From wild and abandoned… 
to controlled and populated… 
…with a wild touch.
For now, the High Line is a bit overrated. There is not much to see and the experience of the neighborhoods surrounding it is limited. However, what is visitable now announces a great future for the High Line. When it would be finished – hopefully it would – the High Line promise to provide a unique New York experience. When more local vendors will show up – on our trip I only saw a tiny cupcake trolley – it would bring so many people to the HL that it risks to be overcrowded all year round. Anyway, the landscape design looks in real much better than it looks on pictures. The reason is that any piece of the HL relates to its environment and cannot be appreciated alone. The benches design is a symbol for how the HL is intended to look and feel. The HL conveys a simple concept of integrated natural envrionement embelished by the human hand to make it confortable both physically and visually. The smell of wild grass, the mix of colors, the strange plants that seem to have naturally popped-up there etc… all give a feeling of controlled wilderness. Industrial chic has many ramifications, nevertheless the HL shows an example of the transformation of an early 20th century structure to a 21st century architectural staple.
The highline is a project initiatited by the Friends of the High Line (a non-profit, private partner to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation), thus it is a grassroots project. Neither the government or the real estate moguls challenged its destruction. The design of the entire park is under the supervision of architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. If you have a look at their website, their portfolio seems so extensive (The Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, The School of American Ballet among others ), that you wonder how come they didn’t became a house name for NY earlier. The High Line would certainly be the turning point in their popularization. One of their projects, the Nolita Townhouse, shows their unique view of what modern architecture should be. An architecture that fits in its environment by creating a dialogue with its surroundings while remain a singular complex.
Reusing a space to transform it in something dramatically different is not new. Nevertheless, what the HL is planned to be would completely take the notion of space recycling to another level. It makes me think of a huge art piece conceived for the people of New York. The views that it gives of the city and the different neighborhood has never before been experienced like that. It would be similar to a helicopter flight at low altitude over the west-side. Although the flight would be free! It is hard to believe that it is a public space and contractors won’t make it a high-end sports club, spa, casino, restaurant, or anything else that involves big money. Anyone from the city would have access to it, tourists included, and I believe that as Central Park brings together all the levels of NY’s society, so will the HL.
