It can get as hot as 150 degrees. There’s no arable soil to support life. And water? Water is complicated. This isn’t humanity’s quest to terraform an exoplanet. It’s New York’s plan to build a park above a train yard.
Without much fanfare—and as quietly as a construction project can be—a new neighborhood is taking shape on the west edge of Manhattan. It’s the largest private real estate project the US has ever seen. But neither its size or cost are what make it interesting.
On the west side of Manhattan, a new neighborhood is taking shape. This is Hudson Yards, a development that will turn a dreary section of Manhattan into a technologically advanced neighborhood of the future. But in order to do that, its designers are undertaking one of the most expensive and unusual engineering…
As if building an entire neighborhood on top of an active rail yard were not already crazy enough, the developers for Hudson Yards are also planning a 51-story tower that will be constructed on top of and above an existing building. Yup, Manhattan is a crowded mess.
A bridge crane the size of a city block begins work, laying a new foundation for skyscrapers that will soon stand over the East Hudson Rail Yards. [Nicholas Stango]
Since it's right next to the largest private construction project NYC has ever seen, you could easily miss it: A 35-foot-deep trench being dug on Manhattan's West Side. It looks something like a grave, or an archaeological dig, but no—this is an 800-foot-long insurance plan for the future of the city.
In Manhattan this spring, crews are ramping up work on Hudson Yards, the largest private development in US history. But what's fascinating about this new mega-development aren't just its buildings. It's the fact that they will float above an existing train depot on a massive artificial foundation. We got an early look…
