The High Line is about to have an incredible underground counterpart.
On 140 Delancey street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, an urban subterranean park is in the works. The project, known as the Lowline or Delancey Underground, was first proposed in 2011 through Kickstarter and is scheduled to have its official launch in 2020. The plan involves an underground park that would house a multitude of plants that receive sunlight through artificial solar powered lights or redirected natural light. This space will repurpose what has been an abandoned trolley terminal space that has remained unused for the last 60 years.
The technology, designed by James Ramsey of Raad Studio, incorporates solar technology that enables sunlight to pass through glass shields become reflected into the underground space. In September 2012, the Lowline team built a full-scale model of this technology from the 150,000 dollars raised by over 3,000 Kickstarter backers.
"The Lowline Lab" was just opened this Saturday, October 17th and will be open and free to the public on Saturdays and Sundays until March 2016. As the Lowline team explains on their website, "'The Lowline Lab" will be a free community gathering space that displays cutting-edge solar technology [and] serves as a laboratory for lighting and horticulture experiments." This street-level model is filled with a variety of living plants, incredibly innovative solar technology, and dozens of informational displays.
Below is a photo tour of the grand opening of The Lowline Lab.
Visit: http://www.thelowline.org/ for more details.
