This past weekend was Open House New York and what this event is about is letting you into sites that you wouldn’t normally be able to tour at your convenience. You’ll learn the history of the site and It’s great for bloggers because if you’re there early you’ll get those uninterrupted shots in great light and feel super special. It’s a really popular event and I found out that you can volunteer as well, and that may be my action plan for next year. I chose to go to the Lowline Lab because tickets and reservations weren’t necessary and I’ve always wanted to see the testing grounds for this adventurous project.
The Lowline Lab is an empty warehouse where the plans for an underground park are on display. For this one of a kind park, new technology was built to make it possible. The huge undertaking is still looking for funding and is planned to be built in an abandoned train station in lower Manhattan. And like the High Line Park, it would be a one of a kind attraction drawing lots of visitors.

The Lowline Lab shows how the park, planned to be called the Lowline would have lush gardens filled with edible plants and how the sunlight would be funneled underground to keep them thriving. It also goes further describing the attractions that are going to be built inside the park, since like any other park there will be space for exercise and lounging. Many sponsors including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden are necessary to make sure this huge science project works.Many of the plants were picked because they wouldn’t  need soil or needed very little to grow. There are over 3000 plants packed into the display and they are constantly switched out to test which ones would assimilate the best.

The ceiling would be built of specially designed reflectors to concentrate whatever light exists (including moonlight) to light the space, store, as well as feed the plants. The devices on the roof move to catch as much of the sunlight as possible.

I thought that the venue would be pretty empty but I was wrong. There were many families in attendance climbing the rock wall, asking lots of questions and what seemed to be lots of bloggers taking pictures. The afternoon was sponsored in part by the North Face, so their logo was everywhere. They were asking for donations during the event and there were multiple ambassadors there to answer any questions you might have about the project. The building of the park is projected to begin by 2021 but, I’m not sure if they’ve reached the full funding goals.

In the meantime, there are local students programs using the lab to study science, technology, engineering, mathematics, effects of light and absence of soil on the plants and how all these factors affect the making of the Lowline. Isn’t that wonderful? The Lowline is expected to be open until March 2017 when the park is slated to take shape. If you would like to see an early description of the Lowline before the lab opened from video on the local television station in New York, you can find that here.

What do you think of the Lowline Lab? Is it a park that you would want to visit? Please comment below, I would love to read your opinions.

Until our next rendezvous…

XOXO

Trudy