Being SMART is always the key
Good morning ürbers, finally it’s Sunday, we can enjoy our free time going to our favourite park, having a walk… sounds good. Unfortunately here in Madrid it’s a cold rainy day so no park for me. Since the weather doesn’t let me go to any park today, I am going to tell you a story about a park, about change, innovation and daydreaming.
Before the urbanization era, people’s aims and needs were to urbanize wild territories. Urbanizing without any constraint, any concern for pollution or extra usage of raw materials and waste. Cristal clear. So now that we have obtained our custom-tailored world we are worried and concerned about environmental consequences, about the fast pace of life and the world’s future in general. We feel a desire to step back without slowing progress.
Nowadays innovation responds perfectly to the need to move forward while prioritising the human-environment relationship. Innovation becomes more complex in order to make the world a better place.
This has been James Ramsey and Dan Barasch’s driving force. Close your eyes…we are in East Side New York, precisely the Williamsburg Bridge trolley terminal on Delancey Street, a multi-ethnic, urbanized and fast-paced neighbourhood. The first guy wanted to enable trees and plants to grow through solar technology while the second one aimed to convert the old abandoned terminal (our location) into an underground art space.
The melting pot is an underground park. The project is called lowline, since 2009 when it was envisioned, $155.000 from 3.300 supporters from all over the world has been collected. It’s not all about money, Ramsey and Barasch had the fantastic idea of reclaiming for public purposes one of the less green neighborhoods of NYC, where being a pedestrian is dangerous and not enjoyable at all. The East Side community has been hugely involved in the project with a wide range of initiatives:
- Demo exhibitions have been organized through the years to make people aware of the project
- Collaboration with young designers for collecting ideas
- Young Ambassadors Program enabling young people to spread the lowline’s commitment while preparing for their careers.
- Invitation to the whole community to express their opinion and practical proposals for the construction of the underground park
- Creation of the Lowline Lab, a long-term open laboratory designed for testing and showcasing how green spaces can be created underground
The park is designed to be a meeting point between visitors and subway passengers, due to its proximity to JMZ lines: in our era interaction is more than a plus, it’s vital. We like the idea so far but wait…How could trees and plants grow underground? Do you remember the solar technology we mentioned before?
Here is the solution, studied with an economic development and energy-efficiency consulting firm and a global engineering firm:
A remote skylight made of two parabolas connected by a fiberoptical cable.
First step
- The parabola on the surface collects sunlight through a glass shield conveying it to the cable which channelled it underground.
Second step
- Once the sunlight reaches the reflective surface of the distributor parabola it’s transmitted into the space.
Lowline is not merely a new public space, it is proof of how technology can make people closer and create cohesion and new ways of collaborating between high-quality professionals and citizens. Technology, innovation and visionair architecture can shape our lifestyle, improving not only our cities but also our behavour and happiness.
I want to share with you a video about how reshaping our space is relevant to enable drastic changes in our lives and in our beloved cities.
Remember… be SMART.
