New York City’s acclaimed High Line is getting longer. New plans unveiled by the nonprofit organization Friends of the High Line and the City of New York will extend the elevated greensward north of its current West 30th Street terminus. Dubbed the “High Line at the Rail Yards,” the new $90-million section will be located between West 30th and West 34th Street, extending west from 10th Avenue to 12th Avenue along the Hudson River. It will encircle a portion of the Hudson Rail Yards property that is being redeveloped to provide more than 12 million square feet of new office, residential, retail, and cultural space.
The designs have been prepared by the same team responsible for the first two phases—James Corner Field Operations for landscape architecture; Diller Scofidio + Renfro for architecture; and Piet Oudolf for garden design. The designers have incorporated a mix of benches and planters from the same kit of parts that form the walkway atop the old railroad bed in the two completed phases. These items will evolve in the Hudson Rail Yards section of the High Line to form “a new family of elements,” according to Friends of the High Line.
The design includes an interim solution for the project’s western edge that will await the complete development of Hudson Rail Yards for final completion. A walkway will provide access to this section and much of the plant life that has grown untended on the bridge structure will be preserved.
Friends of the High Line hopes to open the completed High Line in spring 2014. When completed, the High Line will connect three Manhattan neighborhoods: the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea, and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen.
