Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/ en-us Design Observer Group 2009-11-10T20:07:39-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0
It is true that it is wonderful for some groups so perhaps I shouldn't use the term community in general. But there certainly are user groups that are excluded, both by policy and by design.

The overly-precious details and James Corner's heavy-handed use of metaphor notwithstanding (those platform benches on the rails are the old train cars. Get it? they even haul "cargo") it is a beautiful place. But maybe it is what it should be- a beautiful museum piece. I just thought it would be more.]]> faslanyc http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-11-10T20:07:39-05:00
I suppose this is the other reflective quality of the project, that it's something of a glass-half-full/half-empty moment. In my view, it's a net positive that the High Line happened at all, not least for its symbolic opposition to the American preference for built environments of bland newness or twee historicism.]]> Ian Baldwin http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-11-07T02:45:01-05:00
And their budget for that project was huge. Money was not a relevant parameter.

I think the author has a good point- the issue of repurposing the industrial infrastructure and what it says about us (the designers, the public, and the power players) is what is interesting. But I would argue that the extremely strict uses allowed up there is a shitty limitation necessitated by the over-reliance on precious details and planting and presenting a pretty image of wildness that could generate those 30 new development projects alluded to.

It's a great economic generator and a disingenuous public space.]]> faslanyc http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-11-03T14:10:27-05:00 Daviel Lazure Vieira http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-11-02T08:10:07-05:00
But in the real world any type of truly "public" public space is welcome, and though you could always do some things better, time and money are limited quantities. To me it's this issue of infrastructural/industrial re-use and what it says about us, rather than judging the design itself, that I'm interested in. I will be very interested to see how the space evolves once the hype fades away, and I think New Yorkers are capable of making the space more interesting the more they claim it as their own.]]> Ian Baldwin http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-28T22:50:54-05:00 trevor.patt http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-26T08:32:18-05:00
I like the amphitheater, but the views down side streets in Chelsea are much more interesting. the amphitheater could have focused on one of those.]]> faslanyc http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-22T17:25:49-05:00
Now can we cover the entire FDR on the east side with one of these?]]> J Ake http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-22T11:05:17-05:00 Seattle Architects http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-21T15:34:50-05:00 Sammie http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-19T08:15:27-05:00
The surface materials, the seating, the lighting and the wild grasses are all carefully considered but the space will not lend itself to being somewhere to sit comfortably for a while. It hasn't had a moving vehicle on it for almost three decades but the purpose is still the same which is to move things and people along a path.]]> Raphael Del Rio http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-18T17:09:01-05:00
interesting that places published this article the same month that much sorrier magazine, lam, published a piece that was at least a bit critical of the space. what does this article tell me? it is unoriginal and unenlightening.]]> brian http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-past-is-promenade-on-the-high-line/10907/#comments 2009-10-16T17:50:47-05:00