Given how readily this narrow elevated park is referenced as an aspirational example of landscaping within developments of almost any scale, it is easy to forget the project's community driven origin (a fact also belied by the quality of execution).
The site of the park, an abandoned former elevated railway line in south west Manhattan, had been slated for demolition by Mayor Giuliani in the late 90s. But the Mayor underestimated the significance of this local landmark, and its threatened removal led to a citizen led campaign, supported in particular by the gay community of the West Village, to turn the disused piece of infrastructure into a public amenity.
Early on, the campaign initiated a design competition as a means of visioning and of galvanising support. It proved a successful approach and the park was eventually delivered under Mayor Bloomberg late 2000, its extension just a few years later up into Hudsons Yards in 2014 is testament to the fact its popularity has completely outstripped all expectation.
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Compression...
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..and release..
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Spaces within spaces
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It's easy to see the appeal, it is lush, it is calm, it is above the traffic; no endless waiting at street crossings. Though it is long and linear, the planting and canny layering of closed and open views, of compression and release and the sense of spaces within spaces, is so carefully calibrated as to continuously lead you gently on without monotony
I would go everyday if I could.
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