Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

A Look Inside the Lowline, New York City’s First Underground Park

posted by janrinok on Wednesday October 21 2015, @05:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the bring-your-watering-can dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

It's not an urban sci-fi fantasy: Someone is actually building a leafy underground park below Delancey Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Lowline is a plan to turn an abandoned trolley terminal there into a public green space, using special technology that pipes in sunlight beneath the street's surface. The real deal probably won't be ready until 2020, but this week the creators opened the Lowline Lab, a proof of concept and an experiment for seeing the ideas and tech in action. We got an early look inside.

New York's High Line has been an excellent addition to the city's greenspaces, and has really added an extra dimension to urban living. The Lowline could do the same underground. Is transforming derelict industrial structures a better alternative to urban renewal than straightforward redevelopment?

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
A Look Inside the Lowline, New York City’s First Underground Park | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 10 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2, Redundant) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday October 21 2015, @07:23AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday October 21 2015, @07:23AM (#252626) Homepage Journal

    Use funnel-shaped mirrors to gather sunlight into fiber optic, then run that fiber optic into your home, office or indoor garden.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   0  
       Redundant=1, Underrated=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Redundant' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by aclarke on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:06AM

    by aclarke (2049) on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:06AM (#252660) Homepage
    I see you've already been marked redundant, but this is sort of what's happening in the park.

    We put a light tube [wikipedia.org] at the top of a stairway in a house we renovated. It made a HUGE difference in light. Even at night it would collect the moon's light and bathe the landing in a beautiful blue glow. I'm a big fan of light tubes now.

    • (Score: 1) by Osamabobama on Wednesday October 21 2015, @05:55PM

      by Osamabobama (5842) on Wednesday October 21 2015, @05:55PM (#252850)

      You can get even more light at night by fitting your light tube with a fiber-optic path to the ceiling, then using a long delay line to ensure the sun's photons arrive in the house sometime after sunset. With a long enough fiber, you should be able to get a couple hours of extra light.

      Now, to calculate the length of fiber needed...speed of light in glass...transmittance...

      Well, you'll want to do your own calculations, of course.

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.