Appropriating [negative] space

This thesis will preserve and exploit the inimitable urban condition of the High Line by suggesting that its current alien presence in the city can be reclaimed and experienced while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of the historic structure. The High Line is an artifact; it represents a time in history when New York was bustling in a transportation fueled economy. History has constructed its current segregation and its 20 years of isolation from the city has allowed for ecology to self-seed a native prairie. Its integration back into the urban fabric via a series of public and private access nodes will serve to bracket between the artifact and the city as well as provide access to an elevated territory of much needed green space in Manhattan. Moving people sectionally through the city along these nodes is essential to the cultural and historical experience of the city. Its exploitation will in turn embed the artifact so deeply as a support system into the urban fabric that it will be able to sustain itself through the life cycles of the city.