Josh Setton

Throughout the ages, humans’ creations have reflected the era they live in. The High Line Park and Empire State Building are two such creations that reflect the very different nature of their time. The Empire State Building is a 20th century marvel of architecture, while High Line Park is a simple walkway with some greenery through the West Side of Manhattan.

The Empire State Building is, to put it simply, imposing. Looking a it from afar, ones sees a massive “thing” of steel jutting into the sky. 

The rest of the lower east side of Manhattan is similar in its steely, huge grey qualities. However, The Empire State Building takes it to a new lever. It builds on its surroundings, and is similar in from and function- but still manages to conspicuously stand out from afar. As Koolhaas put it, “The Empire State Building is to be a skyscraper surpassing in height anything ever constructed by man (Koolhaas 138)”. While the statement is clearly not true today, the concept remains- a building more massive than anything around it.

When one walks around The Empire State Building, one can’t help but feel lost in a sea of artificiality. There is nothing green in sight. Walking through the lobby, one is impressed by the cold, magnificent marble, but at the same time feels disconnected from nature.

It recalls the “Tower of Babel” of Auster- a building which only contained things man built “with his own two hands (Auster 75)”.

The building is clearly representative of ideas of the time of art and accomplishment. Making something powerful with the force of labor was a goal that many at the time strived for. Making such a gargantuan building was a monumental ask, and one which the people at the time would’ve approached with awe and amazement.

High Line park, on the other had, is a representative of a completely different era and very different values. From the very moment one lays his eyes upon the former train tracks, it’s evident that the path is long and stretches for quite some while. In stark comparison to The Empire State Building, it is a simple, one level walkway lined with bushes, grasses and shrubbery.

Above the floor of the city, yet so far below the top of the mighty skyscrapers, one truly feels what it’s like to get lost in the middle of everything. The most noticeable thing about the modern park is the way it combines modern construction, architecture and materials with natural and simple devices.

This enlightening feature is a direct result of modern ideas of beauty being not only manade, but natural and pristine. The park attempts to combine functionality  it is a walkway, after all- with beauty and emerges as a bold statement of the era. Nature is art, and art is functionality.

The two locations are both results and products of the time. The Emire State Building is a call to the era of human creation, where nothing more than steel, wood and concrete are thought of. Is is the era of Manhattan, of doing, of building. The High Line is the result of a modern thought of combining both art and functionality into one being- something which other eras might have thought of as absurd.