Historically, the site had evolved from an undifferentiated grid of blocks oriented toward the commercial activity of Hudson River piers. Introduction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and consequent buildup of the West Side Highway into a major through artery severed these crucial links to the west. Construction of the World Trade Center radically altered the area by introducing massively overscaled development within this cloistered precinct and further disrupting existing links throughout the site. Subsequently, it became apparent that Battery Park City, even as it was being built, was effectively isolated from Lower Manhattan and from public transportation. Pedestrian bridges were then rather haphazardly built in an attempt to mitigate the problem.

Our project proposes to clarify the position of the complex in relation to the river and to the rest of Downtown by reinforcing the pedestrian east-west link by aligning itself with the Wintergarden, depressing the express lanes of the West Side Highway below grade, and providing a major pedestrian bridge for indoor flow of people between the proposed Station and the World Financial Center.