NYU's "Plan 2031" presentations, in which the university lays out its expansion plans to community boards and agitated Villagers, have been gold mines of information. In the past, NYU has showed us some pretty interesting renderings of various design schemes for the core Washington Square Park campus, and now they've done it again. This time around, Plan 2031 is a preservationist's nightmare, as NYU and SMWM include new high-rises within Washington Square Village and I.M. Pei's Silver Towers, and a "zipper loft" design to replace the Coles Gymnasium (a potential campus before-and-after is above). Again, none of this is new?we've seen the potential Silver Towers addition already, for example?but to see it all collected in one place makes a bizarre flip book for the future of Greenwich Village (if NYU can get it all done).
One interesting bonus in this presentation is the incorporation of feedback from the NYU community in the design schemes. On NYU's desire to take over Governors Island, the materials note that "NYU faculty and students, especially undergraduates, expressed concern about working, living or attending school on an island removed from Manhattan and only accessible by ferry." You don't say! Gramercy and Downtown Brooklyn does not get off as lucky.
· NYU Plans 2031 [Warning: PDF]
· All Curbed NYU coverage [Curbed]
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