds, seating areas and street furniture, etcetera. The client is The City of New York, specifically the Departments of Design and Construction, and Transportation (NYCDDC and NYCDOT). This project is big. The total estimated construction cost is approximately $400 Million. We are redesigning a 220 foot wide 10 lane roadway that is 5 miles long. The PDC Design Excellence award is a big feather in our cap. Below is a hyperlink to the page on the PDC website announcing the award winners. The NV5 staff that should be recognized for their contributions to the success of this project are as follows (all from the NYC office):
From Engineering: Joseph Menzer, PE; Robert Fliegel, PE
From Landscape Architecture: Jackson Wandres, RLA; Alex Berryman, RLA; Maria Torres, Ben Granovsky
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/designcommission/awards/design-awards-37.page
