Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel

Sculptures

Main article: Sculptures in the Schönbrunn Garden

The Great Parterre of Schönbrunn is lined with 32 sculptures, which represent deities and virtues.

Gloriette

The garden axis points towards a 60-metre-high hill (200 ft), which since 1775 has been crowned by the Gloriette structure (Fischer von Erlach had initially planned to erect the main palace on the top of this hill).

Maria Theresa decided Gloriette should be designed to glorify Habsburg power and the Just War (a war that would be carried out of "necessity" and lead to peace), and thereby ordered to recycle "otherwise useless stone" which was left from the almost-demolition of Schloss Neugebäude. The same material was also to be used for the Roman ruin.

The Gloriette today houses a café and an observation deck, which provides panoramic views of the city.

Roman Ruins

Originally known as the Ruin of Carthage, the Roman Ruin is a set of follies that was designed by the architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg and erected as an entirely new architectural feature in 1778. Fully integrated into its parkland surroundings, this architectural ensemble should be understood as a picturesque horticultural feature and not simply as a ruin, which due to lack of maintenance it had increasingly grown to resemble prior to its recent restoration.

The fashion for picturesque ruins that became widespread with the rise of the Romantic movement soon after the middle of the 18th century symbolize both the decline of once great powers and the preservation of the remains of a heroic past. Erected at the same time not far from the Roman Ruin, the Obelisk Fountain was intended to complete the iconographic program of the park at Schönbrunn as a symbol of stability and permanence.

The Roman Ruin consists of a rectangular pool enclosed by a massive arch with lateral walls, evoking the impression of an ancient edifice slowly crumbling into the ground. In the pool in front of the ruin is a seemingly haphazard arrangement of stone fragments supporting a figural group which symbolizes the rivers Vltava and Elbe.

Activities at Schönbrunn today

Schönbrunn is Vienna's most popular tourist destination, attended by 2,600,000 visitors in 2010.^[6] The whole Schönbrunn complex with Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Palmenhaus, Wüstenhaus and the Wagenburg, accounted for more than five million visitors.^[7] At the official website tickets can be purchased in advance for tours. In addition to tours and tour packages, many classical concerts featuring the music of Mozartand his contemporaries can be enjoyed with the added benefit of more time in the spectacular halls, Orangerie, or Schlosstheater.

The Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn is held every year.

Film and television productions

The gardens and palace have been the location for many films and television productions including such productions as the Sissi trilogy in 1950s, A Breath of Scandal with Sophia Loren and also briefly in James Bond's The Living Daylights when Bond and Kara are riding through the palace garden. The palace is also seen during the end credits.(1987).^[8] The comedy The Great Race was filmed there in 1965. The television drama The Crown Prince starring Max von Thun as Crown Prince Rudolf and Klaus Maria Branderer as Kaiser Franz-Josef was more recently filmed there. Austrian television series, Kommissar Rex has shot several episodes there. Dutch violinist Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra, along with the Opera Babes used it as the back drop for a version of the European Anthem, "Ode to Joy" in 2003.

In the sixth leg of the Amazing Race 23 teams had to race through the garden's maze and search for the pit stop located at the Gloriette.

Шёнбрунн (нем. Schloß Schönbrunn) — основная летняя резиденция австрийских императоровдинастии Габсбургов, одна из крупнейших построекавстрийского барокко (архитектор — Иоганн Бернхард Фишер фон Эрлах). Основной зимней резиденцией Габсбургов-Лотарингских служилХофбург.

Шёнбрунн расположен в западной части Вены в районе Хитцинг. В декабре 1996 года, на 20-й сессии Мирового комитета наследия, Шёнбрунн был включен в список объектов Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО. В список были включены как сам дворец, так и парк с его многочисленными фонтанами и статуями, глориеттой и псевдоримскими развалинами, а такжеШёнбруннский зоопарк — самый старый в мире.

История дворца

Первые упоминания о сооружении на месте нынешнего дворца датируются XIV столетием. Поместье, находившееся тут, называлось Каттенбург (нем. Katterburg) и было собственностьюКлостернойбургского монастыря (de). На то время Каттенбург включал в свой состав жилой дом, водяную мельницу, конюшню и сад. В 1569 Каттенбург перешёл во владение Габсбургов.

Император Матвей, согласно легенде, во время охоты в 1612 натолкнулся на «красивые источники» (Schöne Brunnen), что позже и дало нынешнее название дворцу.

Император Фердинанд II, и его жена, Элеонора Гонзага, любившие охоту, выбрали Шёнбрунн в качестве места для выездов двора на охоту. После смерти Фердинанда в 1637 его вдова поселилась в замке, переименовав его в Шёнбрунн.

