Robert Hammond: Building a park in the sky

Translator: Ján Janis Reviewer: Lenka Mihalkova

The Highline

High Line

is an old, elevated rail line

je stará nadzemná železničná trať,

that runs for a mile and a half right through Manhattan.

ktorá vedie 2,5 km priamo naprieč Manhattanom.

And it was originally a freight line

Pôvodne to bola trať pre nákladnú dopravu,

that ran down 10th Ave.

ktorá sa tiahla dole Desiatou avenue

And it became known as "Death Avenue"

a stala sa známou ako „Ulica smrti“,

because so many people were run over by the trains

pretože vlaky prešli tak veľa ľudí,

that the railroad hired a guy on horseback to run in front,

že železnice najali chlapíka na koni, aby cválal pred vlakom

and he became known as the "West Side Cowboy."

a ten sa stal známym ako „Cowboy z West Side“.

But even with a cowboy,

Aj napriek prítomnosti cowboya

about one person a month

však vlak prešiel a usmrtil

was killed and run over.

približne jedného človeka za mesiac,

So they elevated it.

a tak túto trať zdvihli nad zem.

They built it 30 ft. in the air, right through the middle of the city.

Vybudovali ju 9 m vo vzduchu priamo uprostred mesta,

But with the rise of interstate trucking,

ale s nárastom medzištátnej nákladnej autodopravy

it was used less and less.

sa využívala stále menej a menej

And by 1980, the last train rode.

a v roku 1980 po nej prešiel posledný vlak.

It was a train loaded with frozen turkeys -- they say, at Thanksgiving --

Bol to vlak naložený mrazenými moriakmi, hovorí sa, že na Deň vďakyvzdania,

from the meatpacking district.

zo štvrte mäsového priemyslu

And then it was abandoned.

a trať potom ostala opustená.

And I live in the neighborhood,

Žijem v jej susedstve

and I first read about it in the New York Times,

a prvýkrát som o nej čítal v denníku The New York Times,

in an article that said it was going to be demolished.

kde sa písalo o tom, že sa bude búrať.

And I assumed someone was working

Domnieval som sa, že niekto pracoval

to preserve it or save it

na jej udržaní alebo záchrane

and I could volunteer,

a mohol by som sa zapojiť ako dobrovoľník,

but I realized no one was doing anything.

ale uvedomil som si, že nikto nič nerobil.

I went to my first community board meeting --

Išiel som na schôdzu mestského výboru,

which I'd never been to one before --

na ktorej som nikdy predtým nebol

and sat next to another guy named Joshua David,

a sadol som si vedľa chlapíka s menom Joshua David,

who's a travel writer.

ktorý je cestopiscom.

And at the end of the meeting, we realized

Na konci schôdze sme si uvedomili,

we were the only two people that were sort of interested in the project;

že sme jediní dvaja ľudia, ktorí sa o tento projekt nejako zaujímali.

most people wanted to tear it down.

Väčšina ľudí chcela trať strhnúť.

So we exchanged business cards,

Vymenili sme si vizitky,

and we kept calling each other

volali sme si

and decided to start this organization,

a rozhodli sa, že založíme túto organizáciou,

Friends of the High Line.

Priatelia trate High Line.

And the goal at first

Prvým cieľom

was just saving it from demolition,

bolo jednoducho zachrániť ju pred zbúraním,

but then we also wanted to figure out what we could do with it.

ale potom sme tiež chceli prísť na to, čo by sme s ňou mohli spraviť.

And what first attracted me, or interested me,

To, čo ma najprv priťahovalo alebo zaujímalo,

was this view from the street --

bol tento pohľad z ulice.

which is this steel structure,

Je to tá oceľová konštrukcia,

sort of rusty,

trochu hrdzavá,

this industrial relic.

pozostatok časov priemyslu.

But when I went up on top,

Keď som vyšiel hore,

it was a mile and a half of wildflowers

bolo tam 2,5 km divých kvetov,

running right through the middle of Manhattan

ktoré sa ťahali priamo stredom Manhattanu

with views of the Empire State Building

s výhľadom na Empire State Building,

and the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.

Sochu slobody a rieku Hudson.

And that's really where we started,

Bolo to naozaj tu, kde to celé začalo

the idea coalesced around, let's make this a park,

a vznikla myšlienka: „Spravme z toho park

and let's have it be sort of inspired

a trochu sa inšpirujme

by this wildscape.

touto divočinou.“

At the time, there was a lot of opposition.

V tom čase sme tu narážali na tvrdý odpor.

Mayor Giuliani wanted to tear it down.

Starosta Giuliani chcel tú trať strhnúť.

I'm going to fast-forward through a lot of lawsuits

Rýchlo sa posuniem v čase cez množstvo žalôb

and a lot of community engagement.

a komunitnej angažovanosti.

Mayor Bloomberg came in office, he was very supportive,

Do úradu nastúpil starosta Bloomerg a bol veľmi nápomocný,

but we still had to make the economic case.

ale stále sme museli vyriešiť ekonomickú stránku veci.

This was after 9/11;

Bolo to po 11. septembri 2001

the city was in tough times.

a mesto sa nachádzalo v ťažkých časoch.

So we commissioned an economic feasibility study

Objednali sme si štúdiu o ekonomickej realizovateľnosti,

to try to make the case.

aby sme sa pokúsili udať dobré dôvody.

And it turns out, we got those numbers wrong.

Ukázalo sa, že sme mali zlé čísla.

We thought it would cost 100 million dollars to build.

Mysleli sme si, že výstavba by stála 100 miliónov dolárov.

So far it's cost about 150 million.

Doteraz stála už asi 150 miliónov.

