Beyond Belief: The Delaney Street Underground in New York’s Lower East Side

The following post comes courtesy of Global Site Plans' The Grid. CNU and Global Site Plans recently teamed up to syndicate Grid content, as its contingent of writers presents a view on the opportunities and issues of urbanization all across the world. CNU will carry select posts from the Grid direct on the CNU Salons.

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In September 2012, New Yorkers were offered a first glimpse of what the Low Line will look like – New York City’s newest subterranean park, designed by co-founders James Ramsey and Dan Barish. According to the New Yorker, the exhibition, entitled “Imagining the Low Line,” on view through September 27, 2012, allowed visitors to “feel like Alice in Wonderland looking around after her long fall into the depths of the earth.” The project vision, which seeks to transform an abandoned 1903 Williamsburg Trolley terminal, has been celebrated by Fast Company & Mashable and greatly supported by the greater NYC community. In 2013 – it finally could become a reality, according to a recent press release.

James Ramsey, whose creative process is manifested largely from “devouring books,” has not only allowed us to reimagine our cities, but has also pushed the proverbial imagination of urban planning & sustainabilitytowards a new threshold that was previously unreachable, blurring the dividing line between science fiction and reality.

Design of the Low Line carries the same creative drive conveyed in popular literature all over the world – creating an entirely new foundation to rapidly expand scholarship and literature connected to the underground. Contemporary writers, such as Neil Gaiman and Jeanne DuPrau, who authored Neverwhere and City of Ember respectively, painted vivid portraits of complex subterranean worlds, ranging from unknown medieval fiefdoms located beneath modern day London to a last bastion of humanity existing deep underground following a violent cataclysm. Simply put, the underground creates fascination and intrigue to all who venture near it, inspiring new ideas and producing a diverse array of popular culture according to BLDG BLOG.

Design of the Low Line calls into question the creation of new parks in other abandoned or unfinished New York City Subway Stations.

Will the park set a new precedent towards building downward instead of skyward?

How will the Low Line change the way in which we conceptualize underground public spaces in other cities? Share your thoughts.

To read the original post, written by Geoff Bliss, visit Global Site Plans.