October 2008

The Caledonia, a new residential building in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood is one of the first new buildings on the Highline to open. In the spirit of abutting and overlooking New York City’s newest and celebrated park facility, HM White has designed an expansive central common courtyard and a series of rooftop amenity gardens for its residents.

The courtyard is an internally focused garden that is framed by a tall European Hornbeam hedgerow and a continuous Red Maple grove. A field of Tufted Hair meadow grass fills its interior, giving shape to a series of seating pockets that accommodate a variety of social gatherings and activity functions. While the courtyard serves as a magnet for neighborly interactions, its central orientation gives the building a strong sense of place through the garden’s strong and large-scaled vegetative spatial structure and its calming seasonal qualities.