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Offener Wettbewerb (auch für Studenten) | 06/2019

Reimagining the DL&W Corridor: Ideen für einen urbanen Grünkorridor in Buffalo (US)

The Del: A Steel and Rail Heritage Trail

1. Preis / Community Choice Award

Matt Renkas

Landschaftsarchitektur

Erläuterungstext

“The Del”
A Steel and Rail Heritage Trail

A seed takes root in a break in the concrete, it struggles at first, slowly pushing against it’s constraints. It reaches around twisted metal in a search for sunlight and water. As the years pass it begins to grow larger, creating opportunities for other plants and animals to join in its reclamation of the land.

When you look at the Old First Ward and the Valley you can see what has taken root. The seeds sown by hardworking people became restaurants, parks, breweries, and excitement for the future. This is part of the resurgence of Buffalo and has been happening all over the city. New growth built on the industrial past.

Throughout my design for the Del, you will see this played out. Old industrial remnants of steel mills and trains have been recruited by nature. Retired tracks serve as arbors for vines, rail cars once filled with steel and coal now overflow with plants, and ladles that used to pour molten steel now pour water on wetland plants below.

Long before trains thundered through the Ward, the Haudenosaunee called it home. Scrap metal sculptures of animals representing the Haudenosaunee clans dot the landscape. Not only standing as symbols of the past, they embody the blurred line between urban industrial life and nature that wildlife here live on.

Over time the DL&W Corridor has transitioned from nature to industry, back to nature, that contrast is present in the overall site design. Near the western end you see new development taking place around Ohio St. A new ground level plaza seeks to compliment the surrounding development, while also serving as the starting entrance to the raised section of the Del. The eastern site towards Red Jacket Park has been dominated by nature and is the perfect opportunity for expanding nature themed educational, interpretive, and recreational activities for the community.

Looking towards the future of the DL&W Corridor it is important to remember the people who planted the seeds for this opportunity to take place. Out of respect for that history, this steel and rail heritage trail will continue to be known as what the community has always called it, “The Del”.