В 1683 замок пострадал во время осады Вены турками. Император Леопольд I решил отстроить разрушенный замок, и в 1696Иоганн Бернард Фишер фон Эрлах начал строительство, взяв за образец Версальский дворец. Большая часть работ была завершена к 1713, однако строительство не было доведено до конца.

Шёнбрунн при Марии Терезии

В 1728 император Карл VI приобрёл Шёнбрунн и позже подарил его своей дочери, Марии Терезии, будущей императрице. Правление Марии Терезии было ключевым в истории замка. Известно, что она восхищалась замком и его садами, превратив Шёнбрунн в центр политической и дворцовой жизни.

В 1742 и 1743 строительные работы возобновились, и здание было реконструировано, в результате чего дворец приобрел свой нынешний вид. По желанию императрицы в северном крыле дворца был построен театр, который торжественно открылся в 1747. В числе певцов и актёров, выступавших в театре, были многочисленные дети императрицы. Сама Мария Терезия здесь также демонстрировала свой талант певицы.

В 1752 супруг Марии Терезии, император Франц I, основал возле дворца зверинец, являющийся на сегодняшний день самым старым зоопарком в мире (см. Шёнбруннский зоопарк). К западу от парка император прикупил участок земли, на котором были размещены теплицы, парники и оранжереи, постоянно пополнявшиеся экзотическими растениями из Вест-Индии и Капской колонии.

После смерти Марии Терезии дворец использовался только в качестве летней резиденции императоров.

XIX—XX века

В 1805 и 1809 дворец дважды занимал Наполеон. Французский император располагался в мемориальных комнатах Франца I Стефана, в восточном крыле дворца. В этой же части дворца в 1830 родился Франц Иосиф.

В 1828 г. в оранжерейной части парка строится Пальмовый дом — необычное сооружение из кирпича с остеклением. В 1882 ему на смену пришли три павильона из стекла и металла: каждый для одной из основных температурных зон.

Восхождение на трон Франца Иосифа в 1848 ознаменовало новую замечательную эпоху в истории замка. Император выбрал Шёнбрунн в качестве своей главной резиденции и провёл в нем большую часть своей жизни.

Значительные изменения в замке были произведены во время подготовки к женитьбе императора Франца Иосифа на баварской принцессе Елизавете.

В 1945 часть замка была повреждена в результате бомбардировок. После войны британское командование выбрало дворец в качестве своего штаба.

С 1992 года Шёнбрунн (за исключением садов дворца) передан в управление компании Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und BetriebsGmbH, которая гарантировала эффективное управление и обширную программу реконструкции и сохранения здания.

High Line (New York City)

High Line

The High Line, an aerial greenway, at 20th Street looking downtown; the vegetation was chosen to pay homage to the wild plants that had colonized the abandoned railway before it was repurposed

The High Line (also known as the High Line Park) is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) New York City linear park built in Manhattan on an elevated section of a disused New York Central Railroadspur called the West Side Line.^[1] Inspired by the 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) Promenade plantée, a similar project in Paris completed in 1993, the High Line has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and rails-to-trails park.^[3][4]

The High Line Park uses the disused southern portion of the West Side Line running to theLower West Side of Manhattan. It runs from Gansevoort Street – three blocks below 14th Street – in the Meatpacking District, throughChelsea, to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street near the Javits Convention Center. An unopened spur extends above 30th Street to Tenth Avenue.^[5] Formerly, the High Line went as far south as a railroad terminal toSpring Street just north of Canal Street, however, most of the lower section was demolished in 1960,^[6] with another small portion of the lower section being demolished in 1991.^[7]

Repurposing of the railway into an urban park began construction in 2006,^[8][9] with the first phase opening in 2009,^[10] and the second phase opening in 2011.^[11] The third and final phase officially opened to the public on September 21, 2014.^[12] A short stub above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, is still closed as of September 2014, but will open by 2015.^[13] The project has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods that lie along the line.^[14] As of September 2014, the park gets nearly 5 million visitors annually.^[2]

· Description

The park extends from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street. At 30th Street, the elevated tracks turn west around the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project ^[15] to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 34th Street,^[5] though the northern section is expected to be integrated within the Hudson Yards development ^[16] and the Hudson Park and Boulevard. When the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project's Western Rail Yard is finished in 2018, it will be elevated above the High Line Park, so an exit along the viaduct will be located over theWest Side Yard, exiting out to the Western Rail Yard of Hudson Yards.^[17] The 34th Street entrance is at grade level, with wheelchair access.^[5][17]

The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the winter, 10 p.m. in the spring and fall, and 11 p.m. in the summer, except for the Interim Walkway west of 11th Avenue, which is open until dusk. It can be reached through eleven entrances, six of which are accessible to people with disabilities. The wheelchair-accessible entrances, each with stairs and an elevator, are at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th Streets. Additional staircase-only entrances are located at 18th, 20th, 26th, and 28th Streets, and 11th Avenue. Street level access is available at 34th Street via an "Interim Walkway" between 30th Stree/11th Avenue and 34th Street.^[5][18]

