Somio en construir el primer parc subterrani de Nova York. Per què construir-lo? Per què a Nova York?
My dream is to build the world's first underground park in New York City. Now, why would someone want to build an underground park, and why in New York City?
Aquestes tres petites bestioles són, a l'esquerra, la meva àvia, amb 5 anys, i els seus germans, amb 11 i 9 anys. Aquesta foto va ser presa just abans de deixar Itàlia i emigrar als Estats Units, fa un segle. I com molts immigrants, van arribar a Lower East Side a Nova York i van trobar un gresol de races. El sorprenent de la seva generació no només va ser que comencessin noves vides en aquesta zona desconeguda, sinó que també construïssin literalment la ciutat. Sempre m'han fascinat aquelles dècades i aqueslla història, i sovint pregava a la meva àvia que m'expliqués històries sobre la vella Nova York. Però sovint s'encongia d'espatlles, i em deia que mengés més mandonguilles i pasta, i en poques ocasions sentia les històries que volia.
These three tough little buggers are, on the left, my grandmother, age five, and then her sister and brother, ages 11 and nine. This photo was taken just before they left from Italy to immigrate to the United States, just about a century ago. And like many immigrants at the time, they arrived on the Lower East Side in New York City and they encountered a crazy melting pot. What was amazing about their generation was that they were not only building new lives in this new, unfamiliar area, but they were also literally building the city. I've always been fascinated by those decades and by that history, and I would often beg my grandmother to tell me as many stories as possible about the old New York. But she would often just shrug it off, tell me to eat more meatballs, more pasta, and so I very rarely got any of the history that I wanted to hear about.
La Nova York que vaig trobar estava bastant construïda. Sempre vaig saber de nen que volia aportar una cosa especial, fer el món més bonic, més interessant i més just. Només que no sabia com. Primer volia treballar l'estranger, i vaig agafar una feina a UNICEF a Kenya. Però em resultava estrany saber més de la política local kenyana que la política de la meva ciutat. Vaig trobar una feina a Nova York, però molt aviat em vaig sentir frustrat per la lentitud de la burocràcia governamental. Vaig aconseguir una feina a Google, on em vaig empassar el que em deien i creia gairebé de tot cor que la tecnologia podria resoldre tots els problemes socials. Però encara no sentia que millorava el món.
The New York City that I encountered felt pretty built up. I always knew as a kid that I wanted to make a difference, and to somehow make the world more beautiful, more interesting and more just. I just didn't really know how. At first, I thought I wanted to go work abroad, so I took a job with UNICEF in Kenya. But it felt weird to me that I knew more about local Kenyan politics than the politics of my own hometown. I took a job with the City of New York, but very quickly felt frustrated with the slowness of government bureaucracy. I even took a job at Google, where very fast I drank the Kool-Aid and believed almost wholeheartedly that technology could solve all social problems. But I still didn't feel like I was making the world a better place.
El 2009 el meu amic i ara soci James Ramsey, em va ensenyar un lloc força espectacular, que és aquest. És l'antiga terminal de tramvia que era l'estació per a passatgers que creuaven el pont de Williamsburg de Brooklyn a Manhattan, i va estar oberta entre 1908 i 1948, just en l'època en què els meus avis vivien en la zona. I ens vam assabentar que el lloc va ser abandonat per complet el 1948. Fascinats per aquest descobriment, vam demanar a les autoritats que ens hi portessin, i vam aconseguir una visita, i això és el que vam veure. Aquesta foto no li fa justícia. És difícil imaginar el sentiment màgic que tens quan entres en aquest espai. És un camp de futbol de terra no utilitzada a sota d'una zona molt concorreguda de la ciutat, i et sents com Indiana Jones en una excavació arqueològica, i tots els detalls segueixen allí. És realment extraordinari.
It was in 2009 that my friend and now business partner James Ramsey alerted me to the location of a pretty spectacular site, which is this. This is the former trolley terminal that was the depot for passengers traveling over the Williamsburg Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and it was open between 1908 and 1948, just around the time when my grandparents were living right in the area. And we learned also that the site was entirely abandoned in 1948. Fascinated by this discovery, we begged the authorities to draw us into the space, and we finally got a tour, and this is what we saw. Now, this photo doesn't really do it justice. It's kind of hard to imagine the unbelievably magical feeling that you have when you get in this space. It's a football field of unused land immediately below a very crowded area of the city, and it almost feels like you're Indiana Jones on an archaeological dig, and all the details are all still there. It's really pretty remarkable.
El lloc està situat en el cor del Lower East Side, que encara és un dels barris més concorreguts de la ciutat. Nova York té 2/3 d'espai verd com altres grans ciutats, i aquest barri és 10 % espai verd. Immediatament vam començar a pensar com transformar aquest lloc en una cosa útil per al públic, però que potencialment fos verda. El pla, en poques paraules, consisteix a portar llum solar natural sota a terra amb un sistema simple que capta llum solar de la superfície, i la redirigeix per sota de les voreres, i permet a plantes i arbres créixer amb la llum redirigida al subsòl. Amb aquest enfocament, un lloc que ara és així podria transformar-se en alguna cosa com aquesta.
