Last Saturday the “Imagining the Lowline” exhibit opened to the public as part of the “Experiments in Motion” initiative commissioned by Audi of America and in partnership with the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), nine student visions will be presented along with a 45-foot-long suspended model of Manhattan’s subway grid that contextualizes the Lowline within the city’s huge inventory of underground spaces.
The Lowline aims to build the world’s first underground park using innovative technology to bring sunlight underground. As part of the vision, “remote skylights” would concentrate natural sunlight at street level, and then channel it underground, generating enough light to support photosynthesis. The core of the “Imagining the Lowline” exhibit will feature the installation of a solar collector, a canopy distributor, and a small-scale green park, to help the community envision the technology and its stunning aesthetic elements.
Together with additional information on the Lowline project and the community it will serve, “Imagining the Lowline” will engage visitors in a visually stimulating potential future. We hope it will continue a growing global discussion on the future of new public spaces– and the unclaimed value of our urban underground.
On Sunday, the “Day Life” street fair was held in partnership with the Lower East Side Business Improvement District to bring the exhibit to life.
The free and open to public exhibit will reopen on Wednesday, September 19th – Sunday, September 23 : 12-6pm with another “Day Life” street fair to be held. To find out more and future opening dates go to the lowline website.
IMAGE CREDIT: Lizzy Zevallos/Lowline
