First underground park: The Lowline in New York

10/03/2016. Technical exhibition. [NYC] USA. 10.2015>03.2016.
metalocus, PALOMA DE LA QUINTANA
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How can we build more green space in our cities? What if the answer lay just below our feet? The Lowline is a plan to use innovative solar technology to illuminate an historic trolley terminal on the Lower East Side of New York City. Our vision is a stunning underground park, providing a beautiful respite and a cultural attraction in one of the world’s most dense, exciting urban environments.
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The Lowline Lab is a long-term open laboratory and technical exhibit designed by Signe Nielsen of Mathews Nielsen to test and showcase how the Lowline will grow and sustain plants underground. The experiments are done in an environment that simulates the conditions that plants will have under the ground.

Built inside an abandoned market on the Lower East Side, just two blocks from the site of the proposed future Lowline, the Lowline Lab includes a series of controlled experiments in an environment mimicking the actual Lowline site.

Co-Founder James Ramsey, his team at Raad Studio,and Korea-based technology company Sunportal designed and installed optical devices which track the sun throughout the sky every minute of every day, optimizing the amount of natural sunlight they are able to capture. The sunlight is then distributed into the warehouse through a series of protective tubes, directing full spectrum light into a central distribution point. A solar canopy, designed and constructed by engineer Ed Jacobs, then spreads out the sunlight across the space, modulating and tempering the sunlight, providing light critical to sustain the plant life below.

The Lowline Lab landscape is composed of over 3,000 plants and dozens of unique varieties, spread across 1,000 square feet. The Lab gives the opportunity to study plant life in the same type of environment as the future Lowline, and will help determine which types of plants will grow best underground.

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More information

Location.-
140 Essex Street (between Rivington and Stanton), Lower East Side - New York. Subway J/M/F Essex Delancey Street.
Dates.-
From Octuber 2015 until March 2016.
Opening hours.-
Saturday and Sunday, from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm.
Entrance fees.-
Free entrance.

Signe NIELSEN

Signe Nielsen has led more than 400 projects, nationally and globally, which have won several design awards. She is the co-author of several books on sustainable and green design for the NYC Department of Design and Construction. Nielsen has taught at Pratt Institute for more than two decades and has also lectured and juried competitions at institutions around the world, including Harvard University and the Ecole Normale Superiure in Paris. Nielse is also president of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York.

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