Thought You Should See This

November 22, 2011

I can’t profess to be anything other than thrilled at this NYT story, because one of the protagonists is a dear friend of mine. Inspired by High Line, Park is Envisioned With Sights Set Low is an in-depth look into the Delancey Underground, a proposal to convert a former trolley terminal near the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan into a subterranean park.

As the story details, there’s clearly a long way to go before Delancey Underground becomes a reality, but what I really love about the proposal is that this really isn’t merely an attempt to ape the success of the High Line, the converted elevated railway on the west side of Manhattan that has been drawing in the hordes. Instead, and despite its predictable nickname as the “Low Line”, this is an ambitious attempt to try something quite new, to use “remote skylight” technology to grow grass and trees underground. Maybe it’s just me, but that idea is the most exciting part of all of this, with scaling potential far beyond the confines of a three-block section of New York City.

[Images, with proposed views sandwiching two images showing the current reality of the space, c/o Delancey Underground.]

11:14am | URL: https://tmblr.co/ZLv7dxCGQUSS
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