The High Line urban park project in New York City opened last summer to tremendous excitement from locals and tourists alike looking to escape the bustling streets for a more peaceful, green enclave in the sky. NYC’s High Line is a project that exemplifies effective adaptive urban re-use in a city that is littered with structures and spaces that have since reached the end of their useful life. By turning an abandoned, elevated freight train track into a public park, this project has redefined the New York experience, affording never-before seen views of the city’s surrounding natural landscape as well as an expansive and intimate look into one of the world’s most dynamic urban environments. With the completion of the rest of the High Line currently in the works, we couldn’t think of a better time to catch up with one of the brilliant minds behind the design of this beautiful public space. I recently sat down with landscape designer James Corner, the lead designer behind the High Line, to get his personal perspective on the what it was like to take an abandoned train track and turn it into one of NYC’s best loved spots of greenery. Read on for my exclusive interview with James Corner below…

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: Architect James Corner On NYC’s High Line Park

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, high line, high line new york city, james corner field operations, Landscape Architecture, native plants, sustainable design, Urban design, urban green space

They may look like they’re about to topple over, but these cube-shaped houses actually form a small village within the city center of Rotterdam, NL. A modern concept designed by the late architect Piet Blom, and constructed in 1984, this spectacular set of buildings represents an urban forest where around 40 traditional houses are tilted at 45-degrees to rest on a hexagonal pylon. The innovative design transforms the idea of the traditional structure by playing with angles and convention.

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Architecture, cube house, eco design, green architecture, living roofs, piet blom, rotterdam cubic house, sustainable design, Urban design, woonwoud

Read the rest of Mesmerizing Photos of Temporary Housing Erected by Stuttgart 21 Protestors

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco design, found objects, Frank Bayh & Steff Rosenberger-Ochs, germany, green design, makeshift homes, protests, railway, Recycled Materials, shipping pallets, stuttgart 21, sustainable design, temporary housing, temporary structures, tent city, tents, Urban design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Art, bicycle capital of Germany, culture, eco design, germany, gilded pavilion, GOLD, golden glory, green design, Modulorbeat, Muster, sustainable design, temporary construction, temporary design, Urban design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bicycles, Bike Pavilion, china, cycling, eco design, green design, Hainan Province, Netherlands, nl architects, shade, sustainable design, tropics, Urban design, Vanke, Velodrome

Read the rest of A Community Garden Blooms at Berlin’s Abandoned Tempelhof Airport

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "green furniture", abandoned airport, Architecture, berlin, Botanical, community gardens, DIY, food, Gardening, growing food, mobile garden, people initiatives, Recycled Materials, recycled matrials, recycled pallets, recycling / compost, social design, Stadtteilgarten Schillerkiez, sustainable food, tempelhof airport, Urban design

Free City is a conceptual prototype for a 21st century city, conceived by FREE (Fernando Romero EnterprisE) in response to global issues brought forth by population growth and urban transition in the developing world. It proposes the design of a new urban infrastructure that integrates a sustainable and systematic framework into the urban fabric, stimulating innovation, production, services and growth.

+ Free

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Ecotopia, Fernando Romero EnterprisE, FREE, Free City, green architecture, green city, green design, sustainable city, Urban design

Read the rest of Abandoned Food Factory to be Transformed into Chicago’s First Zero-Energy Vertical Farm!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", chicago's first vertical farm, eco design, factory conversion, factory renovation, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, off-grid, plant chicago, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sustainable food, the plant, Urban design, Urban Farming, urban gardening, vertical farm, vertical garden, Zero energy

10 Design recently unveiled renders of its futuristic Galaxy Yabao Hi-Tech Enterprises Headquarter Park, which is designed to integrate into the natural landscape of its site in Shenzhen, China. The design is also an examination of the concept of moving “beyond neutrality” on a large-scale, and it incorporates a series of sustainable building strategies. The buildings are designed with facades that neutralize air pollution 24 hours a day, an algae system that produces oxygen, organic fertilizer, and cleans grey water, and a series of subterranean chambers that naturally cool outside air and push it into a series of outdoor courtyards. The buildings take full advantage of technologies that help shape the temperature and air quality of their micro-climate.

