HIGHLINE INTERVENTION

Map showing the Highline, adjacent buildings, and entry/exit points.

HIGHLINE INTERVENTIONNEW YORK, NEW YORK

FALL 2012

CONTEXT VISITING PROFESSORS: VINCENT JAMES AND JENNIFER YOOS, VJAA

The highline in New York City is just one example of the new typology of an elevated walkway. Because the highline exists within the fabric of the strict New York City grid, there are opportunities for adjacent buidings to connect to the Highline, negotiating between the ground level and the Highline level, and also to connect to each other in a new way. There are also opportunities for the Highline itself to connect to a larger network of transportation routes in the city at large.

This project is two fold - the first phase is is an overall site strategy that deals with the highline in the context of the city, and considers the sustainability of the Highline as a tourist attraction. The second phase zooms in and makes an intervention along the Highline at a smaller scale, considering how the building should connect both to the Highline and the ground while forming a mutually beneficial relationship between the two public spaces.

Highline Elevated Walkway

Hudson River Greenway

View of Hudson River from the Highline

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MANHATTAN - MEAT PACKING DISTRICT

Connection to the city fabric

Connection to the ground

Connection to adjacent buildings

RESPONSE

PROJECT INTERVENTION

MAJOR NODES CONNECTION POINTS RESULTING “LOOP”

HUDSON YARDS SITE

CHELSEA PIERS

CONNECTION POINT / PARK

FUTURE WHITNEY MUSEUM

The site strategy strategically connects the Highline and the Hudson River Greenway in two locations, creating a contiuous loop. This “Green Loop” both connects the Highline to a much larger system of greenways in the city, and also makes it more useful as a walking trail by eliminating awkward dead ends. Secondly, the strategy locates existing and proposed cultural hubs along this loop, to give the Highline a more sustainable way to funciton.

EXISTING CONDITION

PROPOSED EXPANSION

INTERVENTION

The second phase of this project is a further development of one node along the loop. The strategy at the highline level is a “flooding” stragegy(see diagram), in which the space of the Highline level spills out and overlaps with the buiding intevention. The location for this intervention is at a significant bend in the Highline between Section 2 and 3. This intervention houses a sculpture instution, and will include spaces for classrooms, large and small scale studios and warehouses, commercial space, and office space. By giving a large portion of the site at the Highline level back to the public space of the Highline, a node is created that is a place to stop and rest for those people walking by. The building also provides a major point of entry and exit that connects the Highline and the ground level.

THE SPACE OF THE HIGLINE EXTENDS INTO THE SITE

VIEW DOWN THE HIGHLINE FROM AN UPPER LEVEL OF THE TOWER

HUDSON RIVER

HIGHLINE

10th AVENUE

PROJECT INTERVENTION

ACCESS TO HUDSON RIVER GREENWAY

ACCESS TO HUDSON RIVER GREENWAY

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APPLICATION:

The “flooding” concept can be applied to other empty sites along the highline.

Extending the space of the Highline into the privately owned sites is mutually beneficial for the Highline and the private institution.

Consequently, the intervention designed in this project is just one part of a larger system of connected public space in the city.