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Materials

They come and go….

There hasn’t been much action lately. Workmen come and go (talking of….Michaelangelo? Popsicle Toes?).

They carry materials….

 

and they haul materials….

 

and they work together to move stuff around.


Some of them seem almost balletic in their movements.

 

It feels like they are nipping and tucking. Getting ready for something much more significant.

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The High Line is a puzzle

I first noticed this piece of concrete decking on September 15, 2009, which is when I photographed it. It was lying along the portion of the park that runs north of 14th Street — probably around 16th or so.


It was the first time I realized how complex a system the contractor has worked out to ensure that each piece of the High Line puzzle ends up in the right place. The concrete pilings on the under-construction portion are also clearly labeled — see here. I’ll try to capture as much of this system as I can going forward. I’m sure I’ll never understand it, but it’s fun to know it exists: that every panel you walk on, and every rail you observe amongst the grasses, has a unique number inscribed on it. Maybe, once deciphered, all these number add up to a code that contains the answer to all our questions about the mysteries of the Universe…

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Rebar!

As someone who has both renovated and built a house from scratch I find the presence of rebar disprortionately exciting. In relation to what, you might ask? Anything, really.


So this morning I was thrilled to see that, since last I gazed out my window, little piles of bright green rebar have been laid on the High Line. Notice (you’ll have to enlarge the photo to do this – just double-click it) how the concrete pilings have all been labeled with a super-huge Sharpie (or some other painting tool I obviously now need to own): SL9-T. The High Line is like a gigantic puzzle and all the pieces are carefully marked before assembly. Even the rails have been inscribed (in yellow) with some sort of labeling system, but I can’t make it out. And see how the rails rest on the concrete pilings, across those little iron beds that have been embedded in the concrete? They’ll get moved around for sure, but remember that you saw it here first.

I changed my lens to the 70 – 210 mm (yeah, okay, technically it’s Ann’s lens but I co-opted it long ago) to capture some of the detail that eluded the smaller (18 – 7- mm) wide angle lens.


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