The New York City AIDS Memorial planned for Greenwich Village has emerged sleeker, lighter, more sculptural and a lot less verdant after months of scrutiny by city agencies.
The memorial would take the form of a steel canopy over the westernmost end of a new city park on the triangular block bounded by Seventh Avenue, Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Street, opposite the site of St. Vincent’s Hospital, which is being redeveloped. The construction of the memorial, which is being financed through a group called NYC AIDS Memorial, is scheduled to be completed in 2015.
The architects of the memorial are Studio a+i of Brooklyn. The structural engineers are Robert Silman Associates.
Though similar in many respects to the version of the memorial shown last summer, the revised plan that was made public on Wednesday differs in some important ways. Most obviously, it has lost all of the English ivy, Virginia creeper and honeysuckle that was to have covered it as if it were a garden trellis. This change was championed by Amanda M. Burden, the chairwoman of the City Planning Commission.
“Amanda really pushed us to think of the canopy as a sculptural element that would be beautiful no matter what happened to the plantings,†said Christopher Tepper, a founder with Paul Kelterborn of NYC AIDS Memorial. “In certain seasons, if it was too dry or too hot, she wanted to be sure that the underlying design was beautiful.â€
Another leading advocate of the revision was the architect James Stewart Polshek, in his role as a member of the Public Design Commission. “The initial design was very heavy,†said Mr. Polshek, who lives two blocks from the future park and knows the site well. The elimination of the plants allowed the structural elements to become much lighter and thinner. “I was very pleased with their response,†Mr. Polshek said, adding that the commission approved the project unanimously.
A newly introduced dip in the middle of the canopy roof will open a much more generous view of the distinctive O’Toole Building of 1963, which was once threatened with demolition but is now being renovated as a medical complex, including a round-the-clock emergency room, by the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.
The memorial and associated educational programs will cost about $4 million. The sponsors hope to raise $2.5 million from public sources and $1.5 million privately. On Wednesday, Scott M. Stringer, the borough president of Manhattan, pledged $1 million of city financing. On the private side of the ledger, the sponsors announced the receipt of $250,000 from the Arcus Foundation and $105,000 from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
New York already has a permanent, public AIDS Memorial, in Hudson River Park, at the foot of West 11th Street, but it is not as prominent as the one on West 12th Street promises to be.
