To London, from New York... or should I say from Paris

The proposed final phases of New York’s internationally renown High Line is for a secluded bowl shaped structure. This further development will increase the High Line from West 30th Street to West 34th Street, and the extension is rightfully gratified so that it can continue to offer an area of tranquillity in such a busy city.

The High Line’s extension will provide further rare and valuable calmness, peacefulness and serenity to the pedestrians of New York. The proposed “Green Bowl” developed by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, immerses the people into a completely natural environment as most of Manhattan’s skyline will be blocked out by the surrounding wildlife. This offers people a place that they can relax and escape from the normal hustle and bustle of the city’s streets.

   

Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, courtesy of Designboom.

Yes, New York does have plenty of parks, between 1,700 and 1,800 according to The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, but they are all level and often surrounded by streets full of traffic. What makes the High Line so special is that it allows people to escape from this and either relax or walk to work through a wildlife area. This is why the development has such a big interest from cities all around the world. Most notable and exciting for me is the proposed “Garden Bridge” by Thomas Heatherwick which would feature a park over the River Thames in London.

The Garden Bridge is at the beginning of its planning and aims to offer pedestrians a unique and unparalleled view of London from the river Thames.  The combination of Thomas Heatherwick’s design team and Joanna Lumley came up with this pedestrian only, park bridge and needs a lot of planning work for it to succeed. In spite of this, I do believe it can succeed and the reasons for the bridge are vast, the only limitation is whether it is possible. There is no doubt however, that the High Line was their source of inspiration as it aims to offer people a calm, chilled way of crossing the river.

  

Photos from Dezeen.

You could say that New York’s High Line is revolutionary and pioneering as it has been the catalyst for similar projects being designed in cities across the world. However, to an extent that would be a false claim as many of you may not know that the High Line was inspired by Paris’ Promenade Plantée.

Completed in 1993, the Promenade Plantée or Coulée Vert is an elevated park developed on top of an old and unused railway line. This sounds very similar to the High Line, which poses the question how come the Promenade Plantée did not kick start equivalent projects in other cities like the High Line has? Maybe the situation of the Coulée Vert is not in the busy part of Paris, maybe the city is not as busy as New York or maybe it is the different culture of Parisians that cause the park to be less of an attraction. Whatever the reason may be, the Promenade Plantée did not grab the environmental departments of the world’s cities.

  Images courtesy of Eurotrips.

This brings me back to my previous point that you could claim New York’s High Line is pioneering in the attraction of green areas in cities. The Promenade Plantée may have inspired the development but the High Line is inspiring the modern developments across the globe. The development scheme has prompted similar parks already such as; the Bloomingdale Trail (Chicago, USA), the Reading Viaduct (Philadelphia,  USA) and Maidashi Ryokuchi (Fukuoka, Japan). As well as prompting extremely exciting, future developments such as the Garden Bridge (London, UK) and the very interesting Low Line (Manhattan, New York).

The High Line is a fantastic development that is a continuous success. It has provided the people of New York a relaxed, fun and therapeutic way to travel around the city. There is no doubt that the success of this scheme has prompting similar redevelopment projects in cities around the United States and across the world. However, we all need to remember and admire the Promenade Plantée for its innovative and ingenious project that is shaping the future landscapes of our cities.

By Tim Spears

Imagination

Imagination is a UK based Design Company which focusses on creating experiences for brands. They are the biggest creative company in Britain (accounted by turnover) and have offices in London, New York, Toronto, Sydney, LA, Tokyo and many more. Their world-wide team of around 600 employees work in unison with brands, on developing experiences from an idea to becoming an actual reality. I was lucky enough to present to and to attend a lecture given by Simon King, Director and co-founder of Imagination. He explained the aims and ambitions of the company, and displayed many examples of their creative, brand experiences.

Simon King initially spoke about how the experience is everything. This covered all aspects of design because the design industry has moved from the world of unique selling points (USP) to unique experience proposition (UExP). An example of this would be when someone buys a new BMW m-series, they not only expect a fast, comfortable and stylish ride but they also want to feel part of the BMW brand i.e. the business class, out-on-the-town, sexy guy. The new car needs to go further than just offering a latest, unique feature. It needs to have a unique experience that is more desirable than competing brands’ models. These leading experience ideas are what Imagination are best at.

They create experience ideas using the AIDAS system; Attention, Interest, Desire, Action and Satisfaction. Inspiring messages, valuable content, immersive events, compelling retail and relevant customer relationship management fit into AIDAS and acts as a guide to make a brand’s experience idea a reality. Simon King showed a great video of the unveiling of the new Range Rover which needed to celebrate and display its reputation as the world’s most luxurious SUV. Their solution was to unveil the car in a man-made lake at the British Royal Ballet School to highlight not only Land Rover’s British heritage and unique capabilities but also inner strength and refinement. The video is truly remarkable and is worth a watch on Youtube.

The company believes and fully supports the use of multimedia and the use of strategy, creativity and delivery. This was shown through the launch of the new Land Rover sport where hints of a new product were tweeted every so often by Land Rover until the actual unveiling. The launch comprised of half a pre-recorded video of the Sport being driven from New York’s docks into the city. Then, with the co-operation of NYPD, the car was driven live on camera past Times Square and through a flooded Lincoln Tunnel onto the Launch stage. Just when the journalists couldn’t be more amazed, Daniel Craig aka James Bond steps out of the car summing up how versatile the Sport is as it is a fast, adventurous and capable yet comfortable, stylish and safe SUV.

Imagination aims to inspire by creating breath-taking ideas, by bringing life into ideas, to be committed by constantly striving and to work as a collaborative as brilliant creating is born of brilliant teamwork. I found the whole presentation inspiring and insightful. It highlighted a new aspect of design to me, the experience. I now know the importance of a unique experience proposition and aim to focus on the overall experience of whatever I design.

By Tim Spears

China Steel Corporation Headquarters

Designed by Kris Yao and Artech Architects, the new headquarters of Chine Steel illustrates the strength, the shape and the beauty of steelworks. The skyscraper has an inner core which links the four identical, multi-faceted tubes together. These tubes have been turned precisely 12.5 degrees to create the staggering diamond shapes. The four column towers each have 8 diamond multi-faces which highlight the strength, creativity and versatility of steel architecture as the 12.5 degree angles mark the steel skeleton exterior that connect the structure altogether.

The building itself is not just a front to show off the innovation of steelworks, it facilitates clever technology and design modesties that make the offices ergonomically sound. The multi-faceted diamonds of the tubes has been constructed with a doubled-skin wall which not only optimises natural light and ventilation for the employees but also heat-gain and general energy consumption thanks to a more stable control of indoor temperature. Another clever feat is the combination of the exterior shape and the double-skin wall which results in shielding traffic noise.

With all these ingenious design qualities installed with the building, it shows how steel architecture can be easily entwined with smart technologies. The new headquarters building is a brilliant front for China Steel work. It epitomises how far steel architecture has forwarded in the past years. No longer is steel just renowned for its strength. China Steel has shown, through its new headquarters that today’s steel is also very versatile, harmoniously compatible and elegantly beautiful.

By Tim Spears

 

All image rights belong to Jeffrey Cheng.