St. John’s Terminal: An Ecology for Technology and Innovation

Honor Award

General Design

New York, New York, United States
Future Green Studio
Client: Google, Oxford Properties Group

St. John’s Terminal Reborn: A New Gateway To The Riverfront

The revitalization of St. John’s Terminal creates habitat, open space, and a new green corridor bridging Washington Street and Hudson River Park

Image Credit: Courtesy of Google
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Adaptive Re-use : Emergent Vegetation Takes Root in Post-Industrial Relic

The façade of the existing building was cut away to reveal a sectional view of the historic tracks and platforms that once ran through the building

Image Credit: Left: Angelo Rizzuto, Right: Future Green
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Land Expansion and Connectivity

Located on the original Manahatta shoreline, infill over time distanced the site from the river. The project reestablishes that ecological connection

Image Credit: Future Green
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Site Plan: A New Habitat

A series of programmed open spaces have been designed to provide a variety of immersive experiences within the habitat acreage in our public materials

Image Credit: Future Green
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Adapting to a Changing Climate: Flood Mitigation + Stormwater Collection

The topographic Entry Plaza design mitigates the impacts of future flood levels while a below-grade cistern collects stormwater for irrigation

Image Credit: Courtesy of Google
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The Garden Alley: A New Connection

Warmly lit and verdant, the drop-off and bike entry doubles as a pedestrian through-block connection between Washington and West Street

Image Credit: Left: Future Green, Right: K. Taro Hashimura
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Highlighting the Beauty of Regional Stone

The contrasting natural and cut boulders, retaining walls, and geometric paving each reveal different qualities of New York-sourced Corinthian granite

Image Credit: Future Green
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An Ecological Ladder for Local Insects and Migratory Birds

Planting at the canopy, window boxes on the façade, and at each terrace establishes an ecological ladder leading fauna from the ground to the 12th-fl

Image Credit: K. Taro Hashimura
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Prioritizing Quality Habitat

Designed in collaboration with ecologists, habitat and food sources for specific birds and insects were considered in the curation of plant palettes

Image Credit: Future Green
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Outdoor Workstation: Sparking Collaboration and Innovation

Outdoor workstations like one on the 4th-floor provide a diverse range of collaborative environments to inspire imagination and invite connection

Image Credit: Courtesy of Google
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Biophilic Design

Connections to nature permeate the site, enhance prospect of the surrounding landscape and provide immersive intimate spaces for moments of reflection

Image Credit: Left: Future Green, Right: Google
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Bird Habitat and Human Connection

Structures inspired by bird habitat encourage observation and connection to the wide variety of unique species documented on site since completion

Image Credit: K. Taro Hashimura
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High Altitude Terrain

Meandering path geometries on the 12th floor encourage exploration and create a sense of traversing a natural, high-altitude terrain

Image Credit: K. Taro Hashimura
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Pine Summit Garden

Inspired by the ecology of the Hudson Highlands, textural pines and boulder outcroppings capture the qualities of an untouched, primordial landscape

Image Credit: Future Green
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Reclaimed Lumber from the Coney Island Boardwalk

Wood structures, decking and custom benches, are built with salvaged timber from the Hurricane Sandy damage to the historic Coney Island boardwalk

Image Credit: Left: Courtesy of Google, Right: K. Taro Hashimura
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“

St. John’s Terminal is a gorgeous, seamless, and lush blending of architecture and landscape that focuses on habitat, biodiversity, and native pollinators so needed in urban environments.

”

- 2024 Awards Jury

Project Credits

David Seiter, ASLA, Founding Principal

Aaron Booher, Principal

Lois Farningham, Project Lead, Associate Principal + Art Director

Nancy Seaton, Associate Principal + Horticulturist

Anni Pan, Associate Designer

Langan Engineering, Landscape Architect of Record, Civil Engineer

Adamson Associates Architects, Architect of Record

COOKFOX Architects, Design Architect

Gensler, Interior Architect

Entuitive, Structural Engineer

Cosentini Associates, MEP, LEED Consultant

San Francisco Estuary Institute, Ecology Consultant

Philip Habib & Associates, Civil Engineer

Robert Derector Associates, MEP at Terraces

Fisher Marantz Stone, Lighting Designer at Terraces

Lumen Architecture, Lighting Designer at Streetscape and Plaza

RWDI Consulting Engineers, Wind Engineer

Blondies Treehouse, Landscape Contractor at Terraces

Vespa Stone + Champlain Stone, Hardscape Contractor

BrightView, Landscape Contractor at Alley and Plaza

D & B Cousins Construction Corp., Landscape Contractor at Streetscape

Structure Tone + Turner, General Contractor

Gardiner + Theobald, Owners Representative

Project Statement

The adaptive reuse of St. John’s Terminal has been skillfully engineered to support roughly 1.5 acres of native habitat across multiple terraces, seven stories of window boxes, planted train tracks in the building’s north façade, and a large public entry plaza. Sustainability, biophilia, and creating meaningful spaces that spark collaboration and imagination were all key to the landscape visioning and design. A journey through the landscape draws you through different moments in the site’s history, expressed through material selections, native planting, and landscape features.

