This is my first time visiting the Whitney Museum, and definitely not my first on the high line. The first thing that caught my attention was the design and details of the Whitney Museum. Located on the west side highway, it “fits” into the other contemporary buildings that are build along the highway. Buildings that are located on the west side highway are build along the curves of the highway, usually with abundance of big glass windows. The Whitney Museum is a tall building, with 8 floors of exhibition, including a basement level for bag & coat check. Some artworks that caught my eye were: Kanye West portraits, Muhammed Ali, and the observatory deck. The top floor includes a small cafe with an entry to the outer deck overlooking lower Manhattan, the Meatpacking District, and the High Line Park. The museum is located right at the beginning entrance of the High Line Park. The High Line Park is an old railway system turned public space. It was used to transport meats right into the warehouses of lower Manhattan. Our final destination was the Vessel located at the end of High Line Park, located at the newly developed Hudson Yards. This is my first time visiting The Vessel, designed by Thomas Heatherwick. This structure had a very alien-like style to its design, as it grows wider the higher it gets. With its reflective gold metal material, it definitely reminds me of a spaceship.
In my personal views, this visit was more of an architectural landscape. All the buildings along the High Line were similar in their heights (very tall), large and abundance windows, and a minimal yet futuristic designs to them. I believe that these properties serves the interests of both the public and a few elite particular group. Before the High Line Park development, the only things around the Meatpacking District was the famous Budakan & Morimoto restaurants. The only other recreational area was Chelsea Piers. The High Line Park, and other public spaces developed along the lower west side highway were created with the purpose to serve the public. However, the Vessel was created as a “landmark” or something to attract tourists and crowds towards the newly developed Hudson Yards in order to maintain sales for the new shops that opened up.
