The High Lane is a truly fascinating place in terms of its architecture and design. A fantastic mixture between urban design and an environment friendly approach towards architectural choices, it truly is a patch of wonder in the midst of concrete and steel. Once created as a part of the city transportation infrastructure, the High Lane is nowadays a manifest for sustainability in urban areas.
When it comes to specifying the elements that make the High Line entirely unique, one must bring up the original combination of urban design and green areas. The plant life of the High Line is quite diverse compared to other parts of the city; more importantly, the ratio between the elements of the traditional urban design and a greener, more environment friendly approach is much higher in the High Line area. The unique balance between the aforementioned architecture styles represents a reasonable and harmonious compromise between the current environmentalism trends and the necessity to incorporate the recent technological innovations into the design. Thus, the sustainability principles seem to have been integrated into the architectural design of the High Lane quite successfully.
Apart from the above-mentioned original combination of the urban architecture and the green policies, the fact that in the High Lane, the elements of the past meet the key trends of the future also deserves a mentioning. Though most of the elements of the High Lane can be identified as modern, and the overall design of the place has been updated successfully, it sill incorporates the details that can be characterized as rather nostalgic, the form-over-function principle being the key one. Indeed, taking a closer look at the elements of the modern design, especially the ones that are represented in the Manhattan architecture, one must admit that modern architects seem to have reached a reasonable compromise between the form and function of their creations. Form is no longer used as a separate element and is tied closely to the function of every single element of the architecture design. In the High Lane, however, some of the form-over-function approach elements become quite noticeable; to be more specific, such details as the space arrangement and the layout should be named as the conflicting parts of the design.
On the one hand, the High Lane looks rather cozy because of the stylistic choices, such as the design of benches; on the other hand, the High Lane once being a railway, its very structure lacks flexibility and seems too strict and linear. Indeed, the idea of using the railway for planting trees and flowers there, as well as installing benches for people to enjoy the scenery, seems rather fresh at first. However, taking a stroll down the High Lane, one will notice sooner or later that the pattern of the local design is unbearably repetitive. Although the designers should be credited for their innovative idea, the excessively homogenous design of the place requires a re-planning. While the idea of repetitive constructions was reasonable when the high Lane was a railway, nowadays, there is no need for such an aggressive symmetry. Seeing that there is little to no strict symmetry in nature, the abundance of geometrically correct and devastatingly recurrent structures seems pointless in the place that is supposed to perform the functions of a public park. One must admit, though, that the architects have done everything possible to make the aforementioned effect of repetitiveness as less noticeable as possible. For example, the above-mentioned linear perspective has been shaped considerably with the help of a specific pattern of the green patches and the alleys for tourists.
The unique color cast of the High Lane is also among the many elements that make it stand out among the rest of the elements of the New York City’s urban design. Needless to say, the entire High Lane is buried in verdure – trees and bushes clearly are the focus of the park. However, the architects wisely decided not to make the High Lane a contrast to the rest of the city, but incorporate it into the design of New York, thus, the concept of sustainable environment would not seem an alien element of the city policy, but, instead, can be interpreted as a compromise between the technological progress and the necessity to spread environmental awareness. As a result, the High Lane represents a mixture of bright green spots and grey, concrete paths for the visitors to walk down.
Architecturally, the design of the High Lane seems nearly impeccable. The numerous symmetric elements, which might seem somewhat unusual at first, soon become barely noticeable, with the entire emphasis being shifted onto the green elements of the park. The High Lane truly is a work of wonder; once designed as a railroad, it was turned into an isle of green inside New York, a giant made of steel and concrete. Having been built quite a while ago, the High Lane still remains unmatched in terms of its unique design and the ability to serve as the reminder of the majesty and the frailty of nature.