Route

The High Line Park between 14thand 15th streets where the tracks run through the second floor of the Chelsea Market building, with a side track and pedestrian bridge

Urban theater at Tenth Avenue and17th Street: a window over the avenue provides unusual views

At the Gansevoort Street end, which runs north-south, the stub end over Gansevoort Street is named the Tiffany and Co.Foundation Overlook,^[5] dedicated in July 2012; the foundation was a major backer of the park.^[19][20] Then, it passes under The Standard hotel,^[21][22] and through a passage at 14th Street.^[5] At 14th Street, the High Line is split into two sides of different elevations;^[23] the Diller-Von Furstenberg Water Feature, opened in 2010, is featured on the lower side, and a sundeck on the upper side.^[24]

Then, the High Line passes under the Chelsea Market, a food hall, at 15th Street.^[5][25] A spur connecting the viaduct to theNational Biscuit Company building splits off at 16th Street; this spur is closed to the public.^[23] The Tenth Avenue Square, anamphitheater located on the viaduct, is at 17th Street, where the High Line cross over Tenth Avenue from southeast to northwest.^[5][23] At 23rd Street, there is the 23rd Street Lawn, alawn where visitors can rest.^[5][26] Then, at 25th-26th Streets, a ramp takes visitors above the viaduct, with a scenic overlook facing east at 26th Street. The Philip A. and Lisa Maria Falcone Flyover, as it is called, is named after two major donors to the park;^[5][23] this ramp was based on plans for a Phase 1 flyover that was never built.^[27]

The park then curves west to Phase 3 and merges into the Tenth Avenue Spur, the latter of which stretches over 30th Street to Tenth Avenue and will open in 2015.^[13] On Phase 3, there is another ramp taking visitors above the viaduct at 11th Avenue, as well as a play area consisting of rail ties and modified, silicone-covered beams and stanchions coming out of the structure called the "Pershing Beams", a gathering space with multiple benches, and a set of three trackways where one could walk between the railway tracks.^[28][29][30] There are also seesaw-like benches, as well as benches that, much like a xylophone, contain parts that make sounds when tapped.^[1] An "interim walkway" between 11th Avenue and 30th Street and 34th Street divides the viaduct into two sides – a gravel walkway and an unrenovated section still with rail tracks; this walkway is open only temporarily, and will close for renovation once the Tenth Avenue spur is completed.^[31] The High Line turns north to a point just east of Twelfth Avenue. At 34th Street, it curves east, and the park ends at a wheelchair ramp midway between 12th and 11th Avenues.^[5]

Attractions

The park's attractions include naturalized plantings that are inspired by the landscape that grew on the disused tracks,^[32] and views of the city and the Hudson River. The trail is made of pebble-dash concrete walkways that swells and constricts, swings from side to side, and divides into concrete tines that meld the hardscape with the planting embedded in railroad gravel mulch. Stretches of track and ties recall the High Line's former use. Portions of track are adaptively re-used for rolling lounges positioned for river views.^[33]Most of the planting, which includes 210 species, is of rugged meadow plants, including clump-forming grasses, liatris, and coneflowers, with scattered stands of sumac and smokebush, but not limited to American natives. At the Gansevoort Street end, a grove of mixed species of birch already provides some dappled shade by late afternoon. Ipê timber for the built-in benches has come from a managed forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, to ensure sustainable use and the conservation of biological diversity, water resources, and fragile ecosystems.^[34]

The High Line Park also has cultural attractions. As part of a long-term plan for the park to host temporary installations and performances of various kinds. Creative Time, Friends of the High Line, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation commissioned The River That Flows Both Ways by Spencer Finch as the inaugural art installation. The work is integrated into the window bays of the former Nabisco Factory loading dock, as a series of 700 purple and grey colored glass panes. Each color is exactly calibrated to match the center pixel of 700 digital pictures, one taken every minute, of the Hudson River, therefore presenting an extended portrait of the river that gives the work its name. Creative Time worked with the artist to realize the site-specific concept that emerged when he saw the rusted, disused mullions of the old factory, which metal and glass specialists Jaroff Design helped to prepare and reinstall.^[35] The summer of 2010 featured a sound installation by Stephen Vitiello, composed from bells heard through New York. Lauren Ross, formerly director of the alternative art space White Columns, is serving as the first curator for the High Line Park.^[36] During the construction of the second phase between 20th and 30th Streets, two artworks were installed. Sarah Sze's "Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat)" is made of steel and wood, located on the line near 20th and 21st Streets; this structure houses fauna such as birds and butterflies. Also installed during the second phase of construction wasJulianne Swartz's "Digital Empathy", a work that utilizes audio messages at restrooms, elevators, and water fountains.^[37]

