The High Line of NYC reminds me of Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway Park, which is another great green architecture landscape project that brings a place for people in the city to enjoy nature and sunshine within the context of a big city.
The Rose Kennedy Greenway was constructed in 2008 and it is a 1.5-mile-long series of parks and public spaces like fountains, seats...ect. When Interstate 93 was put underground and the elevated freeway was removed, a green way was planned and constructed on the site.
Though there are some critics accusing the greenway as a big waste of space, I really like it and enjoyed much of my time there during the summer when i lived in Boston.
To me, the best part about the greenway is how it link people, the children, the adult couples, the older man, together in this fun public space and people use it as a way to be engaged in the city. During the summer, there are kids running around the fountain, people lying on the grass in their Bikinis and reading books. This gathering place is like a "comma" in the sentence of Boston, a break,and a chance to take a breath.
After seeing the High Line and the Greenway Park, I find myself extremely interested in public green spaces. They define the characteristics of a city, and speaks its personalities. They are fun and welcoming when designed well and people love them. They link the busy city and beautiful nature together and find the harmony relationship between the two. They attract everybody without being awkward,because they fit into the context of the site and decorates the city.
Here are some pictures I took of the Boston Greenway：
Where is New York City's best green space?
My answer is the High Line.
The High Line reused the old train track and turned it into a place for fun. By integrating plants, public arts and people, it provides an interesting space up in the air of NYC for tourists to enjoy the city and for NYC to expresses itself in a new amazing way.
Here is my understanding of the High Line with my camera.
photo shoot on the High Line
one side
starting point
enjoying the sunshine
some really cool structure, don't now what it is for
On November 13th, 2010, a sunny beautiful warm Saturday, a van full of Mount Holyoke students led by Professor Davis, Lauerand Kaynarwent on a field trip to New York City to explore the architecture of the city. As one of the students in the group, I loved the trip and enjoyed the design works we saw on the way. This is the first journal of this series to record our exploration of New York City.
As we drove into the city, we passed Frank Gehry's IAC Building. I remember watching the above video of Vimeo projection on IAC building, but this was my first time to see the building in person.
The IAC building is located in the Chelsea Manhattan, with Hudson river on one side and the High Line on the other side.
sketches of IAC Building
This is the initial sketch of the IAC building, which looks really "Frank Gehry".
This is a sketch from July 2005, showing the "sails" structure. The building's white color and rhythmic zigs are intended to evoke sails, in homage to Diller's fondness for the water, who is the chairman and chief executive of IAC.
The following are some sketch models.
I have to admit, that personally, this one is my favorite model along all the study models I saw pictures of. I really like its dynamic shape and the flowing feeling it generates. It looks light, and fun, liking a dancer performing with confident and joy.
The winning design is the following one:
I am usually not a big fan of all glass tall office buildings, but I cannot help being fascinated by this design and the use of the glass facade of this building with its white patterns. There are 1,437 glass panels on the 'curtain wall' and 1,349 of them has their own unique shape and degree of twist. The 'sugar coated' look comes from the tiny white dot patterns on the glass, called frits.
In the afternoon of our trip, we were walking on the High Line and enjoying the view, and the IAC building came into our sight again. Viewing it from the other side of the building, I start to appreciate how this building sits in the site of Chelsea Manhattan.
New York City is a place that carries a lot of memories in the history of city development. The surrounding site of IAC Building is consisted of mostly old brick industrial buildings. The IAC Building demonstrate how important context is when designing a real building. He did not copy or follow the surrounding buildings, but plays against them by composing this modern structure. The sail like curves seem to embrace the surrounding buildings and speak to each of them.
I really enjoyed having the chance to experience one of Mr. Gehry's building. The feeling it generates is really different from just seeing the picture. I have to admit, that deep in my heart, I with the building is a little "crazier" and even more "Frank Gehry". As his first work in NYC, the IAC building adds a modern look to this area of NYC. I look forward to seeing the interior of it one day.
When we talk about sustainable green architecture, we try to establish a harmonic relationship between the architecture and the earth. A project called "First Principle: Earth as Material" by Freeform+Deform proposes an interesting new way for buildings: turn earth into a part of the architecture.
The method used to integrate earth into architecture in this project is peeling off the skin of earth and turning it into a wall or some other parts of the architecture.
From the diagrams shown above, we can tell that the central design idea is for architects and clients to link the earth to the structure through building a tight relationship between the site/landscape and buildings. The earth itself, with its plants, land, valley, caves, etc.defines the fundamental idea of architecture. This reminds me of the primitive hut, which was build by tree branches as the standard in architecture theory.
primitive hut
Under Freeform+Deform's design, Earth is used in architecture structurally, aesthetically and materially. This new approach to green architecture is fascinating because it helps us better understand the world and offer us an opportunity to literally "dive" into the earth as a part of living.
Information in this articles comes from my boss--great architect--Tullio Inglese, For more information please visit http://tiaarchitects.com
During this past summer, I interned at T.I.A. Architects in Amhest, MA. My boss Tullio Inglese and this small architecture studio taught me a lot about ecological architecture. By learning about his generic designs and touring his sustainable house and tea house, I came to a better understanding of his 12 principles of ecological architecture.
1. Preserving the Biosphere
2. Reusing Buildings
3. Energy and Form
4. Generic Design
5. Energy Production and Conservation
6. Healthy Buildings
7. Site Harmony
8. Appropriate Materials and Methods
9. Divine Proportions and Alienments
10. Waste Management
11. Social Responsibility
12. Peace Process
Out of all 12 principles, what I was exposed to the most was 8: Appropriate Material and Methods and I learned a lot about wood construction.
Wood use decreases carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, lowers energy consumption and pollution, and provides longevity and adaptability.It came from the nature and eventually goes back to nature, so there is one of the most sustainable material available.
Some people may argue that if we all want to build houses with trees, we will have to cut all the trees. However, the reality is the opposite.We we want to build more with wood, what we increase is the demand for managed forests, which have a greater CO2 impact than unmanaged forests. This is because that managed forests have younger,stronger, healthier trees and those trees can sequester more carbon.
"Compare the energy used to produce one ton of wood to that of other construction materials: 5 times more energy is required for one ton of cement; 14 times more energy for the same amount of glass; 24 times more energy for steel; 126 times more energy for aluminum." By getting wood as material from local forests, we can save lots of energy.
Can wood structure last?
The answer is definately YES!
The Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts has stood for 374 years; Urnes Stave Church in Norway has stood for about 860 years; and the Horyu-ji temple in Nara, Japan has stood for about 1300 years; all of them are made of wood!
Wood is also easy to work with because of its great tension and flexibility. In addition, wood does not smell bad and it has a good acoustical property. Last but not least, wood is beautiful!
Here are some pictures of my boss's house--the Queen Truss House. It is influenced by Japanese architecture style to combine building and nature together in harmony.
