Check out the World's First Underground Park
There’s a secret underneath New York’s Lower East Side.
Mashable’s top Kickstarter project of 2012 has come to life after the city of New York approved plans for an underground park beneath its city streets; the first of its kind in the world.
An 80-year-old trolly stop known as the Delancey Underground, located beneath NYC’s Lower East Side, has begun its transformation into a sprawling electricity-free, one-acre subterranean urban park named “The Lowline” (a play on the High Line park in Manhattan). Major construction will commence as soon as the project reaches its $10 million USD funding goal, and will be spearheaded by a former NASA engineer and architect. The park’s lush leafy trees, plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables thrive from an innovative lighting system that uses mirrors and fiberoptic cables to bring natural sunlight into the space. The project hopes to spur a domino effect around the world for more global cities to develop their own underground parks. After all, where do we go if the world really becomes unlivable?
Check out an artist’s rendition of the proposed project in the first few photos above, followed by images of the park’s current state of growth. The Lowline park is free and currently open to the public from 11 a.m.-5 p.m until March 2017. Construction plans are set to begin 2019.
Lowline Underground Park
140 Essex Street
(between Rivington and Stanton Streets)
Lower East Side – New York City
Subway: J/M/F Essex Delancey Street
