Seoul Plans a Sublime, Flower-Covered High Line

New York’s High Line is nice and all, with its rotating artwork and modest beds of grasses and shrubs. But Seoul is planning something that will give it a serious run for its money: a converted overpass packed with lush greenery, burbling water, and even a street library.

The ‘70s-era Seoul Station Overpass was originally used for vehicle traffic and has a sprawling, multi-armed design that’s perfect for a new urban park. Rotterdam architecture firm MVRDV has taken full advantage of the structure’s immense scale—56 feet high and more than 3,000 feet long—planning to divide it into several “neighborhoods” of native plant species. The trees and dangling flowers, colored all the hues of a pop starlet’s makeup cabinet, will shelter cafes selling tea, flower shops, produce markets, and, as if the space needed more chlorophyll, greenhouses.