At The High Line, A Different Kind Of Book Club Begins

NEW YORK -- First there was High Line exhibitionism. Then came High Line boot camp. And now a book club has met on the High Line.

It wasn't a normal book club, but very little is normal on the High Line, this city's elevated railroad-turned-park. Many in the group of about 50 strangers who gathered Thursday night for the first installment of the so-called Architecture and Design Book Club had heard about the event on Twitter, and the location itself was chosen to match the reading: A few chapters of William Whyte's The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.

Alexandra Lange, the journalist and architectural historian, led the discussion; before she spoke, though, Molly Heintz, one of the organizers from Superscript, introduced the event.

"We don't want this to be an average book club," she said. "We want it to be a public one." All through the roughly hour-long discussion, people walking up and down the High Line joined the group -- some for a few seconds, some for much longer.

The talk itself was wide-ranging, and began with Lange connecting the reading to the location. She raised the idea that the High Line itself is what Whyte called a triangulator: It has the power to bring two strangers together by putting a third object in front of them.

Someone near the outside of the group called the High Line a "plaza on steroids," but another man disagreed, calling it a "street on steroids." At least we can all agree it's on steroids.

And there was some discussion of how the High Line breaks a few of Whyte's rules. The seating on the High Line, designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro, is mostly immobile, but Whyte called for portable chairs so that groups could assemble or disassemble, and so the sun could be found or avoided.

Heintz said the next installment of the Architecture and Design Book Club may be held at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts during Fashion Week. The topic of the reading will be -- what else? -- spectacle.

WATCH A Clip From Whyte's Film About Open Spaces In Cities:

Comments

[AngryJulian]

02:52 AM on 08/21/2011

I'm just happy to see that we can find spaces like these and turn them from eyesores to positive community gathering places to enjoy the outdoors. I am all for the positive progress of our city and the well being of our citizens. Our city is unique and we have a huge population to contend with. The better we all get along and work together, the better this place we call our home will be. I Love NY!

[cachinnatrix]

12:55 PM on 08/20/2011

I was expecting this to be more along the lines of book club members reading The Poisonwood Bible and traveling to the Congo to discuss. Which would be interesting and great fun, though you and your fellow book club members would have to be wealthy.

[GirlInNYC]

11:39 AM on 08/20/2011

I have to go to this mystical, magical place they call the 'high line." Maybe that'll change my mind about it seeming to be overhyped by New Yorkers who have never seen grass nor experienced elbow room.

[NYC07]

05:22 PM on 08/20/2011

There's very little "Elbow Room" on the High Line it’s only an old railroad spur after all, especially with all the tourists

[Nick Franco]

05:27 PM on 08/20/2011

You have to go! There's a wide variety of plants, many non-native to the area, and as the highline snakes through the westside neighborhoods, around, over, and even through buildings, you stumble upon amphitheaters and art galleries while entering different environments -- some dense and jungle-like, others reminiscent of sunny plazas -- but what you never lose sight of is its industrial 'steam-enginey' past. That historicism together with the many not-too-often-seen elevated urban vistas framed by a really rural foreground gave me a new view and appreciation for the city for the city today, and what the city can be tomorrow.

In other words, it's really cool.

[GirlInNYC]

11:01 PM on 08/20/2011

Fair enough, Nick. Great review.

[AngryJulian]

02:57 AM on 08/21/2011

Yes.... I agree! You are absolutely right and together. We can bring this city into the future as a shining example of what people who work together can accomplish. Our children stand to inherit the things we leave behind and if it's a great city? What could be better than that?

[robjh1]

05:59 PM on 08/19/2011

What a novel idea.