SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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?
(Score: 1) by gtomorrow on Wednesday October 21 2015, @08:15AM
To paraphrase...
"Mr. President, we must not allow a trolley terminal gap!"
All joking aside, while it's an interesting idea and probably workable for underground agriculture, judging by the photos it seems a hair...depressing. I couldn't foresee passing an afternoon there, especially when (in this case) there's Central Park just a mile or so uptown. Even with the "piped-in" sunlight it's just so dark.
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:09AM
Dark it is and I wonder what the palm trees and pinapples will look like in a few weeks. But I think the concept is interesting and this could really work out well in winter. We used to grow dope indoors (only 3 or for plants) and just sitting under the sodium vapor lamp reading a book with sunglasses in the midst of winter was magnificent.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday October 21 2015, @12:23PM
Sodium lamps are the same ones used to illuminate roads with nearly mono spectral yellow light. Metal halide lamps are used for grow lights and other general lighting uses where white light is desired. Though, if you want to be pedantic, Metal halide lamps are Mercury vapor lamps with sodium iodide added.
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Wednesday October 21 2015, @02:22PM
Now, when you put it that way, I have to admit I never thought about that before. The lamp could of course not have been mono spectral, that would not make any sense at all. But the light was also very yellow and the lamp emitted a lot of heat, so maybe it was a high pressure sodium (HPS) lamp (wiki says, those have a much broader spectrum), but I'm not sure. Back then I didn't smoke weed and did not tend the plants, but I really enjoyed that summer feeling.
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:11AM
Remember that the photos are of a proof of concept. It's always going to be underground, but the final product will probably be more inviting than what we saw in the photos.
Also, New York in the winter is a pretty dismal place. Actually, in my opinion, New York is just pretty dismal. In the winter, though, there's less sunlight outside, there are no leaves on the trees, and the park may be covered in snow. In this environment, an underground park with green leafy plants will seem inviting due to the fact that this isn't available outside.
I'm a huge fan of winter and being outside in the snow. However, we have a butterfly conservatory near here, and going there is like visiting the tropics. It's beautiful. Granted, it has a glass roof which I think is a big advantage over the park in the article. Still though, I can see this park being a pleasant and relaxing place to go when the weather outside turns inclement. I just hope they can keep it safe.
(Score: 1) by Spamalope on Wednesday October 21 2015, @05:46PM
Your eyes see a broader dynamic range than the camera does. In high contrast light, if the camera is adjusted for the bright areas the rest will look very dark or black. In person, the room will look much brighter, more light a room lit by a sunbeam through a sky light. If the room is still to dark, they can add a bit of diffusion.
With shade loving plants, the idea should work. It's very expensive for a garden, but a cool idea for reuse of space in a dense urban area where the other options are high priced too.