+ 10 Design

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 10 design, air cleaning building, air pollution, china, Galaxy Yabao Hi-Tech Enterprises Headquarter Park, green design, grey water recycling, shenzen, sustainable cities, sustainable design, Urban design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: cycling, eco design, green design, guerrilla art, Light, Luz Interruptus, Pollution, public art, public transportation, sustainable design, urban art, Urban design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Architecture, cabin, Jenny Chapman, Manifest Destiny, mark reigelman, public art, reused materials, San Francisco, urban, Urban design

Read the rest of Talking Public Space and Urban Intervention With San Francisco’s Rebar Studio

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, green design, green space, Landscape Architecture, matt passmore, parking day, Parklet, public interaction, public space, re bar, rebar, rebar studio, San Francisco, Urban design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Buffalo Bayou Park, buffalo bayou partnership, central park, Cistern, eco design, green design, green spaces, Houston, Landscape Architecture, Low Line, recreation, Romanesque, sustainable design, SWA group, texas, Urban design, urban planning

Situated in the heart of Singapore, Bishan Park is one of the city’s most popular green spaces. Once a utilitarian concrete channel, the site has been transformed into a naturalized river through a much-needed upgrade. This project is part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Program, a long-term initiative to expand the country’s bodies of water into vibrant, new spaces for community bonding and recreation. Sixty-two hectares of park space has been tastefully redesigned to accommodate the dynamic processes of a river system while providing maximum benefit for park users. Three playgrounds, restaurants, a new lookout point constructed from the recycled walls of the old concrete channel, and plenty of open green spaces complement the ecologically restored river. This is a place to take your shoes off and get closer to water and nature!

VIa World Landscape Architect

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: active beautiful clean waters program, Bishan Park, green design, kallang river, Landscape Architecture, reclaimed public park, Singapore, sustainable design, Urban design, water issues

Installing grassy facades on urban buildings are a great way to create a greener city. With this in mind, London-based design studio JAILmake has developed these ‘Reseeding Bricks’, which can be used to build living structures and pathways. Packed with lots of different seeds such as herbs, wild flowers, and trees, the clay and soil bricks can be used to fill up holes in walls or stacked on top of each other to create new constructions. Designed to encourage ‘arbortectural’ growth in London, these bricks offer a brilliant way to create a greener urban landscape.

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco building, green architecture, green deisgn, green facade, green heroes, JAILmake, living building, reseeding bricks, seeded bricks, sustainable design, Urban design

Read the rest of A Look Into San Francisco’s Downtown Secret Gardens

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Green Building, public installation, public space design, San Francisco, Urban design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: green design, Institute for Social Renewal, lego, Lego City, newcastle university, sustainable design, The Great North Build, UK, Urban design, urban planning

Dom Arquitectura was so sad to see the neighborhood sparrows disappear after their popular hang out – a Barcelona wall full of holes – was renovated, that the design team decided to install a series of brightly colored urban nests when the renovation was complete. In order to attach the nests to the wall, it was necessary for Mikel Elorduy, Blaca Elorduy, and Pablo Serrano to rappel off the side of it – but it was worth it because the sparrows came back! Now the Barrio de Gracia has a charming series of tiny yellow, green, and brown nests and some pretty birds to match.

+ Dom Arquitectura

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Art, Barcelona, Barrio de Garcia, birds nests, Dom Arquitectura, eco design, green design, Spain, sparrows, sustainable design, Urban design, urban nests

Read the rest of Sunset Triangle Plaza: LA’s First Pedestrian Plaza Conversion is Now Open!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green park, green space, la, Landscape Architecture, living streets la, open space, park, rios clementi hale studios, S4P, silver lake, Streets for people, sunset triangle plaza, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Urban design, urban green space, urban park

Read the rest of How To: Make a Bird Feeder for Small Spaces With Recycled Materials

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: birdfeedert, DIY, diy birdfeeder, how to make a birdfeeder, how-to, Recycled Materials, small space gardening, Urban design, urban gardening