Co-founders James Ramsey and Dan Barasch have suggested natural light would be directed below ground using a system that has been described in the proposed plan as "remote skylights", providing an area in which trees and grass could be grown beneath city streets. Light collectors would be placed at ground level or on surrounding rooftops, with suggested locations, including the median on Delancey Street. Artificial lighting would be used to supplement the redirected sunlight on cloudy days and at night. The area, with ceilings high, extends three blocks east from Essex Street to Clinton Street and was used until 1948 as a station and balloon loop for streetcars crossing the Williamsburg Bridge to and from Brooklyn.
History
The large trolley terminal that is the site has sat unused for more than 60 years. James Ramsey, an architectural designer who founded RAAD Studio, was inspired by the High Line to conceive of the project in 2009, and began working out the technological aspects of the park's development with Dan Barasch, who was becoming disillusioned with his work at Google. The project was first publicly proposed in 2011 and quickly generated widespread media attention. In 2012, the project raised over $150,000 from 3,300 backers on Kickstarter to create a full-scale exhibition of the solar lighting technology. The project was named by Mashable as one of the top Kickstarter projects of that year. In September 2012 an installation was opened on the Lower East Side to promote the project; titled "Imagining the Lowline," it consisted of a 30-foot wide aluminum solar canopy distributing natural sunlight onto a live cultivated landscape "park." The exhibit saw over 11,000 visitors and featured design talks, school visits, weekend street fairs and a political event. The executive producer of the exhibit was Robyn Shapiro and the industrial designer was Ed Jacobs with support from Brandt Graves.Initial patent work in the associated technologies by David D. Winters, Winters Patent Law of Tennessee.
Support
The project has been endorsed by politicians and organizations such as U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, former NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Manhattan Community Board 3, and the Lower East Side business improvement district. Barasch and Ramsey worked with HR&A Advisors and Arup to complete a feasibility study outlining the cost to build the park, long-term business model and community benefits. The findings were released to various news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal. and New York magazine. The Lowline was shown in Time magazine's 25 best inventions of 2015.
Lowline Lab
The Lowline Lab was opened in October 2015 as a working prototype to determine the long-term feasibility of the Delancey Underground project. Located several blocks away from the proposed site, the Lab offered a glimpse of what the eventual Lowline could become, employing the same technology that will be used in the permanent space to bring sunlight into a simulated underground environment. The Lab featured over 70 species of plants and more than 3,000 plants in total operating off of a combination of natural sunlight and artificial supplements. The Lab closed to the public on February 26, 2017.
Approval and postponement
The underground area borders the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, for which the Economic Development Corporation has issued a proposal request. The EDC later conducted a public bidding process won by the project to develop the terminal. The property will be purchased by the city from the MTA and the design coordinated with the neighboring Essex Crossing development. Construction will depend on private fundraising by the project, public subsidies, and Uniform Land Use Review Procedure approvals for specific components. As of 2019, the park was under construction and was expected to open in 2021. However, in February 2020, the planners announced it was on hold due to lack success in fundraising.
