Housing Slump? What Housing Slump?

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD—The High Line, the Manhattan elevated railway that’s undergoing conversion from industrial artifact to public green space, is the work of a trifecta of design-world giants, including architect Diller Scofidio + Renfro, landscape studio Field Operations, and the lighting design firm L’Observatoire. The park also has cast stylish ripples. Since a June 2005 rezoning, the surrounding neighborhood has boomed with upscale condominiums conceived by Lindy Roy, Della Valle Bernheimer, and Neil Denari.

Thanks to the local real estate market’s defiance of a downward national trend, developers and architects continue to announce new condo projects that are changing the neighborhood as dramatically as the High Line’s own transformation. Although these buildings are clearly intended for the privileged few, they include features inspired by the future public amenity, such as contextual material choices and fenestration patterns as well as large swaths of plants. Read article.