Opening Day on the High Line!

[Staying cool at the Sundeck water feature near 16th Street this afternoon] Today’s blog post was guest written by one of our new Greeters, Claudia Berger. Today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony with  Mayor Bloomberg marked the unofficial opening day on the High Line. (The official opening day is tomorrow, Tuesday June 9th, when the park will be [...]

Bloomberg.com: The High Line = good economics

[The High Line last fall, as landscaping crews began planting.] All eyes were on our nation’s capital today as President Obama signed the stimulus bill (or, properly, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) into law. Before the $787 billion economic recovery package was finally approved, debate raged over how the funds should be distributed. On [...]

THIS WEEK ONLY: “Designing the High Line” on Sale!

Until this Friday, December 12, we’re selling our recent publication, Designing the High Line, for $18, a 40% discount from its regular price.  Finish (or start) your holiday shopping by ordering a copy of the book, which contains detailed renderings and descriptions of all of the final designs for Sections 1 and 2 of the High [...]

Best of the High Line Blog

The High Line is well on its way to becoming New York’s first park in the sky, with plants taking root in late summer and the first section on schedule to open by the end of 2008. Keep up to date with the High Line’s progress here on the Blog, written by Friends of the [...]

Movable Chaise Lounge Mock-up Arrives!

[Members of the construction, design, and client teams meet to review the lounge chair mock-up.] One of the most exciting furniture pieces on the High Line will be movable chaise lounge chairs located at the Sundeck between West 14th and 15th Streets. These lounge chairs will sit on the original rail tracks, mounted on new [...]

My Favorite Pool – Swimming Pools Part II

This remains my favorite proposal for the reuse of the High Line – a mile long lap pool. Nathalie Rinne, an architecture student in Vienna submitted the plan and as part of our 2003 Ideas Competition.     The simplicity of the idea, the singularity of use and the graphic way in which it was conveyed [...]

Field Ops to Design the Country’s Largest Urban Park

[A rendering of the bird refuge planned for Shelby Farms Park. Courtesy Field Operations.] Yesterday, James Corner from Field Operations (the landscape architecture firm heading up the High Line’s design team) revealed plans for the firm’s newest commission: Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, the 4,500-acre site that will be America’s largest urban park. (Central Park, [...]

Dispatches from the Nursery

[Gay Kepple from Millane Nursery, tagging the tented Hamamelis Pallida for a planting area on the High Line] Sierra Bainbridge and Maura Rockcastle at Field Operations, the landscape architecture firm leading the High Line design team, have been traveling to plant nurseries around the east coast in search of native plants for the High Line. [...]

Gardens Inspired by Nature

On Tuesday night we had our first membership event: a lecture with the High Line’s planting designer, Piet Oudolf. You may have seen Piet’s beautiful work in the gardens at Battery Park City, Millennium Park in Chicago, or at other sites elsewhere around the world. Piet discussed his theory of planting design, which he describes [...]

Gearing Up for Meatpacking District Design Week

Our neighbors at The Meatpacking District Initiative have just announced some details about Meatpacking District Design Week 2008, happening the weekend of May 16-18.  Design Week events typically include afternoon and evening exhibitions, product launches, panel discussions, art installations, and cocktail parties, all held in venues, stores, and restaurants around the Meatpacking District.  The showcase happens every spring and is timed to [...]