History

Rail line

In 1847, the City of New York authorized street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan's West Side to ship freight.^[38] For safety, the railroads hired men called the "West Side Cowboys" to ride horses and wave flags in front of the trains.^[39] However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that Tenth Avenue became known as "Death Avenue".^[40][41]

After years of public debate about the hazard, in 1929 the city, the state of New York, and the New York Central Railroad agreed on the West Side Improvement Project,^[38] a large project conceived by Robert Moses that also included the construction of the West Side Elevated Highway.^[42] The 13-mile (21 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (13 ha) to Riverside Park. It cost more than US$150,000,000 (about US$2,060,174,000 today).^[39][41]

The High Line viaduct, then a portion of the New York Connecting Railroad's West Side Line, opened to trains in 1934. It originally ran from 34th Street to St. John's Park Terminal at Spring Street, and was designed to go through the center of blocks rather than over the avenue.^[39] It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to load and unload their cargo inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing traffic on the streets.^[39] This also reduced the load for the Bell Laboratories Building (which has been housing the Westbeth Artists Community since 1970,^[43]), as well as for the formerNabisco plant in the Chelsea Market building, which were served from protected sidings within the structures.^[41][44]

The train also passed underneath the Western Electric complex at Washington Street. This section still exists as of May 18, 2008 and is not connected with the rest of the developed park.^[41][45]

The growth of interstate trucking in the 1950s led to a drop in rail traffic throughout the nation, so that by 1960, the southernmost section of the line was demolished.^[6] This section started atGansevoort Street and ran down Washington Street as far asSpring Street just north of Canal Street,^[46] representing almost half of the line. The last train on the remaining part of the line was operated by Conrail in 1980.^[39][41]

In the mid-1980s, a group of property owners with land under the line lobbied for the demolition of the entire structure. Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, challenged the demolition efforts in court and tried to re-establish rail service on the line.^[39][47] During the late 1980s, the north end of the High Line was disconnected from the rest of the national railroad system, due to the construction of the Empire Connectionto Penn Station, which opened in spring 1991. The tracks were rerouted to the new Empire Connection tunnel built underground to Penn Station, because it was expected that the High Line would be demolished.^[48] A small section of the High Line in theWest Village, from Bank to Gansevoort Streets, was taken apart in 1991, despite objections by people who wanted to keep the High Line.^[7]

In the 1990s, as the line lay unused and in disrepair (despite the fact that the riveted-steel elevated structure was structurally sound) it became known to a few urban explorers and local residents for the tough, drought-tolerant wild grasses, shrubs, and rugged trees such as sumac that had sprung up in the gravel along the abandoned railway. It was slated for demolition under the administration of then-mayor Rudy Giuliani.^[41][49]

Repurposing

In 1999, the nonprofit Friends of the High Line ^[39] was formed by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, residents of the neighborhood that the line ran through. They advocated for the line's preservation and reuse as public open space, so that it would become an elevated park or greenway, similar to thePromenade Plantée in Paris.^[50][51] CSX Transportation, which owned the High Line, had given photographer Joel Sternfeldpermission to photograph the line for a year. These photographs of the natural beauty of the meadow-like wildscape of the railway, discussed in an episode of the documentary series Great Museums, were used at public meetings whenever the subject of saving the High Line was discussed.^[52] Diane von Furstenberg, who had moved her New York City headquarters to the Meatpacking District in 1997, organized fund-raising events for the campaign in her studio, along with her husband, Barry Diller.^[52] Broadened community support of public redevelopment of the High Line for pedestrian use grew, and in 2004, the New York City government committed $50 million to establish the proposed park. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speakers Gifford Miller and Christine C. Quinn were important supporters. In total, funders of the High Line Park raised more than $150 million (equivalent to $164,891,000 in 2015).^[53]

On June 13, 2005, the U.S. Federal Surface Transportation Board issued a certificate of interim trail use, allowing the city to remove most of the line from the national railway system. On April 10, 2006, Mayor Bloomberg presided over a ceremony that marked the beginning of construction. The park was designed by the James Corner's New York-based landscape architecture firm Field Operations and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with planting design from Piet Oudolf of the Netherlands, lighting design from L'Observatoire International,^[8] and engineering design by Buro Happold.^[9] Major backers included Philip Falcone,^[54] Diane von Furstenberg, Barry Diller, and von Furstenburg's children, Alexander von Fürstenberg and Tatiana von Fürstenberg.^[55] Hotel developerAndre Balazs, owner of the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, built the 337-room Standard Hotel, straddling the High Line at West 13th Street.^[21]

The southernmost section, from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened as a city park on June 8, 2009.^[10] This southern section includes five stairways and elevators at 14th Street and 16th Street.^[5]Around the same time, construction for the second section began.^[56]