Project Narrative

Located in Manhattan, St. John’s Terminal has been adapted into a center for tech and innovation. It is the North Amerian headquarters for GOOGLE's global business organization. The former terminus of the raised railway that has been repurposed as The High Line linear park has been skillfully engineered to support extensive landscape tgerraces, with roughly 1.5 acres planted with New York native habitat. Located on the original shoreline, the entry plaza and adjacent beautified streetscape form a new gateway to Hudson River Park. Urban design improvements include a new mid-block crosswalk connecting to the park, and a verdant street connection between Washington Street and the West Side Highway.

Open to the public, the entry plaza provides an immersive garden experience through lush, resilient understory plantings and groves of native trees. The design draws from natural shoreline forms with planted berms and natural boulders complemented by geometric stone seats and paving regionally sourced from upstate New York. The plaza is designed to retain up to 92,000 gallons of rainwater stored in a below-grade cistern and reused for irrigation sitewide. At the 2nd floor, the existing train tracks and platforms emerge from the face of the building and are planted with native trees, shrubs, and groundcover that appear as though they have spontaneously taken root there. Seven stories of window boxes on the north façade provide an ecological ladder for local birds and insects as they traverse from the plaza up to the 12^th-floor terrace. NYC Audubon has documented approximatly 40 bird species using the habitat created at St. John's Terminal--including several species never before documented on a green roof.

Collectively, the terraces provide a diverse range of work-space environments that inspire collaboration and imagination. The 4th-floor terrace, located on the roof of the existing building, takes cues from its industrial past through distinctive architectural elements, including wind-mitigation screens, pergolas, and seating nooks. The events terrace hosts visitors from the auditorium with a large flexible space, planted islands, fossilized limestone bar counters, and pergolas. The 11th floor is a quarter-mile-long, 360-degree walking path offering a moment of respite, with exceptional views across the water and of the Manhattan skyline. The walking path is framed by plantings inspired by the Dutch term, Bloemendaal – or “Valley of Flowers” – used to characterize the qualities of pre-development Manhattan. The 12th-floor terrace brings employees back to nature with rocky outcroppings and emergent alpine plants at the meditation garden and intimate seating areas nestled in the Pine Grove. A large lawn with rolling topography, a bosque of oak trees, and catenary lights supports flexible use for wellness programming, happy hour events, and lunch hour picnicking.

Sustainable strategies are woven through every element of the project; timber for the decking, furniture, and windscreens across the terraces is repurposed timber salvaged after Hurricane Sandy from the historic Coney Island boardwalk; 100 new trees have been planted on site; solar arrays at the terraces provide an expected generation capacity of approximately 100 kilowatts of renewable energy; and the site is designed to retain up to 92,000 gallons of rainwater.

Products

Furniture
- Vestre
Lumber/Decking/Edging
- Armster Reclaimed Lumber
Hardscape
- Champlain Stone
Other
- Natural Stone Boulders - Champlain Stone

Plant List

Acer rubrum
Achillea millefolium
Actea pachypoda
Actea racemosa
Agastache 'Purple Haze'
Ageratina altissima
Alium cernuum
Amelanchier arborea
Amelanchier laevis
Amsonia hubrichtii
Andropogon gerardii 'Blackhawks'
Andropogon virginicus
Anemone canadensis
Antennaria neglecta
Antennaria plantaginifolia
Aquilegia canadensis
Aronia arbutifolia
Asclepias syriacus
Asclepias tuberosa
Baccharis halimifolia
Betula populifolia
Boutleoua curtipendula
Campsis radicans
Carex appalachica
Carex flaccosperma
Carex plantaginea
Carex rosea
Carpinus caroliniana
Celtis occidentalis
Chamaecrista fasciculata
Chamaenerion angustifolium
Clematis virginiana
Comptonia peregrina
Coreopsis rosea
Decumaria barbara
Dennstaedtia punctiloba
Dennstaedtia punctilobula
Deschampsia cespitosa
Dichanthelium clandestinum
Direvilla lonicera
Eragrostis specabilis
Erigeron pulchellus
Eupatorium hyssipifolium
Eurybia macrophylla
Euthamia caroliniana
Geranium maculatum
Hamamelis virginiana
Helianthis divaricatus
Heliopsis helianthoides
Heuchera americana
Ilex glabra
Ionactis linarifolius
Juniperus communis 'Alpine Carpet'
Juniperus virginiana
Leucothoe fontanesia 'Zeblid'
Liatris novae-angliae
Lilium superbum
Lindera benzoin
Liquidambar styraciflua 'Moraine'
Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler'
Lupinus perenis
Magnolia virginana 'Green Shadow'
Monarda fidulosa
Myrica pensylvanica
Oenothera biennis
Ostrya virginiana
Packera aptera
Panicum virgatum
Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Penstemon het. Suriblau
Phlox divaricata
Pinus rigida
Pinus strobus 'Brevifolia Densa'
Porteranthus trifoliata
Potentilla f. ' Pink Paradise'
Pycnanthemum muticum
Quercus illicifolia
Quercus montana
Quercus rubrum
Rhexia virginatum
Rhus copallinum
Rhus glabra
Rosa carolina
Sambucus canadensis
Sassafras albidum
Schizachrium scoparium
Sibbaldiospsis tridentata
Solidago sempervirens
Symphyotrichum cordifolium
Tiarella cordifolia
Trichostema dichotomum
Tridens flavus
Tsuga canadensis
Tsuja canadensis 'Gracilis'
Vaccinium angustifolium
Vaccinium corybosum
Veronicastrum virginicum
Viburnum dentatum
Viburnum prunifolium
Zizia aurea