Built in the 1930’s, the elevated railway known as the Chelsea Highline served for half a century as a path for transporting goods from the Hudson River Harbor into the heart of Manhattan. The Highline, in disuse since 1980’s, stretches for 1.5 miles along the west side of the island, crossing the entire Chelsea neighborhood. The current appearance of the Highline is the result of over 25 years of unplanned appropriation by the dynamic neighborhood. Manhattan - and Chelsea makes no exception - is a collection of street-grid-generated independent blocks, each one being capable to host any building type and use without affecting the overall functioning of the whole. In time, each Chelsea block has found a different way of negotiating the presence of the disused Highline, altering its appearance through subtle changes. This project advances the idea that, while vastly improvised, these changes contain the seed for new urban uses, ultimately leading to new architectural programs, ones that spring from the everyday life of the neighborhood and are owned by the inhabitants.

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19th-20th. People strive for a comfortable life and architecture serves this need. Whether it is about pizza, or a car, everything will be delivered directly to each apartment through an elevator. The day we will live together with our cars may not be too far ahead.

20th-21st. In New York, the street is an atrium, where light only comes from above. Tilting the glass skyline over the street results paradoxically in allocation of extra light. Composite panels move freely to allow and reflect light into the space, as needed.

21st-22nd. Gardens exist as separate entities only as representations of nature within artificial constructs. Nature wants to be continuous. Raised from landfill, remnants of piers find a second shore, becoming bridges of kinship between natures.

22nd-23rd. Today, the window of our architecture is a device for controlled sights. Yet, modern reality exists beyond these views. Multiple screens fill the highline to provide users with a free-access theatre that will replace the views of inexistent reality.

23rd–24th. The state of isolation of our lives finds expression in our architecture. The interior space provides an artificial environment that removes the dweller from the surrounding context. The catcher will bring in a controlled amount of city sound.

24th-25th. Soon, everyone will have to use alternative sources of energy. The image of our city should be prepared to accept improvised devices that ‘set the controls for the heart of the sun’. Here it lies the potential to transform mere buildings into architecture.

25th-26th. People forcefully leave their shells in case of major event. Unlike fire escape stairs, these improvised structures are conceived for escaping to the opposite direction – toward skies. These hanged stairs tend to replace the missing altar of the adjacent church type.