Regeneration of Huntington Downtown, Long Island, New York, USA

May-Sep 2010

Design team: Ali M. S. Kashkooli (From Iran – Team Leader), Peter Babka (From Czech Republic), Katarina Kovalcikova (From Slovakia), Elina Spanoude (From Southern Cyprus), Blazej Zemleduch (From Poland)

About The Project

The first glance at Huntington downtown reveals a city of cars. Inother words, a city mostly used as a big parking area, with nopublic zones, no delicate green spaces; the existing urban areasounds sparse and unbearably tarmac.The main intention of design was to prevent young people frommigrating to New York and other cities due to lack of high-payingjob opportunities and urban facilities which are majorrequirements of the youth.

The design project is done in two phases:A-Research and analysis: Location, history, culture, climate,environment, economy, fashion,local architecture,landscape,localhigh-tech, etc.B- Design (Design in theory & Design in action): developing variousideas through brainstorming and computerised methods (ArtificialIntelegence) in order to perform the best possible functions intargeted areas (regarding the plot size, shape and position withinthe city).In detail, a new trade center (Huntington tower), an enterprise zone,four hotels, different types of apartment complexes,a shopping mall,two cultural centers and a leisure complex have been designed.Moreover, new public areas (plaza), green zones and multi-storeyparking spaces have been proposed. Furthermore, new suggestionsfor sustainability, and high-tech city (Ubiqutus city) have beenmade.Reducing the dependency on car by densifying the center anddeveloping a good circulation of urban activities has beenconsidered. In addition, a new transport system has been proposedto improve the commutation options as walking, bike, tram and bus.In summary, new Huntington downtown would be: a vibrant anddynamic place for the youth, attracting investors to bring businessesand lots of new job opportunities.