The Archi-Tourist

High Line

Page history last edited by Steven 2 mos ago

Architect:

James Corner Field Operations - Landscape Architect

with Diller Scofidio & Renfro

Completion:

Phase I - 2009

Description:

The High Line is Manhattan's newest park, atop elevated train lines built in the 1930s to relieve street-level congestion and transport freight through this once-industrial section of the city. Unused since 1980, much of the system has been torn down, but preservation efforts of the last decade led to the creation of this open space reuse of the remaining structure.

The first section of the park is open, between Gansevoort Street and 20th Street. (Another mile to the north is planned for the future.) Thirty feet above street level, the park combines some of the original tracks, new cement runners and benches that accentuate the parallel lines of the tracks, lounge chairs, and native plantings that already look well established. The park runs directly through some of the old factory buildings, as the trains originally did, and the new Standard Hotel by Polshek Partnership Architects takes its cue from those buildings, straddling the park just below West 13th Street. Between the buildings are occasional views of cross streets, avenues and the Hudson River. Bleacher seating ends in a large picture window at a point where the tracks cross 10th Avenue. Between 15th and 16th Streets, old casement windows of the Chelsea Market Building have been used by Spencer Finch to create a subtle colored glass art piece called "The River that Flows Both Ways."

Perhaps only in Manhattan would something 30 feet wide be called a park and gain so much attention, but its combination of nature and urban grit create an unusual experience and a welcome breath of fresh air.

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