High Style.(Calvin Klein Inc.'s fortieth anniversary)

Byline: HAMISH BOWLES

To celebrate the company's fortieth anniversary, Calvin Klein commissioned architect John Pawson to design a modern masterpiece on Manhattan's High Line.

The High Line is the guest of honor!" declared architect John Pawson of the starry soiree that the house of Calvin Klein threw to celebrate the company's fortieth anniversaryan evening that introduced New York City's best-dressed party animals to the wonders of the city's dynamic new park project. Robert Hammond, cofounder, with Joshua David, of Friends of the High Line, has finally seen his dream realized. In 1999, the structure (which looms three stories above Manhattan's streets for 22 blocks on the West Side) was slated for demolition. By the spring of 2009, the city will be able to enjoy "that magic, that juxtaposition of wildflowers with views of the Empire State Building!" Hammond exclaimed.

Pawson, who has come to define the concept of extreme minimalism in a building's forms and interiors, has collaborated on projects for the fashion house ever since Calvin Klein himself dropped in unannounced to his three-person London office in 1993. "It was a meeting of minds," remembers Pawson, whom the designer commissioned to work on his flagship Madison Avenue store as well as residential plans. "I've learned so much from him."

Today, Pawson admires " Francisco Costa' s ability to make something that is complex look simplewhich is what I try to do." With this building, Pawson's challenge was to create a structure that would incorporate very different environments and, ultimately, lead guests onto the High Line itself.

"There's a big difference between making fashion and working on buildings," he explains. "Designers have no qualms about snipping things off and closing things or opening them up. But it's one thing wielding a pair of ...