Page 98 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - April 2017

Underground

A long-abandoned New York City trolley terminal

will blossom as the world’s rst underground park.

J

ust below Delancey Street on the Lower co-founder James Ramsey and his team at Raad

East Side of Manha an lie the architec- Studio, plus the Korea-based technology company
tural bones of the defunct Williamsburg Sunportal, designed and installed optical devices

Bridge Trolley Terminal, opened back in to track the sun throughout the sky every minute of
1908 and discontinued 40 years later
every day to optimize the amount of natural sunlight

when trolleys were no longer a mode of transporta- that could be captured. The sunlight is then distrib-

tion for New Yorkers. Dubbed The Lowline, one of uted into the Lowline Lab’s warehouse through a
the most interesting aspects of the new space will series of protective tubes, directing full spectrum

be the ability to grow plants underground utilizing light into a central distribution point. A solar canopy –
solar technology and proprietary LEDs.
designed and constructed by engineer Ed Jacobs –

Bringing this unique project to completion is spreads the sunlight out across the space, modulat-

the Lowline Lab, located nearby and the rm in ing and tempering the sunlight, and providing the
charge of producing the controlled experiments to necessary light needed to sustain the plant life.

be adapted to the Lowline site. The Lowline Lab LED manufacturer Lighting Science is collaborat-
landscape – designed by Signe Nielsen of Mathews ing with Lowline Lab to develop custom LED grow

Nielsen and built by John Mini Distinctive Land- lighting for The Lowline park, which is roughly the

scapes – is composed of 3,000+ plants, including size of a football eld. “Lighting Science’s ground-
dozens of unique varieties, spread across 1,000 breaking LED indoor grow lighting positions them as

square feet. The Lab’s experiments with growing a leader in their eld and the perfect collaborative
plants underground will guide which types are the partner for the Lowline Lab,” says James Ramsey.

best to use in the park.
Fueled by their shared passion for pushing the

How do you grow plants where the sun doesn’t boundaries of design and technology, Lighting Sci-
shine? Simple, just bring sunlight to the plants ence’s team worked with the Lowline Lab engineers

— which is easier said than done, of course. To ac- last year to develop, donate, and install 24 adjust-
complish that task using solar technology, Lowline
able LED lights into the 1,000-sq.- . suspended

96 enLIGHTenment Magazine | april 2017
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