High Line (New York City) converted to urban park

Video:Robert Hammond on The Highline which is an old, elevated rail line that runs for a mile and a half right through Manhattan. And it was originally a freight line that ran down 10th Ave.

A green park created from a dense Manhattan by recycling of the elevated railway into an urban park similar to the Promenade Plantée in Paris.

“4.5 km-long elevated park in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France.”

Notably three buildings straddle the High Line & rail used to pass through many factories. The park's attractions include naturalized plantings that are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks and new, often unexpected views of the city and the Hudson River. Pebble-dash concrete walkways unify the trail, which swells and constricts, swinging from side to side, and divides into concrete tines that meld the hardscape with the planting embedded in railroad gravel mulch. Stretches of track and ties recall the High Line's former use. Portions of track are adaptively re-used for rolling lounges positioned for river views. In addition there is the rusted, disused mullions of the old Nabisco Factory loading dock where the window bays are reinstalled with a series of 700 purple and grey colored glass panes. Each color is exactly calibrated to match the center pixel of 700 digital pictures, one taken every minute, of the Hudson River.

The High Line Park currently runs from Gansevoort Street, one block below West 12th Street, in the Meatpacking District, up to 30th Street, through the neighborhood of Chelsea to the West Side Yard, near the Javits Convention Center.

The 30th Street Cut-Out is located at the northern terminus of Section 2, where the High Line curves to the west. When Section 2 opens later this spring, visitors standing on the Cut-Out will be able to take in sweeping views of the Hudson River to the west, and the Empire State Building to the east. To the north, visitors will see the High Line at the rail yards. This rail yards section of the High Line comprises one-third of the entire historic structure. It is still owned by CSX Transportation Inc., the railroad company that donated the High Line below 30th Street to the City of New York in 2005.


See New Gallery of High Line Visitor Photos
See Construction Update: 30th Street Cut-Out
Wikipedia
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