made in the shade: landscaping in the shadow of the high line - point of view

8/12/2019 Made in the Shade: Landscaping in the Shadow of the High Line - Point of View

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Made in the Shade: Landscaping in the Shadow of the High

Line - Point of View

The METROPOLIS Blog

Terrie Brightman

The High Line is a prominent overhead feature of the site.

All images courtesy Mathews Nielsen unless otherwise noted

On multiple occasions, the Mathews Nielsen Green Team has addressed the challenges inherent inurban landscape architecture, from working around subgrade constraints, maximizing verticalspace, and enhancing or even restoring the historic character of a site. Recently, the firm waschallenged to design a courtyard in a tight Manhattan site between two buildings that surroundthree sides of a space bisected by a dominant overhead structure--the High Line.

The High Line proved to be the main site challenge, as it occupies much of the visual landscape andcreates areas of permanent shade--limiting the plant palette and the ability to establish a lush, viablelandscape. The presence of this structure, however, afforded our firm the opportunity to complementthis notable urban landscape through a thoughtful extension of its strong design vocabulary to theat-grade green space below it by selecting richly textured plantings that dominate the space andcompliment the adjacent architecture.


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The site planting plan indicates the location of the High Line structure in grey and adjacentbuildings in cream.

A new residential development designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, the Abington House, is anL-shaped building that shields the courtyard from the Lincoln Tunnel traffic on 10th Avenue. Its

entry courtyard is situated next to an adjacent six-story building, open only to West 29th Street tothe south. The High Line bisects the western half of this site, where the ground plane is punctuatedby nine support columns that interrupt planting beds, driveways, and pedestrian walkways. Theseintrusions cast a fair amount of shade, which led to the selection of a plant palette comprised mainlyof understory plant materials, similar to those seen carpeting woodland areas. This concept wasbeneficial in that the plant materials are rich in texture, scale, and color. These selections allowedMathews Nielsen to create a lush environment that was welcoming at the pedestrian scale, standingin contrast to the surrounding structures.


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Picea omorika (left) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (right) each have conical mature forms.

Courtesy (left) Flickr users 5u5 and (right) F.D. Richards


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Trees that take on an upright, conical shape when mature flank the overhead High Line structure.These include Serbian Spruce (Picea omorika) and Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).No trees could be located in the area directly below, so, to establish a verdant understory landscape,some semblance of a tree canopy was required to provide filtered shade in the open areas of thecourtyard that would sustain and protect the shade plantings. Both of these elements act to slightlycamouflage the structure while also complementing it through enhancement of the vertical, linearform of the columns, drawing one's eye up to the surrounding architectural features. The maturetrees are visible to passersby on the High Line and evoke a feeling of being in the upper reaches ofwoodland.

Heritage river birch and eastern redbuds provide dappled shade in the open courtyard area adjacentto the High Line.

While trees are used in the open-air portions of the courtyard for height and scale, a series of bermswere created to add interest and topographic change throughout the landscape. This provides forundulating planting beds under the High Line in which flowering shade perennials sit atop theberms, with a fern mix planted in the low-lying area between them that mimics a wet woodland floorof dense shade plantings. The area is also irrigated to ensure the long-term survivability of the plantmaterial. The "river of ferns" extends out from under the High Line and continues along the plantingbeds at the street frontage, again at the low point between berms, under the cover of Heritage River

Birch (Betula nigra 'Cully') and understory Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis). The berms areinterplanted with grasses and perennials to add density to the beds, and an evergreen shrub borderalong the streetscape prevents access to the planted area.


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The view to the High Line from the courtyard

What was originally perceived as a design challenge resulted in a multi-faceted landscape thatjuxtaposes the urban with the woodland and establishes a viable connection between the greatertiered landscapes. The design of the courtyard called for a very integrated approach among the sitearchitecture, structure, and landscape to achieve a concept that embraces the presence of the HighLine rather than trying to disguise it. The results are appreciated and experienced from both thestreet and structure levels, benefitting residents and High Line visitors alike.

Terrie Brightman, RLA, ASLA is a practicing landscape architect at Mathews Nielsen Landscape

Architects in New York City with ten years of professional experience. Since receiving her BLAfrom the Pennsylvania State University, she has worked on riverfronts in Pittsburgh, privateresidences in California and Florida, a sustainable community in Turkey, and multiple public parks,plazas, and waterfronts throughout New York City.

This is one in a series of Metropolis blog posts written by members of Mathews NielsenLandscape Architects' Green Team that focus on research as the groundswell of effective landscapedesign and implementation. Addressing the design challenges the Green Team encounters and howit resolves them, the series shares the team's research in response to project constraints andquestions that emerge, revealing their solutions. Along the way, the team also shares its knowledge

about plants, geography, stormwater, sustainability, materials, and more.

made in the shade: landscaping in the shadow of the high line - point of view

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