Urban Design

Reimagine St. Luke’s, Utica, NY

Reimagine St. Luke’s is a concept master plan transforming a former 53-acre hospital campus into a walkable neighborhood organized around a connected public realm. Developed through community engagement, site analysis and environmental planning, the plan establishes a network of streets, parks, plazas and trails centered on an expanded wetland landscape. Four distinct neighborhoods are anchored by this open-space system, each with its own character while contributing to a coherent whole. Block-by-block studies tested relationships among buildings, streets and open spaces, while a phased strategy coordinated public-realm improvements with infrastructure, environmental restoration and future development. (2024)

Renewable Ravenswood, Queens, NY

Renewable Ravenswood is a long-term development and urban design study for the transformation of a 27-acre industrial waterfront site on the East River. Led by HR&A and working for NYSERDA, FWD developed an urban design framework that integrates new development and energy infrastructure with public access, open space, streetscape improvements and connections to surrounding Queens neighborhoods. The plan strengthens waterfront access, community-serving public spaces and connections through and around the site while respecting its industrial character.

Recognizing that the site will evolve incrementally over many years, FWD developed a phased public-realm strategy that allows meaningful improvements to begin while larger infrastructure and development projects unfold. An early phase transforms the Vernon Boulevard edge into a substantial linear public space, while the longer-term framework connects approximately three acres of open space, community gathering areas and recreation with improved streets and access toward the East River. (2025)

Chatham Square, New York, NY

FWD serves as Urban Designer for the Chatham Square project, led by Marvel in collaboration with Stantec. Located at a critical crossroads in Lower Manhattan, the project reimagines Chatham Square as a more connected, pedestrian-oriented public realm and an important gateway to Chinatown. FWD’s work focuses on the urban design framework, strengthening connections among surrounding streets, neighborhoods, and key destinations while improving the experience and legibility of the square. Working closely with the multidisciplinary team, we are helping shape an integrated approach to circulation, landscape, public space, and the character of this significant urban intersection.

Buchette del Vino, Times Square, NY

Located in the heart of Times Square, this temporary dining destination combines architecture, urban design, and hospitality into a compact, self-contained environment. Conceived as a calm and intimate retreat within one of the world's busiest public spaces, the project creates a garden-like setting that contrasts with the scale, energy, and spectacle of its surroundings. The project is organized around a chef's kitchen housed within two modified shipping containers, a wine cellar tower, and an outdoor seating garden connected by a pergola that serves as the primary food service and gathering space. Designed to operate independently of surrounding infrastructure, the installation incorporates self-contained gas, water, heating, cooling, and utility systems discreetly integrated within an enclosed service yard. Carefully planned to accommodate the intense pedestrian activity of Times Square while embracing its energy and illumination, the entire structure is designed for annual disassembly, off-site storage during the New Year's Eve celebration, and reinstallation each January.

Riverfront Park, East Newark, NJ

The Riverfront Park offers a unique opportunity to redefine the relationship between a community and a river in a neighborhood that currently has very little recreational areas built or planned. The entire site lies within the FEMA 100-year floodplain, along the shores of a polluted river that is targeted for dredging as part of a larger clean-up effort. The goal of the project was to propose revitalization strategies that would benefit the community through the inclusion of passive recreation open space, educational programming, and environmental restoration that added ecological, economic, and social value to the community.

Mellon’s Orchard Strategic Plan, Pittsburgh, PA

Mellon's Orchard Strategic Plan is a market-based development and framework plan for key sites within the neighborhood of East Liberty, Pittsburgh. The objective was to provide an armature to further East Liberty's regrowth in terms of public and private development, infrastructure improvements, and enhancing the public realm. (2017)