On June 7, 2011, a ribbon was cut to open the second section from 20th Street to 30th Street, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler in attendance.^[57][11]

In 2011, CSX Transportation, the then-owner of the northernmost section, from 30th to 34th Streets, agreed in principle to donate the section to the city,^[55] while the Related Companies, which owns the development rights to the West Side Rail Yards, agreed not to tear down the spur that crosses 10th Avenue.^[58] Construction on the final section was started in September 2012.^[59][60]

On September 20, 2014, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the High Line was held,^[12][61] followed by the opening of the third section of the High Line Park on September 21, and a procession down the High Line.^[2][62] The third phase, costing US$76 million, is divided into two parts.^[17] The first part, costing US$75 million,^[63] which opened on September 21,^[12] is from the end of the existing Phase 2 of the High Line to the line's terminus at 34th Street west of 11th Avenue.^[64][65][17] The second part, the spur, will contain such amenities as a bowl-shaped theater (the theater will not be completed until a few years after the High Line Park is completely opened).^[66][67] It will also be integrated with 10 Hudson Yards,^[68] which has already been built over the High Line Spur as of December 2013;^[69] the spur will not open until July 2015, when 10 Hudson Yards is completed.^[13]

Impact[edit]

The recycling of the railway into an urban park has brought on the revitalization of Chelsea, which had been "gritty" and in generally poor condition in the late twentieth century.^[70] It has also spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods that lie along the line.^[14] Mayor Bloomberg noted that the High Line project has helped usher in something of a renaissance in the neighborhood: by 2009, more than 30 projects were planned or under construction nearby.^[10] Residents who have bought apartments next to the High Line Park have adapted to its presence in varying ways, but most responses are positive; some, however, claim that the park became a "tourist-clogged catwalk" since it opened.^[26] The real estate boom has not been victimless, however, many well-established businesses in west Chelsea have closed due to loss of neighborhood customer base or rent increases.^[71]

Crime has been extraordinarily low in the park. Shortly after the second section opened in 2011, The New York Times reported that there have been no reports of major crimes such as assaults or robberies since its first phase opened two years prior. Parks Enforcement Patrols have written summonses for various infractions of park rules, such as walking dogs or riding bicycles on the walkway, but at a rate lower than in Central Park. Park advocates attributed that to the high visibility of the High Line from the surrounding buildings, a feature of traditional urbanism espoused by author Jane Jacobs nearly fifty years earlier. According to Joshua David, a co-founder of Friends of the High Line, "Empty parks are dangerous... Busy parks are much less so. You're virtually never alone on the High Line."^[72]

A New Yorker columnist, in a review of the Highliner restaurant (which took over the space of the classicEmpire Diner), complained that "the new Chelsea that is emerging on weekends as visitors flood the elevated park... [as] touristy, overpriced, and shiny."^[73]

The success of the High Line in New York City has encouraged the leaders of other cities, such as MayorRahm Emanuel of Chicago, who see it as "a symbol and catalyst" for gentrifying neighborhoods.^[74]Several cities also have plans to renovate some railroad infrastructure into park land, includingPhiladelphia and St. Louis. In Chicago, where the Bloomingdale Trail, a 2.7-mile (4.3 km) long linear park on former railroad infrastructure, will run through several neighborhoods. One estimate is that it costs substantially less to redevelop an abandoned urban rail line into a linear park than to demolish it.^[74]James Corner, one of the Bloomingdale Trail's designers, said, "The High Line is not easily replicable in other cities," observing that building a "cool park" requires a "framework" of neighborhoods around it in order to succeed.^[74] In Queens, the Queensway, a proposed aerial rail trail, is being considered for reactivation along the right-of-way of the former LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch.^[75] Other cities around the world are planning elevated rails-to-trails parks. One writer called this the "High Line effect".^[76]

Due to the popularity of the High Line, there have been several proposals for museums along its path. The Dia Art Foundation considered, but rejected, a proposal to build a museum at the Gansevoort Street terminus.^[77] On that site, the Whitney Museum is currently constructing a new home for its collection of American art. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and will open in 2015.^[78]

Miracle Above Manhattan

New Yorkers can float over busy streets in an innovative park.

By Paul Goldberger

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel

Parks in large cities are usually thought of as refuges, as islands of green amid seas of concrete and steel. When you approach the High Line in the Chelsea neighborhood on the lower west side of Manhattan, what you see first is the kind of thing urban parks were created to get away from—a harsh, heavy, black steel structure supporting an elevated rail line that once brought freight cars right into factories and warehouses and that looks, at least from a distance, more like an abandoned relic than an urban oasis.

