New York secret rooftop world: Amazing aerial shots give you a view of city's skyline as you've never seen it before


This incredible collection of aerial photographs taken above New York gives a rare glimpse of a hidden rooftop world.

Just a few stories above the non-stop hubbub of city life exists an incredible oasis of lush gardens, restaurants, swimming pools and even tennis courts.



Thanks to Mayor Bloomberg's eco-friendly 'roofscaping' initiatives, the tops of dozens of buildings have been transformed into amazing outdoor living spaces and models for green-city living.



Secret world: One of photographer Alex Maclean's amazing aerial shots shows a block in Upper West Side

Growing trend: A one acre urban farm in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens

Guests at the city's Standard Hotel enjoy the rooftop life

Other amazing features include beehives, basketball courts adventure playgrounds artworks and even a vintage Sopwith Camel biplane.

Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean captured the stunning images for his new book Up on The Roof: New York's Hidden Skyline Spaces.

Over the years MacLean has flown his plane over large areas of the United States, documenting the landscape from beautiful agricultural patterns to geometric city grids.



In the book's introduction architecture critic Robert Campbell writes: 'Rooftops will be the lungs of the denser city of the future.

'As the world urbanizes, the rooftops will connect us with nature, with wind and sun and rain and snow, with the natural processes of growth and decay.'

Urban jungle: A multi-level rooftop garden overlooking Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side

Artificial materials and pebbles make up the camouflage pattern on the roof at the Museum of Modern Art MacLean snapped the city from the window of his lightweight, composite plane. He learnt to fly while studying architecture at Harvard in the Seventies and later provided aerial images for architects and landscape designers.

Over the years he has clocked up more than 6,000 flying hours and has published ten books of his aerial photography.

The new book, which contains 184 beautifully detailed photographs, is published by Princeton Architectural Press and available from Amazon.

Transformation: The High Line, an elevated park in the sky built on top of the tracks of a disused railway, weaves its way through the city blocks





Tudor City, Manhattan: A mid-rise apartment building topped with terrace gardens detailed with Tudor style flourishes

Chocks away: A vintage bi-plane is pictured on the roof of 77 Water Street in the city's financial district

Chelsea, Manhattan: A Cool mural on a white roof above a gallery building in Chelsea

Green living: A beautifully detailed high-rise terrace garden

The School of the Future building at 127 East 22nd Street

Manhattan: New roof terraces in various stages of construction are configured around headhouses, lightwells and water towers

Aerosol Art Center: An outdoor art exhibit space in Long Island City. A Mecca for graffiti artists the world over

A stunning selection of roof gardens above 166 Bank St





Showpiece: The green roof above the Morgan mail processing facility, covers 109,000 square feet, or nearly 2.5 acres. During construction, approximately 90 percent of the original roof was recycled







