The LowlineLab. New York
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.
Text from The LowlineLab
The Lowline Lab is a long-term open laboratory and technical exhibit designed to test and showcase how the Lowline will grow and sustain plants underground. 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.
Bringing Sunlight Underground
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 we 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.
Growing Plants
The Lowline Lab landscape, designed by Signe Nielsen of Mathews Nielsen and built by John Mini Distinctive Landscapes, is composed of over 3,000 plants and dozens of unique varieties, spread across 1,000 square feet. The Lab gives us 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.
