The High Line

Sediments of the city is our design proposal for the High Line competition in New York.

City sediments are physical and atmospheric layers that were created by historical and functional aspects of the city, shaping its form and character. These layers, similar to geological sediments, change over time, developing slowly out of the fragments of the present, settling over parts of the old while forming the new. Since the High Line’s construction in the 1930’s, the city continued to develop around it, creating a canyon that is cutting through the west side of Manhattan. This urban void offers unique opportunities to experience and visualize the layering and growth of the city. We propose creating a structure which shapes and allows the experience of urban sedimentation through the layering of three fundamental programmatic settings of a city; public, residential and commercial space.

These three main functions of the city are layered on top of the entire length of the abandoned train line, thereby transforming negative, non-developed space above the High Line into positive space that represents and exposes the sediments of the city. This multi-level structure bridges and interconnects neighborhoods while offering a new vantage point of the city. The elevated structure responds in expression and function to its immediate context, thus representing a longitudinal slice of the city, a sliver of urban sediment. The layers are connected to each other and the city through a series of ramps and catwalks, allowing for vertical and horizontal circulation on and between all levels.