NEW YORK | 30 Hudson Yards (North Tower) | 1,296 FT | 92 FLOORS

[NYguy]

When two great New York developments come together, you have to expect something great. So far, with early renderings of the final High Line extension, it looks like it will be just that. Images taken from...


http://www.dnainfo.com/20120313/chelsea-hells-kitchen/high-lines-third-section-designs-unveiled
High Line's Third Section Designs Unveiled

March 13, 2012
By Mathew Katz



The Coach tower meets the High Line...









Where the High Line crosses 11th Avenue (first residential building, upper right)

[1Boston]

Can i just ask what the high line is? Is it apart of the hudson yards development site, cause it looks like its going through part of the coach towers outer wall in one of those pictures.

[THE BIG APPLE]

^ No. The High Line is (or was) its own development. It was basically these old elevated railtracks, that either could've been torn down, or been developed (as they were). The tracks span from the Meat Packing District/NoHO to the Hudson Yards. The city decided to develop them (and what a great choice they made).

[1Boston]

So it's just an elevated train track elevated into a sidewalk. All i know is it looks cool in the renderings.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by 1Boston

Can i just ask what the high line is? Is it apart of the hudson yards development site, cause it looks like its going through part of the coach towers outer wall in one of those pictures.

Learn more about the High Line here.
The third and final phase of the High Line straddles the railyards for it's entire length. Early on in development, there was a question of whether or not this portion would remain intact for development of the railyards (it will be below platform level on the western side). But the decision was made to keep it and work it into the master plan. As you see with the Coach Tower rendering, the High Line spur travels beneath/through the building where it will join with the High Line proper as it wraps around the railyard development.


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A little more on how the two will merge...

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669253/a-first-look-at-the-high-lines-incredible-final-phase
A First Look At The High Line’s Incredible Final Phase

Suzanne LaBarre

The third leg of the High Line crosses under a proposed skyscraper. Note the lounge chairs, which afford dizzying views of the tower and cantilever clear over the street.
“The designers are planning for an urban environment that doesn’t exist yet.” But the most noticeable feature will be the one that’s missing: the 360-degree panorama of gritty old New York that provides a cinematic backdrop to the High Line’s lush first and second stretches. The third leg starts at 30th Street and cuts west toward the Hudson River, then north to 34th Street, around Hudson Yards, the proposed commercial development of a massive rail yard. Today, the yard is a no man’s land--just a lot cross-hatched by train tracks and sleepy LIRR cars. In a few years, it’ll be the new end point of the expanded seven-subway line. Ten years from now, it could be covered in towers, one of which might nearly rival the mind-boggling height of the Empire State Building. In other words, the designers are planning for an urban environment that doesn’t exist yet. But when it does, it’ll be huge. “The context is very different,” says Lisa Switkin, of the landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, which codesigned the High Line with the designers Diller Scofidio + Renfro. “The existing High Line mainly runs mid-block, north-south along historic buildings and some new buildings. Here, the High Line is running east-west mostly on 30th Street. On one side there’s the street; on the other, 21st-century development. We had to ask, how do we respond to the new conditions?”

The answer: Maintain the design DNA of the High Line that’s already there, while embracing the unique western orientation and the ginormous scale of the proposed Hudson Yards development. In the “DNA” camp, there will be additional “peel up” benches--seats that look like they grow out of the ground elsewhere on the High Line--only they’ll be more elaborate. There will be peel-up planters, peel-up picnic tables, peel-up water fountains, and even peel-up desks (so you can whip out your laptop and toil away to the soundtrack of urban mayhem?).

There will also be lounge chairs in a 70-foot-tall tunnel, where one of the proposed Hudson Yards towers passes over the High Line. Lie back, and you’ll get a dizzying view of the mammoth skyscraper above--an effect that’s all the more exhilarating (or frightening, depending on how you feel about heights) because the chairs cantilever over the street below. The design scheme is limited by the complexities of building a park and a large mixed-use development at the same time. Most notably, the designers have proposed a temporary walkway (“a simple path through the existing landscape,” according to press materials) that’ll serve as a placeholder until nearby construction on Hudson Yards lets up. “That area will be a construction site,” Switkin says, so you can’t build a permanent park right away. “Instead, we’ll create a walkway over the landscape, and people will get to see the High Line the way that it was [before the new development].”

[aquablue]

There once was a plan to have a bridge connecting the Yards with the waterfront.

I think they are missing an opportunity to work a bridge spur off the high-line over the highway to allow waterfront access without having to deal with traffic.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by aquablue

There once was a plan to have a bridge connecting the Yards with the waterfront.

I think they are missing an opportunity to work a bridge spur off the high-line over the highway to allow waterfront access without having to deal with traffic.

I don't think putting pedestrian bridges all over the place makes much sense in Manhattan.

If folks want to get to Hudson River Park, they can just cross the street at ground level, like everyone else.

[patriotizzy]

Wow. Those renderings make the high line look like it's being freshly made, not something from decades ago! Hopefully by the time all this is finished, I will have the money saved up to visit this amazing city!

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't think putting pedestrian bridges all over the place makes much sense in Manhattan.

If folks want to get to Hudson River Park, they can just cross the street at ground level, like everyone else.