And the main case was,

Hlavné bolo,

this is going to make good economic sense for the city.

že to pre mesto bude mať dobrý ekonomický význam.

So we said over a 20-year time period,

Povedali sme teda, že v období 20 rokov

the value to the city in increased property values

by hodnota pre mesto vo zvýšenej hodnote majetku

and increased taxes

a zvýšených daniach

would be about 250 million.

predstavovala asi 250 miliónov.

That was enough. It really got the city behind it.

Stačilo to. Mesto sa za ňu skutočne postavilo.

It turns out we were wrong on that.

Ukázalo sa, že sme sa zmýlili aj tu.

Now people estimate it's created about a half a billion dollars,

Teraz sa odhaduje, že vytvorila asi pol miliardy dolárov

or will create about a half a billion dollars,

alebo ich pre mesto vytvorí

in tax revenues for the city.

v podobe daňových príjmov.

We did a design competition,

Usporiadali sme dizajnovú súťaž

selected a design team.

a vybrali dizajnový tím.

We worked with them to really create a design

Spolupracovali sme s nimi, aby sme naozaj vytvorili dizajn,

that was inspired by that wildscape.

ktorý sa inšpiroval tou divočinou.

There's three sections.

Sú tam tri úseky.

We opened the fist section in 2009.

Prvý sme otvorili v roku 2009.

It's been successful beyond our dreams.

Jeho úspech ďaleko presiahol naše sny.

Last year we had about two million people,

Minulý rok sme tu mali 2 milióny ľudí,

which is about 10 times what we ever estimated.

čo je asi 10-krát viac ako sme vôbec odhadovali.

This is one of my favorite features in section one.

Toto je jeden z mojich obľúbených prvkov na prvom úseku.

It's this amphitheater right over 10th Ave.

Je to tento amfiteáter priamo nad Desiatou avenue.

And the first section ends at 20th St. right now.

Prvý úsek teraz končí na Dvadsiatej ulici.

The other thing, it's generated, obviously, a lot of economic value;

Ako ďalšiu vec to očividne vytvorilo veľkú ekonomickú hodnotu.

it's also inspired, I think, a lot of great architecture.

Myslím si, že to inšpirovalo mnoho veľkolepých architektonických prvkov.

There's a point, you can stand here

Je tu miesto, kde sa môžete postaviť

and see buildings by Frank Gehry,

a uvidíte budovy Franka Gehryho,

Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,

Jeana Nouvela, Shigeru Bana

Neil Denari.

a Neila Denariho.

And the Whitney is moving downtown

Whitneyeho múzeum amerického umenia sa sťahuje do centra

and is building their new museum right at the base of the High Line.

a buduje svoje nové múzeum priamo pri základoch trate High Line.

And this has been designed by Renzo Piano.

Navrhol ju Renzo Piano

And they're going to break ground in May.

a prvý výkop spravia v máji.

And we've already started construction on section two.

Výstavbu sme začali už aj na druhom úseku.

This is one of my favorite features,

Toto je jeden z mojich obľúbených prvkov,

this flyover where you're eight feet

tento mostík, kde sa nachádzate 2,5 m

off the surface of the High Line,

nad povrchom trate High Line

running through a canopy of trees.

a môžete bežať pomedzi koruny stromov.

The High Line used to be covered in billboards,

Trať High Line bola pokrytá pútačmi,

and so we've taken a playful take

a tak sme sa tu trochu vyhrali

where, instead of framing advertisements,

a namiesto umiestnenia reklám

it's going to frame people in views of the city.

budú na týchto pútačoch ľudia pri pohľade na mesto.

This was just installed last month.

Tento tu bol umiestnený len minulý mesiac.

And then the last section was going to go around the rail yards,

Posledný úsek mal ísť okolo koľajiska,

which is the largest undeveloped site

ktoré je najväčším nerozvinutým miestom

in Manhattan.

na Manhattane.

And the city has planned -- for better or for worse --

Mesto plánovalo za všetkých okolností

12 million square-feet of development

vytvoriť na 1 km2 zástavbu,

that the High Line is going to ring around.

okolo ktorej by sa tiahol park High Line.

But what really, I think, makes the High Line special

To, čo však podľa môjho názoru robí park High Line výnimočným,

is the people.

sú ľudia.

And honestly, even though I love the designs that we were building,

Úprimne, aj keď milujem plán, ktorý realizujeme,

I was always frightened that I wouldn't really love it,

vždy som sa bál toho, či ho ľudia budú mať radi,

because I fell in love with that wildscape --

pretože som sa do tej divočiny zamiloval

and how could you recreate that magic?

a ako môžete znovu vytvoriť také čaro?

But what I found

Čo som však našiel,

is it's in the people and how they use it

bolo v ľuďoch a v tom, ako tento park využívali.

that, to me, makes it so special.

To ho pre mňa robí výnimočným.

Just one quick example

Spomeniem len jeden krátky príklad.

is I realized right after we opened

Hneď po jeho otvorení som si uvedomil,

that there were all these people holding hands on the High Line.

že v parku High Line sa všetci tí ľudia držia za ruky

And I realized New Yorkers don't hold hands;

a došlo mi, že Newyorčania sa za ruky nedržia.

we just don't do that outside.

Jednoducho to vonku nerobíme,

But you see that happening on the High Line,

ale vidíte, že v parku High Line sa to deje

and I think that's the power

a myslím si, že to je tá sila,

that public space can have

ktorú môže mať verejné priestranstvo

to transform how people experience their city

na zmenu toho, ako ľudia vnímajú svoje mesto

and interact with each other.

a na ich vzájomnú interakciu.

Thanks.

Ďakujem.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)