Queens Plaza: An Open Ideas Competition

Competition Launch: May 2001
Original Brief: Download PDF

Queens Plaza, at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City, has been a gateway to travelers crossing between Queens and Manhattan for nearly a century. In its early days the Plaza provided an aesthetically pleasing welcome to the borough, with elegant, tree-lined boulevards and ornamental gardens serving as a foil to the bustling metropolis just across the East River. Over time, however, Queens Plaza has witnessed a haphazard accumulation of infrastructure—streets, bridges, subways and elevated trains—all converging to make this spot one of the city's most densely layered transportation hubs for the thousands of drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit riders who navigate it each day.

In 2001 the NYC Department of City Planning designated thirty seven blocks around Queens Plaza as a new Central Business District, rezoning the area to allow for up to 20 million square feet of mixed use development. Recognizing Queens Plaza as a significant centerpiece for this emerging neighborhood, Van Alen Institute partnered with the Office of the Queens Borough President to launch the Queens Plaza design ideas competition.

The competition charged designers with the task of reinventing the Plaza in ways that would improve its environmental integrity and embody the new economy of information and cultural exchange. The competition organizers saw the potential to make Queens Plaza a "plaza" in the traditional sense—a gathering place and a destination in itself. Designers had to be capable of conceptualizing such radical changes in the Plaza's image, while keeping their visions grounded in the transportation realities of the site.

A jury comprised of architects, design professionals, and government representatives met in October 2001 to choose the best of the 191 entries from designers in 17 different countries. Ideas for the plaza included strategically positioning screens to deliver information to pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers; using dumpsters as mobile flowerbeds; and attaching small transformable buildings onto the elevated subway tracks. By fostering an open exchange of ideas, the competition drew the public's attention to Queens Plaza's potential, and kicked off a wave of interest among designers, citizens, and government agencies.