Until recently the High Line was, in fact, an urban relic, and a crumbling one at that. Many of its neighbors, as well as New York's mayor for much of the 1990s, Rudolph Giuliani, couldn't wait to tear it down. His administration, aware that Chelsea was gentrifying into a neighborhood of galleries, restaurants, and loft living, felt the surviving portion of the High Line, which winds its way roughly a mile and a half from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street (a section farther south was torn down years ago), was an ugly deadweight. They were certain this remnant of a different kind of city had to be removed for the neighborhood to realize its full potential.

Never have public officials been so wrong. Almost a decade after the Giuliani administration tried to tear the High Line down, it has been turned into one of the most innovative and inviting public spaces in New York City and perhaps the entire country. The black steel columns that once supported abandoned train tracks now hold up an elevated park—part promenade, part town square, part botanical garden. The southern third, which begins at Gansevoort Street and extends to West 20th Street, crossing Tenth Avenue along the way, opened in the summer of 2009. This spring a second section will open, extending the park ten more blocks, roughly a half mile, to 30th Street. Eventually, supporters hope, the park will cover the rest of the High Line.

Walking on the High Line is unlike any other experience in New York. You float about 25 feet above the ground, at once connected to street life and far away from it. You can sit surrounded by carefully tended plantings and take in the sun and the Hudson River views, or you can walk the line as it slices between old buildings and past striking new ones. I have walked the High Line dozens of times, and its vantage point, different from that of any street, sidewalk, or park, never ceases to surprise and delight. Not the least of the remarkable things about the High Line is the way, without streets to cross or traffic lights to wait for, ten blocks pass as quickly as two.

New York is a city in which good things rarely happen easily and where good designs are often compromised, if they are built at all. The High Line is a happy exception, that rare New York situation in which a wonderful idea was not only realized but turned out better than anyone had imagined. It isn't often in any city, let alone New York, that an unusually sophisticated concept for a public place makes its way through the design process, the political process, and the construction process largely intact. The designers were landscape architect James Corner of Field Operations and the architecture firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who joined forces to produce the winning scheme in a competition that pitted them against such notables as Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, and landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

Their plan struck a balance between refinement and the rough-hewn, industrial quality of the High Line. "We envisioned it as one long, meandering ribbon but with special episodes," Corner told me. "We wanted to keep the feeling of the High Line consistent but at the same time have some variations." The design included sleek wooden benches that appear to peel up from the park surface, but also kept many of the original train tracks, setting them into portions of the pavement and landscape. Working with Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf, Corner recommended a wide range of plantings, with heavy leanings toward tall grasses and reeds that recalled the wildflowers and weeds that had sprung up during the High Line's long abandonment. (The line, which opened in 1934, was little used after the 1960s, although its final train, carrying frozen turkeys, didn't travel down the track until 1980.)

Early in the two and a half decades that the High Line was unused and untouched, an obsessive rail buff named Peter Obletz purchased the elevated structure for ten dollars from Conrail with the intention of restoring it to rail use. Obletz's ownership was held up in a five-year legal battle, which he lost. He died in 1996 but is, in a sense, a spiritual parent of the High Line preservation effort. So is photographer Joel Sternfeld. During the derelict years he made striking images of the High Line as a ribbon of green snaking through an industrial cityscape. Widely reproduced, his photographs played a significant role in building a constituency for saving the line for public use. Sternfeld showed that this clunky industrial object really could look like a park.

But the real heroes of the story are two men who met for the first time at a community meeting on the future of the line in 1999. Joshua David was then 36, a freelance writer who lived on West 21st Street, not far from the midsection of the High Line. Robert Hammond, an artist who worked for start-up tech companies to earn a living, was 29 and lived in Greenwich Village a few blocks from the southern terminus.

"I saw an article in the New York Times saying that the High Line was going to be demolished, and I wondered if anyone was going to try to save it," Hammond said to me. "I was in love with the steel structure, the rivets, the ruin. I assumed that some civic group was going to try and preserve it, and I saw that it was on the agenda for a community board meeting. I went to see what was going on, and Josh was sitting next to me. We were the only people at the meeting who were interested in saving it."

"The railroad sent representatives who showed some plans to reuse it, which enraged the people who were trying to get it torn down," David explained. "That's what sparked the conversation between me and Robert—we couldn't believe the degree of rage some of those people had."

David and Hammond asked railroad officials to take them to look at the High Line. "There's a legend that we snuck in, but it's not true," Hammond said. "When we got up there, we saw a mile and a half of wildflowers in the middle of Manhattan."

"New Yorkers always dream of finding open space—it's a fantasy when you live in a studio apartment," David said.

Amazed by the expansiveness of the space, the two men were determined to keep the High Line from being torn down. In the fall of 1999 they formed Friends of the High Line. At first their ambitions were modest. "We just wanted to fight Giuliani to keep it from being demolished," Hammond said. "But preservation was only the first step, and we began to realize that we could create a new public place."

