Hudson Yards West Side New York City USA ​​​​​​​

A conversation with Justin Davidson

In February 2013, New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture organised a public discussion titled “Definition Series: MUSEUM. Culture Sheds and Shoulds”. The conference marked the presentation of a new book by the Diller Scofidio + Renfro firm. Participants included Liz Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Ed Dimendberg, Keller Easterling and Eva Franch. The topic was a question: how to build a new cultural institution that would be mobile, dynamic and flexible?

Today, this institution is almost finished. It is called The Shed, and it was designed by the aforementioned American architecture firm in collaboration with David Rockwell.

Due to open in spring 2019, it will host a programme of commissions devoted to the visual arts, performances and popular culture. The Artistic Director and CEO is Alex Poots, Hans Ulrich Obrist is its Senior Program Advisor.

On the one hand, the project marks the final stage of the High Line — the disused freight tracks turned into a park – while also serving as the threshold to Hudson Yards, the real estate development by Related Companies and the Oxford Property Group,. These developers are transforming about 11 hectares of rail yards into a residential and commercial district for over 125,000 people, in an area of the city that lies between West 30th-34th Street and 10th-12th Avenue. Although The Shed is not part of this operation, its body is attached to the skyscraper that the firm designed for the developer together with the Rockwell Studio. If seen in relation to the new Whitney Museum designed by Renzo Piano, which marks the start of the High Line urban promenade, the two institutions, which are very different from each other in terms of history, structure and mission, mark the extremities of a waterfront promenade, set 30 metres from the street, which perhaps offers the most engaging views to think about Manhattan as an urban landscape.