High Line Phase II

So despite the fact that the second phase of the High Line Park opened last summer, and I have been to NYC probably dozens of times since then, I had yet to visit the newest leg of the park, extending from 20th to 30th Street.  I finally got there last week (though sadly, idiotically, I forgot to bring a decent camera, so these pics are with my very old, very slow iPhone 3GS). 

For the most part, the second phase is more of the same, though there are some unusual changes to the previous plant palette (more on that in a future post).  But what I enjoyed seeing most was this fantastic bird coop/co-op.

Built with steel wires and rods, the structure most be relatively heavy (and thus stable) and no doubt it's on footings.  But yet the whole thing looks quite light.  It provides ample opportunity for perching and the assortment of small stakes and boxes allow passersby to deposit apple cores for the birds and for small amounts of water to collect.

My only frustration was that the bird apartments (there were two, on each side of the path) were placed, no: squeezed, on a straight and narrow part of the park, creating bottlenecking and traffic.  Not only does that placement stifle circulation, but I kinda want to see this structure over a larger area so that there's more opportunity for birds to visit, deposit seeds and create a more complete model of urban ecological succession, which is of course what the park is all about.  

The somewhat clumsy placement makes me wonder if this was not an add-on.  I can imagine a city agency or organization bringing this to the program after design was already complete, and the designers needing to struggle to find a place for it.  And don't get me wrong, I love the structure!  I just wish it didn't feel like it was shoehorned onto an existing design.