In a 2007 collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Club, Chicago Department of Planning, Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, Chicago Park District, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Graham Foundation and the Trust for Public Land , 4240's design director, Robert Benson and Gensler's design director Brian Vitale led a design team which crafted a proposal for the development of 2.7 miles of an abandoned elevated rail line into more than just a greenspace offering a pedestrian trail.
The team proposed the transformation of the abandoned rail line into a multifunctional greenhouse. At three miles long, the greenhouse would be a visual marker at both day and night, and symbol of hope for the City. It would have the equivalent of 10 acres of land to farm year round, enough food to supplement the Greater Food Depository of Chicago's resources to feed those in need (which by last count was an astonishing 500,000 adults and children in Cook County alone). 40 percent of the crop would be sold at markets throughout the line's diverse neighborhoods.
The hydrogen generator below the greenhouse uses the nano-photovoltaic curtain to create the electricity needed to split the water (H2O) molecules into pure Hydrogen and Oxygen, the Hydrogen is stored in tanks while the Oxygen is released into the atmosphere replenishing our depleting supply. The new fuel cell energy will be used to power nearby Chicago Public Schools. The CPS can reverse its budget shortfall from last year which amounted to teacher
layoffs to offset rising utility bills.
Simply put, Hydrogen = Teachers.
Finally, the excess Hydrogen will be sold to alternative fuel vehicles at depots throughout the line. The waste of these vehicles is water, which can be stored in the vehicles and returned to the Bloomingdale's system to feed the production of Hydrogen and thus continue the loop.
The Hydrogenerator system stands as a symbol for a new future, a new paradigm that involves examining abandoned and underused infrastructure for new energy bearing technologies. The more local, the more clean the energy, the more stable and healthy the society. This is the catalyst. This is the generator.