The LowLine, New York City's first underground park, has acquired rights to start planning a project and potentially build on the unused land adjacent to the Delancey Street subway stop. The urban rejuvenation project would turn a decommissioned, 107-year-old trolley station into New York's first underground park.
New York-based Raad Studio and architect James Ramsey proposed the park back in 2011, and it has taken five years to gain approval.
The team and project must meet certain fundraising and development requirements within the next year in order to maintain this approval including raising as much as $10 million, completing a design inferred from public feedback, hosting five to 10 public sessions and quarterly meetings.
The planned underground park would use innovative solar technology to illuminate the historic trolley terminal which opened in 1908. This solar technology creates a "remote skylight" which reflects and gathers sunlight at one focal point and directs it underground where the technology would transmit the necessary wavelengths of light to enable plants and trees to grow. During periods of sunlight, electricity would not be necessary to light the space, according to an article from Architect magazine.
