High Line Update

A while ago, this page featured a post on the High Line, the unused, elevated railroad tracks in the Chelsea/Meatpacking area of Manhattan. After an open design competition and money and the general OK from the city, Friends of the High Line picked four finalists (Field Operations w/Diller + Scofidio + Renfro, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, TerraGRAM) after an RFQ for the eventual redesign of the Line as a park. Domus online (registration req'd) features images of the four finalists, which are currently on exhibit at the AIA New York's Center for Architecture to inform the late summer final decision.


TerraGRAM entry

I'm excited that things are moving ahead for the High Line's reuse, though I'm also disappointed that a 720-strong design competition yielded a shortlist with the usual names. Surely, the competition achieved its primary result, to raise interest in the creative possibilities for reuse and drum up support and money for the cause. But the process gave way to an RFQ that shortlisted only familiar names, not the wide variety found in the open competition. It seems that at least one of the four winners from the competition should have been automatically shortlisted to liven things up and give somebody outside the usual bunch a shot.

Update 07.19: Archinect features extensive galleries for the four finalists:

Field Operations w/Diller+Scofidio+Renfro
Zaha Hadid
Steven Holl
TerraGRAM