High Life over the High Line: The Standard, High Line NYC

There’s nothing standard about The Standard, High Line NYC.

Completed in 2009, the New York jewel in über-hotelier André Balasz’s architecturally impressive portfolio of destination hotels, performs a spectacular feat of urban derring-do, straddling the derelict-elevated-railroad-turned-people’s-park High Line in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

Designed by Todd Schliemann – at the time of Polshek Partnership Architects but now with Ennead Architects – the 18-storey, 338-guestroom building, makes a true architectural intervention in one of the city’s most fascinating neighbourhoods, responding in an emphatic site-specific manner to the urban fabric of its location. Public and private are strongly imbricated here, the hotel sitting on highly sculptural pilotis just above the High Line’s promenading passers-by – or, rather, passers-under.

With the structure’s two slabs offset in terms of angle from the rectilinear street grid below, The Standard, High Line NYC declares itself part of the city, yet, at the same time, apart. Inside, meanwhile, the building offers guests views beyond its immediate urban context to the New York skyline and the Hudson River thanks to floor-to-ceiling glazing . And, as you’d expect, a roof-top bar, a pool and gym, 300 thread-count linen, organic bath products and ‘overstocked’ mini-bars are all part of the deal. Far from standard.

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