The organization crept forward slowly. Then came the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. "We thought no one would care about the High Line at that point," Hammond said, "but the increased interest in urban planning and design with the ground zero design process paved the way for heightened interest in our project. People felt this was one positive thing they could do." In 2002 Friends of the High Line commissioned an economic feasibility study, which concluded that, contrary to the Giuliani administration's claim, turning the High Line into a park would help the neighborhood, not slow its development. Not long before, an abandoned rail line in eastern Paris, near the Place de la Bastille, had been turned into a highly successful linear park called the Promenade Plantée, which gave the group's idea for the High Line a serious precedent. Although Parisian models don't transfer easily into New York, the existence of the Promenade Plantée did a lot to increase the credibility of David and Hammond's crusade. They began to think their idea of turning the High Line into a new kind of public place might be achievable.

Friends of the High Line may have been a grassroots group, but its roots were planted firmly in the world's most sophisticated art and design community. In 2003 the pair decided to hold an "ideas competition"—not a formal architectural contest but an invitation to anyone to submit an idea and a design for what the High Line might become. They expected a few dozen proposals from New Yorkers. Their call brought 720 entries from 36 countries.

As New York recovered further from the trauma of September 11, Friends of the High Line continued to grow. It began to attract the attention of younger hedge fund managers and real estate executives with a philanthropic bent, people not established enough to join the boards of the city's major cultural institutions but eager to make a mark. The High Line was tailor-made for them; its annual summer benefit became one of New York's favorite causes and one of the few with a critical mass of supporters under age 40.

It didn't hurt that Michael Bloomberg, who succeeded Giuliani, had a sympathetic view of saving the High Line. Bloomberg, a billionaire who had long been a major donor to the city's cultural institutions, offered support for the High Line plan. The city struck a deal with Friends of the High Line, working with the group to design and construct what would become a new park and offering $112.2 million toward the projected $153-million cost of the first two phases, with another $21.4 million from federal and state funds. Friends of the High Line agreed to come up with $19.4 million and pay the majority of operating costs once the park was open.

In 2005 City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden crafted zoning provisions for the area, setting rules for new construction that was cropping up. By the time the zoning was in place, the surrounding area had become one of the city's hottest neighborhoods. Buildings by celebrated architects were in the works, including the IAC headquarters designed by Frank Gehry. In spring of 2006 the first piece of rail track was lifted off the High Line, the equivalent of a groundbreaking ceremony, and construction began.

From the day the first section of the High Line opened in June 2009, it has been one of the city's major tourist attractions, and you are as likely to hear visitors speaking German or Japanese as English. Yet it is just as much a neighborhood park. When I joined Hammond for a walk along the High Line on a sunny day last fall, a section the designers had designated as a kind of sundeck was jammed, and there seemed to be as many locals treating the area as the equivalent of their own beach as visitors out for a promenade.

The sundeck area is one of the places James Corner likes to refer to as "episodes" along the High Line. There are more in the first section, because the route bends and turns, slips under three different buildings to become briefly tunnel-like, then opens up to offer vistas of the midtown skyline or the Hudson River. At the point at which the High Line crosses Tenth Avenue, it morphs once again, this time into an amphitheater-like space suspended over the avenue, allowing you to sit and watch the traffic glide beneath you.

The route of the elevated line straightens out in the second section, north of 20th Street, presenting the designers with a different kind of challenge. "It's all wide open with views of the city, and then all of a sudden you're walking between two building walls," Corner said. "It's dead straight, and we had to make it so you didn't feel you were in a corridor." He decided to start off the second section with a dense thicket of plantings, much heavier than anything in the first section, on the theory that if he couldn't make the tightness go away, he should accentuate its drama for a block or so, then quickly downshift to a relaxed, open lawn. After that comes what the designers call the flyover: a metal structure that lifts the walkway up and allows a dense landscape of plantings to grow beneath. North of that is another seating area, this one looking down onto the street through an enormous white frame that alludes to the billboards that once adorned the neighboring buildings. Just beyond, a long stretch of promenade is lined with wildflowers.

On the day I toured the new section with Robert Hammond, much of the planting was already in place. Even though construction was still going on, it was strangely quiet. We walked the length of the new section; Hammond said the quiet reminded him of the way the High Line was at the very beginning, before the crowds started to pour in. "I thought I would miss the way it was," he said. But the High Line's overwhelming success, he has realized, has given him a satisfaction far beyond the pleasures of seeing the old steel structure empty.

Парк Гуэля

Парк Гуэля (исп. Parque Güell; кат. Parc Güell) — знаменитый парк в верхней части Барселоны, созданный Антонио Гауди в 1900—1914 годах. Представляет собой сочетание садов и жилых зон, площадь парка составляет 17,18 га.