Now, the site itself is located at the very heart of the Lower East Side, and today it still remains one of the most crowded neighborhoods in the city. New York City has two thirds the green space per resident as other big cities, and this neighborhood as one tenth the green space. So we immediately started thinking about how we could take this site and turn it into something that could be used for the public, but also could potentially even be green. Our plan, in a nutshell, is to draw natural sunlight underground using a simple system that harvests sunlight above the street, directs it below the city sidewalks, and would allow plants and trees to grow with the light that's directed underneath. With this approach, you could take a site that looks like this today and transform it into something that looks like this.
El 2011 vam publicar algunes d'aquestes imatges, i va ser graciós que molta gent ens va dir: "S'assembla al parc High Line sota a terra". Per això vam batejar el projecte amb un nom que va agradar: el Lowline. Estava molt clar que la gent volia saber-ne més i provar la tecnologia, i que hi havia més interès en això del que pensàvem. Vaig comentre la bogeria de deixar la feina i centrar-me en aquest projecte. Aquí estem amb el nostre equip fent una demostració de la tecnologia en un magatzem. Aquesta és la part més vulnerable d'aquest pavelló solar construït per mostrar la tecnologia. Podeu veure els sis col·lectors solars en el centre. Aquesta és l'exposició de tot el conjunt en el magatzem. Podeu veure el pavelló solar a sobre, la llum que entra, i tot aquest espai verd a sota. En unes poques setmanes, milers de persones van venir a veure l'exposició, i des de llavors ha crescut el nombre de simpatitzants locals i d'entusiastes del disseny de tot el món.
In 2011, we first released some of these images, and what was funny was, a lot of people said to us, "Oh, it kind of looks like the High Line underground." And so what our nickname ended up becoming, and what ended up sticking, was the Lowline, so the Lowline was born. What was also clear was that people really wanted to know a lot more about how the technology would look and feel, and that there was really much more interest in this than we had ever thought possible. So, like a crazy person, I decided to quit my job and focus entirely on this project. Here is us with our team putting together a technology demonstration in a warehouse. Here's the underbelly of this solar canopy which we built to show the technology. You can see the six solar collectors at the center there. And here's the full exhibit all put together in this warehouse. You can see the solar canopy overhead, the light streaming in, and this entirely live green space below. So in the course of just a few weeks, tens of thousands of people came to see our exhibit, and since that time, we've grown our numbers of supporters both locally and among design enthusiasts all over the world.
Aquesta és una representació del barri just per sobre del Lowline, i una representació de com es veurà després d'una important remodelació que tindrà lloc en els pròxims 10 anys. Observeu com d'ocupat segueix el barri i la falta que hi ha d'espais verds. Per això proposem una cosa que afegirà un espai verd de la mida d'un camp de futbol per sota del barri, però el més important és que introduirà un espai per a la comunitat en una zona de ràpid creixement. En aquest moment ens estem concentrant en com implicar-nos amb la ciutat de Nova York per transformar l'ecosistema d'una manera integrada.
Here's a rendering of the neighborhood just immediately above the Line's site, and a rendering of how it will look after major redevelopment that is coming over the course of the next 10 years. Notice how crowded the neighborhood still feels and how there's really a lack of green space. So what we're proposing is really something that will add one football field of green space underneath this neighborhood, but more importantly will introduce a really community-driven focus in a rapidly gentrifying area. And right now, we're focusing very closely on how we engage with the City of New York on really transforming the overall ecosystem in an integrated way.
Aquesta és la nostra representació de com convidar a la gent en l'espai en si. Aquí veieu aquesta entrada icònica en la que literalment obrim el carrer i revelem les capes històriques de la ciutat, i convidem la gent a un càlid espai subterrani. A l'hivern, quan a fora glaça, l'últim lloc on anar és un espai o parc a l'aire lliure. El Lowline seria un espai per tot l'any i un respir per a la ciutat. M'agradaria pensar que el Lowline tanca el cercle de la meva història familiar. Els meus avis i pares es van centrar en construir la ciutat de punta a punta, crec que la meva generació vol recuperar els espais que ja tenim, redescobrint la nostra història compartida, i tornant a imaginar com podem fer les nostres comunitats més interessants, més boniques i més justes.
Here's our rendering of how we would actually invite people into the space itself. So here you see this iconic entrance in which we would literally peel up the street and reveal the historical layers of the city, and invite people into this warm underground space. In the middle of winter, when it's absolutely freezing outside, the last place you'd want to go would be an outdoor space or outdoor park. The Lowline would really be a four-season space and a respite for the city. So I like to think that the Lowline actually brings my own family's story full circle. If my grandparents and my parents were really focused on building the city up and out, I think my generation is focused on reclaiming the spaces that we already have, rediscovering our shared history, and reimagining how we can make our communities more interesting, more beautiful and more just.
Gràcies.
Thanks.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)