NALP 2016 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
JUDGES AWARD WINNER: TOWN AND GARDENS LTD. N
ew York City’s Chelsea Land- mark bills itself as “a collection
of sophisticated rental apartments located at the intersection of NoMad, Flatiron and Chelsea.” The building offers a variety of luxury services and amenities in order to compete in the highly competitive Manhattan rental market. To help maintain its position in the market, the building management company decided to update and upgrade the common amenity spaces on the third floor of the building, which includes an outdoor terrace of more than 8,000 square feet. Enter Town and Gardens Ltd., one
of New York’s premier design/build firms and thanks to this project, now one of NALP’s Judges Award win- ners.
“This project is certainly special to
us,” said Town and Gardens Pres- ident Don Sussman. “A longtime client trusted in us. They could have easily selected a number of promi- nent landscape architect firms, but they trusted us with the whole proj- ect. That really spoke to us.” The building’s existing terrace had
been underutilized, as the original design functioned primarily as a
visual garden to be viewed from the 25-plus floors above, with only a handful of sun loungers. “We wanted to make a profound change in the way the building looked and was utilized,” Sussman said. “It was not user-friendly, not enjoyable. Too many spaces are developed that look good but just aren’t used.” The building’s new “Club 3” Ter-
race was part of a larger rebranding of the building’s third-floor reno- vations to accommodate expanded gym facilities, indoor lounges, a new library and conference rooms. The new terrace design included several BBQ stations and multiple outdoor “rooms” that provide seating for small and large groups with a new ability to rent portions of the terrace for private events. The project posed many challeng-
es. The third-floor terrace is situated among several residential towers, resulting in multiple microclimates on the terrace itself due to the path of the sun and the position of the neighboring buildings. Town and Garden’s planting design responded to the unique sun/shade conditions by integrating large portions of the terrace into intensive green roof
areas with a planting palette that would unify the entire terrace. Dictated by a limited installation budget, the client requested that Town and Garden maximize the reuse of existing materials on the terrace, rather than starting from a clean palette. The design-build team carefully analyzed the existing condi- tions to determine how to maximize the reuse of existing planters, pavers and other hardscape materials. It was critical that they carefully coordinat- ed the sequencing of elements that were selected to be demolished and removed from the site in the most efficient manner. Sussman said the most difficult challenges arose due to the multiple delays created by the interior ren- ovation work. Their ability to work on the exterior terrace as they had planned was significantly affected. The GC was unable to “turn over” large portions of the terrace space to the installation team, so to meet the client’s deadline, they had to start work amongst other trades. Due to the delays, the team had to rese- quence the installation process. This meant fabricating the majority of the carpentry scope (planters and deck- ing) off-site and then bringing them on in modular units. Town and Gardens arranged for
one day of craning for the new ter- race materials, which included almost two-dozen pallets of new soils, gravel and large rolls of synthetic grass. The staff is well-versed in the cho- reography and execution of crane days, but what made this particular job complicated was the presence of an active parking garage and a grocery store operating on the first floor of the building. The staff adeptly maneuvered freight trucks, crane and forklift alongside the deliveries of to the grocery and constant flow of cars
28 THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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