I disagree. What's the harm in a pedestrian bridge to access the waterfront.

[1Boston]

Wow that article made me want to go to New York just to go on the high line now, especially at hudson yards and just lay back and look at the towers. It seems like this would be wicked fun to go on in the spring and summer and just walk above everyone else.

[THE BIG APPLE]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't think putting pedestrian bridges all over the place makes much sense in Manhattan.

If folks want to get to Hudson River Park, they can just cross the street at ground level, like everyone else.

That's where the High Line comes in. It's the only one of it's kind in the city, and that's why it's such a tourist attraction.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by aquablue

I disagree. What's the harm in a pedestrian bridge to access the waterfront.

There isn't some gigantic harm, per se, but nor is there any major benefit.

The waterfront can already be easily accessed by crossing the street.

What's the advantage of building skywalks and the like all over the place? All you do is limit streetlife and waste money.

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by Crawford

There isn't some gigantic harm, per se, but nor is there any major benefit.

The waterfront can already be easily accessed by crossing the street.

What's the advantage of building skywalks and the like all over the place? All you do is limit streetlife and waste money.

Streelife? It is basically a highway. There is little potential for streetlife there. Who wants to negotiate that awful traffic to reach the waterfront?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by aquablue

Streelife? It is basically a highway. There is little potential for streetlife there. Who wants to negotiate that awful traffic to reach the waterfront?

Hudson River Park is the second most-used park in the city, after Central Park.

So obviously there's already tons of streetlife, and millions of people already negotiate the road.

It isn't a highway, at least not in American context. It's a regular boulevard alignment, with ample crossings, frequent stoplights, and wide sidewalks. Three car lanes in each direction, and a wide bikeway.

[nyc_alex]

If you are familiar with the area across 9A from the Hudson Yards, you'd know there isn't much reason to cross there. There is some bike traffic, but not many attractions for pedestrians. A little further up is the Ferry terminal which might make sense, but otherwise the Intrepid and Riverside Park are pretty far away. It would make more sense to walk up the future Hudson Boulevard then cross over around 42nd street if you are going to those places.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by nyc_alex

If you are familiar with the area across 9A from the Hudson Yards, you'd know there isn't much reason to cross there. There is some bike traffic, but not many attractions for pedestrians.

That's because Hudson River Park hasn't been completed there. There's little pedestrian traffic right there because the piers aren't even done.

And the Javits Center currently still sits on the water. They aren't going to configure the waterfront until they figure out the pedestrian connections from whatever replaces Javits. Because the replacement towers for Javits will likely reintroduce the street grid.

But I bet you that whatever replaces Javits won't use skywalks and other 60's-style urban planning ideas. They'll use sidewalks, like the rest of Manhattan.

[babybackribs2314]

Maybe they could make the Javits redevelopment contingent on the company chosen (to redevelop) to complete of the 7-line station at 41st. It would be a win-win, especially if they could reap a huge development bonus...

[NYguy]

It's too early to say whether or not there will be some type of crossing built over the west side highway from the railyards. Because most of those new buildings will be residential, there probably will be, but nothing has been set at this point.


http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2012/03/High-Line-Rail-Yards.asp

Third High Line Phase Sets Tone for Neighboring Development
Diller Scofidio + Renfro will design the first residential tower for Hudson Yards, a megaproject adjacent to the acclaimed New York City park.




March 14, 2012
By Fred A. Bernstein

The first two phases of the High Line, the elevated park by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, have helped spur an architectural renaissance on Manhattan’s lower west side. But the planned third phase—which will wrap around the 26-acre Hudson Yards development—may be even more transformative. That’s not only because the northern section of the line, with its level change (the railroad tracks descend to the ground at 34th Street) and sweeping curves along the Hudson River, promises to be the most dramatic section of the park. It’s also because the Related Companies’ Hudson Yards development, which is expected to contain some 13 million square feet when complete, is at the moment largely a blank slate. That means phase three of the High Line has a chance to set the architectural tone.

One section of the defunct railway—a spur that heads east from the “main line” at 30th Street—will nestle into a 70-foot cutout at the base of what is being called Tower C, a 51-story building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox for the southeast corner of Hudson Yards. Hammond says that the 70-foot clearance will be enough to create a dramatic passageway, comparable to the High Line’s tunnel under the Standard Hotel in the Meat Packing district. And in case there is any doubt about Related’s decision to embrace the High Line, when the developer released renderings of Tower C, the High Line was prominently featured in the foreground.

"C" as in "Coach"... I love how the benches overhanging the sidewalk will allow you to look up at the Coach Tower.

[Arawooho]

Update!
Today at 3:00 I noticed a large white crane above 32 street. I walk over and see dozens of workers over the prep hole of the Hudson Yards. The gate to the yards was still open and I see a large truck leaving the site I took quick shots of the truck and crane. Then I walk over to the hole and notice that it is much larger as before with an excavator and workers digging in to the back side. Also, the site with the Coach building proposal is also very busy. My phone is not cooperating with my computer right now but I will surely have pictures up by tomorrow afternoon.

[yankeesfan1000]

Thanks for the update, looking forward to the photos. Sounds like real work might be finally underway here.