High Line Blog

The planks have been installed, the soil has started to arrive on site and the plants and trees are on their way. But what you might not realize is how all of this has come about. Welcome to the first installation in a series of blog posts looking specifically at the design of the High Line. Each week until the opening of Section 1 later this year, we will highlight final designs for Sections 1 and 2 of the High Line. Along with diagrams and design renderings, construction drawings and images will give you behind the scenes look at what promises to be an amazing park.

Since the release of the competition finalists in July 2004 and the selection of Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro later that summer, everyone near and far has always been intrigued with the design. With its thought-provoking ideas and a funky idea called Agri-tecture, New Yorkers embraced it and called it our own. Let's revisit the winning competition entry that is now becoming a reality thanks to supporters and advocates like you.

Statement by the design team describing AGRI-TECTURE:
"By changing the rules of engagement between plant life and pedestrians, our strategy of AGRI-TECTURE combines organic and building materials into gradients of changing proportions that accommodate a variety of natural and programmatic conditions. Part agriculture / part architecture the system digitizes the High Line surface into discrete units of paving and planting that could be organized in any combination from 100% hard paving to 100% soft richly vegetated biotopes, or any gradation in between. The surface is built from individual pre-cast concrete planks with open joints to encourage emergent growth like wild grass through cracks in the sidewalk. The long, gradually tapering units are designed to comb into planting beds creating a "pathless" landscape' where the public can meander in unscripted ways."

More photos after the break

Photo credit goes here.

Soil for the planting beds is set to be delivered this month on Section One. In anticipation of soil, the beds are now being lined with layers of the "Living Roof" system. 

The first layer to be installed: The drainage panel, a black plastic cell system, provides a critical component for water retention, drainage, and aeration.  The panel looks and feels like an expansive plastic egg carton, with small cups that catch and store water as it exits the soil profile.  The spaces between these cups help channel excess water toward planting bed drains, while tiny perforations in the cups allow for aeration to the soil from below.

Photo credit goes here.

The first of a weekly blog series by our horticulturist Melissa Fisher:

Eupatorium rugosum at Greenbelt Native Plant Center

Recently, we rode the ferry across to Staten Island and traveled by taxi to one of the Parks Department's best-kept secrets, the Greenbelt Native Plant Center.

Here, hundreds of native plants, including this White Snakeroot, Eupatorium rugosum, are being grown for Section 1 of the High Line (Gansevoort - 20th Streets). Greenbelt is also storing thousands of seeds collected on the High Line in 2006 by volunteers. Some of this seed, including that of Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, will be grown for planting in Section 2 (20th - 30th Streets.)