История создания

Парк Гуэля был задуман Эусеби Гуэлем как зелёная жилая зона в стиле модной в то время в Англии градостроительной концепции города-сада. Именно поэтому в названии парка каталонское слово «Parc» пишется на английский манер «Park». Для реализации своего проекта в 1901 году Гуэль приобрёл 15 гектаров земли, которая была разрезана на 62 участка под строительство частных особняков. Все участки были выставлены на продажу, но продать удалось только два: пустынная местность, удалённая от центра города, не привлекала барселонцев.

Работы по созданию парка были начаты в 1901 году и велись в три этапа. На первом было выполнено укрепление и обустройство склонов холма «Лысая гора», расположенного в «верхней», ближней к горам, части Барселоны. На втором этапе были проложены внутренние подъездные дороги, построены входные павильоны и окружающие территорию стены. Для досуга и собраний будущих жителей была создана колоннада рынка с верхней центральной эспланадой и возведён образец жилого дома для показа будущим покупателям. Во время заключительного этапа проекта в 1910—1913 гг. была создана знаменитая извилистая скамейка и запланирована постройка нескольких особняков на проданных участках. Новые здания должны были стать дополнением к двум уже имеющимся домам, один из которых принадлежал другу Гауди адвокату М. Триасу-и-Доменеку и был выполнен по проекту архитектора Жули Бальевеля (кат. Juli Batllevell i Arús), а второй построен Франсеском Беренгером (кат. Francesc d'Assís Berenguer i Mestres) и выставлен на продажу. Поскольку покупателей не нашлось, по совету Гуэля, в 1906 году дом был приобретён самим Гауди, где он и жил вплоть до 1925 года. Третий дом на территории парка, служивший образцом для потенциальных покупателей, был куплен Гуэлем и после некоторых переделок превращён им в 1910 году в свою резиденцию. Все дома сохранились до наших дней. Резиденция Гуэля со временем была передана под муниципальную школу, в бывшем особняке Гауди теперь расположен дом-музей его имени, а дом Триаса-и-Доменека и по сей день принадлежит этой семье. Экономические неудачи проекта вынудили наследников Гуэля продать парк мэрии Барселоны, которая превратила его в городской парк.

Устройство

Центральный вход с двумя совершенно фантастическими по форме домиками является наиболее замечательным уголком парка. Правый павильон с пинаклем, увенчанным типичным для Гауди пятилучевым крестом, был предназначен под контору администрации парка, левый павильон был построен для привратника. Причудливый декор этих сказочных домиков делает их скорее скульптурными, нежели архитектурными произведениями. Парадная лестница с фонтанами ведёт в гипостильный зал известный как «Зал ста колонн». На нижней площадке лестницы помещён любимый персонаж Гауди — мозаичная Саламандра, средняя площадка украшена медальоном с четырёхполосным каталонским флагом и головой змеи, а на верхней террасе, являющейся центром всего паркового ансамбля и расположенной над гипостильным залом, находится длинная, изогнутая в форме морского змея, скамья. При создании декора этой скамьи Гауди сотрудничал с одним из своих учеников Жузепом Марией Жужолем (кат. Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert). Именно последний создал знаменитые коллажи из осколков керамических изразцов, битого стекла и других строительных отходов, опередившие многие произведенияабстракционизма и сюрреализма. Профилю скамьи была придана специальная форма, совпадающая с очертаниями тела сидящего человека. Гауди добился этого, усадив рабочего на непросохшую глину и «замерив» таким образом изгиб спины.

«Зал ста колонн» на самом деле содержит 86 дорических колонн и имеет хорошую акустику, что часто используется местными музыкантами. Его потолок, имеющий замысловатую форму, украшен мозаикой и фальшивыми замка́ми всё с той же причудливой керамической облицовкой, что и скамейка парка. Под главной эспланадой находится скрытая система ливневой канализации, использовавшейся для водоснабжения парка: вода попадала в специальную цистерну по трубам, помещённым внутри колонн. От главной площади парка и вокруг него протянута сеть пешеходных дорог и тропинок, ведущих в прогулочные аллеи, построенные Гауди из местного камня и за свой причудливый вид получившие название Птичьих гнёзд. «Гнёзда» выступают прямо из склонов холма и кажутся сросшимися с ним, а внутреннее пространство каменной галереи, организованное при помощи наклона колонн и опорных стен создаёт зачаровывающую игру перспективы.

На территории парка расположен Дом-музей Гауди. Он был открыт в его бывшем особняке в 1963 году Обществом друзей архитектора и содержит образцы мебели, созданной Гауди, в частности, мебель из дома Бальо и дома Мила.

В 1962 году архитектурный ансамбль Парка Гуэля был объявлен Художественным памятником Барселоны, в 1969 году — памятником национального значения, а в 1984 году парк Гуэля вместе с другими творениями Антонио Гауди включён в Список Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-26