Drawing inspiration from the neighbourhood’s cast iron buildings and incorporating the restored 1888 Corbin Building, the extensive complex offers improved accessibility to New York City’s storied mass transit system in a durable, elegant setting.
The streetscape permeates the building through carefully aligned entrances that offer clear and efficient pathways to the train platforms below. Once underground, passengers navigate clearly defined routes through brighter, widened passageways, new elevators and logical signage.
The transit hub’s atrium rises 34 m and is topped by a conical dome centered on the concourse below.
The central architectural concept of redirecting natural light deep into the transit environment culminates in the design of the dome’s interior and a new integrated artwork titled Sky Reflector-Net, a collaboration with James Carpenter Design Associates, Grimshaw, and Arup, with form-finding by Schlaich Bergermann und Partner, commissioned by MTA Arts & Design and MTA Capital Construction Company.
Suspended above the atrium, Sky Reflector-Net is composed of 112 tensioned cables, 224 high-strength rods and nearly 10,000 stainless steel components.
I’m really a little breathless about it. It’s perfectly juxtaposed to what’s going on at the World Trade Center. It makes what was a mess into something beautiful.
Peter S Kalikow, Chairman, Metropolitan Transport Authority, New York Times
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The planning of the building is organised to streamline the transfer of passengers around the central space, providing an intuitive means of wayfinding.
The dynamic transport environment is a vital link to this commercial centre and its growing residential sector, streamlining connectivity between eleven New York City Transit subway lines and enhancing the user experience for 300,000 daily transit passengers.
Location
New York, NY, USA
Project Type
Rail and Mass Transit →
Client
Metropolitan Transportation Authority – New York City Transit / Arup
Area
34,000 sq m
Status
Complete
Year
2014
Photography
James Ewing