A Kickstarter campaign looking to introduce a solar-powered underground park in New York City is nearing its goal.
The Lowline will use solar technology in order to transform an abandoned NYC trolley terminal into the world’s first underground park, with the goal being to inject a bit of green into – or beneath – a city that desperately needs it. The trolley terminal, located below Delancey Street in NYC’s Lower East Side neighborhood, will perfectly accommodate the plans for the Lowline, with the team’s plan being to create an “extraordinary oasis” below one of the most crowded areas in New York.
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The money earned from the Kickstarter, if it proves to be successful, will be put into developing a Lowline Lab that will make the solar technology powering the park possible. The Lowline team have currently raised $164,000 of their $200,000 goal, with 35 hours of the campaign to go.
Explaining the reasoning behind the park, Lowline’s development team writes: “New York City has much less green space per person than other big cities, and the Lower East Side is one of the least green neighborhoods within the city. The Lowline will add a new football-field-sized public space in a community that desperately needs it. Plus it will be awesome for generations of New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy.”
The Lowline will collect sunlight from the rooftops surrounding it, with mirrors then being used to reflect that light to street level, before directing it to the underground park via tubes. This natural sunlight will allow the Lowlight’s developers to grow many different kinds of plant species in the park, turning it into a “botanical garden right in the middle of the city.”
Check out the Lowline’s Kickstarter video below, and be sure to check out its campaign page right here.
