The big shocker on our trip up to the High Line (earlier chapters here and here) was the unveiling of the chair. What is the chair? Well, the dictionary function on our MacBook defines "chair" as "a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs," and indeed this chair meets some of those requirements, but it offers so much more. Like, for example, being attached to the freakin' High Line! No good train track should go unused, so the brains at the High Line have decided to install some loungers on wheels. High Liners will be able to slide them together for impromptu sexy sunbathing parties, or spread them apart for some quiet time in which to ponder the looming Standard hotel. This one is just a prototype, so the final results may vary, but your brain now has permission to explode.
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Way Ahead of the Whitney [Curbed]
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Rendering/Reality [Curbed]
With all the hubbub surrounding the reveal of Renzo Piano's new branch of the Whitney Museum at the southern end of the High Line, it got us thinking about our old friend, the soon-to-be park in the sky. Actually, that's a lie. We're always thinking about the High Line, but it was only now that the good people at the Park Department and Friends of the High Line let us up on the rails to get a closer look at construction progress. If you recall, Phase 1 of the High Line—the snaking chunk between Gansevoort and West 19th Streets—is nearly ready for soil and landscaping in anticipation of a fall/winter opening, but it's not until you're led up a rickety wooden staircase on 19th Street that you realize, whoa, Phase 1 is ready for soil and landscaping! We'll present our findings in three galleries, the first of which is above. Later today: a game of rendering/reality and a look at The Chair. What chair? Oh my, just wait.
· High Line Blog [blog.thehighline.org]
· Curbed's High Line coverage [Curbed]
A couple of weeks ago, the Post's Katherine Dykstra had a chance to chat with hotelier/developer André Balazs about the wave of change overtaking the Meatpacking District, and his neighborhood-defining (once it opens) Standard Hotel. She also got a word in with Balazs about a rumor first reported on Curbed: that Balazs and Jay-Z are enlisting Metal Shutter Houses architect Shigeru Ban to design a new hotel or members-only club on West 14th Street, not too far from the Standard. This was before Jay-Z bailed for his own hotel. Here's what Balazs had to say:
Rumors of a Balazs-owned, Jay-Z-partnered, Shigeru Ban-designed private club, however, are false, says Balazs. He admits to having a members-only club in the works, but not with Jay-Z and not in the area. He also admits to a hotel project he's planning with Ban, but he says it's also out of the immediate vicinity, not to mention "too far off to talk about."
To call HL23—a space-age condo building from a man named Alf—an "anticipated addition" to the crop of real estate development surrounding the High Line would be like calling burritos merely "yummy" or the Knicks only "disappointing." Just check out the team involved: architect Neil Denari, interior designer Thomas Juul-Hansen and façade specialists Front, last seen consulting on Jean Nouvel's 100 Eleventh Avenue, Asymptote's 166 Perry Street and FLAnk's 385 West 12th Street and 441 East 57th Street. Yesterday we had a look at some of the 15-story West Chelsea building's interiors, and now we've dug up some more. To keep all the craziness in one central location, we've compiled all the HL23 renderings into one glorious mindfuck of a gallery. Have a gander at our favorite new High Line building since The Standard, which was our favorite new High Line building since the High Line Building, which was our favorite new High Line building since the Caledonia, which was our favorite new High Line building since High Line 519, which was...
· HL23 [Official Site]
· HL23 Interiors Revealed; Peace on Earth At Hand [Curbed]
· High Line Makes Room for Alf [Curbed]
The High Line—the conversion of the old elevated West Side train tracks into a lush landscaped path/trippy mindfuck—will open its first segment to area fashionistas in the fall. That's still a long way off, and since the only regular glimpse we can get of the construction comes from the Standard Hotel's website, we're left craving more. More, damn it! Luckily, our call for all-High-Line-all-the-time has been answered. Coming at you like a rusted bitch scorned is the High Line Blogand the High Line Facebook page. The Friends of the High Line appear to be behind both ventures, and neither is written from the perspective of the High Line itself, an unfortunate missed opportunity. Dear Diary, today the Standard dropped another wrench on my head. I responded by staring up into its crotch for 24 hours...
· High Line Blog [friendsofthehighline.wordpress.com]
· The High Line [Facebook]
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Step into the Standard [Curbed]
Is it strange that every morning we wake up and check the weather conditions outside by loading The Standard's updated-every-15-minutes construction photo? Yes? Well, buddy boy, when it comes down to getting a heads up on wearing snow boots vs. ruining a perfectly good pair of Dunks, Andre has got our back. AB has your back, too. That's just the kind of guy he is.
· The Standard [Official Site]
· Construction Watch: The Standard Welcoming Voyeurs [Curbed]
In terms of triumphs of humanity, the order is as such: 1) moon landing 2) the pyramids 3) E=mc2 4) the Standard Hotel 5) the four-minute mile. So we were trying to think of the best way to present the earth-shattering news that the website for Andre Balazs' High Line hotel has been updated with a construction photo that AUTOMATICALLY REFRESHES EVERY 15 MINUTES, but then we just showed the site to the most obsessed person we know, and he replied, "Sometimes, I wonder if we deserve the Standard." We'll leave it at that.
· The Standard [Official Site]
· Standard Threatening High Line with Raining Debris? [Curbed]
· High Line Construction Chronicles: Step into the Standard [Curbed]
As HotelChatter points out, Andrew Balazs' Standard Hotels has relaunched its website, and on it is a little teaser page for the coming Standard on the High Line. Finally, some acknowledgment of the new kid! There's not much to share, but the preview page got us thinking. Which site does more to get us excited about its epically delayed—but undoubtedly fabulous—boutique hotel: The Standard or Thompson LES? If you need a refresher, here's the link to the Pomerancs' Allen Street pleasure palace of the future. Now, on to the tale of the tape!
Starting next fall, Andre Balazs' upside-down hotel/social hub will have thousands of tourists, park-lovers and curious onlookers streaming under it on a daily basis. In early November, Curbed Photo Pool contributor NYCviaRachel got an early peek at what those people will see. Behold, the Standard Hotel, as seen from the High Line! Both still works in progress, but enough to get the pulse racing. Actually, the whole set of photos from the High Line tour is really cool, especially the shots of all the graffiti and assorted weirdness along the elevated path. Important Standard Hotel fact: as of now, Andre Balazs has not worked it out with the city to have an entrance to the park from the hotel. Repeat: no High Line entrance for the Standard Hotel. Andre, cut the necessary checks and get this sorted out, mmk?
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