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Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 1)
Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 2)
Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 3)
Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 4)
Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 5)
Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 6)
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Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards: Bettina Johae (Thumbnail)
Bettina Johae
New York

Bettina Johae (Dipl.-Ing. Architecture / MA Studio Art) studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin and the IIT in Chicago, and art at New York University and the International Center of Photography.
She is the co-founder and director of aplusnyc – Architecture and Art Tours in New York City and has been a member of the Guiding Architects Network since 2010.
Her internationally exhibited work examines how cities are perceived and transformed, with a primary focus on New York. Alongside her urban research, she is engaged in sustainable design and passive house renovations.
Bettina Johae has lived in New York since 2001.

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Tour in New York:
Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards

This tour follows the High Line, a 1.5-mile park built on an elevated former rail line stretching from the Meatpacking District to the Hudson Rail Yards. As the walk moves through Chelsea, visitors experience an industrial landscape reshaped into one of the world’s densest gallery districts, where more than 300 contemporary art galleries occupy both adapted warehouses and purpose-built exhibition spaces.

Special zoning along the High Line encouraged rapid development, resulting in a very large concentration of mixed-use buildings by internationally renowned architects ranging from BIG to Zaha Hadid. The route also includes new public spaces along the Hudson River, including a man-made island and New York’s largest rooftop park.

The tour concludes at Hudson Yards, a new district constructed above active rail lines and defined by large-scale urban design. Offered as a half-day or full-day experience, it can include visits to selected galleries, or the observation deck The Edge.

– Duration: Mini tour (2.5-3 hours), half day (3.5-4 hrs) or full day (8 hrs)
– Transport: Walking tour
– Services: Experienced local architect as guide
– Languages: English, German, Portuguese and Spanish
– Group size: up to 5 people for a mini tour, up to 20 people for the half day and full day tours

Selection of included projects:

- The High Line – James Corner Field Operations & Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Piet Oudolf, 2009 – 2019
- Whitney Museum - Renzo Piano, 2015
- Little Island – Thomas Heatherwick & Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, 2021
- 40 10th Ave / Solar Carve – Studio Gang, 2019
- Residential and mixed-use projects along the High Line by BIG, Heatherwick Studios, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari, Peter Marino, Norman Foster and Isay Weinfeld
- IAC Headquarters - Frank Gehry, 2007
- Chelsea Gallery District with buildings by Selldorf Architects, Bonetti/Kozerski, studioMDA, Richard Gluckman and others
- Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project with projects by Kohn Petersen Fox, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Heatherwick Studios, KPF, Roche Dinkeloo and BIG
- Moynihan Connector (mass timber bridge) – SOM & James Corner Field Operations, 2023

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Guiding Architects
Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 7)

aplusnyc

Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 8)

aplusnyc

Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 9)

aplusnyc

Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 10)

aplusnyc

Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 11)

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Guiding Architects, tour: Meatpacking District, Chelsea & Hudson Yards (Fig. 12)

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